The new battery discovery may make history of dangerous electric vehicle fires

During a recent pop-in visit to a Tesla (TSLA) store while shopping at my local mall, two older teenagers interrupted a conversation I was having with a sales representative about the latest version of the Model 3.

As I listened to the salesperson talk about the updated styling of the Tesla compact sedan, they asked me a question about the car’s interior. It caught my attention:

“Ayo, boss, is it true that these are on fire?”

While such incidents are a regular topic of headlines and Facebook posts shared by family members who are skeptical of electric vehicles, electric vehicle fires are real, but they are much rarer than you might think.

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According to a 2023 report by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, there were 3.8 fires per 100,000 electric or hybrid cars in 2022, compared to 68 fires per 100,000 cars, which also includes fuel types such as diesel and hydrogen.

Additionally, Tesla’s global data shows that between 2012 and 2022, one Tesla vehicle caught fire for every 130 million vehicle miles driven, compared to NFPA and US Department of Transportation (USDOT) data that shows a car fire occurred in the US for every 68 million vehicles. miles traveled.

Despite the data, the clips and images of Teslas and other electric vehicles on fire circulating online are enough to keep many people skeptical of electric vehicles. However, a battery supplier to Ford and Tesla could have solved the problem once and for all.

A worker unloads a new Tesla Model 3 from a truck in a logistics area in Seattle, Washington, USA

Bloomberg/Getty Images

LG Chem’s EV Battery Revolution

In a new announcement, South Korea’s LG Chem, the parent company of electric vehicle battery supplier LG Energy Solution, said it has devised an ingenious solution to fight electric vehicle fires by preventing them from occurring in the first place. .

In a collaborative effort with a special team of engineering academics from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in Pohang, South Korea, LG battery researchers have developed a special layer that can be used inside the battery to suppress thermal escape. This phenomenon causes EV batteries to ignite infernos that seem impossible to put out.

A number of factors can cause an electric vehicle battery to thermally escape, including but not limited to cell damage, prolonged damage from flooding, accidents, or short circuits. Thermal runaway describes the phenomenon when a battery overheats uncontrollably to a point where it can continue to burn without consuming oxygen.

As the battery cells heat up, neighboring cells heat up, causing a chain reaction that can eventually lead to the battery catching fire or exploding.

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While many modern electric vehicles have safeguards such as sensors and cooling systems that protect the battery, thermal runaway can still happen.

LG Chem and POSTECH claim this can be a thing of the past, with something installed on batteries called a “safety layer”.

According to LG, the thermal evaporation suppression material developed in collaboration with POSTECH is a composite material that changes its electrical resistance depending on temperature. Placed between the cathode and current collector, the device has a function similar to that of a fuse, where it blocks the flow of electricity when a battery begins to overheat, which is about 90 to 130 degrees Celsius (or 194-266 degrees Fahrenheit).

When at this temperature, the material suppresses heat by changing its molecular structure and blocking the flow of electricity through the battery.

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LG has tested this technology with both nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) batteries. The researchers found that when 10-kilogram (22-pound) weights were dropped on them, LCO batteries caught fire 84 percent of the time, and NCM batteries caught fire 100 percent of the time.

However, when they added their experimental material as intended, the researchers claimed that the fire rate in the treated lithium batteries dropped to zero percent. However, the nickel batteries caught fire only 30% of the time and were extinguished by the experimental material within seconds.

The timing of this breakthrough comes at a time of mistrust of electric vehicles in South Korea. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, authorities in the country’s capital and largest city, Seoul, have been rocked by a horrific electric vehicle fire in an underground parking lot in Incheon. The fire damaged 880 nearby vehicles and left 1,600 households without electricity and water for a week.

As a result, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is proposing new rules that would restrict the access of electric vehicles charged at more than 90% to underground parking lots and impose an 80% charging limit for rapid charges in the Seoul metro area.

LG says it plans to continue safety testing to implement this technology in “high-capacity electric vehicle batteries” by 2025. LG Chem CTO Lee Jong-gu said he is confident in what these discoveries can do for the difficult electric vehicle market.

“This is a tangible research achievement that can be applied to mass production in a short period of time,” he said. “We will improve safety technology to ensure customers can use electric vehicles with confidence and help strengthen our competitiveness in the battery market. .”

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