A Rising Danger

 

Are you aware of how dangerous lithium batteries can be if they are not treated with proper caution?

I know that many people have been talking about electric cars and fires online for a couple of years now. But I first became aware of how dangerous lithium batteries can be when I was a bit younger and was into remote control cars. Lithium batteries could be used in electric cars, with upgraded motors, to give longer battery life and increased power over old NICD or NIMH batteries. The problem is fast remote control cars take a lot of damage, and the batteries can be bumped or even thrown out of the car when it hits a curb at 60 km/h. So, in the process of learning about this I learnt a lot about lithium battery care.

Many people have been tolling the bell on this issue for some time, but many government bodies are not really listening, because ideologically warning about the dangers of these batteries is just lumped in with "climate-denial", which is irrational, but such is how our society works. It blindly lurches from ideology to ideology and the green revolution is impossible without lithium batteries, therefore, one cannot let criticism of them get too prominent.

Now governments are starting to be forced by the hard realities of their dangers to bring in new laws protecting people. These are nowhere near enough of course, the devastation from one electric car fire is enough that such vehicles should not be allowed on the road. But at least it is something.

But here are some tips:

- Isolate a lithium battery you have dropped, even if you see no damage, for a time.

- Never charge these things overnight. This includes electric cars, which renders them pretty much unusable of course, because they need to charge overnight to be of any use.

- Never use the wrong charger, make sure the voltage is correct.

- Never charge and escooter where you sleep, or underneath where you sleep. In fact, just buy a mountain bike. Scooters take a lot of damage, like r/c cars, hence they are prone to failures.

- If your lithium device is damaged, dispose of it properly and do not charge it.

- Never leave these things on charge for too long. 

- Stay far away from a lithium fire, they are not like normal fires, the chemicals they produce can seep through protective equipment and cripple for life. If your scooter goes up in flames don't try to save anything from the fire except family of course. 

Lithium batteries are here to stay, modern life is impossible without them in many ways. But the larger they are the more devastating they are when they go off. I would personally not park anywhere near an electric car in an undercover car park. Of course, you don't always have a choice, but eventually the devastation of a few fires from these things will force the governments hand. Until then you should just make sure you are aware that these things can be dangerous in a way that you probably have not seen with anything else you can plug in in your home.