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

The Phoenix hearth 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 amass battery provider Romeo Energy final 12 months for $144 million. Romeo specializes within the design and manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for industrial automobile functions, and the transaction is claimed to save lots of Nikola $350 million yearly on battery-related prices.

The crew 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 growing 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 informed Electrek. As per Electrek’s sources, each modules appeared to have a cell puncture challenge. 

Though, Nikola informed InsideEVs that after the weld points have been recognized at Romeo’s end-of-line course of, a quarantine course of was applied for the inspection of the modules. Packs with weld points didn’t make it to the manufacturing semi vehicles, the corporate stated in an announcement.

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

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

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

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