Recently, residents in many places have reported that many new energy vehicle owners have charged their cars through the "flying wire" method of private wires in the communities where they live, which has caused widespread concern among neighbors.
Why do car owners choose "flying wire charging"? What are the potential safety hazards of such behavior, and how should community managers deal with and alleviate related problems?
The owner of the car privately connected the wire to charge and caused fire accidents one after another
At 6 o'clock in the morning on April 3 this year, the fire department of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province received an alarm that a fire accident broke out in a local community. Firefighters arrived at the scene and found that the fire was caused by a new energy vehicle parked in the open space in front of the building in the community. At this time, flames were bursting out of the car, accompanied by a large amount of white smoke and the sound of explosions from time to time.
After evacuating the surrounding people, firefighters immediately dispatched water cannons to control the fire. Soon, the open fire at the scene was extinguished. After a preliminary investigation by firefighters, the fire site was located in the rear of the car, and the cause of the fire was that the owner of the new energy vehicle privately connected the wire from the home line to charge the car, causing the wire to overload and catch fire. The accident not only resulted in the destruction of the vehicle, but also damaged some of the housing facilities near the location where the vehicle was parked.
A similar accident occurred at 1 a.m. on March 4 this year, when a number of cars caught fire in the parking lot of a community in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
The local fire department dispatched personnel to deal with it, and the open fire at the scene was extinguished after more than two hours of fighting. After preliminary investigation, the initial fire was a new energy vehicle, and the fire affected many vehicles parked around. Fortunately, there were no casualties and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
However, according to residents, the phenomenon of new energy vehicle owners in the community charging their cars through the "flying wire" method is more common. In the pictures taken by residents at the scene, multiple wires hanging next to the burning vehicle can also be clearly seen.
Fire test: "Flying wire charging" can easily lead to line failure and fire
The so-called "flying wire charging" usually refers to the use of cables by new energy vehicle owners to connect the power socket at home with the portable charger of the outdoor vehicle to charge the car. Why is it easy to cause vehicle fire due to "flying wire charging"? Let's take a look at the fire test below.
The testers first found a cable that residents often use to "fly wire charging" and wound it around a small stretching machine to simulate the effects of long-term gravitational pressure or human pulling of the cable. Subsequently, the tester measured the resistance of the cable and found that the resistance value increased significantly after the cable was damaged. When the contact resistance of the line is too large, it will not only prolong the time required for charging, but also cause the line to heat up, which is easy to cause fire.
At this time, the tester cut open the insulation layer of the damaged cable, and it can be seen that the multiple strands of copper wire inside the cable have been broken. Subsequently, the tester ignited the outside of the damaged cable under the condition of ensuring safety, and found that after the cable encountered an open flame, the burning area would quickly spread to the unburned area.
An Weiguang, professor of the School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology: Due to the long-term external environment, it is easy to cause line aging or poor contact, etc., resulting in short circuit and overload of cables, which in turn causes the cable to heat up or even ignite. Some low-quality cables can spread quickly after ignition, and there is also the phenomenon of molten dripping, which is likely to cause construction fires or electric vehicle fires.
According to experts, the common new energy vehicles on the mainland market usually use ternary lithium batteries or lithium iron phosphate batteries. Regardless of the type of lithium battery, it will explode after a fire, and there is a possibility of re-ignition after the open flame is extinguished. However, at present, the focus of the governance of "flying wire charging" is still on non-motor vehicles such as electric bicycles, and the regulations and measures on the management of "flying wire charging" of new energy vehicles still need to be improved.
Wang Yonglu, Chief of the Fire Control Technology Section of the Xuzhou Fire and Rescue Detachment: "Flying wire charging" is easy to lead to fire accidents. According to the relevant provisions of the Fire Protection Law, if a fire is caused by personal negligence, the corresponding legal liability shall be borne, and if the fire causes losses to others, the corresponding civil liability shall also be borne. Therefore, electric vehicle charging should be charged at the designated place and in accordance with the specifications, and everyone should resolutely abandon the behavior of "flying wire charging".
Lack of public charging facilities and dilemma in community management
For car owners who buy new energy vehicles, many businesses will install home charging piles for free. However, in some old communities, due to the limitations of site conditions or the lack of fixed parking spaces for car owners, home charging piles cannot be installed, so some car owners have started the idea of "flying wire charging", and related safety hazards and management problems have also followed.
In some old communities in Kunming, Yunnan Province, the reporter saw that the phenomenon of new energy vehicles parked in the community through "flying wire charging" can be seen everywhere. And this kind of operation really made the other residents upstairs and downstairs uneasy.
Neighbor Mr. Yang: Because it is a slow charge, it is a long-term charge, and most of it is charged at night, which means that once a fire breaks out, we all sleep at night, and the probability of escape is very small. The old people who live upstairs are even less likely to escape.
According to residents, it was found that there were residents in the community who charged electric bicycles through "flying wires", and recently replaced the charging object with new energy vehicles, which directly upgraded the potential safety hazards, and everyone's worries were inevitable.
The reporter reported the situation to the property of the community, and the staff also contacted the owner. However, car owners also have their own difficulties.
New energy vehicle owners: we also know that there must be hidden dangers in this charging, but we are also forced to be helpless, one is that the public charging station is far away, so it will occasionally be charged in the community, and now I also hope that the property can help us solve this problem as soon as possible, can we be allowed to install a charging pile.
The owner said that the "flying line" is not to covet the cheap, the main pain point is the lack of public charging facilities in the community, which cannot meet the travel demand. In this regard, the property staff said that they have no law enforcement power, and such a problem can only be strengthened inspection and persuasion. For the owner's request to install charging piles, although the installation in the public area of the community has been considered before, the plan has been shelved due to the disagreement of other residents.
Property staff: Here we will also reflect with the community neighborhood committee later, that is, to communicate, and give residents a reasonable and safe charging solution in the later stage.
Optimize the process and increase parking spaces to allow car owners to achieve "charging freedom"
In the face of the charging pain points and reasonable needs of new energy vehicle owners, in recent years, different management and response plans have been tried in various places. In Rongchang, Chongqing, the local government focuses on the actual situation of the old community, and actively helps new energy vehicle owners realize "charging freedom" by optimizing the charging pile installation process and adding charging spaces.
Located in Baocheng Road, Rongchang District, Chongqing, Yihe Huayuan Community, due to its long construction age, has long had problems such as aging infrastructure and imperfect supporting facilities. With the increasing use of new energy vehicles and electric bicycles in the community, "charging difficulty" has always been a problem for residents and property managers.
Liu Ziyu, property manager of the community: Because we are an old community, the phenomenon of "flying wire charging" was quite serious in the past, which also caused great difficulties to our management.
In response to the problem of difficulty in charging residents in old communities and resettlement houses, in recent years, the local government has launched a renovation project of old communities to solve the pain points of people's livelihood according to the actual needs of the masses.
Wen Wanye, Director of Shuanghe Power Supply Station, Rongchang Power Supply Center, State Grid Chongqing Yongchuan Power Supply Company: We work with the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission, the community and the property to make full use of the vacant land and the renovated corner land to reasonably plan the charging spaces. At the same time, we have optimized the application and installation process of new energy vehicle charging piles, and can apply for installation of newly planned public parking spaces without property rights after obtaining the consent of the property committee;
Zhujiaqiao Community, a typical resettlement housing community in Rongchang District, is a ride-hailing driver who has just completed the application procedures for a home charging pile - he has converted one of his storefronts into a garage and applied for the installation of charging piles.
Liu Longjiang, a resident of Zhujiaqiao Community: You can charge when you want, and the price is cheaper than outside, in the past, it cost more than 1 yuan and 1 degree to charge outside, but now it is only more than five cents at home, and it will save thousands of yuan a year than before.
Last year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Building a High-quality Charging Infrastructure System", which put forward targeted solutions to the problems of "difficulty in finding piles" and "difficulty in entering the community" that the masses most strongly reflected.
In response to the "difficulty in finding piles", the "Guiding Opinions" proposed to strengthen the coverage of charging infrastructure networks across the country, focusing on residential areas, office areas, commercial centers, industrial centers, and leisure centers. And through relevant channels, the public charging infrastructure settings and real-time usage will be released in a timely manner.
In view of the "difficulty in entering the community", the "Guiding Opinions" specifically require that the charging infrastructure of fixed parking spaces should be fully installed in the existing residential areas, and the responsibilities of grass-roots management institutions such as sub-district offices and residents' committees should be implemented, and a "one-stop" coordination and promotion and complaint handling mechanism should be established. At the same time, charging operators are encouraged to accept the entrustment of owners to provide unified services such as charging infrastructure construction, operation and maintenance, especially to encourage the construction of charging infrastructure into the scope of renovation of infrastructure facilities in old communities, and simultaneously carry out the construction of supporting power supply and distribution facilities.
(CCTV reporter Zeng Wenfu)
(Source: CCTV News Client)
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