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Lithium batteries are dangerous in a way gasoline tanks are not: while a punctured tank (say, due to a unlucky collision with a piece of debris or a crash) is d

Lithium batteries are dangerous in a way gasoline tanks are not: while a punctured tank (say, due to a unlucky collision with a piece of debris or a crash) is dangerous, it does not guarantee a fire or explosion. A punctured lithium cell will almost always burn. There are also more ways to screw up a battery. Overcharging, manufacturing defects, and so forth. A gas tank is literally a chunk of cast metal with a pump in it. Additionally, metal fires are severely hard to fight. Gas fires can be extinguished in the usual ways, but a self-oxidizing metal fire require special considerations, and that's if it can be reasonably extinguished at all. That isn't even mentioning the need to de–energize the battery before attempting a rescue.

philipkglass 4y ago
Primary (non-rechargeable) lithium batteries contain metallic lithium, but all lithium ion batteries in vehicles contain lithium only in ionic form. Building rechargeable lithium batteries with lithium metal anodes is still in the research stage. The problem with fighting lithium ion vehicle fires is heat from battery self-discharge which can cause ignition and re-ignition of the flammable liquid electrolytes inside the batteries. That's one reason researchers are also pursuing solid state lithium ion batteries: to take out the flammable liquid electrolytes that current batteries need.