“Developing a Lithium ion battery is NOT rocket science…BUT developing a SAFE & reliable one is..”

Accepting the fact that batteries are complex products "I always see batteries are complex living "creaters" that Age, get OLD, and have many complex internal reactions, similar to our HUMAN BODIES".

Recently we have seen one of the most expensive recalls ever in the #battery industry involving one of the world leading li-ion cells manufacturer #lgchem in #GM and #Hyundi

• All battery fires happens when the cars were Shut-Off!!
• These batteries are only 3 to 5 years in operation [But aging mechanisms will sooner or later show any misuse or overlook aspects even in HIGH QUALITY batteries as written below in the lessons learned]
• GM askes car owns to park cars away from houses, and using it in 90% SoC max also not to charge it overnight!
• The recall will totally estimated to cost GM $2 Billion ! for 140,000 car until now.

[check ref & sources at the end to know more]

• The recall of the Chevy #Bolt from #General_Motors, following more than a dozen fires in the last year, is set to become one of the most expensive recalls ever on a per-car basis at $11,650 per car.
• #Hyundi has a a current similar recall for spending until now $874M for battery replacement in 82000 EV.

Lessons Learned for the whole #battery industry specially Li-ion batteries are a lot, the top 10 are which I believe worth to understand for us from my personal point of view and expertise in the field:

"Which I do share in order to is to raise #awareness and build up #knowledge which will lead us to deal with batteries in a correct manner as main component of any hybrid and renewable energy system, rather than the WRONG approach of looking at it in project as black box ENERGY TANK"

1- It doesn't mean that you are using BIG NAME cells from well-known manufacturer in your battery, that they are safe and reliable.

GM announced "The vehicle OEM will keep its Orion Assembly plant idled and not?start repairs on the vehicles until it is “confident its supplier can make a defect-free EV battery that does not pose a potential fire risk”"

Even that #LGChem is one of the Li-ion #NCM bioneer Manfacturer (and other Li ion chemistroes as well as introducing the new #NCMA), and they have a long experince and very good reputation. But we all know that everyone can make MISTAKES at the end. However a mistake in Li-ion battries can often = Thermal runaway >> Leading to a #saftey hazard.

2- Li-ion battery Standards we have today are NOT ENOUGH to ensure a safe and reliable battery, they are all under development and experts in the field agree to the fact that they are 3 to 5 years behind what is required for li-ion battery safety. So they are just a foundation of acceptance NOT a complete guarantee of a good battery. there is a lot to look beyond the development process of a battery rather than having certificates from IEC or UL specially for safety concepts of the battery design along the whole value chain of the development process.

3- Dealing with a Li-ion battery in a hybrid system or project as a black box of energy where one need only to take care about communicating to it, measure the voltage and see if there is enough energy for the application is totally wrong. Using batteries need deeper understanding & taking into account many other aspects than that.

4- A #safe li-ion based battery Doesn't exist on this plant until today. We are forced to use it due to it's outstanding techno-economic advantages but we need to take this aspect into high consideration in how do we use it and what is needed to keep it in it's safe zone until EOL.

5- It take a whole value chain attention to develop a reliable battery from cell design, manufacturing to battery pack integration, module design and thermal modelling to the whole battery integration.

6- Any aspect wasn't taken with high consideration in any step of the battery development value chain will appear sooner or later (in 1 or after 5 years of operation) as #Aging mechanisms will show any shortages or defects by time.

7-The real root cause is always hard to be found without data availability in certain quality about the whole value chain of how the batterie used+ expertise in understanding and making a proper analysis of the root cause from such data and investigation of the burned unites.

8- Companes specially well-known onces make (or forced to make) RECALLES, others just try to hide the news of thermal runaway or just pay for warranty cases even if incidents are repeated!

9- By the time battery is released (cell to whole battery) the knowledge about what can happen to it is almost on the SAME level for the Cell manufacturer and the battery developer, as well as the system installer and end user. They all learn from what happens in the field until today. So relaying on the misunderstand that the manufacturer knows more if something happens is totally wrong.

10- li-ion batteries do go into thermal runaway and fire while NOT IN USE often, as they do while using them or charge/discharge.

Potential root Causes of the Thermal-Runaway is announced as defect on cells :

• Faults found in lithium-ion battery packs but no remedy identified in billion dollar EV recall: A torn anode tab and a folded separator on cells Link: Faults found in lithium-ion battery packs but no remedy identified in billion dollar EV recall | www.bestmag.co.uk
• Cells in GM, Hyundai EV battery fires linked to several LG plants: https://lnkd.in/dW6r7VQ5
• Cause of LG’s battery fires rumored to be found: https://lnkd.in/dzcKBR6y

Want to know more, check ref & Sources:

• https://lnkd.in/d37Fe2qY
• GM's $2 billion Chevy Bolt fire recall casts shadow over electric vehicle market (nbcnews.com)
• GM advising some Bolt EV owners to park 50 feet away from other cars (cnbc.com)
• Photo credits: insideevs - Another Day, Another Chevy Bolt Fire, This Time In Georgia (insideevs.com)

From my personal expertise and point of view at the end

" All Stackholders in the renewable energy field are forced and should move forward with battery storage solutions on one hand ... however on the other hand to provide such solutions and products there is NO option rather than understanding clearly what we are dealing with in the right depth required..."

Note: Videos [in arabic] explainig more regarding this post details on ????_???????# #Taqa_BelArabi:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC92GzB1wU3qsv_jI5yMmi2w