I looked at the pictures and wondered the same - if the yellow cord was the connection between car and EVSE then the only way the EVSE coud set the car on fire would be burning bits to fall off and somehow reach the car, as most of the cord appears undamaged. However, it appears that the coiled yellow cord was enclosed in a sleeve, the tube-like thingy that is laying on the ground. So, it is possible that a fire in the EVSE traveled over the *outside* of the sleeve and set the last few feet of charging cord on fire, which then lit the car up. The weird thing is that the least affected spot on the whole vehicle is directy under the charging plug, as that tire appears complete while all other rims have burned off their tires, in the front therims are molten as well, so the temps must have been around 1000 deg C inside the fire. That is still possible, even if the car was lit up in the back via the cord, it only takes a light breeze from the back to cool the back side of an object and drive the flames in the forward direction...
-----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Roger Stockton via EV Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2017 3:41 PM To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List Subject: Re: [EVDL] ? Is this really a Smart Fortwo ED EV that burnt to acrisp ? Cor van de Water wrote: > Remember that an EVSE has a relay interrupting the 240V supply. > As I related before, any wire that is damaged or improperly tightened > can burn, even if not overloaded for the spec of the wire. > If the EVSE is not frequently used, there is the risk of corrosion of > the relay contacts, adding to the resistance and easily causing > overheating of the relay or even starting a fire. Even if this were the case, it would result in the EVSE itself perhaps catching fire, or otherwise failing and interrupting AC power to the car's on-board charger. It is difficult to imagine a scenario where the wall-mounted EVSE visible in the pictures could burn with such intensity as to catch a nearby vehicle on fire in this way. I find it especially difficult to believe given that some of the photos clearly show the charge cord still attached to the vehicle, and aside for the few feet immediately at the car end of the cord, the cord itself appears undamaged. Cheers, Roger. _______________________________________________ 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) _______________________________________________ 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)
