Plug-in Hybrid Prius Destroyed in Fire

That's sucks. As always people have to work the kinks out of new technology, and some people get impatient and try to buy it for cheaper and this is what you get.
Lesson learned: don't buy aftermarket electronic products for your expensive vehicle.
I wonder how the Tesla's will work once they are out on the street?

 

Wow I knew these things were HOT but this is a little much. I'm guessing it wasn't technology, but some other mistake. If it were me I'd be looking at the charging system for the Li batteries.

Wedge

 

Guess people don't buy laptops anymore either!

 

I would suggest reading the write up at Hybrids Plus - home before anyone jumps to conclusions. They have provided excellent information under the Press Release section.

 

I see Teslas running around here all the time. Testing I guess. They all have manufacturers plates.

 

Any flames? :flame:

 

There was a PHEV prius driving around in my back yard? News to me. I'll be interested do know why it went up in flames.

 

Read the linked press release from post #5.

 

Hi All,

My pure guess is that a conductor or connector in the system was undersized, and routed next to the seat foam. During exteneded EV operation, the conductor got hot enough to ignite the seat foam. If this is the case, upgrading the size of the conductor would be an easy fix.

As to why the conductor/connector is undersized - its probable that the intermitant duty sized conductor/connector on the stock Prius was copied/mated too. When the 30 mile EV mode is used the conductor/connector is running 100 % duty cycle (including AC as it was very hot in the SE that week) and thermally insulated by being up against the foam. It might be prudent to not use pure EV mode for more than a few miles above freezing. Switch to PHEV.

 

There are people out there paying $21,600 to $32,550 to have this PHEV system installed in their Prius? The Hymotion conversion is only $10,000. That seems awfully steep - especially now that their safety record appears to be marred.

 

Referencing the high cost of conversion, it seems some people have some money to burn.

ZC1

 

Once the story hits Main Street USA (via CNN, MSNBC, USA Today, Wall Street, etc) every untenable irrational and faulty conclusion will be brought forth, contaminating the real safety record and reliability of the system, which futher stymies progress and acceptibility of electric cars among the public and among potential first adopters
.
They should be worried of inaccurate bad press and I think that statement (by Efusco) is a smart CYA.

ZC1

 

just read the press release, and I really hate to be a pessimist here, but it sounds like a "lets cover our asses" press release. It's really hard to believe what's said when it comes from the company of the product who had the problem. That being said, they are replacing the packs free of charge, and looking at their website they are some expensive as all MFing hell conversion kits! Might as well buy two Prius cars for that price!

 

The story is about a half month old. It never "hit". Seems the mainstream media considered it a non-issue. Probably because the media is tired of being blasted with my favorite come-back, "How many gasoline related auto fires were there, resulting in fatalities, injury, property damage, and pollution, today alone? ... much less, how many thousands over THIS decade alone?". Heck, the batteries survived, they were not a cause of the fire, and because the company didn't poop out an instant answer as to 'why' it happened ... is that so bad? I like it that they're being thorough with their investigation.

 

Just makes me want the Toyota Plug-In Li version all the more. If it burns - Toyota will replace it and whatever else it burns up (just hope that the toasted items weren't previously alive). :spider:

 

This is really unfortunate. From my limited contact with Davide through the plug-in hybrid list he seems like a great guy. While they are obviously charging a lot for these systems, given the amount of R&D that has gone into it compared to the number of systems sold I doubt they've actually cleared dollar one. Despite that Davide (unlike most other commercial converters) has been very active in supporting the open-source development efforts, frequently chiming in with helpful bits of advise to help keep people on the right track and furthering the public understanding of the details of how the Prius works.

Lets not forget that the reason we will probably see a phev out of Toyota and GM is because of the buzz and proof offered by these early independent converters. It wasn't that long ago that both companies were saying that no one wanted a phev and furthermore the technology wasn't there to do it anyway. So companies like this and the volunteers from Cal-cars (along with long time proponents like Dr. Andy Frank) came along to try and prove them wrong. They went out and built the cars to show it could be done. They drove them to DC and took congressmen for rides. They put the bug in peoples ear that this could be done, and could make a significant difference in our national fuel consumption and that there were plenty of people out there who wanted one. That started people (including congress) asking the automakers why they weren't making phevs.

I say its unfortunate, because this is just the kind of thing that happens in R&D. If you are Toyota you would be testing these things behind closed door and under controller circumstances for years before they were out on the street. The small independent converters don't have that luxury. I believe Hybrids Plus and most the others have done an impressive job testing these things to try and avoid a situation like this. But ultimately given their limited resources and zero technical details from Toyota, they have to enlist the help of others to help put these cars through real world testing to refine the design. Fortunately there are people and organizations out there that see enough value in this technology to help support these efforts, at a significant cost to themselves. As a consequence, that testing is conducted in full public view, not on some closed proving ground. Honestly, the fact that there have not been more incidents like this speaks pretty highly of the quality of work that has gone into these conversions. Given all that I just hope this isn't the sort of event that the powers that be will use to help keep this technology down.

As far as root cause, its very tough to say. I think some of you are on the right track. Its most likely an unintended consequence of the interaction between the oem Prius systems and the phev system. Since these companies have had to reverse engineer the Prius, there is always the possibility of modes of operation that were not anticipated. The only way to find those situations is through real world testing.

Rob

 

I may be mistaken, but doesn't the Hymotion's pack have less range and top-speed EV range? If you have an extra 20 or 30 mile range, rewrite the hardware to allow for freeway speeds, seems like that would be worth it. Especially considering fuel will only continue to spiral ever upward.

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