Thread: Lithium Ion Batteries in motor vehicles....potential danger

Personally I dislike lithium batteries A LOT. They are "sold" as being the best thing for the environment since creation or something but that is looking purely at CO2 (a discussion we probably should not get into at this point :P)

From a holistic point of view the batteries source materials cause considerable damage to the environment, they are not very recyclable (last info I have is around 60%) and they are outright dangerous. As I am building my vehicle (and changing it) I have one paramount fact in my mind: WEIGHT. So for overlanding purposes they seem to be the bees knees in that regard but I am very much at the point where I am considering putting lead acid in my vehicle and accept the weight but at least have a battery that doesn't have all the downsides of lithium and has a track record, for many decades already, of 99% recyclability.

Cheers,
-P

LiFePO4 is much safer than Lithium Ion, but weighs more and is more bulky.
However everything is relative.
My LiFePO4 100AH caravan battery weighs about 12.75Kg vs 35Kg for an AGM 120AH, which is still down on usable power. I have both at present.
My wife's golf buggy just loves its 24AH LiFePO4 battery, which can last 27 holes and weighs a tiny fraction of the previous Sonnenschein AGM . I have used LiFePO4 for about 4 years now in the buggy battery without any downside.

The main reason for the golf buggy is that my wife found the AGM very heavy after 18 holes and the buggy was losing power. The Lithium in the caravan is pretty new so I will report any incidents.
Regards PhilipA

I notice in Qld they are putting a little blue triangle in the middle of the number plates to denote hybrid batteries, just like they do with little red diamonds for LPG.

LiFePO4 batteries are arguably safer than lead acid. Plenty of youtube video's of people doing intentionally crazy things with them in an attempt to have them explode and burst into flame. In my experience I'd say they are safer, but you need to ensure the terminals cannot accidentally be shorted and adequately fused simply due to the high currents and potential duration thereof they can pass and the resultant associated dangers. The biggest issue with safety would likely more be related to the plethora of cheap manufacturers that will most likely pop up as the batteries become more and more mainstream rather than any inherent danger of the chemistry.

Recycling is another matter, but this needs to be addressed very urgently as usage ramps up.

What happens to used EV car batteries? According to this article the used batteries could be the Achilles heel of the transport revolution, or they could be the gold mine that makes it real. My knowledge of lithium batteries is very low level, so I found this to be informative.;

Cars Are Going Electric. What Happens to the Used Batteries? | WIRED