E-bike DIY kit explodes and burns down home

[6zfshdb]

There are viable substitutes for lithium cell batteries on the horizon. Just how soon that will happen remains unknown. One that is showing some promise is Samsung's "Graphine Ball" :

https://www.ft.com/content/46adb98c-d8ef-11e7-9504-59efdb70e12f

 

[AHicks]

A substitute that's available right now are battery packs built with LiFePo4 cells. They have all of the punch of the LiPo, but none of the bad habits (like catching on fire unexpectedly). A123 cells are some of the best available.

 

[tomjasz]

From Endless Sphere....

"A Hailong style battery pack sold by Lunacycle in 2016. AKA 'shark pack'.

Okay, we've got multiple design issues here..

1) the only thing protecting the battery cells on the top and bottom from the hard plastic case is a layer of kapton tape.

2) The battery cell assembly can shift side to side ~5mm and bash up against the plastic screw area seen in picture 1. Eventually, this could damage the nickel tabs and make the tabs separate from the cell, potentially puncturing the cell in the process ( depending on how it was welded )
3) If you install this battery pack vertically or diagonally on your bike, the whole 6-8lb. cell assembly rests on a single piece of duct tape. As you can see in picture 2, this is less than adequate. I imagine this could eventually deform that cell and short it.

 

[Alex M]

Picture is better than a thousand words. Thanks, Thomas. Manufacturers rarely publish mechanical details like this. Are there any Shark packs made really reliably?

 

[AHicks]

I think the bigger lesson would be to inspect yours on occasion (regularly), whatever one you get. If you have somebody else doing your "tune ups" make sure that pack is pulled down on some sort of regular basis. Do NOT trust they are doing that by default as part of their regular maintenance. In practice, I believe darn few are. It's not that difficult. If you're used to doing your own maintenance, it might take a bit the first time as you have to figure out how it comes apart. After that though, you should be able to do a pretty thorough inspection of your pack in 20 minutes or less from start to finish.

Edit: another quick thought. While you have your battery off inspecting it, check the connectors that carry the power from the battery to the bike. Look for anything that might be heat related. Those connections can become corroded to the point of causing a bad connection, and if not handled promptly, can cause a real headache. A black connection is not good.....