Rechargeable batteries in your devices can ignite
Combustion is rare but devastating if it occurs
We’re all playing Russian roulette with devices powered by lithium ion batteries.
Chances are you have dozens of lithium ion-powered devices inside your home right now. Some are probably hooked up to chargers — and that’s when they are most likely to ignite and cause a destructive fire.
But we accept the risks in exchange for the rewards. The good news: Scientists are working to make them nonflammable.
First marketed for commercial use nearly 30 years ago, lithium ion batteries deliver far more power for longer periods between charges than traditional wet cell batteries. They’ve spawned dramatic improvements to countless products we use every day, like smartphones, tablets, high-definition cameras, laptop computers, scooters, hoverboards, electric bikes, compact lights, electric cars and whole-house solar energy systems.
But thousands are recalled each year as fire hazards — able to ignite without warning in homes and garages, cars and buses, factories and repair shops. Recalled batteries are both large and small, and while combustion is rare, it can be devastating when it happens.
Two of the most widely publicized and tragic fires involving lithium ion batteries occurred in South Florida and involved Tesla Model S electric cars. In May 2018, two teens died after their car crashed and burst into flames in Fort Lauderdale. Last May, a doctor died when his car became engulfed after a crash in Davie.
Tesla Model S sedans are powered by arrays of more than 7,000 lithium ion cells, slightly larger than standard AA batteries, encased below the cars’ cabins.
A Lake Worth Beach family received a sobering lesson of the batteries’ destructive power in November 2018 after Elijah Oliphant disconnected a battery from the Monmouth electric bicycle he bought that June and set it on the floor of a bedroom he used for his office, intending to connect it to its charger.
“His wife then asked him to help her get their child ready for bed,” according to a report by Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. “He walked away from the battery and it began to smoke and hum.”
Before Oliphant could retrieve water to try to douse the battery, it burst into flames, the report said. As smoke filled the house, Oliphant and his wife escaped with their two small children but, according to a GoFundMe campaign created by Oliphant’s sister Melinda, “lost