Electrify America burns a Rivian down

[docwhiz]

My daughter charged her Rivian at an EA station in the East Bay yesterday. I guess she was lucky that charging was only at 37 kW at a 150 kW station.

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[KiloV]

I’d almost say more likely something went wrong in the truck from the damage unless we are trying to say that the cable caught on fire and ignited the Rivian.

Sure the charger could have sent too much power, we have seen reports of that but the truck should have a fail safe. I’d love to know what really happened here but I doubt we ever will.

In the mean time… “OMG EA is so terrible it burned a Rivian to the ground, lets all not charge there anymore it isn’t safe”

I agree that it's silly to get panicky about charging at EA stations. They are very safe. Accidents can and will happen, though, even if they are pretty rare.

I don't have all the facts, of course, but it does seem pretty likely that this problem originated with the charger. There are two things in this equation that can cause a fire: 1. the vehicle's battery pack; and 2. the charger. The charge port is just a connector. It can't catch itself on fire. It has already been stated definitively that the vehicle's battery pack wasn't involved in the fire. Therefore, the charger is the likely cause. If I had to guess, I'd say that the liquid cooling system of the charging cable failed, causing the thing to overheat and catch the charging port area of the vehicle on fire. I'm sure that there is a temperature sensor in the charger cable/connector that should alert the charger to an unsafe temperature and shut the charger down. That sensor must have failed too. Again, this is all supposition on my part. I can't really see how else it could've gone down though.

But EA chargers are safe, folks. Will bad things happen on rare occasions? Yep. But I'd be a lot more concerned about the safety hazard of that knucklehead who's texting and driving in the lane next to you.

 

[jjswan33]

I agree that it's silly to get panicky about charging at EA stations. They are very safe. Accidents can and will happen, though, even if they are pretty rare.

I don't have all the facts, of course, but it does seem pretty likely that this problem originated with the charger. There are two things in this equation that can cause a fire: 1. the vehicle's battery pack; and 2. the charger. The charge port is just a connector. It can't catch itself on fire. It has already been stated definitively that the vehicle's battery pack wasn't involved in the fire. Therefore, the charger is the likely cause. If I had to guess, I'd say that the liquid cooling system of the charging cable failed, causing the thing to overheat and catch the charging port area of the vehicle on fire. I'm sure that there is a temperature sensor in the charger cable/connector that should alert the charger to an unsafe temperature and shut the charger down. That sensor must have failed too. Again, this is all supposition on my part. I can't really see how else it could've gone down though.

But EA chargers are safe, folks. Will bad things happen on rare occasions? Yep. But I'd be a lot more concerned about the safety hazard of that knucklehead who's texting and driving in the lane next to you.

Did you see the picture posted earlier with the connector laying on the ground damage free? Not sure how the fire could originate there with this information. From the look of the truck I am pretty certain the fire originated in the electronics on the truck somehow, maybe not even from the charging but yeah I am not going to assign blame or assume anything. Nor am I going to change any of my behavior.

 

[Dirty_B]

Did you see the picture posted earlier with the connector laying on the ground damage free? Not sure how the fire could originate there with this information. From the look of the truck I am pretty certain the fire originated in the electronics on the truck somehow, maybe not even from the charging but yeah I am not going to assign blame or assume anything. Nor am I going to change any of my behavior.

I personally don't think the dispenser was involved at all. The scorch marks are from the flames of the vehicle being blown by wind and heat of the fire in/on the vehicle...but I'm not an arson/fire investigator like some on this forum who have determined the Dispenser caused the fire.

 

[docwhiz]

I personally don't think the dispenser was involved at all. The scorch marks are from the flames of the vehicle being blown by wind and heat of the fire in/on the vehicle...but I'm not an arson/fire investigator like some on this forum who have determined the Dispenser caused the fire.

It appears the fire started at the connector.

 

[jjswan33]

It appears the fire started at the connector.

Based on what exactly?

 

[SoCal Rob]

I personally don't think the dispenser was involved at all. The scorch marks are from the flames of the vehicle being blown by wind and heat of the fire in/on the vehicle...but I'm not an arson/fire investigator like some on this forum who have determined the Dispenser caused the fire.

Yeah, it seems reasonable to say that the major issue didn‘t occur at the connector to charge port interface while the connector was still plugged in. Given the picture, it seems impossible that the whitish plastic on the dispenser connector wouldn’t be discolored if it was plugged in while the vehicle was burning. It would have been very close to the heat and/or flames.

Of course there is also the question of why the connector isn’t holstered. It could be that it got dislodged during the firefighting activities. It’s also possible that a problem occurred just before starting the charge but after the driver had the connector in their hand, while charging but the driver did a quick disconnect thinking that might stop whatever was going on, or after charging but before the connector was holstered.

I think we can all discus possibilities but until investigation results become public knowledge I don’t think we’ll actually know what happened with certainty.

edit:typo&formatting

 

[docwhiz]

Based on what exactly?

 

[jjswan33]

But yet the connector (that started the fire according to you) is undamaged. Brilliant

 

[Dirty_B]

I think we can all discus possibilities but until investigation results become public knowledge I don’t think we’ll actually know what happened with certainty.

edit:typo&formatting

Couldn't agree more. Thanks.

 

[docwhiz]

But yet the connector (that started the fire according to you) is undamaged. Brilliant

It appears the fire started at the connector. We don't know if it was caused by the CCS plug or the socket on the Rivian.
I'm sure it will be investigated and hopefully we will have an answer.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I've been charging exclusively at home since getting my truck 3/31. Saw an EA station yesterday and decided to stop in. Fairly well-to-do area, but two of the four chargers were completely down ("network error"), one was blocked, and the 4th wouldn't accept my credit card, and when it finally did it only charged for two minutes before giving a "vehicle error". Two minutes was just enough time to walk into the store and check the app... I nearly dropped my groceries to rush outside, expecting to see the worst (truck in flames, etc.). Fortunately nothing of the sort. Charger just failed at two minutes. ?

I still got charged for the two minutes, and called to lodge a ticket (for all the good it will do).

I saw the EA video where the CEO travels all the way across the country and was interested to try. Not a good first experience. Think I'll stick to charging at home. ?

 

[Marchin_MTB]

I thought that what we see protruding out on the right hand side of the Rivian IS the CCS connector too. Couldn’t be 100% sure without better resolution.

 

[LivingInKaos]

But yet the connector (that started the fire according to you) is undamaged. Brilliant

My conspiracy theory is that this owner used a CCS>Tesla adapter, plugged into a Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter which was plugged into the truck - that's why the CCS connector is ok on the ground (Sarcasm font intended) . But you know, there will be that one person that tries that kind of thing......

 

[Dark-Fx]

My conspiracy theory is that this owner used a CCS>Tesla adapter, plugged into a Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter which was plugged into the truck - that's why the CCS connector is ok on the ground (Sarcasm font intended) . But you know, there will be that one person that tries that kind of thing......

Inquiring minds want to know

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