France Assureurs organized a trial to better understand the fires linked to lithium batteries in cars, bicycles and scooters, which are likely to increase in number over the next few years.
Should we be afraid of lithium batteries ? Found in our cars, bicycles and electric scooters, they have caused several serious incidents in recent years. In February, some 900 tonnes of lithium batteries went up in smoke in a fire in an industrial warehouse in Aveyron, France.. Six months later, around twenty people perished in a fire at a Korean factory where 35,000 batteries of the same type were stored. On a wider scale, social networks are full of videos showing a variety of everyday electrical appliances going up in flames in warehouses, building lobbies or underground parking lots.
These rare but devastating fires hardly come as a surprise to specialists: lithium batteries are composed in part of electrolytic liquid, a highly flammable compound that acts as an energy conductor between the various elements of a battery. Professionals know less, however…
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