The Volt is turning into a PR nightmare for GM! A new fire issue has come to light and it involves the charging cables. Another Chevy Volt fire risk? Power cords may ignite - Yahoo! Autos
woops how will they sell now ? I just bet insurance companies love selling policies on these KC MASTREPIECES .
Interesting. GM is blaming the house wiring in all these incidents. What could there be about the house wiring that would cause the charging cord to overheat? The current in the charging cord depends on the supplied voltage and on the impedance of the car's charger and/or the internal impedance of the cord (if the cord's own internal active circuitry has any impedance). Faulty house wiring could cause the house wiring to overheat, which is why there are fuses or circuit breakers at the entry box. A breaker sized too large for the circuit would fail to protect the cord, but would not cause excessive current. A house outlet wired at 240 volts would be disastrous to the cord, if the cord and/or the car has no way to detect improper voltage. Plugging too many appliances into one circuit could overload the house wiring, but would not overload the charging cord. A house receptacle sized too small for the rated current could overheat, but that would not cause the charging cord to fuse to an attached power meter, as one person reported. Improper house wiring could result in too much of a voltage drop, and voltage at the receptacle below the normal voltage, but that can also happen when there are brown-outs, and a proper charge cord should not overheat and melt merely because of a brownout. Rather, it should shut down if voltage is either above or below its operational limits. In short, this looks like another case of GM blaming customers (in this case, their home wiring) for a faulty design of its product.
P.S. I doubt this will have any effect on sales. GM will eventually re-design and replace the cords, and anyway, the Volt (like the Tesla) is priced where only very dedicated enthusiasts are going to buy it. A few people might delay purchase until a new cord is available, but that will only be a slight displacement in purchase timing. Nobody who is willing to pay that much for this car is going to change their mind just because of the cord. OTOH, people who already do not trust GM will have just one more confirmation of their opinion of GM as an untrustworthy company.
This isn't a big surprise. Another forum member who works on the EVSE's for other vehicles refused to work on the Volt EVSE b/c of it's flimsy design, log gauge wire used, and the way it wraps around the EVSE so as to get extremely hot if not unwound prior to charging. And the kicker.... It was not even deemed safe enough to be [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwriters_Laboratories"]UL listed[/ame]--they had it certified only through a less stringent verifier.
I will say this. It doesn't surprise me. The caveat to this is he was using the charge cord in an unauthorized manner by GM. That is an extension cord 3 way, and it EXPLICITLY states in all the documentation, and the placard permanently attached to the charge cable that you do not plug it in to extension cords, splitters, etc... I plugged mine in to a Kill-A-Watt EZ meter and it started melting that. Luckily I inspect my stuff regularly, and noticed it when it had only melted the meter a little bit. Plugging in to a regular wall outlet with no extension cord or anything I do not have any issues.. That will no longer be a problem though with my newly installed L2 charger. :cheer2: Just want to put that out there. Bought my car in September, and it is also in the owners manual... It also mentions to make sure outlets are properly grounded. Which people can buy a simple outlet tester for at Lowe's/Home Depot. It also mentions in the manual that if you notice the cord getting hot while charging or the circuit breaker trips that you need to take it down from 12A to 8A (there is a switch on the front).. It is certaintly unfortunate. As I do think the car is a great car. It has its flaws, and things I would 100% like changed.. We shall see where the media onslaught takes it though. I do not think there is much GM can do about it except kick the amperage down, or possibly use a bigger gauge of wire on the cord.
With Toyota's traditional commitment to quality, I think not. Neither the Leaf nor the Tesla has this issue. I was under the impression that only one person was using an extension cord. But even so, the charger cord should have its own shut-off if voltages or currents are outside allowable range. Again, the fact that other plug-in cars do not have these problems suggests a flaw in GM's design. It sounds like they should have used a larger wire and better plug from the beginning. It's just like GM to scrimp on materials.
15 Amps, and even 8 Amps, is a lot. It's more than most extension cords are rated for, especially for prolonged use, for several hours. I'm not surprised that people using inferior outlets and extension cords experience problems. As for Chevy's own cable failing, that is certainly unacceptable and they should replace them all.
This has also been an issue for Leaf ESVE's (at least in UK, where the supplied unit is a 240v plug). Reboound is right, this is a lot of current and need to be treated properly. The Yahoo article that started this tread shows the plug going into a cheap 3way splitter, and the burning is splitter plastic melting. Its true there were some issues in the early ESVE, but no recent reports of problems. The "house fires" that engulfed volts were declared to have started someplace else. The media, like that yahoo article, is just trying to tie old stories to the current hysteria.
I would just like to throw in my 2 cents, as it seems that everyone here is bashing the Chevy Volt. Shame on you, it is possibly the best car on the road today. I own a 2006 prius, and just bought a 2012 volt. No comparision, not even close. My wife now drives the prius, and puts gas in it every month. I have gone 11 months now, no gas. With regard to the charge cord, it wasn't so much the cord but the outlets in the garage that people were plugging the charger into. Many outlets in garages, and carports are well worn, and when the spring contacts that the plug goes into is loose, that causes resistance, which translates into heat, and could potentially cause a fire. The new charger has a heavier plug on it, which is less likely to melt in the event of overheating. It is also now a #14 guage cord from the plug to the charge unit, even though the cord from the charge unit to the car is still a #16 guage . Now why did I buy the volt over a plug in prius? Because I need to go 35 miles every day to and from work. The plug in prius does what, 10 miles, and then burns gas. Sorry that doesn't cut it, and neither did a 100% electric. That is why the volt is kicking nice person now, and the leaf is withering up.
Dave ...glad the Volt works well for you...keep in mind this was a 6-month old thread that you responded to, so we've been on good behavior ever since then. If it was me, my wife would have the Volt and I would have the Prius.
Yeah they make you sign a legal agreement before purchase that you will NEVER use an extention lead to charge your car. Sure people ignore this and still do but you have got to use a lead that's upto the job, not one of those £3 10 meter crappy jobs made in China with no rating or warranty. It might be ok to connect a tv or a couple of phone chargers but not for 13 amps over 12 hours every other day! Also, you must unwind the extension fully even if you don't the full length of it. Infact the UK Leaf has had its charging demand reduced to 220v 10 amp if using a normal plug socket to avoid situations of overloading a 40 year old socket which might have other items plugged in on the circuit; even though the socket should be rated to a continuous 13amps. That's why they do encourage a standalone charge point for the EV and these do give the full 220v 32amp charging (16a on the Leaf). p.s. the UK hasn't been 240 volts for decades now. We were, but reduced to 230 v to fall in line with the rest of Europe (which historically varied from 200 - 240 v ). It's a pain as my kettle now takes a little longer to boil
If the gauge is indeed 16 awg, then I can see where the overheating occurs. I can also see why U.L. approval is vacant. Chevy should be ashamed for doing this approach. What does the European standards say about the Ampera (claiming to be the top seller)? Does the Ampera have same quality of cable as the U.S.? DBCassidy
Ampera has 2.5mm2 thick wires cable. I don't know what gauge that is. Edit: According to this, it's aprox. 10 gauge.
