Increasing risk of fire and danger to lives

[Airsporter1st]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?

I can’t help thinking there’s a degree of mass hysteria at work here.

I have had countless lithium battery powered devices over the years, as have all my friends and relatives and I am not aware of a single incident among them. Most families have one or two cars, driven a limited number of miles each day, whereas they will likely be into double figures of lithium-powered devices, being used 24/7.

[mattheus]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?

I can’t help thinking there’s a degree of mass hysteria at work here.

I think you've just highlighted how normalised car-crash deaths have become in our lives

[Airsporter1st]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?

I can’t help thinking there’s a degree of mass hysteria at work here.

I think you've just highlighted how normalised car-crash deaths have become in our lives

That was not my intention. I was merely endeavouring to put the risks of/from lithium battery fires into some sort of perspective.

[mattheus]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?

I can’t help thinking there’s a degree of mass hysteria at work here.

I think you've just highlighted how normalised car-crash deaths have become in our lives

That was not my intention. I was merely endeavouring to put the risks of/from lithium battery fires into some sort of perspective.

So do you think the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes is pretty much OK at the moment?

[Jdsk]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?
...

I don't know of any decent data on the number of lithium battery fires.

Jonathan

[re_cycler]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?
...

I don't know of any decent data on the number of lithium battery fires.

Jonathan

The only research in the UK appears to be at Newcastle University.
https://www.faraday.ac.uk/success-stori ... batteries/

The paper from the research among other areas looks at the risk over the life cycle of the cell.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... via%3Dihub

[UpWrong]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?
...

I don't know of any decent data on the number of lithium battery fires.

Jonathan

Every large company fire officer and every council recycling centre warns of the dangers and will have tales to tell of lithium battery fires. Be very scared of your electric toothbrush

[Airsporter1st]

I think you've just highlighted how normalised car-crash deaths have become in our lives

That was not my intention. I was merely endeavouring to put the risks of/from lithium battery fires into some sort of perspective.

So do you think the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes is pretty much OK at the moment?

Of course not - and perhaps therefore our time could be better spent debating that subject rather than exaggerating the risk of injury/death posed by lithium battery-powered devices.

[Airsporter1st]

Anyone compared the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes vs those in lithium battery fires?
...

I don't know of any decent data on the number of lithium battery fires.

Jonathan

Me neither, but I do know that there are far more lithium batteries in constant use than there are motor vehicles in intermittent use.

[mattheus]

That was not my intention. I was merely endeavouring to put the risks of/from lithium battery fires into some sort of perspective.

So do you think the numbers of people seriously injured/killed in car crashes is pretty much OK at the moment?

Of course not - and perhaps therefore our time could be better spent debating that subject rather than exaggerating the risk of injury/death posed by lithium battery-powered devices.

Luckily this forum (like many others) supports multiple threads. These can be on different topics (although in practice duplicates are not uncommon ... )
i.e. we can discuss both!

[mattheus]

Incidentally, put your hand up if:
- you've been to A&E due to impact by motor vehicle,
AND
- you've been evacuated from a building due to Lithium battery fire.

Just curious ...

[rjb]

Give it a few more years and the press will be highlighting the number of Lithium battery cars which catch fire, explode or evaporate in a puff of smoke. Ebikes and scooters are just the tip of an iceberg.

[Tangled Metal]

Isn't it only a certain construction of lithium batteries? The difference means escooters are banned but ebikes are not on trains. If so you have to take out the devices using the safer lithium batteries making what's left with a higher fire rate.

No idea of any figures but as always mixing data can confuse the narrative.

[mattheus]

Isn't it only a certain construction of lithium batteries? The difference means escooters are banned but ebikes are not on trains. If so you have to take out the devices using the safer lithium batteries making what's left with a higher fire rate.

No idea of any figures but as always mixing data can confuse the narrative.

No, I THINK that's because escooters are generally not legal on the public highway, so GWR feel happier to ban them. eBikes that conform to regs etc etc are just as legal as bio-bikes.

[Tangled Metal]

Isn't it only a certain construction of lithium batteries? The difference means escooters are banned but ebikes are not on trains. If so you have to take out the devices using the safer lithium batteries making what's left with a higher fire rate.

No idea of any figures but as always mixing data can confuse the narrative.

No, I THINK that's because escooters are generally not legal on the public highway, so GWR feel happier to ban them. eBikes that conform to regs etc etc are just as legal as bio-bikes.

The local route and franchise have notices at stations stating escooters and hoverboards are banned for fire risk reasons. Before this came into effect they were very happy to let them on. So much that they let them onto busy trains when they wouldn't let normal bikes on and all but the smallest folding bikes on. The ban was because of fire risk from the type of batteries in escooters and hoverboards.