E-bike combustion comparison: Lithium batteries are much more dangerous than lead-acid batteries

Recently, CCTV News conducted a simulation experiment on the spontaneous combustion of electric bicycles.

One car, the lead-acid battery version, and one car, the lithium battery version, both ignited with thick flames. If left unchecked, the entire burning process would last half an hour.

Experts say that spontaneous combustion of lead-acid battery electric bicycles is generally caused by aging or modified circuits.

The spontaneous combustion of lithium battery electric bicycles may be caused by a failure of the control circuit chip, which makes it impossible to monitor the battery itself and continue charging. As the saying goes, the battery has exploded.

This is because overcharging of lithium batteries will generate heat, and the heat cannot be dissipated in time within 3 minutes, causing the organic matter inside the battery to melt and shrink, which in turn causes a short circuit between the positive and negative poles of the battery, and eventually the battery will short-circuit and explode.

Therefore, the vast majority of electric bicycles that spontaneously ignite during charging are powered by lithium batteries.

Not only that, because lithium batteries often have a relatively hard shell that wraps the battery cells inside, sometimes they can spray out like bullets, which is even more dangerous.

There are many flammable and combustible materials in the home environment. Once the battery explodes, sparks will fly and ignite the surrounding combustibles, causing the fire to spread rapidly. Therefore, the battery charged at home is like a "time bomb".