A fascinating discussion of EV battery fires

So: 'we'lll all be riding eBikes? ' with some leaping for their lives.
Another very bad NYC fire:
" 7-year-old and a teenager died Monday in a Queens house fire that forced people to leap out of windows for their lives — and was sparked by the battery on an e-bike, officials said.

The inferno broke out just after 2 p.m. inside the vestibule on the first floor of the two-story building at 25-71 46th St. in Astoria and quickly spread up the stairs, where a father and his five children were, fire officials said.

Four of the residents were able to jump from the windows to safety — but two others, ages 7 and 19, died in the fire, according to officials. Their mother was not home at the time."
 
Great video, the guy obviously knows what he's talking about and has a nice sense of humor to boot. Lithium batteries seem to be incompletely understood and I'm amazed that more cars are not catching on fire given the millions of cells already out there.

At this point I would assume the obvious solution is to use only certified name brand cells and furthermore to forbid the importation of No Name cells.
 
At this point I would assume the obvious solution is to use only certified name brand cells and furthermore to forbid the importation of No Name cells.
We forbid the importation of cocaine but that doesn't mean much when there are millions of people who use it anyway.

There would be no junk battery market if people didn't doggedly insist on buying cheap junk. Yes there is an affordability issue, but frankly thats beside the point. Quality costs money and much of the marketplace in the USA refuses to accept that.
 
A friend brought me this charger, fresh off the ebay pipeline. It's over voltage at 55.6V, Gotta go back.

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There's two things that protect against overcharge. One is the battery charger and the other is the battery BMS. If you take away the first safety factory, well that's not good and likely to be part of the reason NYC has so many fires/
.
No trim pots in the circuit. Can't adjust.
 
It's over voltage at 55.6V, Gotta go back.

No trim pots in the circuit. Can't adjust.
This is why I won't have anything to do with 'factory' chargers or replacement chargers purchased from... anyone. With the sole exception being the Grin Satiator but that is a $300 buy-in.

Actually its only half the reason why. The other half is the failure rate of these things. Which you can change pretty much to zero by stepping off the path.
 
I literally store my batteries in my (cold) BBQ with the lid shut and the plastic cover on to keep them dry. Then I keep the BBQ under the porch eave so it won't get hot in the sun. When your dealing with a chemistry that can burn and fuel the fire with ...itself and without the need for oxygen, the only real strategy is to use a container that will contain the fire.
 
I accidentally shorted a tiny Li ion battery once trying to take apart an old GPS. Very impressive.
 
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