A couple of days after a number of Nikola electrical semi-trucks have been engulfed in fireplace in Phoenix, new info revealed that the vans’ battery modules had defects. The corporate suspected foul play, however a latest investigation reveals different attainable causes.

The Phoenix fireplace division responded to the incident, and its Hazardous Supplies crew rushed to the spot to douse the flames. A brand new report reveals that engineers detected corrosion within the cells and that the cells would self-discharge, as per inner paperwork obtained by Electrek.

Nikola Company agreed to accumulate battery provider Romeo Energy final yr for $144 million. Romeo specializes within the design and manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for business automobile purposes, and the transaction is alleged to save lots of Nikola $350 million yearly on battery-related prices.

The workforce investigating the matter discovered that a number of modules confronted the identical cell corrosion challenge. They traced the difficulty to laser welding, which punctured battery cells within the modules. The cells have been corroding inside simply two check cycles, doubtlessly producing extra warmth and rising the resistance on the joint.

Romeo produces the Hermes and Legion battery modules for the Nikola Tre Class 8 semi truck. It is the latter that made it into the Tre, Nikola instructed Electrek. As per Electrek’s sources, each modules appeared to have a cell puncture challenge. 

Though, Nikola instructed InsideEVs that after the weld points have been recognized at Romeo’s end-of-line course of, a quarantine course of was carried out for the inspection of the modules. Packs with weld points didn’t make it to the manufacturing semi vans, the corporate stated in a press release.

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A Nikola spokesperson additionally added that “Legion and Hermes modules use two completely different cell producers which have distinctive cell dimensions, top offsets, areas, laser parameters, and in the end new welding patterns.” 

The corporate stated that each the Nikola engineering workforce and a third-party workforce have initiated investigations to find out the foundation explanation for the fires, and it’ll take a number of weeks for the outcomes to come back out.

The Iveco-based Nikola Tre semi truck, made in Coolidge, Arizona, will get an estimated vary of 330 miles from an enormous 733-kilowatt-hour battery pack. It will possibly cost to 80 % in simply 90 minutes at a price of 350 kilowatts.

The corporate halted manufacturing of this mannequin final month as a result of stock pile-up and disappointing gross sales. It manufactured 63 models of the BEV in Q1 2023, whereas the order backlog for the FCEV is 140 models. Its losses have reached nearly $170 million, and the hearth incident is unlikely to make issues any higher.