Report to EU underlines fire safety problems of lithium ion batteries, incidents in uses from electronics to airplanes. A summary report by Efectis for the European Commission’s Fire Information Exchange Platform summarises fire risks of lithium ion batteries in manufacturing, battery transport and storage and in uses including electric vehicles, e-bikes, aircraft, energy storage and consumer electronics. The report concludes that fire safety is an issue with lithium ion batteries, often related to design defects or damage during handling or use, leading to short circuits and then thermal runaway.
Many questions remain unanswered concerning fire interventions, especially for e-vehicles in car parks and energy storage systems, e.g. linked to photovoltaics.
“Technical report on battery fires”, Efectis, for the Fire Information Exchange Platform, 14th May 2020, presented to the FIEP webinar of 4th March 2021