The dangers of lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries are real and an ever present danger.
They have infiltrated modern life by stealth. The technology has become ubiquitous. With the never ending desire for cheaper and higher capacities, the occurrence of fires will only increase, while the public's vigilance is receding.
ALL lithium batteries larger then a mobile phone should be charged outside I believe. What is more inconvenient, a battery pack that spews it’s guts out in the house/workshop/garage, setting the house and contents on fire, or you walk outside?. The fumes released from a lithium battery fire are toxic. Insurance companies have at times had to write off entire houses when a fire from a large pack was able to be contained to one room, but the fumes spread throughout the house. Typically a lithium ion cell, when burning releases hydrogen fluoride. Some lithium-ion cell chemistries also release phosphoryl fluoride.
Both of these fluorides are nasty.
A mates husband is a seasoned residential insurance assessor and the information coming to light around lithium fires is forcing him to change his approach. He jokes he only just wrapped his and his teams heads around the pervasiveness of mould a few years ago, now this.
Extrapolating emissions of a 500-700Wh ebike battery fire in a 280 cubic meter house suggests toxicity levels per cubic meter could be between 25-250 times 1 hour survivability exposure thresholds. Asleep in a house with a battery fire, overcome by carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide exposure and unconscious, if they don’t get you, the fluorides will.
Lithium-ion battery fires generate intense heat and considerable amounts of gas and smoke. Although the emission of toxic gases can be a larger threat than the heat, the knowledge of such emissions is limited. This paper presents quantitative measurements of heat release and fluoride gas...
www.nature.com