Lithium: Not Always Safe

A little under a week ago, I bought a used Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6. After a little work, cleaning the carburetors, and other little parts, it runs great. However, at one point, it had a dead battery, so my friend gave me a spare lithium battery to throw in it and ride it home.

On my way back, it rode amazingly. Well, at least, until it didn’t. Approaching the roundabout near Atkins Farms, the engine completely shut off, and the lights were all dim. So, my friend pulled over and tried to give me a jump start. As we got to the battery, I noticed some smoke coming from the side and immediately pulled the battery out.

Not long after, the battery was completely engulfed in a large cloud of smoke. The fire department came out and verified that the battery was safe to handle, only after quite a lot of dousing with water. As the chemistry was lithium iron and not lithium ion, the battery was no longer at risk of running away. However, if I had been using a lithium ion battery, I’m not sure my bike and all of my limbs would still be here.

Ultimately, I traced the issue back to a faulty charging regulator/rectifier, a common issue on older bikes.

The culprit

I do think that if I had been using a standard lead-acid battery, it would have been much more non-violent, simply causing it to fail. To me, that says quite a bit about what happens when a lithium battery is slightly mishandled or abused.

This ties into the large amount of electric scooters and other vehicles on campus. There have already been regulations forbidding scooters from residence halls, and maybe they’re for an alright reason. Lithium fires are incredibly difficult to put out, and if one starts, it could spell disaster for a whole building. While I think they have lots of utility, cheaply made devices have been known to catch fire while charging in the past. I think it’s important for people to know what they’re buying, and to be careful with them.