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quality. I would expect many things to be prone to fires like both Samsung and Takata. I wouldn't trust them in a Prius, a Tesla, or a Galaxy Note. Gas tanks

quality. I would expect many things to be prone to fires like both Samsung and Takata. I wouldn't trust them in a Prius, a Tesla, or a Galaxy Note. Gas tanks haven't spontaneously burned down cars for over a century, but they will do it this century. Put money on that. I expect the first examples will be shown in China, where manufacturers (21+ of them) can put carcinogenic insecticidal fire-retardant poison in infant milk and pet food for years with what is effectively impunity until it hits newspapers. This will translate to electric vehicles.

dragontamer 9y ago
Lithium Ion is always prone to fire. If you wrap it in a hard-enough case so it can't be punctured, and then slap electronics on the end to "emergency cut power" when a catastrophe is detected... you can prevent the fires. The issue with Samsung's "explosive" battery was that it had to be thin (so it had a soft case), and when you sat on it... it'd bend internal connections and then short them out. -------------- Honestly... I'd expect China to build the typical 18650-cell without any issues. Unfortunately for China, Tesla isn't putting "typical" 18650 cells into their cars. They're putting in Silicon enhanced Lithium Ion with optimized chemistry for maximum power with minimum weight. THAT's the problem. I don't think there's a very big marketplace for "typical" Lithium Ion cells. Its about the recent innovations that have made batteries lighter, more flexible, and deliver more power. So the real question is: can China build Silicon-Lithium Ion Cells to the specifications of Tesla's Gigafactory? I have my doubts. There's a reason why Elon Musk built his own factory (with help from Panasonic)
- baybal2 9y ago
  China was making superior EV cells since around 2012. For some time, they banned export of unfinished cells and cell materials to favour makers of complete battery packs. This is what led to EV and hybrid car makers outside of China having to use battery packs made out of consumer grade cylindrical cells for a while. Tesla Motors guys have seem to have realized now how ridiculous was the decision to build battery packs from small cells, and announced that they will be transitioning to slightly bigger cylindrical cells for model S. Still, current model S ships with commodity size cells. They may have decided that it does not worth effort changing to big cells when they have just got their factory running with tooling made for standard sized cells.
princeb 9y ago
do you trust them in your macbooks and ipads and iphones?

dragontamer 9y ago

Lithium Ion is always prone to fire. If you wrap it in a hard-enough case so it can't be punctured, and then slap electronics on the end to "emergency cut power" when a catastrophe is detected... you can prevent the fires. The issue with Samsung's "explosive" battery was that it had to be thin (so it had a soft case), and when you sat on it... it'd bend internal connections and then short them out. -------------- Honestly... I'd expect China to build the typical 18650-cell without any issues. Unfortunately for China, Tesla isn't putting "typical" 18650 cells into their cars. They're putting in Silicon enhanced Lithium Ion with optimized chemistry for maximum power with minimum weight. THAT's the problem. I don't think there's a very big marketplace for "typical" Lithium Ion cells. Its about the recent innovations that have made batteries lighter, more flexible, and deliver more power. So the real question is: can China build Silicon-Lithium Ion Cells to the specifications of Tesla's Gigafactory? I have my doubts. There's a reason why Elon Musk built his own factory (with help from Panasonic)

baybal2 9y ago
China was making superior EV cells since around 2012. For some time, they banned export of unfinished cells and cell materials to favour makers of complete battery packs. This is what led to EV and hybrid car makers outside of China having to use battery packs made out of consumer grade cylindrical cells for a while. Tesla Motors guys have seem to have realized now how ridiculous was the decision to build battery packs from small cells, and announced that they will be transitioning to slightly bigger cylindrical cells for model S. Still, current model S ships with commodity size cells. They may have decided that it does not worth effort changing to big cells when they have just got their factory running with tooling made for standard sized cells.

princeb 9y ago

do you trust them in your macbooks and ipads and iphones?