http://www.autoevolution.com/news/bmw-i3-police-car-catches-fire-in-rome-bad-news-for-the-lapd-109367.html BMW i3 Police Car Catches Fire in Rome, Bad News for the LAPD 12 Jul 2016
[images http://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/gallery/bmw-i3-police-car-catches-fire-in-rome-bad-news-for-the-lapd_2.jpg i3 on fire http://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/gallery/bmw-i3-police-car-catches-fire-in-rome-bad-news-for-the-lapd_3.jpg ] Ladies and gentlemen, we take a long-awaited break from all the reports of Tesla crashes for one that involves neither a Tesla, nor crashing. However, it still shows some form of violence toward electric vehicles as it's about a BMW i3 catching fire. Little is known about what lead to the incident apart from the fact that the EV belonged to the Italian police in Rome and that nobody was hurt. There's no information on what exactly caused the fire, but it's worth pointing out at this moment that the i3 was equipped with a range extender, which means it came with a small gasoline engine that would act as a power generator charging the batteries on the go. In the absence of official data, we only have the images and the video as reference, and it sure looks like the source of the fire lies with the internal combustion engine. Judging by where the fire extinguisher was being applied, it coincides with where the atmospheric engine would sit in the car, together with the fuel tank. The video stops after just two minutes, and by that time the car was still in a pretty OK shape with the fire seemingly under control (there's more smoke than flames). However, one of the images provided by MC VEICOLISPECIALI (via YouReporter.it) shows a car engulfed in flames, with two other special vehicles (a police Subaru Forester and an ambulance) blocking the road. Judging by the pool of foam on the road, this is taken after the initial attempts at containing the fire, suggesting they might have failed. While one isolated case is nothing to get worried about, it should put the people at the Los Angeles Police Department on high alert, having just ordered a fleet of 100 of these little EVs after testing the BMW i3 against a Tesla Model S. Only time (and, maybe, the fire department) will tell if that was a smart decision or not. [© autoevolution.com] http://electrek.co/2016/07/12/bmw-i3-police-car-caught-on-fire-in-rome-video/ BMW i3 police car caught on fire in Rome [Video] 2016/07/12 Fred Lambert [image https://electrek.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/bmw-i3-fire-italia.png?w=1024&h=0#038;h=436 BMW i3 https://youtu.be/SutDTHIYSe4 ] As we discussed before, electric car fires are fairly rare and nothing points to them being more frequent than in gas-powered vehicles, but this instance is particularly unusual because it actually occurred in a BMW i3 owned and operated by the Italian state police in Rome. BMW has been successful in marketing its electric vehicles with police departments around the world, including with the Bavarian police and more recently, the automaker announced that it won a contract with the LAPD to deliver 100 BMW i3 vehicles. The company also delivered 4 BMW i3’s to the Italian state police last year. The vehicle is also offered with a gas-powered range extender, but I wasn’t able to confirm if the vehicles delivered to the police in Rome were all-electric or with range extenders. It’s difficult to tell from the pictures and video below (via youreporter.it). If there is a range extender, it would be located pretty much exactly where the police is using the fire extinguisher. The battery pack is located at the bottom of the vehicle between the axles. It happened in Salaria in Rome on Saturday. The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but there’s no sign of an impact or damage on the vehicle aside from the result of the fire. [© electrek.co] http://gas2.org/2016/07/12/german-ev-incentives-bmw-i3-sales/ German EV Incentives Boost BMW i3 Sales July 12th, 2016 ... [dated] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3591270/Car-thief-caught-boasting-BMW-i3-theft-North-London-dashcam.html Car thief caught boasting about BMW i3 theft in North London on ... May 15, 2016 Footage shows the mystery thief driving the BMW i3 around North London while on the phone to a business associate. As the thief drives ... http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Mong-chav-S-Essex-Muswell-Hillbilly-uk-steals-i3-dashcam-caught-praises-tp4682131.html For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/i3-rex-police-pih-on-fire-in-Rome-it-tp4682943.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
