Well, this is not good: Prius charging station may have started Corte Madera fire - SFGate "An explosion and fire, which may have been sparked by a Toyota Prius charging in a garage, damaged a two-story condominium in Corte Madera and killed a cat Tuesday evening, a fire official and a resident said." Not clear if it is an actual Plug-in Prius or an aftermarket conversion.
Sadly, the media may run with this, speculating & suggesting without facts. Watch to see if any question whether or not an extension-cord was being used. If any do, which probably isn't likely, will they ask what gauge is appropriate for recharging? For that matter, what does "charging station" even refer to? Was it an aftermarket level-2 charger? What about the circuit itself? Needless to say, lack of detail makes a mess of the situation.
The Marin Independent Journal quotes it as being a 2004 model... not a factory plug-in. Corte Madera home damaged after car fire sets off explosion in garage - Marin Independent Journal
Probably the Prius gas tank exploded If the car was on fire.. Not enough facts in any of the articles to speculate on the cause. All I know from this is that it's not a 2013 Prius Plug-in. That's good news to me.
She does say it's a 2004, but she didn't say anything about Charging. The Marin article doesn't mention charging at all.
Right now, nothing can be concluded. Need more information. 2004 Prius would not be Plug-In unless the owner modified it. Only other thing I can think of is engine block heater, which seems unlikely but gets down into 30s I see.
Just saw this on local channel 5 KPIX (CBS). They said it happened Tuesday at 6 pm and that they talked to the owner. He said he was using an aftermarket adapter and not one from Toyota. Very unclear if this means an older Prius with add on battery or a PIP with a 3rd party charger or other EVSE. Mike
Fire Destroys a Pioneering Plug-In Prius Conversion - NYTimes.com A conversion according to NY Times Fire Destroys a Pioneering Plug-In Prius Conversion “This unfortunate fire unequivocally has nothing to do with today’s production plug-in hybrids.”
The NYTimes article states that nearly 40,000 plug-in hybrids were sold in Calif. in 2012. Funny that only around 9000 green stickers for HOV access were issued.
Well, this exactly illustrates the potential dangers of DIY or various aftermarket packs. Those folks almost certainly don't have nearly as much expertise (nor resources) in design, design review, testing, safety, safeguards, etc. as major auto OEMs, not to mention the latter could be the target of costly recalls, big lawsuits and negative PR/media attention. There seem to by some typos related to the guy's name but About the CalCars Initiative for Plug-In Hybrids currently says:
A conversion is only as good as the converter. Until investigated, the cause could be the car, a cable, a connector, or the wiring in the house.
Great point!!! Anyone who has anything to say on what happened at this early stage is pushing an agenda rather than representing facts!!!
Well, I just got this email... It's a sad day for a small group of entrepreneurs that helped push us towards our modern day plugin hybrid technology... Be well, Deane ----------------- -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [calcars-news] CalCars' First Prius Conversion Destroyed in Fire Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:54:59 -0800 From: Felix Kramer <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: calcars-news-yahoogroups.com <[email protected]> CalCars' first Prius, converted to plug in by advocates in 2004, updated in 2010 with a commercial system, was destroyed in a fire on Wednesday. It's a sad end for a vehicle that gave hundreds of public officials their first opportunities to drive electric and helped inspire a campaign that brought us the Chevy Volt, the Prius Plug-in and other plug-in hybrids and extended-range electric vehicles. It's also a huge personal setback for its owner, Ron Gremban, CalCars Technology Lead. (Shortly after it goes out on email, this posting will also be viewable at CalCars-News Archive -- there you can add CalCars-News to your RSS feed.) The New York Times story below, by Bradley Berman, founder of HybridCars.com and PlugInCars.com, explains the situation. Because of the extent of the damage, there's much we don't know and may never know about the cause of the fire. Here are a few preliminary broad points: * It's fortunate that no humans were injured, especially Ron's partner, Lynne McAllister, who discovered the fire and notified the fire department; it's very sad that one of their cats died and the other is missing. And the damage to their home is a heavy financial setback from Ron and Lynne. * This incident has NO implications for mass-produced plug-in vehicles. Ron's car used nickel-metal hydride batteries, the same battery type used in the original Prius and in other conventional hybrids for the past 15 years. Today's production PEVs use lithium-ion batteries. This commercial conversion did not use the current industry-standard J-plug found in all the fully validated and tested cordsets in production vehicles. * What happened can be put in perspective when compared to the internal combustion industry's record, chronicled by the National Fire Protection Association: from 2003-2007, an annual average of 287,000 vehicle fires, 480 civilian deaths, and $1.3 billion in direct property damage. NFPA :: Safety Information :: For consumers :: Vehicles * In 2004-2005, our message was that amateurs and engineers working in a garage could show how we could have cars that plug in NOW, with batteries that were "good enough to get started" and would improve. We encouraged the media and the public to imagine how much better and safer they would be when mass-produced by automakers. These conversions drove home the benefits to drivers, the economy, the auto industry, the environment, and national security. (This story is well told in early news stories CalCars in the News 2004-2005 and CalCars Early Years News Stories , and chapters in dozens of books, especially in Sherry Boschert's "Plug-In Hybrids, the Cars that Will Recharge America" Books that Focus on or Discuss Plug-In Hybrids (PHEVs) .) * This first conversion and many dozens more completed through our Open Source Prius+ project proudly announced that they got "100+MPG" of gasoline, plus a few cents a mile of "cleaner, cheaper, domestically produced" electricity. They and about 1,000 other conversions by small companies had a giant impact. They helped reach the goals of CalCars, the Electric Auto Association, Plug In America, and others: raising awareness, getting opinion leaders the opportunity to experience driving electric, and encouraging carmakers to mass-produce all types of plug-in vehicles. * 80,000 plug-in cars have been sold since the end of 2010 Electric Car Sales . And it's been clear for some time that the era of small-scale hybrid conversions was drawing to a close. We still hope that more companies will jump into a larger opportunity -- converting tens of millions of internal combustion engines to plug in, an idea we promoted heavily from 2009-2011 Join the Campaign to Electrify World's 900+ Million Vehicles . And we still have much to do to bring PEVs into the mainstream, through DrivingElectric.org and other efforts supported by CalCars, EAA, PIA and allies. * Finally, about Ron. He's a talented and resourceful engineer, a good writer, and a smart strategist. CalCars, founded in 2002, got its most important jump-start when he came on in 2004 and led the conversion project and many subsequent programs. He devoted his life to this effort from then until he got his Chevy Volt at the end of 2010. Due to budget constraints at CalCars, he was largely a volunteer. Ron's costs in rebuilding his home and replacing damaged possessions and his car will not be fully covered by insurance. We have already received inquiries from people who would like to help. If you would like to donate directly, please reply to this message or write to sponsor (at) calcars.org . Thanks for all the support and help this community has provided over the years. Fire Destroys a Pioneering Plug-In Prius Conversion - NYTimes.com
