Lithium battery fire

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Neeves

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Lithium battery fire on truck shuts down Hume Highway in NSW due to health risk

Not unusually there is an absence of valid information.

If you read the article fires of lithium batteries in house hold appliances, children's bikes/scooters and energy storage batteries are being bundled together suggesting a common cause for fires.

No child has a 300kg battery for their bike and I'm unaware of many household applicants using 300kg batteries.

But currently no explanation why 15 tons of 300kg Lithium batteries caught fire - but it is a worry.

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
Lithium battery fire on truck shuts down Hume Highway in NSW due to health risk

Not unusually there is an absence of valid information.

If you read the article fires of lithium batteries in house hold appliances, children's bikes/scooters and energy storage batteries are being bundled together suggesting a common cause for fires.

No child has a 300kg battery for their bike and I'm unaware of many household applicants using 300kg batteries.

But currently no explanation why 15 tons of 300kg Lithium batteries caught fire - but it is a worry.

Jonathan
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Its not a worry.
Show us a photograph of a lithium fire on a boat that has proven to be caused by a faulty lifepo4 battery. That would be a worry.
Your article is headline grabbing news. 300kg batteries are never going to be on my boat. It's irrelevant to how cruisers are using liefpo4. No where in that article does it say lifepo4. You are just adding to the scaremongering by posting it on here
 
We will advocate on the burning of books next.

Just how many types of lithium battery chemistry weigh 300kg? I can think of 4 different chemistries , including LFP but how many would be moved around as a truck delivery of 15t - I have no idea.

Jonathan
 
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The batteries fitted to smaller electric vehicles are around 300Kg, so this may have been what the truck was transporting.
 
The article discussed lithium-ion batteries, but boats use a different chemistry, namely Lifepo4 chemistry, which does not pose any particular risk.
 
NBs said:
The article discussed lithium-ion batteries, but boats use a different chemistry, namely Lifepo4 chemistry, which does not pose any particular risk.
Click to expand...

mmmmmm not actually correct ...

ALL lithium based batterys as in fact do all batterys pose risk ... but the risk varies depending on the format / casing / use / abuse.

Would you believe that a common PP9 battery has been cause of fires .. it has.
 
geem said:
Its not a worry.
Show us a photograph of a lithium fire on a boat that has proven to be caused by a faulty lifepo4 battery. That would be a worry.
Your article is headline grabbing news. 300kg batteries are never going to be on my boat. It's irrelevant to how cruisers are using liefpo4. No where in that article does it say lifepo4. You are just adding to the scaremongering by posting it on here
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The Gaydon Marina one looks to have been a LiFePO4 battery fire - full report not yet released so precise cause TBD
 
dunedin said:
The Gaydon Marina one looks to have been a LiFePO4 battery fire - full report not yet released so precise cause TBD
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It will be interesting to read the full facts. There are so many things that could cause a fire beside the actual lithium cells. Incorrect wiring, undersized wiring, wrong fuse, combustible material adjacent to undersized wiring or a bad connection. faulty charger and faulty bms. The list can go on and on.
We will only know the reality when the report is issued
 
dunedin said:
The Gaydon Marina one looks to have been a LiFePO4 battery fire - full report not yet released so precise cause TBD
Click to expand...
A lot of people really seem to want it to be. No idea what their agenda is. Last I saw that one looked much more like a galley fire based on the location of the damage (nowhere near the batteries).

Not sure the agenda in starting this thread either. It's a yachting forum so posting stories about random lorry fires seems more than a little off topic unless the fire involved technology used on boats.
 
NBs said:
The article discussed lithium-ion batteries, but boats use a different chemistry, namely Lifepo4 chemistry, which does not pose any particular risk.
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LiFePO4 is a class or Lithium Ion battery (MCA's new guidance is that any battery containing Lithium in any chemical state comes under its new lithium-ion rules)

LiFePO4 is currently the safest lithium-ion chemistry, but it can still runaway if charged incorrectly, if discharged too fast, if damaged or if heated - so mitigations against all of those need to be in place.

If coded and if the batteries are used for propulsion, the new code seems to require metal enclosures venting overboard.
 
lustyd said:
A lot of people really seem to want it to be. No idea what their agenda is. Last I saw that one looked much more like a galley fire based on the location of the damage (nowhere near the batteries).

Not sure the agenda in starting this thread either. It's a yachting forum so posting stories about random lorry fires seems more than a little off topic unless the fire involved technology used on boats.
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My interpretation...... this was a batch of new batteries intended for power storage. I made the guess it was a container load of new batteries, made in China, discharged and removed from the container in Sydney and being shipped to Melbourne. Because of the size of the batteries I concluded they were not AA or AAA type batteries.

Maybe they were not packed on the truck properly. Maybe there was a fault in manufacture (but maybe we will never know).

But people are buying new storage batteries, for their home solar displays etc and for boats - the latter might be called 'drop ins' here - and condemned for use on boats.

Maybe they are not applicable on boats - but that does not mean that the failure mechanism could not be the same as for Lithium batteries of a different chemistry.


I don't know who conducts investigations into such events in Australia - no-one was hurt so it will enjoy lower priority. I don't know how such events and the investigation are reported.

What is the likely application(s) for 300kg storage batteries (unlikely to be cars - I'd think they come with the batteries included). Golf carts, home storage, buses But some retailer/dealer is short of a few hundred batteries. I ask as this might indicate how the event is reported. I did a Google search and the best report :) was from the Guardian - the other reports were local news outlets.

Here, it seems, all 'such' events are called 'Lithium Ion' fires


But to suggest this was scare mongering and similar events should be suppressed is .... crazy. The more people learn about the dangers of Lithium - the better. And if there are questionable manufacturers, we should know.

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
Maybe they are not applicable on boats - but that does not mean that the failure mechanism could not be the same as for Lithium batteries of a different chemistry
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No offence, but you don’t seem to know how science works. Your anchor information is very valuable, but you should avoid posting this kind of thing until you understand the subject. It’s not helpful or useful and will negatively affect people’s decisions for no good reason.
Neeves said:
The more people learn about the dangers of Lithium - the better.
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What dangers? There is literally no evidence that LiFePo4 has any danger. Quite the opposite, all evidence suggests it’s safer than lead acid.
 
I know we have been told not to use AI, nor copy same.

But - I recall reading about an issue with Battle Born batteries and I could summarise the AI script - but it seems much more useful to admit using the AI offering and let readers decide if its relevant.


AI Overview


There isn't a formal, company-issued
Battle Born batteries recall, but serious safety concerns have emerged recently (late 2025) due to a potential design flaw causing positive terminals to overheat, melt plastic spacers, and loosen connections, creating fire risks. YouTuber Will Prowse highlighted this in a video, showing excessive heat and arcing, with Battle Born responding that the melting is a "thermal failsafe". Many users and experts disagree, suggesting it's a dangerous flaw, leading to calls for a real recall, though Battle Born has denied warranty claims, citing their existing warranty policies.


I am quite happy to have my posts questioned as being ignorant - it would be more useful if people who want to criticises posts, any, actually correct the mistakes and lead to a better understanding.

Jonathan
 
Neeves said:
I am quite happy to have my posts questioned as being ignorant
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Thats great because this one trumps the last. Excessive heat in wiring is nothing to do with thermal runaway. I could burn your yacht down with a spanner and a lead acid battery, do you consider that a failing of battery chemistry?
 
lustyd said:
Can you provide some sources for that please?
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The cause is the same for all Lithium-ion batteries, they have a plastic barrier between the anode and cathode which, if damaged, can cause a short circuit.

Overcharging causes lithium plating and dendrites on the anode which can cause the cell to heat up and if it happens for long enough can pierce the separator or cause it to shrink causing a short. The plating also reduces the battery capacity. LiFePO4 is certainly safer than most other Li-Ion chemistries, but it's not immune.

Temp change due to overcharging: Radware Bot Manager Captcha (IOP paper)

From Frogstar:
However, we must stipulate that significant overcharging and undercharging of LiFePO4 batteries can cause damage, reduce battery life and create safety hazards. Therefore it's essential to always follow the recommended charging instructions for optimal performance and safety.

An overview of the issue: Dendrite formation in LiFePO4 batteries: dangers and effects

Thermal runaway temps for different Li-ion batteries BU-216: Summary Table of Lithium-based Batteries

LiFePO4 Thermal Runaway: Causes, Risks, and Effective Prevention

All of the issues can be mitigated against to some degree by using a good BMS, having correct fusing etc.
 
The batteries on the truck are I am willing to bet designed for house hold storage battery use. With huge amounts of solar roof top PV systems in use the government are encouraging us to go for battery storage with large 30% type subsidies. The battery installation industry has gone mad. ol'will
 
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