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      11-12-2019, 08:41 AM   #1
Pateeke81
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BMW X5 45e caught fire

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Could very well be a Belgian member as a 45e is still quite rare but we have some members that had their 45e delivered.

https://www.hln.be/nieuws/video-gloe...egem~abc09459/

This is in Dutch but a quick summary:
Car caught fire by itself when parked, was not charging, completely destroyed.


Google translation:


Barely three weeks after delivery, a hybrid BMW of more than 100,000 euros burns out at the municipal school parking lot.

Three other cars were also badly damaged. Cause not yet known.

In the Flemish Brabant town of Eppegem near Zemst, a brand new hybrid BMW X5 45e of more than 100,000 euros was burned out this afternoon. The car - barely three weeks old - was parked in the parking lot of the De Waterleest municipal school. Three other cars also burned out. "It is very painful to have to lose my new car now," says owner Filip Vander Aerschot.

Filip Vander Aerschot from Zemst had been waiting for his new ‘toy’ for eight months: a brand new BMW X5 45e. A new, hybrid model from the German car manufacturer, of which not much is currently driving around the world. "In Belgium I was even one of the first two lucky ones," says Filip. “I was allowed to get behind the wheel three weeks ago. Delicious. ”

But Filip Vander Aerschot has not been able to enjoy his new car for more than 100,000 euros for a long time. His wife, who is a teacher at the De Waterleest municipal school in Eppegem, had driven to work with it on Tuesday. "Around noon she suddenly called me with the message that our car was on fire", the Zemstenaar continues. “The fire was so intense that the car could no longer be saved. Moreover, the fire spread on three other parked cars. Certainly one of them is also ripe for the scrap heap and the other two also suffered serious damage. "

The fire brigade had to bring a container of water to submerge the hybrid car. This extinguishing method is necessary for electric cars because the battery does not stop burning due to normal extinguishing. "Of course it is very painful to have to lose your car that way and barely three weeks after the delivery", Filip mourns. “I'm still shaking on my legs and can't believe it. On the other hand, we can be glad that this happened on a public parking lot and that nobody was injured. Imagine if the car had started to burn in our garage, it would have ended much worse. "

School children were not bothered by smoke

Because the car caught fire near the municipal school, there was a moment of panic that the smoke would blow in the direction of the school. "But we were lucky that the wind blew the heavy smoke in the other direction," says Mayor Veerle Geerinckx (N-VA). “The children did see everything happen, but in the end were not bothered by the smoke. An evacuation was therefore not necessary. "

In the meantime Filip Vander Aerschot contacted other owners of the same BMW hybrid model to see if they too had problems with their car. “One of them informed me that his car could not be delivered on time because there was a chance of a short circuit. I hope that it will soon become clear what the cause of the fire was, so that other owners can be notified in time if there is a general problem. "

Investigation

According to BMW, there have been no problems worldwide with the brand new hybrid model. "But we will of course look at this incident," the spokesperson says. “The wreck will be collected by us and thoroughly investigated. In such cases, however, it is not always obvious to find out the exact cause. If it succeeds, we will contact the owner. To say that it is a short circuit is guesswork. "

According to eyewitnesses, the plug-in hybrid BMW (which in addition to a gasoline engine also has an electric drive, ed) was not charging when the accident happened, research will now have to show how the car could suddenly catch fire.

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      11-12-2019, 08:44 AM   #2
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Oh wow, that’s bad
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      11-12-2019, 09:47 AM   #3
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Very painful, I cannot imagine how I would feel. I hope they investigate this well at BMW and resolve any issue that may have caused this.
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      11-12-2019, 09:54 AM   #4
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Just read / saw the article and I'm considering putting my car outside now instead of in my garage ...

Maybe it's a one off but what if it's not ...

So far I love the car but this isn't the first electric / hybrid fire that catches the news - make me wonder to what extent the cars are really "safe" to just put them inside the house and hope nothing bad happens
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      11-12-2019, 10:05 AM   #5
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I feel sorry for the owner. Waiting for the car for 9 months and then seeing it go up in flames after 3 weeks must suck.

Not getting ahead of things but maybe this has something to do with the recall action to reroute the ground wire.
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      11-12-2019, 10:16 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2REP View Post
Not getting ahead of things but maybe this has something to do with the recall action to reroute the ground wire.
Well on that, I had a call from my dealer yesterday to say that the recall action has been cancelled, BMW Germany are happy with the installation of the earth wire and there is no action to be taken. My car is now scheduled for delivery next Wednesday.

My dealer’s on holiday today, I wonder if I’ll be getting a call tomorrow.

It really doesn’t fill me with much confidence. I’d like to know how quickly it turned into a fireball.

At least it seems that no-one got hurt and it was in a relatively empty car park away from any buildings.
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      11-12-2019, 10:20 AM   #7
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OMG.... I feel for the man...

Indeed a good question about the safety of these types of cars.
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      11-12-2019, 10:27 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by apocalypsbe View Post
Just read / saw the article and I'm considering putting my car outside now instead of in my garage ...

Maybe it's a one off but what if it's not ...

So far I love the car but this isn't the first electric / hybrid fire that catches the news - make me wonder to what extent the cars are really "safe" to just put them inside the house and hope nothing bad happens
I would say that’s a very good idea if your garage is connected or integrated into your home.

I’ve been reading about how hard it is to fire fight and control fires involving lithium batteries and it seems very scary
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      11-12-2019, 10:58 AM   #9
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I have seen how flames shoot out of a Lion battery pack, like a Estes model rocket engine. Check your home insurance to know if you'd be covered or if you need a special rider. I know a Tesla owner who refuses to park his in his garage.
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      11-12-2019, 11:13 AM   #10
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Aren't the battery packs in the rear under the cargo area? It appears the point of ignition on this fire was in the engine area.
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      11-12-2019, 11:25 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleBoy View Post
Aren't the battery packs in the rear under the cargo area? It appears the point of ignition on this fire was in the engine area.
Perhaps it was related to the auxiliary heater then. Logically that would be in or around the engine bay to be close to the rest of the HVAC system.
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      11-12-2019, 11:33 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty in Bgm View Post
I have seen how flames shoot out of a Lion battery pack, like a Estes model rocket engine. Check your home insurance to know if you'd be covered or if you need a special rider. I know a Tesla owner who refuses to park his in his garage.
Impressive - reminds me of the runaway diesel videos. On a side note, you're the first person I've run across in a while familiar with Estes rocket engines.
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      11-12-2019, 11:37 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
On a side note, you're the first person I've run across in a while familiar with Estes rocket engines.
For the first time in almost 40 years I shot a few rockets off this past weekend. My grandson was visiting so we built a rocket and did a few launches. Back then we didn't use an ignition system like nowadays, just a short piece of green fuse, lit it and backed away.
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      11-12-2019, 11:45 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by TurtleBoy View Post
For the first time in almost 40 years I shot a few rockets off this past weekend. My grandson was visiting so we built a rocket and did a few launches. Back then we didn't use an ignition system like nowadays, just a short piece of green fuse, lit it and backed away.
Must be the era . I've run across more than one cow pasture in the past looking for my 'chute. I saw a model of one of the Prodyne engines I used in the Smithsonian. <sigh>
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      11-12-2019, 11:48 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Impressive - reminds me of the runaway diesel videos. On a side note, you're the first person I've run across in a while familiar with Estes rocket engines.
Ooops, guess that shows my age
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      11-12-2019, 12:46 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by six View Post
I would say that’s a very good idea if your garage is connected or integrated into your home.

I’ve been reading about how hard it is to fire fight and control fires involving lithium batteries and it seems very scary
its done, car is expelled from the garage since i don’t trust it to be safe after reading this - i’ll see if I put up a car port or outside separated garage as long as it’s not attached and away from my house
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      11-12-2019, 12:47 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleBoy View Post
Aren't the battery packs in the rear under the cargo area? It appears the point of ignition on this fire was in the engine area.
They are under de rear seat. The fuel tank was moved under the cargo area to make room for the battery pack.
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      11-12-2019, 12:50 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W0ut View Post
They are under de rear seat. The fuel tank was moved under the cargo area to make room for the battery pack.
Okay thanks, then it still looks like they were not the cause of the blaze.
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      11-12-2019, 12:56 PM   #19
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Look on the bright side, now the owner can finally get an M50i!

ICE BMWs have been in the news too with catching on fire. Hopefully this will all get sorted out soon without much more property damage or anybody getting hurt.
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      11-12-2019, 12:56 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W0ut View Post
Just got contacted by BMW explaining the situation.

Cause of fire is probably due to a known issue for which a delivery stop was issued a few weeks ago.

If the car turns out to delivered during the delivery stop, the concession/sales rep will face serious consequences.

Sad thing is that just today BMW issued a manual to all their concessions on how to fix this problem.

Not sure what to think about this. Taking delivery of mine next week.
Wow, whoever contacted you will probably end up unemployed. It is highly unlikely the cause of the fire is known yet and taking blame for it surely can't be something that has been approved.
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      11-12-2019, 02:09 PM   #21
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These batteries will only catch fire in case of:

-intense Charging: not the case here
-high discharge: not the case here either as it was parked
-when there is a short circuit.

For the last point, you can have the short circuit in the battery (very rare unless it got physically damaged) or wherever plus and minus touch. And that's when the fire can start somewhere else than the battery compartment.

From experience, a short circuit of two wires on high powered batteries is like arc welding. Anything near it will burn in a few seconds, or become red hot (metal).
(I once shorted a heavy duty LiPo battery by mistake when repairing the cabling, and had my workbench on fire in a few seconds )

It could also just be a lit sigaret left behind in the car...😉

This said, I ordered my 45e two weeks ago, so I hope they find the cause and solve it (if it needs solving) before my car is delivered in April next year 🤞 (if you order now, delivery is not before July 2020 !!)
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      11-13-2019, 02:17 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TurtleBoy View Post
Okay thanks, then it still looks like they were not the cause of the blaze.
The recall action was not on the battery but on a earth wire connection somewhere in the front left engine compartment.

That location does match with the pictures of the blaze. True still no hard evidence that the two things are related.
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