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I would say that the fact this battery reignited is barely news. Its a well known "feature" of lithium batteries. Petrol is at least as dangerous from the persp

by S_A_P 8y ago

I would say that the fact this battery reignited is barely news. Its a well known "feature" of lithium batteries. Petrol is at least as dangerous from the perspective of a fire hazard. Diesel is probably the least likely to spontaneously combust.

stefan_ 8y ago
They clean up petrol and other leaked fluids after car crashes, what is the correct procedure to "disarm" a punctured lithium ion battery?
- S_A_P 8y ago
  I agree with you 100%- there should be a protocol for handling this situation. I have know idea what that should be, but seems like there needs to be a way to encapsulate the battery with an insulator and prevent any further shorts/fires.
  - blattimwind 8y ago
    Putting the car in a large, fire-proof steel container (specialty engineering, they exist) for a few weeks (so you are at least somewhat sure it won't start catching fire RFN). Then dismantling the battery by hand, inspecting each cell individually. You can't really put anything around it (like a nitrogen atmosphere) that prevents fires, because the oxygen is already in there in the cathode. And so is the energy to ignite it.
- stephengillie 8y ago
  Removing any heat source, to prevent further damage and lithium leakage, would seem to be priority. Pulling the battery fuse should be involved. A non-flammable chemical to make lithium inert would be ideal. Mineral oil or another oil could be poured into the exposed battery, but these could make the situation worse. Maybe lithium could have something else poured onto it, with the end-product of petalite (LiAl(Si2O5)2) or lithium chloride (LiCl).[0] The lithium could later be recovered from these molecules. [0] https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele003.html https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele003.html
gwern 8y ago
> The NTSB's report into that crash noted that after the fire had been extinguished and the car was taken to storage, the battery "emanated smoke and audible venting" but didn't ignite. However, five days later it reignited and had to be extinguished again. Do regular cars ever catch on fire 5 days after being hosed down and junked?
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Petrol or even propane doesn't bring its own oxygen and ignition source and doesn't require perfect structural integrity of its container to prevent them all from mixing. A dented or punctured gas tank or propane tank won't catch on fire (in earthly conditions) without an external ignition source. Lithium batteries on the other hand will catch fire if damaged. There's hundreds of videos on YouTube of people catching old cell phone batteries on fire by puncturing or denting them.

by S_A_P 8y ago

stefan_ 8y ago

They clean up petrol and other leaked fluids after car crashes, what is the correct procedure to "disarm" a punctured lithium ion battery?

S_A_P 8y ago
I agree with you 100%- there should be a protocol for handling this situation. I have know idea what that should be, but seems like there needs to be a way to encapsulate the battery with an insulator and prevent any further shorts/fires.
- blattimwind 8y ago
  Putting the car in a large, fire-proof steel container (specialty engineering, they exist) for a few weeks (so you are at least somewhat sure it won't start catching fire RFN). Then dismantling the battery by hand, inspecting each cell individually. You can't really put anything around it (like a nitrogen atmosphere) that prevents fires, because the oxygen is already in there in the cathode. And so is the energy to ignite it.
stephengillie 8y ago
Removing any heat source, to prevent further damage and lithium leakage, would seem to be priority. Pulling the battery fuse should be involved. A non-flammable chemical to make lithium inert would be ideal. Mineral oil or another oil could be poured into the exposed battery, but these could make the situation worse. Maybe lithium could have something else poured onto it, with the end-product of petalite (LiAl(Si2O5)2) or lithium chloride (LiCl).[0] The lithium could later be recovered from these molecules. [0] https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele003.html https://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele003.html

gwern 8y ago

> The NTSB's report into that crash noted that after the fire had been extinguished and the car was taken to storage, the battery "emanated smoke and audible venting" but didn't ignite. However, five days later it reignited and had to be extinguished again. Do regular cars ever catch on fire 5 days after being hosed down and junked?

dsfyu404ed 8y ago

Petrol or even propane doesn't bring its own oxygen and ignition source and doesn't require perfect structural integrity of its container to prevent them all from mixing. A dented or punctured gas tank or propane tank won't catch on fire (in earthly conditions) without an external ignition source. Lithium batteries on the other hand will catch fire if damaged. There's hundreds of videos on YouTube of people catching old cell phone batteries on fire by puncturing or denting them.