Last week I talked about Lithium-ion batteries — how useful they are and how their use is expanding greatly. However, I also went into the fire and explosion hazards of them. Today I will go into a little about what is being done to combat those hazards.
Although I didn’t go into it last week, such Lithium batteries were developed back in 1912, so the lithium technology is already over 100 years old. However, it wasn’t until the late 1970s that such batteries became commercially available and then they were not rechargeable and were very highly volatile. An accident in 1991 caused by one battery led to an important change in how they were made; thus the Lithium-ion battery was developed.
Although we hear about their fires and how they can explode, I find today the lithium-ion technology is now one of the safest battery chemistries available. Nearly two billion cells are produced every year and this number will continue to climb. They are everywhere and in everything electronic it seems. This is because it’s the most popular rechargeable battery style in the world with its high storage capacity, low weight, low maintenance, and ability to fit into a wide range of electronic devices. So why do we hear how dangerous they are?
