Living with lithium

Our dependence on Lithium-ion batteries is growing at an ever-increasing rate. No surprise, given that they are now an integral part of so many electronic items in everyday use. Their high power density, light weight and exceptional recharging capability make them ideal for everything from smart phones and laptops to power tools and e-bikes. And with the number of electric cars on the rise, the demand is naturally growing all the time. No wonder so-called gigafactories are being built around the world to produce battery cells.

But with the increased prevalence comes a greater risk of hazard, thanks to the very levels of energy density that makes them so effective. Fire risk, especially when charging, has become a disturbing trend. In Germany alone in the past four years there have been numerous incidents relating to battery explosions.

In one month alone, two warehouses in Ellwangen, a container and a disability centre in Goslar, offices of a technology company in Enhingen were affected and a defect in a charging station for e-bikes caused a blaze which destroyed the roof of a post distribution centre in Alsfeld, Hesse. And an electric scooter suddenly ignited, causing 90 residents to flee an apartment building in Munich and firefighters in London revealed last August that they had tackled more e-bike and e-scooter fires than they did for the whole of 2022.

It all goes to underscore the need to make safe storage, whether charging or not, a high priority, given that they can ignite spontaneously or become unstable and explode when heated. And the damage is not just physical, given the knockon effect of insurance disputes arising from many of them.

It’s a scenario likely to become more of a global one, given the aspirations of the likes of Argentina and India in terms of battery production. Lithium-ion batteries, or rechargeable batteries, may seem harmless, but they harbour safety risks that are often underestimated.

With their very high energy density, they can, under certain conditions, ignite spontaneously or become unstable and explode when heated. If a technical defect occurs or the battery fails, this can have serious consequences. The massive increase in them making it to market means that resulting fires look set to soar, according to the chief commercial and product officer of Energy Vault, who warns that only providers who put safety first will be able to “survive”.

Marco Terruzzin, a mechanical engineer at the Swiss and US-based company, predicted: “The amount of lithium-ion that has been deployed and will be deployed is gigantic”, adding: “The number of fires will go up exponentially”.

“If there is a fire in an isolated substation that is one thing,” he said. “But if you have a fire in a dense, heavily populated area, that can become much more problematic.” And with an increasing number of headlines reporting local objections to proposed storage facilities, Firetrace International, a US-based fire suppression technology supplier, predicts that “there is a real danger public opposition to energy storage could grow significantly as a result of fire risk fears, threatening critical battery deployment and, as a result, net zero goals”.

It’s a concept adopted by major players such as Switzerland’s Leclanché which says it has based its battery production on sustainable grounds from the outset. The company now produces its own lithium-ion cells using a proprietary waterbased process without toxic solvents and uses electricity from renewable sources for its core manufacturing processes.

But when it comes to storage, asecos – the specialist in hazardous materials storage and handling – has developed the ION-LINE range of safety cabinets for the storage and charging of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.

Taking into account the potential risk of spontaneous combustion of the energy carriers, the cabinets offer identical resistance from the inside to the outside in addition to standard 90-minute fire protection. They also boast a multi-level warning and fire suppression system, with the capability for signal forwarding of the various alarm levels to a central Control Room or, alternatively, to several mobile phones 24 hours a day.

And the operational environmental protection specialist DENIOS recently joined forces with the battery storage experts TESVOLT, the company behind the ‘Power Safe’ range, which has been specifically targeted towards operations located within water conservation areas or those regions considered to be at risk of forest fires.

The ‘Power Safe’ storage system comprises a spatial system design with dual-frame construction classified as REI 90 or REI 120 fire protection. The most important thing is, it said to be able to withstand fire, either internal or external, for at least 90 minutes.

Markus Boberg, Business Development Manager at DENIOS, said TESVOLT was not only known for its high-performance, durable storage systems, it also has some of the safest battery storage technologies on the market.

“However, in some cases, safety requirements are particularly strict, for example in countries with special environmental regulations or specific requirements from insurers.

Now we have joined together to develop a technical solution that can meet the strictest safety requirements, by enclosing the battery storage system within an additional fire safety case.”