Lightning storms and BMWi3 electronic failure in UK

[MrsR]

Has anyone had lightning take out their EV car circuitry? I have a much-loved BMWi3 (July 2019) which I bought ex-demo (Dec 2019). During overnight electrical storms in the UK (between Oct 21st-23rd) my Type 2 charging cable failed to charge my car in my garage. The red error light showed. I contacted my local BMW from whom I bought the car. See my photos taken on arrival at BMW. Later BMW left me a voicemail saying my car had shorted out their workshop! The saved voicemail says:
“We’ve had a look and it is a fault with the vehicle. It’s not a manufacturing defect. Obviously when the lightning happened something has triggered”.
You guys in US/Canada have a lot of lightning storms, possibly more than here in UK. Can you help me by sharing what you know about EVs and lightning and what the car companies do to protect their vehicles?
My BMW garage is now working closely with the BMW technical team at BMW UK and for each section of car they test they submit data before they are permitted to start the next section of testing. I have been advised they are only part way through and it will be expensive. I have separately contacted BMW UK customer services in writing to request information about how BMW protect their i3 electronics from lightning surges and electromagnetic pulses.
The BMW i3 is a carbon fibre body so can it act as a Faraday cage? Are the electronics housed in a metal box? I can’t find that information online and no-one from BMW UK has responded to my information request despite being advised their policy is to reply within 2 working days. Is such information in the public domain? Do any of you who have posted videos working on your own cars know what protection is there?
My second problem is my current (excuse the pun) confidence in the vehicle being fit for purpose. Yes I absolutely love this car like no other car I’ve had before. But given that the BMW service tech said “when the lightning happened something has triggered” what if lightning should “trigger” my car again? Should I even accept my car back?
It would be helpful for me to know: have any of you in the EV community had experience of lightning followed by electronics failure of BMWi3 (or indeed any other make of EV)? Thankyou.

 

[alohart]

I'm not aware of power surge protection in an EVSE that would prevent a power surge from passing through an EVSE into the on-board charger where it could cause damage. I would never leave an EVSE plugged into our i3 if a lightning strike might occur because that could cause a damaging power surge. I don't ever leave our EVSE plugged in after charging has completed because our electrical power supply probably has more power surges and other power irregularities than in most developed countries.

That said, I don't recall reading of any damage caused to an i3's electronics by power surges which makes me wonder whether some sort of surge protection exists in EVSE's or in the on-board charger. I haven't found any warnings about potential power surges while charging in the Owner's Manual. Hopefully, someone with definitive knowledge will reply.

 

[MrsR]

Thanks for your reply. I agree about the BMW manuals, to me they sound very relaxed about using "any standard household socket" . Thankyou for your search.

 

[SSi3]

Yikes sorry to hear!

I've always worried about this and make sure to not charge anytime there's a threat of lightning storms as they are pretty common around here (Ontario, Canada).

I've thought about a whole-home surge protector, would probably be an even wiser investment now with an EV in the garage... think i'll look into one again now that you've got me thinking about this again

 

[MrsR]

Thanks, yes it is probably a sensible idea to explore that.

 

[frictioncircle]

Just adding on to say that I've not heard of lightning damaging i3 electronics either.

Regarding the CFRP structure being a "Faraday cage", I would suspect that it wouldn't be a very good one as if it was, any mobiles in the passenger compartment would see decreased performance. That said, I would think the CFRP to be relatively non-conductive but given astronomically high voltages, most materials conduct, eventually.

I think when your BMW shop said your i3, "... had shorted out their workshop!" they were engaging in hyperbole. Worst-case scenario, if there was a dead short to ground while they plugged your i3 in to charge, the only thing that should have tripped would be the circuit breaker that served their EVSE.

 

[frictioncircle]

In the early days of the i3, some of BMW's internal training documents made the rounds.

Here's the one that relates to the HV system, but if you want to track them all down, searching for "BMW University" + "i01" should work. The original document set comprised 12 PDFs.

https://dokumen.tips/documents/tech...ion-i01-high-voltage-components-1.html?page=1

 

[MrsR]

Thanks so much for the link. It could well save us some time when getting the charge controller checked over.

 

[Mikesparky]

Wow a near new BMW i4 not plugged in had suffered major failure after a local lightning strike storm in London Hornchurch last night. Car has been taken away on a low loader! There is a problem with EV cars and lighning strikes.

 

[Mikesparky]

Has anyone had lightning take out their EV car circuitry? I have a much-loved BMWi3 (July 2019) which I bought ex-demo (Dec 2019). During overnight electrical storms in the UK (between Oct 21st-23rd) my Type 2 charging cable failed to charge my car in my garage. The red error light showed. I contacted my local BMW from whom I bought the car. See my photos taken on arrival at BMW. Later BMW left me a voicemail saying my car had shorted out their workshop! The saved voicemail says:
“We’ve had a look and it is a fault with the vehicle. It’s not a manufacturing defect. Obviously when the lightning happened something has triggered”.
You guys in US/Canada have a lot of lightning storms, possibly more than here in UK. Can you help me by sharing what you know about EVs and lightning and what the car companies do to protect their vehicles?
My BMW garage is now working closely with the BMW technical team at BMW UK and for each section of car they test they submit data before they are permitted to start the next section of testing. I have been advised they are only part way through and it will be expensive. I have separately contacted BMW UK customer services in writing to request information about how BMW protect their i3 electronics from lightning surges and electromagnetic pulses.
The BMW i3 is a carbon fibre body so can it act as a Faraday cage? Are the electronics housed in a metal box? I can’t find that information online and no-one from BMW UK has responded to my information request despite being advised their policy is to reply within 2 working days. Is such information in the public domain? Do any of you who have posted videos working on your own cars know what protection is there?
My second problem is my current (excuse the pun) confidence in the vehicle being fit for purpose. Yes I absolutely love this car like no other car I’ve had before. But given that the BMW service tech said “when the lightning happened something has triggered” what if lightning should “trigger” my car again? Should I even accept my car back?
It would be helpful for me to know: have any of you in the EV community had experience of lightning followed by electronics failure of BMWi3 (or indeed any other make of EV)? Thankyou.

IX 1 suv last night has failed after local lighning strike London Hornchurch. Car trailered away now

 

[Dutchi3]

A few years ago, a thunder storm passed by during daytime, when I was working and my car was parked in front of the house where I did my job. When I wanted to go home, my car would not start and was throwing me some error messages. Ultimately the car needed to get towed away to the dealer as the road assistance could not help out. $3000+ repair....

A BMS module in the pack had failed. I think it was no coïncidence that it was an electrical defect invoked by the thunderstorm, although there was no direct lightning impact in the neighborhood. Kind of like how an EMP weapon takes down electronics.... so be aware of thunderstorms especially nearby. The dealer denied that it could happen, of course. To be fair, the early BMS modules could fail early and later models got an upgraded module, I hope they used a later model for the repair. There was no recall for that to exchange the module, the pack has to be removed from the car so BMW did not bother.

Maybe the same goes with modern ICE cars too, so I think in general, nowadays cars are more susceptible to intense electric fields like a lightning storm passing close by.

 

[Mark Johnson]

This is the first I have heard of any sensitivity to lightning. Mine is a 2017 REX, in Texas.