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Faulty lithium-ion battery in electric scooter likely caused intense garage and house fire in south sydney Tuesday, fire investigators found, the latest in a series of incidents involving lithium-ion batteries.
In early November, a fire also broke out at an apartment in New Farm in inner-city Brisbane. believed by authorities having been caused by the battery of an electric scooter. In March, the batteries started four separate fires in a single day in New South Wales.
Fire and Rescue NSW has called lithium-ion batteries the “fastest growing fire risk” in the state. The agency responded to 272 battery-related fires last year, more than five a week.
Fire services in Victoria and Queensland have said they are responding to lithium-ion battery fires. almost every day.
Why do lithium batteries continue to explode and what can be done to prevent fires?
What are lithium ion batteries?
There are many different types of lithium-ion batteries, said Professor Amanda Ellis, head of the school of chemical and biomedical engineering at the University of Melbourne. “In general, they are very safe if used correctly.”
Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere: they power everything from mobile phones and computers to scooters, electric bicycles and electric cars. They are widely used because they can charge quickly, deliver power quickly (power density), and have long battery life.
Australia’s largest lithium-ion battery, known as the Victorian Big Battery, is a 300-megawatt storage battery located in Geelong, which stores enough energy to power more than 1 million homes for half an hour.
Why do lithium ion batteries catch fire?
Lithium-ion batteries, as the name suggests, contain lithium ions suspended in an electrolyte solution. Ions flow through the electrolyte, traveling back and forth between two electrodes as the battery charges and discharges.
If a lithium-ion battery is charged too quickly, it can cause thermal runaway – an uncontrollable rise in temperature. “The electrolyte gets hot because there’s too much energy in the battery,” Ellis said. “It’s in a pressurized system and all of a sudden, bang… it’s going to break!” Liquid electrolyte is highly flammable and bursts into flames when exposed to air.
Overheating and physical damage are the main causes of battery failure.
Lithium-ion battery fires can reach high temperatures in seconds and release highly toxic gases. Due to their chemical components, burned batteries can develop self-sustaining flames that are difficult to extinguish.
Does battery quality matter?
Battery fires can occur due to physical damage, manufacturing faults and overcharging, according to Hussein Dia, professor of future urban mobility at Swinburne University of Technology.
Another contributing factor, Ellis said, is that “people think that all batteries are real batteries for the appliance they have and that the cheapest one will do; that’s where the danger is.”
In electric vehicles, batteries account for about 40% of the cost of the vehicle, Dia said. “There are a lot of sophisticated designs and thermal management systems that go into them, but it’s not the same case with e-bikes and e-scooters.”
Statistics show that while EV fires do occur, they are rare. “They have a lower chance (of catching fire) compared to gasoline or diesel cars,” Dia said. “However, for electric scooters and bicycles, the incidence is higher and in most cases the data shows that people are overcharging or using unapproved charging devices.”
How can you prevent a battery fire?
There are practical steps people can take to reduce the chances of a lithium-ion battery fire.
First of all, follow the manufacturer’s advice and use the approved charger.
Avoid overcharging a device’s battery. “Even for electric vehicles, automakers do not recommend that batteries be fully charged; up to 80% charge should be sufficient,” Dia said.
Dia added that charging should not be done without supervision, for example when people are sleeping or not at home. Fire authorities recommend charging batteries on hard surfaces, such as tile or concrete floors, rather than soft surfaces such as beds or carpets.
“Batteries are safe, but they must operate under the conditions they were designed for,” Ellis said.
Batteries cannot be disposed of in normal bins because they can cause fires at waste and recycling sites, and must be recycled at dedicated centres. battery disposal schemes.