The cause of the accident is under investigation. Editor’s note: This article is from ”
future car Daily “(micro-channel public number ID: auto-time), Author: Zhang.

Photo courtesy of respondents

Author | Zhang Yi

Edit | Wang Yan

On October 28, according to a report from the Emperor Che Di, on the evening of October 27, a Weimar electric vehicle caught fire and exploded in the Beijing North Fourth Ring Mechanics Institute. Residents around said they heard a violent explosion, and there was an obvious shock, and the scene was filled with a pungent smell.

At 9 a.m. on October 28th, Weimar Motors confirmed this fact on the official Weibo, and emphasized that no injuries or other property losses were caused. “At present, we are fully cooperating with the public security, fire protection and related supervision departments to carry out accident investigations, and the follow-up results will be announced as soon as possible.” Weimar said.

Weibo Weibo screenshot

This is the fourth spontaneous ignition of an electric vehicle in Weimar Motors in the past 35 days. On September 23, a Weimar EX5 in Wenzhou spontaneously ignited; on October 5, a Weimar EX5 parked on the side of the road in Shaowu City, Fujian spontaneously ignited; in the early morning of October 13, a Weimar EX5 spontaneously ignited while charging. The vehicle burned badly.

The definition of responsibility for car fire and combustion incidents is more complicated. Some combustion accidents occur because of unsafe driving behavior of the car owner or external influence, and part of the reason is from the internal structure of the car.

An veteran in the battery field analyzed the Future Auto Daily (ID: auto-time) and said that current batteries, modules, battery packs, BMS, and complete vehiclesSeveral links, such as design and charging piles, have cases of accidents.

One case is that the battery catches fire or even explodes when the battery is out of control. There are many reasons for the battery to catch fire, such as external (such as collision, puncture, etc.) and internal (such as overcharge, leakage, short circuit, etc.). At this stage, there are also imperfect battery management systems (BMS) and charging piles. Matching or inaccurate control issues.

However, some Weimar car owners reported on Future Auto Daily (ID: auto-time) that there is now a speculation about “modified fuel tank explosion” among the Weimar car owners.

The above-mentioned people said that in order to increase the cruising range in winter, some car owners will choose to “modify the parking heating”, that is, add a diesel engine to the front compartment of the vehicle, and use the diesel engine to heat the passenger compartment to reduce the consumption of electricity by the on-board air conditioner. “Some people even specialize in this modification business. The modification cost is about 3,000 yuan, and the winter battery life after modification can increase by about 10%.”

This is similar to the working principle of the optional battery thermal management 2.0 system launched by Weimar Motors at the end of last year. According to Weimar’s official introduction, the Weimar Automotive Battery Thermal Management 2.0 system adds a diesel heating system (including battery-packed fuel-electric heating + winter endurance extended range) on the original basis. The optional price of this system is 9,800 yuan, which can increase the cruising range from 400 kilometers to 520 kilometers.

However, industry insiders said, “Generally, fuel tanks are designed with explosion-proof functions, so many cars that catch fire will not explode easily.”

Currently, Weimar Motors has two products, namely the compact SUV Weimar EX5 and the medium-sized SUV Weimar EX6. Other products are derivatives based on these two models, such as EX5-Z, EX5 Commemorative Edition, EX6plus Polar Edition, EX6 Plus 6-seater Edition, etc., and the subsidized price range is 149,800 to 288.8 thousand yuan.

According to data from the Travel Association, Weimar Motors sold 16,800 vehicles in 2019, ranking second in the new car echelon, second only to Weilai’s 20,500 vehicles. According to the official data of Weimar Motors, Weimar has sold 6,200 vehicles in the third quarter of this year, an increase of 79.3% year-on-year, of which September sales were 2,107 vehicles, an increase of 38.8%.

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