My VW ID 4 caught fire at Electrify America charging station in Ojai last weekend (November 5, 2023) Immediately after charging began there was a large ball of flame and then tail of flame and smoke. The charger stopped the charge and I waited a while before trying to disconnect. EA charger was welded to my charger port and would not release. We called EA and opened a case and asked for help. We walked home and spent the next few hours requesting technical response. It took five hours for EA technician to arrive and disconnect vehicle. We had car towed to dealer. Charger port is visibly fried and we are not sure what the extent of internal damage to vehicle is. VW is going back and forth with EA and we do not have any updates. Dealer says they have no previous experience with this type of accident and are not sure what extent of damage could be. Has anyone had similar experience? There is not a lot of info out there on this.
I’m not sure I’d call 6 or 7 documented incidents a “tendency”. EA delivered nearly 7 million charging sessions in the last two years, making something like this literally a “one in a million” chance. I’m pretty comfortable with those odds.
If it happens to you or me, sure, it sucks to be us, but between the car warranty, comprehensive insurance, and (if necessary!) VW and EA’s “deep pockets” (in the “ambulance chasing attorney” sense) we’ll all be fine.
As to EV’s “burning alive”, all of these stories have been melted charge ports/wiring and a blown HV fuse link in the car to prevent the car from operating in a potentially dangerous state. No cars have really “burned” in any of these incidents.
But this particular story is a wee bit fishy given the specifics, (date and location) and nothing mentioned on PlugShare and the station is currently in full operation (all chargers online) today. Any investigation and/or repair on EA’s part would take longer to happen before the station reopened.
And let’s not forget to mention the OP is a Redditor of nearly two weeks, with two posts to their name. This one, and an 11 day old “me too” reply to an 8 month old “EA blew up my car” post.
It’s be pissed if my car was damaged by an EA station, but I’m not sure if my first response would be to create a Reddit account and broadcast my cautionary tale to the world exactly twice, with no follow ups. 🤷♂️