Random EV thoughts.....

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120898204#Comment_120898204

I'm sure the firefighting systems on the ship were fully operational and the crew were well trained in emergency procedures. It definitely wasn't registered in Panama to avoid various taxes and safety or employee protection laws 😬

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120898204#Comment_120898204

It's amazing what they can push into a container and ship off to India etc,(I know that's a RoRo though)

We're changing our combine and an option for selling our old one is export.

There's someone in Omagh that has a takeaway and also exports machinery, they land with a container, take off wheels/whatever they need to take off and push it into a container.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120897599#Comment_120897599

Easygo did a deal with eir to swap a few payphones for 50kW chargers and I have seen some photos of dual branded eir/easygo 50kW chargers like below in mayo.

Looks like BT in NI are looking to do similar. I don't understand how a payphone translates to a good site for a 50kW charger but maybe they have good contacts with the council and maybe old ducting could be used to drag high power cable. Maybe eir put in new ducting to allow easygo to install the charger.

veryangryman

So I see alot of recommendations to only charge the car to 80 as its inefficient and slower to go beyond

Does this principle apply to charging DC only or both types including home..

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120900810#Comment_120900810

DC only, and to be absolutely clear the 80% rule isn't a rule, it's a very very broad recommendation

Under ideal circumstances the charging speed of the car will have slowed to the point where it's better to move on to another charger

However there's plenty of circumstances where that isn't true. For example if you have something like an ID.4 plugged into a 50kW charger, that'll pull everything the charger can give right up to around 90% SoC

So if you're fully using the charger, and you need the juice then is there any point moving on?

Yeah it's probably quicker overall to move on to a more powerful charger, but sometimes it's simpler to just grab a few extra kilowatt-hours and not break up the journey too much

The 80% recommendation was created to stop people pulling 10kW from a 50kW charger when they didn't need to. In my view, as long as you're using a reasonable amount of power the charger can provide and you need the charge then you can go beyond 80% at your leisure

I also haven't found many situations where I need or wanted to go beyond 80%. Last couple of times I used fast charging I unplugged before 70%, I had what I needed and since DC charging costs around 5x the cost of home charging (or infinity times if charging from solar) I didn't really see any reason to take on more than I needed

veryangryman

Yeah I'm getting better at just taking what I need plus 5 percent to get me home. Or goto 80 if a longer trip.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120900955#Comment_120900955

I tend to think of DC charging like a water seller in the desert who charges €10 for a bottle of water

Yeah, you're gonna buy some water rather than die of dehydration. But you probably won't buy more than you need to get to the next stop

Same logic for charging, it's the most expensive option so you'll probably only use what you need and no more

We're in a position at the moment where we have EVs that can pull a lot of power beyond 80% SoC and the number of chargers is increasing dramatically

The rollout is still slower than I'd like, but chargers aren't quite as rare as gold dust as they were a few years ago

So I think the 80% rule is slightly outdated nowadays. I understand if there's a queue it can be incredibly frustrating seeing another car trying to charge to 90% or more, but if they need the charge then they have a legitimate reason to be using the charger

zg3409

Some manufacturers recommend 80% like VW and Tesla (depending on battery and car) even home charging. If you need the 100% then charge to 100%

DaveyDave

Not really EV related but the seat in my car is wet. I'm going to buy one of those Unibond dehumidifier yokes for €15 in Woodies but I'm wondering in the mean time is it worth using remote AC or am I better off using heat?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120901396#Comment_120901396

Both, so you get hot, dry air which will help dry things out more

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120901396#Comment_120901396

I would just park the car with the sun on the wet seat outside my house with the doors open (If we get the sun again..😋)

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120901396#Comment_120901396

I've got both cars set to precondition to 16C with AC every morning in summer. I find it keeps some fresh air going into the car when they aren't being used and that stops any damp or mould

I'm winter I'll gradually raise the temp, first to 20C and then maybe 23C in the really cold months

fits

We charged a couple of times over 80% in France but we were doing long long days driving. Saved visiting a charger a third time.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120898094#Comment_120898094

Looks like the statement that an EV fire was the suspected cause wasn't true. It was attributed to an unnamed coast guard sportsperson by a single news outlet

https://electrek.co/2023/07/26/surprise-media-is-misreporting-the-source-of-a-dutch-cargo-ship-fire/

Looks like RTE got caught up in the BS as well

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2023/0726/1396538-cargo-ship-fire-netherlands/

Maybe it was an EV that started it, but that's currently unknown and there's been no official statement saying it was suspected

I've emailed feedback@rte.ie to request they correct the article. They'll probably ignore me but all we can do is try

CoBo55

There was a horrific accident locally where a VW commercial vehicle went on fire, yep, within hours it was an electric car...

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120898204#Comment_120898204

Reading the AP article, the coast guard were saying the fire is difficult to extinguish given the number of cars ablaze in the hold

It sounds like the cars weren't remotely made safe for transport before being loaded. They should have their fuel and fluids drained and batteries disconnected and removed

The EVs should have been discharged and had HV batteries disconnected

Sounds like none of that happened and the freighter was essentially a giant bomb just so it'd be quicker to load and unload the cars

This is why maritime shipping is an absolute deathtrap 😬

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902312#Comment_120902312

I imagine the situation went something like:

Press: We understand there was a man from Cavan on the crew manifest.

Coastguard: Yes, there was a man from Cavan on board

Press: Could the man from Cavan have started the fire

Coastguard: We have no information on how the fire started, we will investigate all possible causes including whether it was a man from Cavan

Press Headline: Man from Cavan possible cause of fire.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902469#Comment_120902469

Those damn Cavan men starting fires again 😂

I agree, I'd say some junior member of the coast guard got cornered for a statement and was asked a question in a way where they could only say yes and then the press just ran with the EV fire line

As I said, maybe it was an EV that caused the fire, but that isn't known yet and it's entirely inappropriate for the press to speculate like that, particularly when there were only 25 EVs onboard versus almost 3,000 ICE cars

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902312#Comment_120902312

While I'm sure it's safer to effectively decommission cars prior to transport, essentially thats the state all cars / trucks are transported on ferries. Was on a ferry from pembroke to rosslare last week and because Sealink had cancelled all sailings, the ferry was packed to the hilt with cars and trucks so I would hate to be on board had a fire occurred.

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120902312#Comment_120902312

How in practice are you going to drain tanks, then load cars, then fill tanks, bleed fuel system and unload cars? I assume new cars have minimal fuel and cars going for scrap or moving to third world have minimal fuel. Unloading needs to be fast as time is money and these ships typically load up and go asap.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120903308#Comment_120903308

Yeah true, I guess a ferry tends to go over shorter distances so there's lower risk

It also makes you wonder about the firefighting gear aboard the ship. Even if the EVs didn't start the fire, they're probably contributing to the blaze now along with the other vehicles

You'd think the firefighting systems would be designed to handle a vehicle fire and could essentially flood the hold with foam and water

kanuseeme

Got my car from japan 9th of june, followed it from japan, it stopped in Singapore, Cyprus , Malta , Spain and finally Belgium, there it got offloaded and put on another ship to Dublin,

Picked it up with half tank of petrol and some trim in the back seat, drove it home and started putting the trim back , my guess was the 12 v was disconnected and the main traction battery also, as the cover was not replaced.

My guess is, for short trips they do nothing, for the longer trips they have more time to open and disconnect things, some ports the stay was very short, less than a day, the ship was a few days in Belgium then onto Hamburg and Sweden, same ship is now off Wollongong https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:313143/zoom:10

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:313143/zoom:10 its amazing the number of ships at sea, you can see the shipping lanes if you zoom in a little, each colour is a different type of vessel.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120903439#Comment_120903439

I get what you're saying but "takes too long" isn't an excuse for skipping on safety. If the vehicles can't be made safe before departure then the ship needs to be equipped to handle any emergencies en route

This isn't an isolated incident, there was another fire onboard a car carrier in the Atlantic a few years ago

And to be frank, EV fires are rare but they're incredibly intense and difficult to put out. If they can't handle a bunch of petrol cars then how's it going to go when a shop full of EVs goes up in flames?

zg3409

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120903532#Comment_120903532

You abandon ship as was the case here.

Once a fire has taken hold there is notyvh you can do. Smoke obscures visibility and even if crew are trained and have all the gear and the fire is detected quickly it can easily spread. They can't our out car fires easily in multi storey car parks, so on a ship things are far more difficult with a small crew like this ship. Try to tackle it, give up and call for help.

Old diesel

EVs have been transported on ships from Teslas departure ports and also out of Korea and China for several years now.

Is it known what the safety record is like on those other routes (ie not leaving Germany).

If there hasn't been a major incident like Felicity Ace or this weeks incident with Tesla deliveries or Korea/China.

Is there lessons to be learnt from that or is it just pure luck.

Also might we eventually figure a link between particular models of car and particular incidents.

liamog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120904788#Comment_120904788

Imagine if this fire turns out to be another Zafira, they've been recalled 3 times for fire risk

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120904865#Comment_120904865

I was just thinking that myself, that car must have the highest kill/death ratio of any car ever made

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120904865#Comment_120904865

I’m no maritime expert but it’s unlikely that any Zafiras had their engines running and PTC fans on while onboard the ship.

sh81722

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906217#Comment_120906217

That's the thing: The zafira that burnt the Cork shopping centre was not running either. The PTC heater on them have a permanent live from the battery probably due to cost cutting. High current DC relays are expensive.

unkel

Looks like there were 500 EVs on board and also hundreds of Mercedes cars. I think that supports my speculation that this is a shipment of end of life bangers to Africa. God knows how many safety shortcuts would have been taken on a shipment like that. I hope time will tell.