A General Discussion of Li Ion Battery Safety

Dan Doughty and E. Peter Roth share their views on the safety measures to be taken for Li Ion batteries. They state that when discussing such battery safety, it is important to understand that batteries contain the oxidizer (cathode) and fuel (anode) in a sealed container. The fuel and oxidizer convert the chemical energy directly into heat and gas when allowed to react chemically in an electrochemical cell. Safety needs to be addressed at the cell, module, pack, and vehicle levels to address these issues. It is important to understand that failure at one level can quickly escalate to more severe failures at a higher level. Cell failures at each of these levels result in complete destruction of all components of the full battery system. It is also important to understand that failure at this level will result in loss of the complete vehicle.