Ian Bradford: The inherent danger of lithium-ion batteries

I have previously written  about cobalt for batteries in EV’s, and indeed many devices, being mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by small children as young as seven.  Amnesty estimated there were about 40,000 children working in the mines. Many have been killed and many others will suffer serious lung damage.  The New Zealand government launched a “Plan of Action” on the 16^th march 2021 by the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety, The Hon Michael Wood. The plan reaffirms New Zealand’s commitment to prevent and eliminate all forms of modern slavery and child labour. Instead, just a few months back, they did yet another push for electric vehicles giving even more incentives to purchase them. What a bunch of hypocrites. 

There’s some bad news for manufacturers of electric vehicles. The European Chemicals Agency is expected to classify lithium carbonate, chloride and hydroxide as dangerous for human health. These are the essential ingredients for the Lithium-ion batteries that power EV’s .  This classification will not ban lithium imports from developing countries but will add costs for processors as there will be more stringent rules for controlling processing, packaging and storage.  Stricter rules means higher costs. If these lithium salts are classified as dangerous it would complicate the import procedure, production, and handling of the materials.  It’s probably bad news for all owners of devices including EV’s, that use Lithium batteries. The cost will likely rise.  

Batteries in cars catch fire and then explode. But it’s not just Batteries in cars that catch fire. They can catch fire anywhere. A battery in a garage in the USA exploded and blew the garage door right across the road where it cannoned into a house. Luckily no one was walking along the footpath.

Photo: Waikanae Watch. Org. 

The Lithium battery in a Paris bus, catching fire, while the bus was parked. 

The bus was parked with no passengers, probably waiting to start a run. The picture shows the fire only seconds after it burst into flames. The battery which was on the roof, exploded. There is another bus parked behind.  Had the bus been full of passengers hardly anyone would have got off.  Most would have been burnt alive. This was the second bus fire of a bus from the same company. Fortunately, passengers escaped that fire. After this fire, the company withdrew all buses from service.  

Recently, New Zealand TV displayed the first electric bus- a double-decker would you believe. If the battery catches fire or explodes, I cannot see anyone on the top deck getting off. 

Also in recent times, a number of electric buses in China were parked alongside each other. The battery in one caught fire. The fire spread to four buses.  

 

But this is nothing compared to what was proudly demonstrated on New Zealand  TV a few weeks back. A power company called Genesis Energy have put into operation an electric truck. When I saw what the truck was being used for I could not believe it. The back was loaded with large gas cylinders! They were for home delivery. Can you possibly imagine what would happen if the EV battery caught fire or exploded? There would be chunks of metal from the exploding cylinders flying through the air. Anyone close would surely be killed. If the truck is parked in a driveway delivering a cylinder then at least two houses would be destroyed. Imagine this vehicle parked in a busy street in the city. It looks like Genesis Energy has not realised the possibility of the battery fire. 

Then there is the question of EV’s on ships.  In March  2022, the Felicity Ace, a 200 metre long vessel built for transporting vehicles, sank after an attempt was being made to tow it.  It had caught fire in mid Atlantic about 400 km off Portugal’s Azores Islands. The fire is considered to have been caused by a battery in one of the EV’s on board catching fire. The vessel was on its way from Germany to the US, and carried about 4000 very expensive vehicles.   There were about 1100 Porsche’s on board. The estimate of vehicles lost was put at $400 million.

 The picture shows the Felicity Ace 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.  Author:  Alf van Beem     (33) 

This is going to further increase the cost of EV’s because insurance companies will have to increase the premiums significantly to cope with the possibility of EV fires while in transit, especially on ships. But storage of EV’s may be a problem too. Batteries in storage cars and storage batteries themselves can ignite at any time and do so. 

Once again we have a potential problem. EV’s are on our New Zealand’s interisland ferries. This could also apply to ferry crossings between England and France.  What will happen if a battery catches fire or explodes out in Cook Strait, or the English Channel on say a rough crossing. These fires are so intense and spread rapidly. A fire will be difficult to control. Water on it will spread dangerous chemicals. The smoke will be dangerous also. Several toxic gases are emitted. Among these is carbon monoxide, and compounds of Fluorine and Phosphorous. Studies have found that water played on a battery fire may in fact lead to the emission of even more toxic gases.  Passengers will not have breathing apparatus to protect them from these toxic gases given off.  Smoke will get to the upper decks quite quickly. Are the ferry operators prepared for such an emergency? I doubt it.

General Motors, and BMW have recalled in total, over a 100,000 cars because of defects in the lithium-ion batteries some of which have led to fires. Many more vehicles have been withdrawn because of faulty Lithium batteries. The problem is they catch fire while just sitting in a garage or anywhere in fact. Petrol cars do not catch fire while sitting in a garage. Two Teslas in a Californian couple’s garage caught fire in the night and the couple were lucky to escape their house, as the garage was a part of the house. The fire started in one car and then spread to the other, and the blaring alarm woke them.   It’s interesting that a study was done on 20,000 Lithium batteries. They were heated to the point of ignition. All emitted a mixture of toxic gases and most exploded. Batteries can become overheated while being charged.  

Below is a picture of a lithium battery being hit with a hammer. It exploded. Drivers of Electric vehicles should avoid a rear or side collision at all costs because at best if the battery is damaged, it will catch fire, but at worst it may explode. 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Tavo Romann. (12)   

Problems with Lithium-ion Batteries are not confined to cars and ships. There’s a problem on planes too. Batteries are transported on planes, and passengers usually have cell phones and computers, which they take on board an aircraft. 

There have been at least 340 aviation related incidents with Lithium batteries in the cargo area or carried on the plane as passenger luggage since 2006. In the June/July period in 2022 there have been 25 incidents of lithium batteries smoking or catching fire on planes. Fortunately, airlines have battery fire containment bags called AvSax bags.  They are designed to handle overheated or burning small Lithium batteries.  On each flight there may be 100’s of mobile phones, tablets, laptops, E- cigarettes, and other devices with Lithium-ion batteries.  Sometimes these devices may have poor quality or damaged batteries. If one cell in a battery overheats it can catch fire and this makes adjacent cells overheat too. AvSax has a fireproof containment bag into which about 2 litres of water is poured. The overheated or burning device is dropped into it and the water activates the polymer gel inside the bag causing it to expand all around the dropped in device. So it not only cools the device but starves it of air, so burning stops. The bag is tough and can even withstand a small explosion of the device. This generally allows planes to continue on flying, rather than make an emergency landing. 

Just to give one example of which there are many, about 8 hours into a flight from London to Florida, a cellphone was jammed in a reclined passenger’s seat. When the passenger tried to retrieve it, the phone and battery broke, overheated and burst into flames. The smoke and fire was contained by the cabin staff, though the plane did make an emergency landing in Bermuda, but later continued on its journey. 

A Russian plane an Aviastar-Tupolev caught fire in China at Hangzhou-Xiaoshan airport in early 2022. The plane was a cargo plane and the aircrew all escaped unhurt but the plane  was a write-off. It is thought the Lithium batteries on board were responsible for the blaze. 

The rules on carrying lithium batteries were updated on 2^nd January 2022. The problem is badly packaged batteries have been the cause of some fires. In some cases lithium batteries are not declared so that part of the cargo is not checked by the authorities. At this stage, carriers screen for bombs and explosives but not for lithium. 

Because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine, back-up from conventional power stations is being phased out and replaced by huge banks of lithium–ion batteries. So not only are huge areas of land being taken out of production by wind and solar farms, but now by battery farms also.  There’s an  horrendous cost involved. 

In Australia, at Geelong in Victoria, one of the batteries at a back-up site caught fire in 2021. Lithium battery fires are extremely fierce.  A burning battery gives of many toxic gases so nearby residents are at risk. Generally, they are left to burn out by themselves and this can take three or more days.  Pouring water on them can lead to more toxic gases given off and the water contains toxic chemicals which may get into the drainage system.  

Photo: Stop These Things.  The fire in a Lithium battery storage area in Geelong

The only good news is that work is being done to produce a battery containing Sodium rather than Lithium. Sodium is still a very volatile substance.  Will its use prevent Battery fires and explosions? 

Ian Bradford, a science graduate, is a former teacher, lawyer, farmer and keen sportsman, who is writing a book about the fraud of anthropogenic climate change.