Rivian Fire Reported in Colorado Springs (No Details In Article)

[zefram47]

Nope. It was sitting in my lot for 5 hours before it started smoking And then the fire blew up. The most intense heat I have ever seen.

That really sucks. Do you recall anything like what state of charge it was at or if you'd gotten any warnings from the system recently?

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[RSpreier]

I realize it is an access isle for side lifts. It is also illegal to park in one in my state:

I'm sure if I cared more I could google search for the state in this thread, lol.

It’s in Colorado, and yes I have a handicapped placard for my car. I am also the only car in my lot. You are definitely ”that guy”.

Plenty of people install electrical stuff without a proper fuse. I purchased a boat and found wires with the insulation melted, I guess the previous owner was lucky they had a boat to sell me. I've also seen laptop batteries catch fire, did the owner have a laptop that was left in the vehicle? I think it was Samsung that had some phones that caught fire.

My point being, there could be all sorts of reasons the vehicle caught fire that have nothing to do with the fact that the vehicle is an EV! ICE vehicles burn all the time, I remember seeing a Corvette on fire, fiberglass really burns in spectacular fashion. Let's hope that the jump to a conclusion isn't laced with all sorts of false assumptions!

Keep in mind this isn't a common occurrence. We also don't know if it's stock or had aftermarket product installed.

Completely stock. It was my vehicle.

Such a bummer, were you able to talk to the owner? Was there any indication of a possible problem before they parked it?

I am the owner. It sat in my parking lot for 5 hours before starting on
fire. It was a relatively warm day for CO about 87 degrees

 

[Dave Cundiff]

Following thread, hoping to learn everything I can about preventing similar events.

I hope, and presume, that Rivian is also doing everything they can to learn from this.

Thanks for speaking up, @RSpreier!

 

[RSpreier]

That really sucks. Do you recall anything like what state of charge it was at or if you'd gotten any warnings from the system recently?

It was 36% charged. It had been about 6 days since I had plugged it in. the truck has been perfect. No issues. I miss it but I dont think I want another. If this would have happened in my garage, my house would be gone.

 

[cohall]

This is my vehicle. The FD investigator determined it was “thermal runaway”. Definitely started from the batteries

Really sorry this happened to you, but glad there were no injuries or other significant damage.

Has Rivian reached out to you in any way in order to investigate what may have caused this to happen?

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

It’s in Colorado, and yes I have a handicapped placard for my car. I am also the only car in my lot. You are definitely ”that guy”.

I'm sorry about your car. But I'm just pointing out that you can't just park in a passenger loading area (especially for *five hours*). I don't know why we are still discussing this. What if someone else needed to use the area for a legitimate purpose - e.g., a van with a side lift?

 

[zefram47]

It was 36% charged. It had been about 6 days since I had plugged it in. the truck has been perfect. No issues. I miss it but I dont think I want another. If this would have happened in my garage, my house would be gone.

Wild. With my crude understanding of lithium battery fires, it probably would've been even more intense if it had been much closer to the top of the pack. Probably why watching the video I'd originally questioned if the battery was involved as many you see are a lot more intense when they go up.

 

[RSpreier]

Really sorry this happened to you, but glad there were no injuries or other significant damage.

Has Rivian reached out to you in any way in order to investigate what may have caused this to happen?

They have been in contact and I gave them the location of what is left of the vehicle. I would be surprised if there is enough left to determine the cause. The fire department investigator determined it was "thermal runaway" because of the popping noises during the fire. I have video of the vehicle sitting in my lot for 5 hours before it started along with the whole fire sequence.

 

[RSpreier]

I'm sorry about your car. But I'm just pointing out that you can't just park in a passenger loading area (especially for *five hours*). I don't know why we are still discussing this. What if someone else needed to use the area for a legitimate purpose - e.g., a van with a side lift?

Whatever Karen

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Whatever Karen

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I believe @RSpreier knows more about how to be courteous in his office's parking lot, than either @Oldsmobile_Mike or I knows. He's there, we're not.

Spontaneous EV battery fires are very rare. From what I know, I'd rather have an EV in my garage than a gasoline vehicle. This is the first spontaneous battery fire I've heard of in a Rivian. It sounds as if nothing unusual appeared to be happening until the presumed thermal runaway began.

Every unexpected event is a learning opportunity -- especially for the engineers who have maximum access to event and pre-event data -- but also, potentially, for the rest of us.

@RSpreier is gifting us with his knowledge of the event. Thanks, @RSpreier!

 

[SwampNut]

Here's an ICE fire that can happen to an EV too. And in fact, the blower motor thing seems like a possible correlation with sitting around warm, and possibly deciding to cool.



Stuff got hot, stuff that dont like heat melted into fuel and suddenly there is a fire in the cab of truck.
Culprit was a blower motor installed a week prior by a local shop.

 

[SANZC02]

It’s in Colorado, and yes I have a handicapped placard for my car. I am also the only car in my lot. You are definitely ”that guy”.


Completely stock. It was my vehicle.

I am the owner. It sat in my parking lot for 5 hours before starting on
fire. It was a relatively warm day for CO about 87 degrees

Thanks for the followup. Sad news, glad no one was hurt and hope things work out through insurance.

If they ever find the root cause it would be great if you can share the results. For those of us parking in a garage we are really curious what caused this.

 

[RSpreier]

Here's an ICE fire that can happen to an EV too. And in fact, the blower motor thing seems like a possible correlation with sitting around warm, and possibly deciding to cool.



Stuff got hot, stuff that dont like heat melted into fuel and suddenly there is a fire in the cab of truck.
Culprit was a blower motor installed a week prior by a local shop.

what surprised me the most was the intensity and heat of the fire and how quickly it engulfed the truck. It was blow torch. While I agree that fires can happen To any car, There is something different about the EV fires. According to the FD on site, they don't have anything capable of putting out the Lithium fire.

 

[SwampNut]

what surprised me the most was the intensity and heat of the fire and how quickly it engulfed the truck.

This is exactly what my friend said about his truck fire. I think that's universally true of car fires, and I know it is for boat fires (which I've seen). There's so much fuel in the plastics if nothing else.

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