Lithium ion (LI) batteries power everything from e-bikes and scooters to electric cars and buses. They have revolutionized personal transportation and could be key to decarbonizing the electric grid.
But the more they catch on, the more they are catching on fire. As if to underscore the point, when fire marshals arrested a Queens e-bike retailer recently for making uncertified “Frankenstein” batteries, one of them exploded.
Last year alone, there were 445 LI battery fires reported nationwide, with 214 injuries and 38 deaths. New York City is ground zero, with 268 battery fires causing 150 injuries and 18 deaths last year. There have already been dozens more such incidents this year, including an e-bike battery setting off a fire in a six-story Harlem building which killed one person and injured 17 others.
Meanwhile global demand for LI batteries is surging, expected to grow 570% by 2030, including an estimated $560 billion worth of new battery installations in the U.S. These batteries have unparalleled energy density and efficiency, which is why they’re also used in “behind-the-meter” (BTM) battery storage systems for commercial and industrial customers running on-site solar, and by utility-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), where an array of many batteries store energy from a power plant or the grid for later use.
These systems smooth out the peaks and troughs of generation and demand, and are increasingly essential for grid stability and making renewables work. But there have also been high-profile BESS explosions and fires, and a recent study found fire safety problems in more than a quarter of BESS installations.
Unless that changes, it’s predictable that as LI batteries scale up, battery fires will too. That would cause public confidence in them to tank, which could bog down on-site solar and renewables ramp-up. So we need to solve the battery fire problem both to protect public health and safety and also to fight climate change.
This is both a dilemma and an opportunity: to transition away from fossil fuels, we need to scale up battery storage systems, but to scale them, we need to solve LI batteries’ inherent problem of thermal runaway that can and does cascade into uncontrollable fires.
We can meet both challenges, but it will require regulation to set safety guardrails as well as certification standards, so that compliance requirements and the need to gain consumer trust incentivize quality assurance and continuing technological advancement. That will lead to certified battery pack systems and help build confidence in battery storage as a safe, sustainable and economically feasible path away from fossil fuels.
Failsafe LI battery technologies already exist today. We need to start leveraging them to identify and certify products that will make BESS installations safer. Certification bodies should test them rigorously, which will cut through regulatory redundancy and help manufacturers meet and exceed regulatory standards. Those that pass the tests and get certified could be granted expedited permitting, paving the way for a faster, safer transition to renewable energy.
New York and California have taken the first steps down this road by passing local laws and safety regulations for charging, storing, and disposing of LI batteries in e-bikes and other powered mobility devices (PMDs). The New York City Council adopted new rules for e-bikes to further reduce battery fire risks, and New York State has enacted a bill banning resale of e-bike batteries. A new bill pending in Congress would mandate standards e-bike batteries and other consumer batteries would have to meet, aimed at cheap, risky Chinese imports.
These policies are a start, but e-bikes are only the tip of the iceberg. Instead of a patchwork of regulations in different cities and states, we need a comprehensive regulatory regime that covers all LI battery applications nationwide, from consumer devices and home energy storage to electric vehicles and commercial uses.
Until that regime is in place, we’re running the risk of more fires, erosion of public confidence, and even outlawing LI battery use. In fact, some New York landlords have already begun banning e-bikes from their properties, even when their batteries meet safety standards. That kind of backlash could delay or ultimately derail the effort to decarbonize the transport and energy sectors, making it harder to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
Battery fires are the clean energy elephant in the room. The problem is solvable, but it won’t go away by itself; it needs an intervention. The sooner we confront it and establish effective regulation and certification, the sooner battery storage technology can scale up and help usher in the clean energy future.
Williams is chairman & CEO of Viridi Parente.
