How To Evaluate Battery Safety Features
Battery packs in equipment or devices blowing up is bad news on many fronts: Injuries, lawsuits, reputation damage, loss of business, and more could be devastating for a business.
But battery safety is as elusive as it’s critical. Determining if a solution is “safe enough” for an application isn’t always a black-and-white decision. Here’s what you need to know.
Battery technology is still (kind of) the Wild West
Battery packs offer cell-, module-, and pack-level safety mechanisms. Most solutions include a battery management system (BMS) to monitor parameters like input/output current, voltage, and temperature to ensure safe operations. Some may provide current and voltage control, thermal management, and overcharging prevention capabilities.
So, we’re good, right? Not so fast. Battery safety involves more than blinking lights on a battery pack. To navigate the nuances, let’s start with the two broad categories of criteria:
The manufacturer's design, material selection, quality control, etc., must meet specific standards.
A proof-in-numbers — if you’re the billionth person to buy an iPhone, and devices sold in the past don’t show a tendency to blow up, your chances of making it home without a flaming hole in your pocket are good.
Battery buyers should be able to rely on the intent and capabilities of the manufacturer to make reasonable choices to ensure safety under normal operating conditions.
However, unlike more established industries (e.g., aerospace), where manufacturers must have safety audit trails stretching to the moon and back, today's battery industry doesn’t require every component to be tested and certified to specific standards.
Sure, plants can be ISO 9001-and-more certified, but that’s a far cry from aerospace rigor. The only intrinsic motivation for battery makers is protecting their brand reputation. Plus, when manufacturers sell to mega-corporations like General Motors, a purchasing agreement often includes financial responsibilities if things go wrong (e.g., LG paid GM $1.9 billion to cover the cost of recalling the Chevrolet Bolt's fire-prone batteries.)
Battery safety isn’t always black and white
Battery safety means different things to different applications. The good news is that lithium batteries are generally safe when you buy high-quality solutions from reputable sources and treat them correctly (e.g., operating in the intended conditions.)
Also, some chemistries are safer in the right environment but more dangerous otherwise. For example, LFP batteries are typically less volatile and more abuse-tolerant than, say, LCO ones unless you overcharge them or charge them in freezing temperature — then, they’re more likely to explode.
Like other battery characteristics, dialing safety up or down is both a technical and business decision. It often boils down to how much you’re willing to invest in controlling the operating environment and how badly you want the high energy density of the more volatile chemistries.
For example, our defense client wanted maximum energy density with extreme safety at all costs. It’s happy to invest in elaborate systems (e.g., software-defined batteries) to control the cell behaviors and the operating environment. It’s also willing to bear the cost of swapping out battery packs every three years to ensure maximum safety and performance.
Making the right decisions on your safety features and measures requires the expertise to understand both technical and business parameters to hit the sweet spot.
Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. We can help you make meaningful progress in selecting your battery solution and designing an integration strategy in a day in our new Battery Technology Workshop. Learn more to see how we can help you build electrified products cost-effectively with cutting-edge insights and deep industry knowledge.
