San Francisco. Trucking company Nikola Motors has announced the recall of around 209 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) after a leak inside a battery pack was found to be the likely cause of a truck fire at its headquarters.
Internal investigation implicates a Singer supplier component within the battery pack as the likely source of the coolant leak, and efforts are underway to provide a field remedy in the coming weeks, the automaker said in a statement.
“These actions do not affect hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) currently in production as the truck’s battery pack design is different,” the company said.
Nikola encouraged all customers and dealers to keep the Main Battery Disconnect (MBD) switch in the “ON” position at all times to enable real-time monitoring of the vehicle and operation of the safety systems.
It also advised them to consider parking the trucks outside to allow over-the-air updates and better connectivity with Fleet Command, Nikola’s truck monitoring system.
So far, only two (2) battery packs have experienced thermal even.
Nikola CEO Steve Girsky said, “At Nikola we take security very seriously. We have stated from the beginning that we will issue an update as soon as our investigation is complete, and as we learn more we will update our Transparency will continue.”
The company’s initial statement on 23 June gave the probable cause of the incident as incorrect, based on video footage that showed a vehicle parked next to the affected trucks and rapidly driving away after a bright flash and fire.
Internal and third party-led hypothesis testing, employee and contractor interviews, and hours of video footage review determined that other external factors were unlikely to have caused the incident. (IANS)
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