Taycan fire in Florida garage

domin1720

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He claims that the owner asked for the post to be removed. I don't know that I would want anyone posting videos of the inside of my garage either, burned or not.
agree but also delete your whole Twitter account as well?
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LonePalmBJ

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This is déjà vu all over again for me.

I drive a Fisker Karma as a daily driver, and have for the past 8 years when I bought it new. There were two early fires - neither having anything to do with the battery or electric drive system - but speculation ran rampant, the uninformed jumped to wild conclusions, fanboys of other brands piled on, the largely EV-ignorant media ran sensational headlines, and ultimately the car was tagged with an unfair association with fire that was simply not borne out by facts or the last 8 years of empirical owner data. I really hope that doesn't happen here. Of course, I also really hope that the car didn't, in fact, spontaneously combust!

Brent
 

abiazis

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This may increase annual insurance rates for insuring a Taycan due to high cost of replacement value? Also the potential speeds of the car may also have insurers tack on some costs? Those of you that have a Taycan....what are your annual insurance costs knowing that they vary by driving record, age, agency and state?
 

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As someone who's Tesla Roadster literally melted its entire battery pack when the Power Management unit failed and routed 240 right into the batteries in my garage I will say these things are VERY rare and the batteries are designed with all kinds of fault protection. My Roadster killed its battery completely but did not start any fire, and that is with 240v going right into the pack.

And these are the early designs. So I am not saying nothing will happen. I am saying odds are very low. I believe Tesla pushes their battery packs much harder and its more likely they would fail, and even then there has been SO FEW fires in all of the Teslas that have been made that its almost a blip. It just makes a good scare story.
compeltely agree. It’s unfortunate that these singular incidents become such big news. Since there are sooo few electric cars that burn/explode compared to gas powered cars. Unfortunately there is a lot of money prestige and political power on the line so any bad news for EVs will always be reported as a catastrophe.
 

felixtb

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This may increase annual insurance rates for insuring a Taycan due to high cost of replacement value? Also the potential speeds of the car may also have insurers tack on some costs? Those of you that have a Taycan....what are your annual insurance costs knowing that they vary by driving record, age, agency and state?
doubt it considering nothing to that effect had happened to TESLA, at least not in Europe........
 


dryii

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This may increase annual insurance rates for insuring a Taycan due to high cost of replacement value?
It shouldn't be any more than a car of similar value. This is one isolated incident. We're far more likely to crash into something while driving.
 

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I know its way too early to speculate.....but I am speculating that the fire started from the charger connections in the house. There were a couple of "garage" fires for Tesla highly publicized in 2013 and 2014, all which turned out to be caused by improperly installed chargers. It simple, people to save a few dollars, either hire someone unlicensed, or do it them selves, and use the "standard" 12 guage wire that is only rated for 16amps, but then connect a 50 or 60 amp breaker, resulting in underrated wires that literally catch fire. A 50 or 60 amp breaker needs 6 guage wire!!

I remember when one of first Tesla home fire occured, i happened about at the same time that Dick VanDycke's brand new Jaguar caught fire will driving down the free with without any accident! https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dick+van+dycke's+jaguar+fire&view=detail&mid=A2520B4AF28787BF0036A2520B4AF28787BF0036&FORM=VIRE
 

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I know its way too early to speculate.....but I am speculating that the fire started from the charger connections in the house. There were a couple of "garage" fires for Tesla highly publicized in 2013 and 2014, all which turned out to be caused by improperly installed chargers. It simple, people to save a few dollars, either hire someone unlicensed, or do it them selves, and use the "standard" 12 guage wire that is only rated for 16amps, but then connect a 50 or 60 amp breaker, resulting in underrated wires that literally catch fire. A 50 or 60 amp breaker needs 6 guage wire!!

I remember when one of first Tesla home fire occured, i happened about at the same time that Dick VanDycke's brand new Jaguar caught fire will driving down the free with without any accident! https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dick+van+dycke's+jaguar+fire&view=detail&mid=A2520B4AF28787BF0036A2520B4AF28787BF0036&FORM=VIRE
I just placed a Taycan Turbo on order last Friday. Never really thought about the fire issue until this story. I'm following closely. I never followed Tesla either so I do not have a lot of historical EV knowledge regarding ownership of on EV. Great point about wire size and amperage that is generated. Providing I go through with my puchase (which at this point I plan to) I will make sure that I overkill the wire size for my charging dock.
 


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Calculating minimum Gauge of wire is a complicated job. Need to factor in things like distance, current, in trunking or surface mounted, stranded or solid core etc...
For normal loads it’s relatively easy but when you are dealing with devices that can draw a sustained large current over long durations then the wiring can easily be under spec and a fire risk.
 

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Calculating minimum Gauge of wire is a complicated job. Need to factor in things like distance, current, in trunking or surface mounted, stranded or solid core etc...
For normal loads it’s relatively easy but when you are dealing with devices that can draw a sustained large current over long durations then the wiring can easily be under spec and a fire risk.
Exactly. And an inexperienced electrician or someone who decides to DIY the home install can easily mess this up.
 

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Exactly. And an inexperienced electrician or someone who decides to DIY the home install can easily mess this up.
It's a very rich person move to buy a $150k+ car and then save a grand or two on the electrical install, it cracks me up. With that said, we don't know the cause yet. Regardless, even from my pessimistic point of view I don't think this is a big deal. Fires happen, car fires happen, it's a thing. If this happens again, sure, but right now it's a non-issue.
 

dryii

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I installed my own charger not only to save a buck but also to learn about the tech and have a sense of accomplishment with a home remodel. Having said that, I've seen a LOT of videos online where people should definitely not be working on their house. Too many corners cut.
 

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It's a very rich person move to buy a $150k+ car and then save a grand or two on the electrical install, it cracks me up. With that said, we don't know the cause yet. Regardless, even from my pessimistic point of view I don't think this is a big deal. Fires happen, car fires happen, it's a thing. If this happens again, sure, but right now it's a non-issue.
Rich <> Smart
Never underestimate the potential for a person to do something stupid.
 

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I installed my own charger not only to save a buck but also to learn about the tech and have a sense of accomplishment with a home remodel.
DIY is a good thing -- as long as it's done with the attitude that you are learning, and will defer to caution, and do everything by the book with safety in mind. You clearly seem to have that attitude, and that's something I can respect. I love DIY stuff because it's a good way to learn, and I enjoy the satisfaction of doing something on my own.

Having said that, I've seen a LOT of videos online where people should definitely not be working on their house. Too many corners cut.
Oh, absolutely. I cringe whenever I see those things. Where people get into trouble is when they DIY something, then decide that they know better than the "best practices" when they see that 6-gauge wire costs way more than 14 gauge. Incredibly fallacious to DIY something you know nothing about, and then decide to cut corners...
 

ceresma

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DIY is a good thing -- as long as it's done with the attitude that you are learning, and will defer to caution, and do everything by the book with safety in mind. You clearly seem to have that attitude, and that's something I can respect. I love DIY stuff because it's a good way to learn, and I enjoy the satisfaction of doing something on my own.



Oh, absolutely. I cringe whenever I see those things. Where people get into trouble is when they DIY something, then decide that they know better than the "best practices" when they see that 6-gauge wire costs way more than 14 gauge. Incredibly fallacious to DIY something you know nothing about, and then decide to cut corners...
4 and 6 gauge wire is also not a pleasure to work with. Hard to cut very stiff!
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