Converted Nissan EV cause of fire onboard "Pearl of Scandinavia"

[dpeilow]

No - after the initial reply

Thanks for your recent email.

At check in please advise the staff that you will require charging. We do offer these facilities still. Many Thanks

I asked what type of socket they had and then got this

Good afternoon

Thank you for your e-mail.

We have just received an e-mail from the Dana Sirena advising that they can not offer charging of electric vehicles any longer.

Which implies it is at the discretion of the ship's crew, or more likely the crew knew more about the situation than their customer service agents...


Don't forget it was a DFDS ship that had the fire in the first place.

 

[dpeilow]

I've just been chatting with the captain of the Stena Navigator. Thanks to the ship's satellite internet link I was able to show him this thread mid crossing :smile:

He (and other crew) are totally on our side on this issue - they appreciate the difference between a factory EV and poorly engineered conversion. I have a name to contact in HQ. Maybe there is hope...

 

[vfx]

I've just been chatting with the captain of the Stena Navigator. Thanks to the ship's satellite internet link I was able to show him this thread mid crossing :smile:

He (and other crew) are totally on our side on this issue - they appreciate the difference between a factory EV and poorly engineered conversion. I have a name to contact in HQ. Maybe there is hope...

Dave is on fire this month!

 

[dpeilow]

Let's hope not, I'm on another ferry tomorrow morning...

 

[dpeilow]

Currently charging the Roadster on the Ulysses. We had some fun and games to get it up and running but got there in the end.

When I drove onto the ship, of course the crew were not even aware they had an EV charging station on board! I was directed to the wrong deck. The EVSE is J1772 anyway.

I then tried to connect it up to one of the sockets that is provided for reefer trailers. No joy - they don't wire the neutral pin.

Eventually we got charging on 13A. The crew were really helpful and the ship's electricians were really pleased to hear from an EV driver what we need for the future. I gave them a 32A socket that I had in the car to install for others on future trips.

 

[Eberhard]

I did charge my Tesla on my trip from harwich to hook van Holland. I was offered a 32A but it did not work. someone said here on the forum, that there is no neutral pin weired. i assumed, that the 60Hz may be the reason. But i was able to charge with 16A. If an extension cord is used, then it must have at least 2,5 sqmm and the spare cord not being put on the drum. 1,5 sqmm is ok only for 10A.

 

[TEG]

...The EVSE is J1772 anyway...

On a European vessel?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772

...SAE J1772 is a North American standard...

...


http://www.sae.org/mags/sve/NEWS/8862

...SAE hopes J1772 becomes the main global standard for all types of charging. Kissel said that some European OEMs are incorporating the J1772 specifications into their EV designs because the standard is well established. He noted that J1772 is a good solution for Europe because there is no other established standard there and because there are no “completed production tools” for the proposed IEC connectors, “where with the SAE standard, you can actually go out and buy the [Level 1 and 2] connector and plug-in receptacle today.” But it’s not clear that J1772 will win out. Richard Lowenthal, CEO of charging station maker Coulomb, said his company’s biggest client is the city of Amsterdam, whose 120 stations will be equipped with something other than a J1772 connector. “In the U.S., everyone pretty much wants J1772. The story is over,” he said. “In Europe, not so much.”
However things pan out in Europe, at least the J1772 physical interfaces and communication protocols will be the same between the SAE and IEC plugs, said Kissel. The main difference would be in the plastic housing.
Kissel noted that Europe hopes to move from the three couplers in the current draft standard to a single one by 2017.

 

[dpeilow]

Our Nissan Leafs and i-MiEVs have it. It's VHS vs Betamax again.

 

[Eberhard]

J1772 may only useful, where one-phase is available. this is not true in Europe. we have 3-phase. I have in my garage 400V/32A and can charge on only 1/3 of my possible load. This means i have to wait 7 hours for full charge instead of 2.5 hour. Only DC-charging (level 3) can be an international standard. Model S can do 480V with internal charger. Then i can charge with about 14kW, whats better then the current 7kW with my roadster but still less then 22kW being possible.

 

[AndrewBissell]

Eberhard

Actually it's even more complicated! Europe is split between countries where 3-phase to the home is common (e.g. Germany) and those where each home is typically on a single phase circuit (e.g. Britain).

However, I completely support the idea that three-phase charging needs to be supported by the vehicle's on-board charger.

Unfortunately DC fast charge is very expensive to implement, but it will be very important along autobahns.

TEG

It's more complicated too!

J1772 is as I understand it as much a signalling protocol as a connector. There is a connector profile (the SAE one) for single phase up to 70A used in Japan, USA and Europe (for Leaf and iMiev) and a different one (the Mennekes one) promoted largely for Europe that allows either single or 3-phase charging from the same EVSE (up to 63A 3-phase or 70A single phase afaik).

Whereas the SAE profile fixes the cable and connector to the EVSE, the Mennekes one offers a socket on the EVSE. The driver carries a cable with connectors both ends. The cable can be either Mennekes to Mennekes or Mennekes to SAE. In principle (and I believe RWE built some in practice) a Mennekes to Tesla cable will work. So a Mennekes unit in Europe can support a Leaf, iMiev, Tesla (single-phase up to 70A) and a Renault Fluence (3-phase 32A) or Renault Zoe (3-phase 64A).

So maybe we in Europe can end up in a slightly better than betamax vs VHS world, but only if EVSE makers pull their fingers out and deliver on this promise before a huge plethora of SAE profile stations get implemented by default.

Best regards

Andrew

 

[zeroemissioncruzer]

Yeah right...

This type of cover-up is a set back to ev safety progress. AFuture needs to explain in detail what event caused this fire, be honest. It wasn't the plug, the cord or the mismatch of the ships power (circuit breaker protection). The car obviously over-charged, most likely due to improper charger parameters.

 

[JRP3]

Jack Rickard of EVTV speculates that a faulty Battery Management System failed to shut down the Brusa Charger, which is an expensive well controlled unit on it's own, unless a BMS connected through the CAN bus takes over and makes it dumb. Of course Jack thinks every EV fire is the result of a BMS....

 

[Mark Petersen]

the resultes from the fire department clear the home made power cable
and put the blame on the batteri in the car, but unfortunately they can not say way the fire startet, do to the destructive force of the fire
http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE1220300/brand-paa-oslo-baaden-forbliver-uopklaret/

 

[dpeilow]

This appears to be a Roadster charging on the Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry on Feb 9th. So some are getting away with it despite the supposed ban!

Remotion Tesla op de boot naar UK on Twitpic






There was an new owner that was intending to take his car to Germany this way too. I hope they allowed him to charge.

 

[doug]

the resultes from the fire department clear the home made power cable
and put the blame on the batteri in the car, but unfortunately they can not say way the fire startet, do to the destructive force of the fire
http://politiken.dk/indland/ECE1220300/brand-paa-oslo-baaden-forbliver-uopklaret/

Either way, that's very bad news for the company that did the conversion. Are they still in business?? Their website seems to no longer exist.
Domain afutureev.com hosted by DanDomain - www.dandomain.dk

"by the Danish company Afuture"

Doesn't sound like they have much of Afuture.

 

[Fuzzylogic]

This was done last year, before the fire.

it's in dutch:
Een elektrische road trip.... | The New Motion | Elektrisch rijden kan!

 

[TEG]

Afuture.dk redirects here now: Moto Mundo


01 Advanced Innovation : innovation - custom solutions - consultancy

Dansk Elbil Komite - Ombyggere, kunder, mekanikere og importører søges!

 

[Mark Petersen]

hi

yes Afuture.dk closed up shop some time last year
as the business case suffered from to much bad press

and with the new information, it kind of sound like they tried to blame the home made cable
in an attempt to move focus away from the bad design of there battery pack

 

[domenick]

I can't help but wonder if it wasn't a matter of condensation shorting out BMS wires. The Racing Green Endurance team had a fire they attributed to that. Luckily, they were right there when the fire started and able to put it out before it destroyed their car. It happened in Columbia after they removed the car from its (presumably less humid) shipping container.

 

[dpeilow]

Just had confirmation from a dutch Leaf owner that he was able to charge at 16A with a CEE plug on the P&O Ferries Europoort (Rotterdam) to Hull route. That's interesting because when I wrote to P&O back in January they said it wasn't possible. Maybe this prompted a change of heart.

If any dutch Roadster owners fancy coming over to the UK for a tour, Hull is within easy driving range of the Nottingham HPC.


Here's the car in England's Peak District: