Re:Gigafactories are recycling old EV batteries into new ones
by Eisenstein on Sunday October 30, 2022 @06:15AM
(#33393030)
I am more concerned about the safety issues. People forget that rechargeable lithium cells are incredibly dangerous to charge, store, transport, and dispose of. On top of this large fires caused by them are pretty much impossible to extinguish.
> “We brought over 1,000 pounds of Purple-K and we introduced that to the fire hoping we could kill it and choke it out. The lithium ion fire laughed at the Purple-K. Didn’t put a dent in it.” Officials soon determined that the best course of action would be to allow the fire to burn itself out until it could be managed.
...
> Once the fire had diminished to a controllable level, firefighters applied high-flow water in an attempt to cool the batteries while applying approximately 28 tons of dry Portland cement to smother the burning lithium ion batteries until there was no longer any active fires at the site.
> “We brought over 1,000 pounds of Purple-K and we introduced that to the fire hoping we could kill it and choke it out. The lithium ion fire laughed at the Purple-K. Didn’t put a dent in it.” Officials soon determined that the best course of action would be to allow the fire to burn itself out until it could be managed.
...
> Once the fire had diminished to a controllable level, firefighters applied high-flow water in an attempt to cool the batteries while applying approximately 28 tons of dry Portland cement to smother the burning lithium ion batteries until there was no longer any active fires at the site.
* https://www.ehs.com/2021/07/morris-lithium-battery-fire-high...