Concerns surrounding rare but devastating fires in car, bicycle or electric scooter batteries

Should we be afraid of lithium batteries? Present in our cars, bicycles or electric scooters, they have caused several serious incidents in recent years. In February, some 900 tonnes of lithium batteries went up in smoke in a fire in an industrial warehouse in Aveyron. Six months later, around twenty people died in a fire at a Korean factory where 35,000 batteries of the same type were stored. More broadly, social networks are full of videos in which we can see various everyday electrical devices turning into infernos in warehouses, building lobbies or underground car parks.

These fires, rare but devastating, hardly surprise specialists: lithium batteries are partly composed of electrolytic liquid, a highly flammable compound which acts as an energy conductor between the different elements of a battery. Professionals know less, on the other hand…