Ford has issued a recall for more than 50,000 120-volt so-called “convenience” charging cables sold to customers of its battery-powered and plug-in hybrid vehicles in North America.
According to a report in Collision Repair Magazine Ford said using the charging cord in an outlet that is not on a dedicated circuit, is damaged, worn or corroded could result in fires:
We already expect US EV penetration to lag other regions
CBC reported that the company had said there were a total of four reported fires but no injuries. In three of the fires, the owners were using extension cords, which is not recommended by the company.
A note from BMO Capital Markets said Ford’s announcement may be precedent setting and points out that in North America aluminum use in residential wiring as a substitute for copper is more widespread:
On a medium term perspective, it leaves car companies with two options – either rewrite literature to say charging at home will take longer or to potentially sell a domestic wiring upgrade add-on package with the car. We already expect US EV penetration to lag other regions.
According to BMO research copper “the push towards dispersed generation sources for renewable energy, and the need to support grid upgrades for electric vehicle charging” will account for 74% of all copper demand growth to 2025, equivalent to 5.5 million tonnes per year. The world’s mines produced just over 20m tonnes of copper last year.
Copper futures trading in New York gained on Friday to trade at $2.70 a pound ($5,950 a tonne). The bellwether metal is down more than 18% since hitting near four-year highs in June over fears of the impact of a trade war on global demand.
4 Comments
Karin Hall
Those using aluminum wiring should keep a fire extinguisher handy.
LAMB
We have gone through this problem with Aluminum Wiring in houses causing fires, the reason why CANADA now uses COPPER wiring in houses – surely FORD should be aware of the problem and SHOULD use Copper Wiring in their chargers – OR IS THIS A CASE OF FORD TRYING TO SAVE/MAKE MONEY AND PUTTING USERS AT RISK AS A RESULT ??? No, it is NOT widespread to use Aluminum Wiring in houses anymore – been there, done that, learned the hard way with House Fires a result. !!!
buff
Ford apparently did not provide thermal protection for the power plug with the charger cable. The recall indicates they’re replacing cables with new one having a thermally protected plug. Not all manufacturers should be affected. My Honda plug-in hybrid has charging cord equipped with thermal protection. Ford probably saved cost by not including thermal protection.
beneath nylon
Extension cords should never be used. Twist lock heads should be mandatory to prevent plugging into non dedicated circuits.