Chevrolet Volt's Battery Pack re-Ignited

[flashflood]

stress test or not, you should expect an explosion, and plan the testing to be able
to contain all the energy that could be produced from your stress testing. the fact an unexpected fire
happened in a test lab is a cause for concern for GM...[who is running the place anyway ?]

You know, this raises a point that at first seems counter-intuitive: gasoline is actually a safer way to store large amounts of energy than batteries. Gasoline without oxygen is inert, so it can burn in open air, but it can't explode. Batteries are more like solid rocket fuel: everything needed for a complete exothermic reaction is stored together, separated by microns. That seems like a hard problem.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

Batteries are like having a cell with gasoline and oxygen, and then after combining and combusting, you can plug it in and "uncombust" and separate them again. Instead of being tethered to places with gasoline of the correct quality, you can go anywhere there is electricity. Theoretically.

On the bright side, if a prototype cell explosion was energetic enough to blow out several windows, I say if consumers don't want these new A123 cells, I'll take 'em! It sounds like a more "exciting" chemistry. Of course, the article did state that it was probably a battery, not a cell.. I wonder what chemistry it was. Isn't A123 known for first making the safer chemistry LiFePo4?

 

[Monocrom]

Batteries are like having a cell with gasoline and oxygen, and then after combining and combusting, you can plug it in and "uncombust" and separate them again. Instead of being tethered to places with gasoline of the correct quality, you can go anywhere there is electricity. Theoretically.

In reality, with gas stations all over the nation and as common as dirt, you're not tethered to anything. Drive, fuel up, drive some more, repeat. One could stay on the road indefinitely, and travel the country without having to return home every night. With electricity, no electrical stations all over the place. No fast charge option at those non-existent common as dirt stations. Having to always come home every night to plug in the vehicle. Not being able to use it the next day if you forget to plug it in. Tethered to a plug, always having to plan out in advance where you're going to go because the charge is only so much.