Battery explosion - how does this happen?

[Anonymous]

How did this happen? I don't quite understand what happened. Can lithium batteries not be near magnets like in an elevator?

I now see why they don't want them on airplanes.

[Anonymous]

It has nothing to do with the elevator. The battery was defective and starting to fail.

Li-ion batteries are, in fact, quite dangerous. The big issue is that they cannot be extinguished once they start to burn, so they will always burn completely (which is why airlines limit the size of Li-ion batteries that can be used in laptops and other devices that are taken on planes). Definitely check anything that you own that has one of these batteries periodically and treat it as hazardous waste if the battery starts to bulge (a sign of imminent failure). Also, don't buy cheap no-name batteries from Aliexpress (etc.), since they often lack the safety protections necessary to prevent thermal runaway.

[Anonymous]

Lithium is a metal. A lithium battery fire is a metal fire. It does need oxygen to burn, but it can split the oxygen from water to keep burning. You can extinguish a metal fire with a special extinguisher that uses salt.

Elevators aren't magnetic batteries. I have no idea what a magnetic battery is.

Magnets are perfectly safe near lithium batteries. For example, Apple has magnetically attached chargers for their iPhones.

[Anonymous]

I remember that video.
Lithium ion batteries and batteries in general are dangerous.

Never heard of all the EV's that catch fire? I wouldn't have one.
I don't even use battery powered tools cause they can explode when charging.

[Anonymous]

Badly made batteries can overcharge and explode. It's an unfortunate coincidence it happened in the elevator. What a horrific accident.

[Anonymous]

I would never park my EV car in my garage. And if you have solar with battery back up...put that battery back up in a shed.

signed, battery engineer, and although my work with Li-ion is minimal, we never tested these without sand packs all around. Yes, I've reversed them sometimes (A failure test we purposely do) and never had an out of control fire problem, but I've also had some, for no apparent reason at all go hot quickly (and were thrown in the sand bag.

[Anonymous]

we call it a "spicy pillow." if you see any unusual bulges in any electronic devices or batteries, be very careful, put it somewhere sealed and bring it to a repair shop that can fix/dispose of it safely.

[Anonymous]

and this is why I posted putting that battery back up out in a shed

MCFRS will tell you, they respond to at least one battery fire a week. Luckily most are not this devastating.

https://mocoshow.com/2025/06/25/update-family-displaced-100k-in-damage-after-fire-linked-to-charging-batteries/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLKDBFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFRbkVXUVZzRGNkcFRYOEF5AR6BKgTCrrTSy6gW5yLZY7wsmP9vIfcngSkkCeOMBEmEl0itL7DiLcY7QogRiQ_aem_mJ-hRXk3ehueVrkbRcEniQ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:and this is why I posted putting that battery back up out in a shed

MCFRS will tell you, they respond to at least one battery fire a week. Luckily most are not this devastating.

https://mocoshow.com/2025/06/25/update-family-displaced-100k-in-damage-after-fire-linked-to-charging-batteries/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLKDBFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFRbkVXUVZzRGNkcFRYOEF5AR6BKgTCrrTSy6gW5yLZY7wsmP9vIfcngSkkCeOMBEmEl0itL7DiLcY7QogRiQ_aem_mJ-hRXk3ehueVrkbRcEniQ

What mostly increase the probability of a battery exploding? Moisture? Heat? Age? Charging? Poor quality? All of the above and then some?

Starting to rethink battery powered things.

Some battery powered items are so handy as opposed to gasoline, if they aren't used often and having to deal with carburetors drying up and needing reworked, many of which are not user friendly for cleaning now. But wary about how many are blowing up now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It has nothing to do with the elevator. The battery was defective and starting to fail.

Li-ion batteries are, in fact, quite dangerous. The big issue is that they cannot be extinguished once they start to burn, so they will always burn completely (which is why airlines limit the size of Li-ion batteries that can be used in laptops and other devices that are taken on planes). Definitely check anything that you own that has one of these batteries periodically and treat it as hazardous waste if the battery starts to bulge (a sign of imminent failure). Also, don't buy cheap no-name batteries from Aliexpress (etc.), since they often lack the safety protections necessary to prevent thermal runaway.

Lithium ion batteries are not “actually quite dangerous”. There are billions and billions of these on earth. A very small fraction of them catch on fire or explode. Unless you’re going to say electrical outlets are “actually quite dangerous”, it’s really not a fair representation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has nothing to do with the elevator. The battery was defective and starting to fail.

Li-ion batteries are, in fact, quite dangerous. The big issue is that they cannot be extinguished once they start to burn, so they will always burn completely (which is why airlines limit the size of Li-ion batteries that can be used in laptops and other devices that are taken on planes). Definitely check anything that you own that has one of these batteries periodically and treat it as hazardous waste if the battery starts to bulge (a sign of imminent failure). Also, don't buy cheap no-name batteries from Aliexpress (etc.), since they often lack the safety protections necessary to prevent thermal runaway.

Lithium ion batteries are not “actually quite dangerous”. There are billions and billions of these on earth. A very small fraction of them catch on fire or explode. Unless you’re going to say electrical outlets are “actually quite dangerous”, it’s really not a fair representation.

To put this into perspective, there are about 3,000 residential fires per year from extension cords. Extension cords are "actually quite dangerous."

Lithium ion batteries caused 1500 fires between 2014 and 2018.

Which is more dangerous here? Also, you probably have more batteries than extension cords in your home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has nothing to do with the elevator. The battery was defective and starting to fail.

Li-ion batteries are, in fact, quite dangerous. The big issue is that they cannot be extinguished once they start to burn, so they will always burn completely (which is why airlines limit the size of Li-ion batteries that can be used in laptops and other devices that are taken on planes). Definitely check anything that you own that has one of these batteries periodically and treat it as hazardous waste if the battery starts to bulge (a sign of imminent failure). Also, don't buy cheap no-name batteries from Aliexpress (etc.), since they often lack the safety protections necessary to prevent thermal runaway.

Lithium ion batteries are not “actually quite dangerous”. There are billions and billions of these on earth. A very small fraction of them catch on fire or explode. Unless you’re going to say electrical outlets are “actually quite dangerous”, it’s really not a fair representation.

To put this into perspective, there are about 3,000 residential fires per year from extension cords. Extension cords are "actually quite dangerous."

Lithium ion batteries caused 1500 fires between 2014 and 2018.

Which is more dangerous here? Also, you probably have more batteries than extension cords in your home.

Never heard of that. Got a legit source? Sounds scammy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has nothing to do with the elevator. The battery was defective and starting to fail.

Li-ion batteries are, in fact, quite dangerous. The big issue is that they cannot be extinguished once they start to burn, so they will always burn completely (which is why airlines limit the size of Li-ion batteries that can be used in laptops and other devices that are taken on planes). Definitely check anything that you own that has one of these batteries periodically and treat it as hazardous waste if the battery starts to bulge (a sign of imminent failure). Also, don't buy cheap no-name batteries from Aliexpress (etc.), since they often lack the safety protections necessary to prevent thermal runaway.

Lithium ion batteries are not “actually quite dangerous”. There are billions and billions of these on earth. A very small fraction of them catch on fire or explode. Unless you’re going to say electrical outlets are “actually quite dangerous”, it’s really not a fair representation.

To put this into perspective, there are about 3,000 residential fires per year from extension cords. Extension cords are "actually quite dangerous."

Lithium ion batteries caused 1500 fires between 2014 and 2018.

Which is more dangerous here? Also, you probably have more batteries than extension cords in your home.

Never heard of that. Got a legit source? Sounds scammy.

I got it from the CPSC. I think they are in the pocket of Big Outlet though.

https://nps.edu/documents/111291366/111353812/ExtensionCordsFactSheet.pdf/f0d1a26a-b99f-40f1-82d0-880cd37a28ff?version=1.0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:and this is why I posted putting that battery back up out in a shed

MCFRS will tell you, they respond to at least one battery fire a week. Luckily most are not this devastating.

https://mocoshow.com/2025/06/25/update-family-displaced-100k-in-damage-after-fire-linked-to-charging-batteries/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLKDBFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFRbkVXUVZzRGNkcFRYOEF5AR6BKgTCrrTSy6gW5yLZY7wsmP9vIfcngSkkCeOMBEmEl0itL7DiLcY7QogRiQ_aem_mJ-hRXk3ehueVrkbRcEniQ

This doesn’t sound like this was a typical battery backup for solar. The article said they had a generator and were using the generator to charge a number of lithium batteries. So it sounds like they were being kind of creative.