e bike fires

[Andy-Mat]

Good pictures.
Immersing a Lithium battery in water, after a fire has started, is probably the ONLY way to (eventually!) putting it out.....
regards
Andy

 

[Andy-Mat]

I had thought that these were under control now but some recent fires
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10423219/Homeowners-lucky-escape-e-bike-EXPLODED-sparked-house-blaze.html
and this
https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/news/2021-news/july/fire-investigators-issue-urgent-warning-over-fires-involving-e-bike-batteries/
show that human error (using the wrong charger) or unfit knockoff ultra cheap internet batteries seem to be the main cause.

Good links, many thanks.
Basically, people with no knowledge at all, simply pushing the envelope....with the expected results....
I am reminded of the old saying:-
"Fools go where Angels fear to tread!"
Thanks again for your post.
My own favourite is this one, where it seems two incompatible batteries were connected.....

It must be some years old now.....but still horrendous.
regards and thanks for your post.
Andy

 

[Andy-Mat]

Problem with scooters is the abuse they take and the fact the battery is low to the ground where it takes all the punishment. Also the charging, how many are plugged in and left connected after charging and forgotten about.

How true.
If I think that I may not be around when charging finishes, I use my modified (cheapo) 24 hour timer, where I have rewired it (very simple mod) to switch itself off, when the time is achieved, and cannot switch itself back on.
Digital timers are more difficult to achieve that and are many times more expensive.....
Still not 101% safe, but FAR better than nothing at all I feel.
regards
Andy

 

[Andy-Mat]

Would one of these put out a lithium battery fire? One could be kept above the battery while stored or charging. I may well order one:

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The huge amount of energy in a Bike battery, its more like "slow" dynamite, than burning.
IMHO only complete immersion in cold water, for some hours, is needed to stop the reaction completely.
Like fill your bath and only charge in the bathroom and have a method of "throwing" the burning battery into the bath!
But of course, having mains voltage and water together are most unsafe anyway!
All good houses have some form of residual current safety devices, or should have:-

Residual-current device - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But some still don't......
regards
Andy

 

[guerney]

The huge amount of energy in a Bike battery, its more like "slow" dynamite, than burning.
IMHO only complete immersion in cold water, for some hours, is needed to stop the reaction completely.
Like fill your bath and only charge in the bathroom and have a method of "throwing" the burning battery into the bath!
But of course, having mains voltage and water together are most unsafe anyway!
All good houses have some form of residual current safety devices, or should have:-

Residual-current device - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But some still don't......
regards
Andy

Charge or store the battery in a sealed steel box filled with carbon dioxide? The gas would have to be kept warm...

 

[Andy-Mat]

We sent men to the moon (I wasn't involved) - surely in this day and age it's not beyond the realms of possibility that chargers could be made to stop charging, when the battery is fully charged?

Some expensive ones do just that, I am told, but some switch back on again too...
Be careful what you buy!!
Andy

Charge or store the battery in a sealed steel box filled with carbon dioxide? The gas would have to be kept warm...

I like it that you are thinking "out of the box", but its not going to help to stop these batteries from burning, as they already have their "OXYGEN" for burning, in the chemical makeup of the cells.
What needs to be done is to force cool the battery to stop the chemical reaction. Here in Germany for a time (I do not know if it is still done today), when a Tesla car catches fire in the batteries, it takes around 12 hours to burn out completely. So the German fire department would bring a large tank, fill it with water, and using a crane, dump the burning car in the tank.....it can still take between one and two hours to stop burning under water!
These are dangerous batteries if incorrectly used.....as I said before, "slow dynamite!"
I hope this helps.
Andy

 

[guerney]

Some expensive ones do just that, I am told, but some switch back on again too...
Be careful what you buy!!
Andy

I like it that you are thinking "out of the box", but its not going to help to stop these batteries from burning, as they already have their "OXYGEN" for burning, in the chemical makeup of the cells.
What needs to be done is to force cool the battery to stop the chemical reaction. Here in Germany for a time (I do not know if it is still done today), when a Tesla car catches fire in the batteries, it takes around 12 hours to burn out completely. So the German fire department would bring a large tank, fill it with water, and using a crane, dump the burning car in the tank.....it can still take between one and two hours to stop burning under water!
These are dangerous batteries if incorrectly used.....as I said before, "slow dynamite!"
I hope this helps.
Andy

A fire activated liquid nitrogen release system within a steel boxed off battery? It'd buy time to move said box to a swimming pool or garden pond, for the battery to resume burning. It'd burn through my plastic bathtub... maybe I should get an old cast iron bathtub for the garden.

 

[Andy-Mat]

A fire activated liquid nitrogen release system within a steel boxed off battery? It'd buy time to move said box to a swimming pool or garden pond, for the battery to resume burning. It'd burn through my plastic bathtub... maybe I should get an old cast iron bathtub for the garden.

There is quite a good case for NOT having batteries inside your house at all....... Somewhere dry, where if the battery does catch fire, it can cause far less damage.....Remember, the fumes are bad for the health of humans and animals....
Thankfully, with reasonable care, this should never happen to you.
I have been e-biking since 2010 (if I remember correctly!) and up to now, no battery problems at all, except when I got my last bike new (2017 I believe), the new battery had shut down and would not charge, the company loaned me a Zero volt charger (designed to "wake up" such batteries), which fixed the problem immediately....Something that some here have apparently never heard of!
regards
Andy