To separate the topic from 'What did you do today" I went looking for some info on Prius fire cases.
There were a few hits on Google.
I haven't read all the reports but some do date back a while.
https://www.google.com.au/search?rlz=1C ... FnxkL3tRaM
Prius Hybrids, are they a fire risk ?
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Lance
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Prius Hybrids, are they a fire risk ?
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T1 Terry
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Re: Prius Hybrids, are they a fire risk ?
It just depends what battery is in the vehicle and how it is being charged https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_e ... _incidents
My Prius has the nickel metal hybrid battery and they don't catch fire, there was a problem with a battery manufacturer making LiPo cells that didn't have the proper cell voltage monitoring resulting in cells being over charged and bursting into flames. LiPo cells go off like a flame thrower or one of those Roman Candle fire crackers when they get over heated due to over voltage charging and need extra special protection circuits to stop them from over heating or over voltage charging so these blow ups don't happen. Also keep in mind the battery is in the back of the vehicle, so a fire up front has nothing to do with the battery but more likely a petrol fire.
Please don't get confused between LiPo and LFP/LYP batteries, LiPo or lithium polymer by the full name are well known for their tendency to catch fire because they actually generate their own oxygen when over heated, LFP or lithium ferrous phosphate and LYP or lithium yttrium phosphate do not and can not generate their own oxygen so they simply can not catch fire or explode. They can generate enough vapour pressure to either vent or break the plastic case but unless something else ignites the escaping vapour it just produces a white cloud that quickly settles out as droplets and then require a fire to boil them and make them burn, not the other way around.
Tesla use both cell voltage monitoring and liquid cooling to stop their cells from over heating and catching fire but some back yarder extended range battery makers aren't as careful about building a battery that has the very best protection systems fitted... probably because they are clueless about such things and have built a battery as cheap as possible. If some taxi owners have fitted these batteries cause they thought they could save a few $$ and they have caught fire is well and truly beyond the car maker factories control, but that doesn't make sensational headlines eh
All electric vehicle manufacturers are careful not to over charge the battery pack, but some people figure they are smarter and bypass this protection so they can get a bit more range from each recharge You will note that it was only a few of the plug in recharge type batteries that caught fire and just about all of them were taxis..... a bit of a pattern starts to form.....
Does anyone remember the LPG taxi fires? They all lead back to unsafe practices including forklift gas bottles floating around in the boot in place of properly installed LPG tanks and the system installed and tested by a proper LPG installer or systems backyard fitted on the cheap where proper safety requirements were ignored or not understood. There was even one that I bought that turned out to have a stainless tank painted white and installed through the floor of the station wagon where it scraped on the concrete driveway at service stns. Stainless steel tanks were only legal if mounted above floor level and the floor had to still be fully intact to create that second layer of protection, yet this ex taxi had been on the road for 7 yrs like this........
There of course there were the fuel injected taxi fires where the owner decided that the metal fuel filters were too expensive so they fitted the plastic one used on carburettored vehicles. The pressure finally burst the filter and sprayed petrol out either under the taxi or under the bonnet resulting in the thing burning to the ground. It was only after a number of these fires that random safety inspections caught out these idiots, all the ones that had burnt didn't still have the remains of the plastic filter because it burnt as well but this discovery resulted in back tracking these fires and the cause was established.
T1 Terry
My Prius has the nickel metal hybrid battery and they don't catch fire, there was a problem with a battery manufacturer making LiPo cells that didn't have the proper cell voltage monitoring resulting in cells being over charged and bursting into flames. LiPo cells go off like a flame thrower or one of those Roman Candle fire crackers when they get over heated due to over voltage charging and need extra special protection circuits to stop them from over heating or over voltage charging so these blow ups don't happen. Also keep in mind the battery is in the back of the vehicle, so a fire up front has nothing to do with the battery but more likely a petrol fire.
Please don't get confused between LiPo and LFP/LYP batteries, LiPo or lithium polymer by the full name are well known for their tendency to catch fire because they actually generate their own oxygen when over heated, LFP or lithium ferrous phosphate and LYP or lithium yttrium phosphate do not and can not generate their own oxygen so they simply can not catch fire or explode. They can generate enough vapour pressure to either vent or break the plastic case but unless something else ignites the escaping vapour it just produces a white cloud that quickly settles out as droplets and then require a fire to boil them and make them burn, not the other way around.
Tesla use both cell voltage monitoring and liquid cooling to stop their cells from over heating and catching fire but some back yarder extended range battery makers aren't as careful about building a battery that has the very best protection systems fitted... probably because they are clueless about such things and have built a battery as cheap as possible. If some taxi owners have fitted these batteries cause they thought they could save a few $$ and they have caught fire is well and truly beyond the car maker factories control, but that doesn't make sensational headlines eh
All electric vehicle manufacturers are careful not to over charge the battery pack, but some people figure they are smarter and bypass this protection so they can get a bit more range from each recharge
You will note that it was only a few of the plug in recharge type batteries that caught fire and just about all of them were taxis..... a bit of a pattern starts to form.....Does anyone remember the LPG taxi fires? They all lead back to unsafe practices including forklift gas bottles floating around in the boot in place of properly installed LPG tanks and the system installed and tested by a proper LPG installer or systems backyard fitted on the cheap where proper safety requirements were ignored or not understood. There was even one that I bought that turned out to have a stainless tank painted white and installed through the floor of the station wagon where it scraped on the concrete driveway at service stns. Stainless steel tanks were only legal if mounted above floor level and the floor had to still be fully intact to create that second layer of protection, yet this ex taxi had been on the road for 7 yrs like this........
There of course there were the fuel injected taxi fires where the owner decided that the metal fuel filters were too expensive so they fitted the plastic one used on carburettored vehicles. The pressure finally burst the filter and sprayed petrol out either under the taxi or under the bonnet resulting in the thing burning to the ground. It was only after a number of these fires that random safety inspections caught out these idiots, all the ones that had burnt didn't still have the remains of the plastic filter because it burnt as well but this discovery resulted in back tracking these fires and the cause was established.
T1 Terry
A person may fail many times, they only become a failure when they blame someone else John Burrows
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves
Those who struggle to become a leader, rarely know a clear direction forward for anyone but themselves