ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Probably true!
Ebike fire starter.
- Thread starter MichaelW2
- Start date
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bonzobanana
Guru
That doesn't seem true to me considering the much greater percentage of EV fires in China compared to ICE cars I've seen but I guess in different markets its a different set of vehicles and we all know China QC standards can be hit and miss. There is a video here about the many EV fires in China and lets not forget that if you are involved in an accident where the cells are compromised and you are trapped in a buckled vehicle there is no time for the fire engine to get to you and cut you out you are toast literally and an EV fire is exceptionally difficult to stop often they just leave them to burn themselves out which is not great if you are inside them. I'm personally not sure the technology in cars is mature enough to take over from ICE but feel that ebikes because of the much smaller battery packs is a much safer option just like laptops and mobile phones are also an even lesser risk because of their even smaller size. You just know there is a strong chance of burning to death in an EV if you are in a major accident and burning to death is not my preferred way to go for sure. There are newer safer EV batteries coming, salt based is one variant I believe but doesn't have quite as good energy density and Toyota's ammonia engines looks a great design too as a new type of ICE.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOA7qKMcjcE
fritz katzenjammer
Der Ubergrosserbudgie
- Location
- Deepest Darkest Canada
the company I work for reports that most e-bike fires are caused by the use of incorrect / incompatible charging equipment. People modifying cheap e-bikes to keep them on the road because parts aren’t available must contribute a bit. We regularly get people at our service desk looking for electronic bits to keep cheap no name stuff on the road, unfortunately we can’t help.
At my previous job with an automotive manufacturer I was involved with investigating a “thermal event” ( the company said I couldn’t use the term “fire” ) It was caused by the customer using the wrong charger, darn near burned his house down.
personally I charge my wife’s e-bike outside and monitor it pretty carefully. Per the factory instructions I charge it when the charge drops to about 20% and charge it to between 80 to 90% of capacity. This is supposed to maximize battery life and reduce the possibility problems with the battery.
At my previous job with an automotive manufacturer I was involved with investigating a “thermal event” ( the company said I couldn’t use the term “fire” ) It was caused by the customer using the wrong charger, darn near burned his house down.
personally I charge my wife’s e-bike outside and monitor it pretty carefully. Per the factory instructions I charge it when the charge drops to about 20% and charge it to between 80 to 90% of capacity. This is supposed to maximize battery life and reduce the possibility problems with the battery.
bonzobanana
Guru
Look up how many joules of energy there is in 70l of petrol.
That's not a single power source though you have to inject air into the cylinder with the fuel at high pressure to get the explosion and most ICE car fires are much more manageable and you have to ignite the fuel. There is more complicated process to deliver that energy. EV batteries can self-ignite quite easily with just minor flaws in cell construction, external over-charging or of course compromised by an accident. However perhaps the biggest contrast is managing the fire which is near impossible with EVs.
albion
Guru
- Location
- South Tyneside
Higher risk charging it in the cold too. I am guessing that most fires are caused by lower grade batteries and/or a lower grade BMS.
bonzobanana
Guru
The BMS in a battery pack should manage the cells quite well but they don't seem to be able to protect themselves from the wrong voltage charger being used plus some cheaper battery packs have been shown not to have a thermal protection circuit which I would of thought was only a few pence to include. They just rely on voltage and current readings I guess to gauge the status of the battery pack but as cells age and fail then that is likely an unreliable system as the battery pack could appear to be partially charged when in fact the failing cells are at their maximum capacity. I know BMS's monitor cells individually or in groups to get a more accurate view of cell health but from what I understand this is not infallible.
I wonder about charging to 90% is the benefit in the fact that failing cells which are slow to charge become undercharged and do not get balanced which you get with a full charge. So the failing slower cells are under utilised/charged with each charge cycle which is safer and means they are slower to fully fail. A 90% charge doesn't mean all cells are at 90% charge because the BMS controls the charge rate to different groups of cells I believe or bypasses charging to some cells which become fully charged or not accepting more charge before other cells so you are undercharging the cells that are slower to charge which tends to be the older or failing cells. So I think that is the benefit of a 90% charge as probably the healthy cells are still at 100% charge but the failing cells are undercharged. Charging to 90% seems more sensible for older battery packs.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Petrol goes up easily, diesel not so. Its not EV's that are an issue its dodgy batteries and cheap circuits with poor battery management that are fitted to so many cheap gadgets and home brew bikes
albion
Guru
- Location
- South Tyneside
Ebikes do not normally do low temperature monitoring, and whilst the standard 0.2C charge is gentle, it is certainly much less gentle when temperatures fall below 10 degrees C.
the snail
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham
Except that the fire on the ship was caused by ICE vehicles, all of the EVs onbord were recovered without significant damage.
dicko
Guru
- Location
- Derbyshire
In my garage are two solar batteries and also my e bike. I am fitting a heat alarm/detector to monitor any fire caused by these batteries. I only charge my e-bike when I am around and also just outside the garage. Better safe than sorry.
irw
Quadricyclist
- Location
- Liverpool, UK
If you must do that, make sure you drill an array of vent holes in the top…otherwise you’re basically creating something that will send shrapnel everywhere when the battery explodes 😲. It’s why we don’t store pyrotechnics in metal cabinets in the theatre biz…
bonzobanana
Guru
Every single news report I've seen has stated the fire started with an EV and that is what was reported by a crewman, why do you think it was an ICE vehicle has there been a new finding?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66393507
There was an earlier cargo ship that sank again with a suspected German made EV being the cause.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cargo-ship-luxury-cars-sinks-atlantic-ocean-portugal/
That's two cargo ships damaged or destroyed by German made EVs.
numbnuts
Legendary Member
- Location
- Gone over the hill and far away
