So, my car was hit by lightning at the Grove City, OH supercharger...

[CUBldr97]

Okay, I asked Paul at the Columbus service center and he laughed and said he could see what he could do. I also have a small update but I will wait till he sends me the info he would email me.

Love your moniker "Sarah Day: Lightning charging her Model S since May 2015
Destroyer of Superchargers"
GLad you kept your sense of humor through all this...

 

[kuttakamina]

Man the SpaceX supercharger doesn't work very well, does it?

 

[lagann]

Love your moniker "Sarah Day: Lightning charging her Model S since May 2015
Destroyer of Superchargers"
GLad you kept your sense of humor through all this...

Omg, I have more than my sense of humor, this is all super fascinating! I keep eagerly awaiting the smallest updates from them. I wish I could be there to watch them, actually.

 

[S'toon]

Update at Teslarati:

It’s been a week since Sarah Day’s Model S got struck by lightning while she was at a SuperCharger facility. So far, she reports Tesla really has no idea what happened to her car, but the technicians at the local Tesla Service Center have been kept busy trying to repair it.
She understands the battery has been removed and sent off to the factory in California, where Tesla engineers “are almost giddy to get their hands on it,” she says. Apparently this is a first of its kind event and the company is putting every effort into trying to understand what happened. Sarah has been told that there may be an official announcement from Tesla when they get it all figured out.In the meantime, she says “All eyes are on Columbus.” The incident occurred in Ohio, not Georgia as I originally thought. She has asked to be provided with a full technical analysis of what happened to her car and what it will take to fix it when that information becomes available.For now, there seems to be no correlation between the lightning strike and the fact that her car was charging at the time. It seems Sarah was just unlucky that the lightning came so close. It may be cool to be the center of attention at Tesla headquarters for a little while, but I think by now she would prefer to have her car back so she can get on with her life.

http://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-s-struck-lightning-charging/

 

[brianman]

This has the makings of a very interesting blog post, like some of the .. um ... "pre underbody shielding" blog posts.

 

[scottm]

There may be a case here for Tesla to reduce ride height of air suspension, back down to what it was originally, to help duck lightening strikes while charging.

 

[brianman]

There may be a case here for Tesla to reduce ride height of air suspension, back down to what it was originally, to help duck lightening strikes while charging.

I'd got the other way...

I'd love to see "Elon style" analysis how a current production Model S should behave when directly hit. What systems would need to be replaced? Would the battery be cooked or are there mechanisms in place to prevent that? Etc.

 

[Chris TX]

Here's a thought:

A few months ago, I had just finished a Supercharging session when the charge ring went red and the car said "Service Now!" That's when my main pack contactors failed (welded shut.) I wonder if Sarah's contactors were going to go bad anyway at this charging session and when the lightning struck nearby, the EMF burst caused the Supercharger to simply halt charging. When the charging session ended, all the symptoms Sarah described sound exactly like mine did, just without the weather event.

This might be a bit more innocuous than it's being made out to be.

- - - Updated - - -

This has the makings of a very interesting blog post, like some of the .. um ... "pre underbody shielding" blog posts.

Maybe a grounding strap that drops down when it's in Park?

 

[Xenoilphobe]

They should have you appear in the next Back to the Future movie

 

[Cyclone]

Here's a thought:

A few months ago, I had just finished a Supercharging session when the charge ring went red and the car said "Service Now!" That's when my main pack contactors failed (welded shut.) I wonder if Sarah's contactors were going to go bad anyway at this charging session and when the lightning struck nearby, the EMF burst caused the Supercharger to simply halt charging. When the charging session ended, all the symptoms Sarah described sound exactly like mine did, just without the weather event.

This might be a bit more innocuous than it's being made out to be.

Yup, I posited a similar theory. The strike stopped the a Supercharging session and the car acted up because of that.

Thanks for the update. I just wanted to say it is more likely that the Supercharger took out your car than your car taking out 4A and 4B. And I honestly hope that there was not actually any surge damage to your car, but actually a side effect. When we plug into Superchargers, we cannot simply yank out the cord. We press the button and the Supercharger and Car cleanly disable the charger and you can then unplug. Maybe the strike killed the Supercharger and the car acted up from suddenly having the charger "yanked" from it.

 

[beeeerock]

They should have you appear in the next Back to the Future movie

"If my calculations are correct, when this baby (supercharger) hits 88 (kW) you're going to see some serious s*&%!"

 

[lagann]

So, Paul from the service center called me. The car is working now, and everything seems to be working the way it's supposed to work. I'm going to hold off on saying what they did to the car till I get the email from him containing detailed explanations since I can't remember exactly everything he said, and I want to be as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, the people at the service center don't know what went wrong. The engineers at corporate were doing all the analysis and were basically relaying instructions on what to do for the car. He said that when the engineers give him the details on that he will be sure to let me know ASAP. He hasn't said anything about the passenger visor, though.

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This has the makings of a very interesting blog post, like some of the .. um ... "pre underbody shielding" blog posts.

What do you mean about a blog post? I don't really have a blog, but I could write something up when everything is finished.

 

[EdA]

So, Paul from the service center called me. The car is working now, and everything seems to be working the way it's supposed to work. I'm going to hold off on saying what they did to the car till I get the email from him containing detailed explanations since I can't remember exactly everything he said, and I want to be as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, the people at the service center don't know what went wrong. The engineers at corporate were doing all the analysis and were basically relaying instructions on what to do for the car. He said that when the engineers give him the details on that he will be sure to let me know ASAP. He hasn't said anything about the passenger visor, though.

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What do you mean about a blog post? I don't really have a blog, but I could write something up when everything is finished.

I think he means a blog post by Elon on the Tesla Motors website (Updates | Tesla Motors)

 

[lagann]

I think he means a blog post by Elon on the Tesla Motors website (Updates | Tesla Motors)

Ohhhhh, that makes sense. It's taking too long to know what happened. If you can't tell, I'm a bit impatient.

 

[ibdb]

If you can't tell, I'm a bit impatient.

That makes sense. You're used to things happening at lightning speed.



I'll show myself out... :wink:

 

[Ugliest1]

What do you mean about a blog post? I don't really have a blog, but I could write something up when everything is finished.

I'm going to wait for the movie. You know... "Destroyer of Superchargers". Sounds better than "Conan".

And ibdb, my stomach is still hurting from being unable to stop laughing.

 

[brianman]

Maybe they want you to fly out to shake Elon's hand and witness him signing your visor?

That would be awesome. We want pictures!

 

[EdA]

Glad the car is ready to be picked up.
Make sure to be carrying a light bulb when you get in, perhaps it will glow like
in an Abbott and Costello film

 

[Cyclone]

Given this...

I've been told, though it's not official, that it was most definitely damage from the lightning. I know for sure they replaced the battery with a new one, but then I was told a long list of electrical components in the high voltage system. Oh, they had to replace both chargers, too.

I can totally understand you position on this...

As for the legal document, apparently it's a statement that once I get the car, if any more damage is found to be caused by the lightning strike then I have to cover the cost. It is a bit upsetting. Without the explanation of what happened, how do I know that it wasn't something that was supposed to protect against this that failed? Or what if the supercharger malfunctioned from it and damaged my car? Plus, whenever anything goes wrong in the car they could say it was the lightning. Paul said not to worry because Tesla would never do that, but that's not what the form is going to say. Lawyers...

My guess is that the lawyers would be worried you would forever say X is wrong, maybe it was the lightning, replace it. Then Y is wrong, maybe it was the lightning, replace it. That said, a goodwill on your specific car for these potentials would go a long way, even if you were the type to abuse it and get more changed (and I'm not saying you are). Ultimately, I hope the info in the contract is overgeneralizing and they instead have paperwork saying that unless something can be definitively linked to being a result of said lightning strike, normal warranty/customer-pay rules apply. Because, as described, they could also refuse warranty work altogether and make it customer-pay. Others on the forums have reported that, for instance, TSBs may not be applied free of charge if the car is past the mileage warranty. Stuff that like is what I would predominantly worry about.

In the end, I hope we are all worrying over nothing and all is well! Good luck Sarah!

 

[bonnie]

@lagann - When they're prepping the vehicle for return to you, you might ask them to have Elon sign it with a lightning bolt on your passenger visor with the date of the strike. He (and Tesla employees generally) is (are) cool enough they might like the idea and get it done for you. If not, bonnie might be able to hook you up; she's done some visor stuff before for TMC folk.

That would be amazing! Who would I ask to get this done?

I'd start with your current contacts at service and ask them to float the request up the chain.

Okay, I asked Paul at the Columbus service center and he laughed and said he could see what he could do.

If that doesn't work out, send me a pm & I'll see what I can do.