Rare but Ferocious

As part of our LithiumSAFE Conference , we held a panel on how to speak about battery safety in the marketplace. The panel was moderated by Chris Turner , Chief Technology Officer at Inventus Power , with panelists including Jim Greenberger , Executive Director of NAATBatt International, Dr John Warner , Chief Customer Officer at American Battery Solutions Inc. and myself, Co-founder and CEO of Soteria Battery Innovation Group .?

Several comments struck me, including Jim’s thoughts on the misconceptions of battery safety communication. “Safety is not a solution, rather, safety is a process of continuous improvement with small, sometimes subtle improvement in the technology being brought to market developed by a whole slew of companies that collectively over time will result in not the elimination of risk but rather the reduction of the probability that risk will occur.”

To that point, Chris Turner added that “you have a disconnect where you need to have a safe product, and there are degrees of safety—some things are safer than other things. We know this, but how do we communicate it, and not only to consumers, but to end device makers? Some of them new to the industry.”

John Warner gave the end customer’s perspective well, stating that “It’s a buildup from the components, materials and technologies which enhance and enable that safety. But in and of themselves, consumers won’t pay for those technologies—it’s the end results they paid for.”

Throughout this dialogue, Chris also captured the status of the e-bike market well.?Stating that “we can't have this wild west of people making batteries in the back of a bike shop and putting these out on the market. And so they're having to enforce this unfortunately at a very local level on a very big scale.?Target first the e-bike market, since that's where the problem is, but it's not going to be where the problem will always be.”

In addition, we had two keynote presentations, one by John Orlando of the New York City Fire Department , and the other by Rob Rezende of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department .?During each of their presentations, they showed videos and pictures of battery fires that were caught on security cameras—one of which you can see at the top of this article.?Seeing the videos of live, in-the-field explosions of lithium-ion batteries gave me and the other attendees a real sense of what we are dealing with as an industry.?

Rob Rezende described his firefighters as having to consider anything that may hold a lithium-ion battery as unexploded ordinance (ammunition) that could go off unexpectedly when in a building trying to fight the fire or rescue inhabitants.?It is possible that a lithium-ion battery could explode and ignite a portion of a room, cutting off their exit path and leaving them trapped.?This changes everything about how they now deal with fires, because batteries are so prevalent in different devices throughout the home.

Picture this: you're a firefighter in full gear, walking through a house in search of a child who might be stranded. And then, your path to leave (and rescue the child) is cut off by the battery from a common household device—be it a power tool, toy or computer—which explodes behind you and ignites the exit path.?It’s terrifying.

On the other hand, most lithium-ion batteries are built very well, and battery fires are quite rare. Only about one in every 5,000,000 cellphones and computers will spontaneously ignite. Instances of fires in power tools and electric vehicles are also quite rare, even if they have resulted in a several recalls by the EV OEMs who are, in my opinion, being quite responsible in their judgment to recall the batteries.?

E-bikes and scooters, on the other hand, appear to have a fire rate that is around 1 in 1,000, but that likely varies a lot depending on the manufacturer.? Unfortunately for now, there is no way for a consumer to tell if an e-bike is equipped with a battery that would have a high or low probability of fire. We’re addressing this in our E-bike Battery Safety Project and expect to publish a complete report in the first quarter of 2024.

So where does this lead those in the industry, who want to be truthful and accurate in describing the risks, but do not want to go to the side of fearmongering or creating hysteria??Underplaying it would slow down the efforts to address the issues.?Overplaying it will slow down the growth of the market, which we all enjoy.

Having mulled this question over for a couple of weeks since the conference, it appears quite simple—we tell the truth.?Don’t be afraid of your devices because fires are quite rare.?But when one happens, please get away quickly, because they are also very ferocious, and can block an exit path within seconds and ignite a large building fire soon thereafter. ??

When you think about it this way, some actions become obvious.?Advanced warning systems can help people get to safety quickly and in some instances may prevent the fire altogether.?We applaud the work done by 安费诺 , 霍尼韦尔 , Nexceris and others to provide the tools that will enable this, not to mention the Lithium-ion Battery Fire Alarm System we recently announced that will hopefully play a big role, too.

Another way to mitigate the risk is through the placement of the batteries, either geographically or strategically within the home.?Thus, a detached garage is a good place for your power tools, scooters, e-bikes and lawn and garden tools.? Home energy storage should be away from the house.?And EV chargers might be under an open carport, in a detached garage, or in the driveway (where mine is).?

For small devices, several companies are also presenting containers that the batteries can be placed in while charging.?CellBlock FCS , LithiumSafe Battery Box , Bat Safe and Pulse Battery Charging Safe Box are examples of these.?Bridgehill and Brimstone Fire Protection have also presented a blanket that can be placed over a battery fire to smother and prevent it from spreading.?

There will be other innovations also, perhaps requiring the use of concrete wallboard in garages, special fire extinguishers, water misters or other extinguishing systems.?There may be new flame-retardant materials developed that are particularly effective against lithium-ion battery fires.?Other innovations within the battery itself, like Soteria's separator and current collectors , will reduce the risk of fires. Other innovations may reduce, or re-direct the energy that comes from the battery fires.?

When you recognize that battery fires are rare, but ferocious, and focus safety technology on making them rarer by reducing either the ferociousness itself or the effects of the ferociousness, specific innovations like those mentioned above will come to mind.?Congratulations to those whose mental wheels are already spinning!?Please share those thoughts in the comments below. ?

For those who are interested in speaking or presenting your company’s perspective on battery safety at next year’s LithiumSAFE conference, please fill out this form .