They're putting Li-Ion batteries in cars! Are they nuts?!
At first I thought it was just the random person ... Now it seems there are lots of folks trying to soup up Hybrid electric cars with Lithium-Ion batteries! Are they nuts?! Li-Ion can be very very unstable and dangerous. Deform or puncture one and you'll have a very quick flash of fire and explosion.
You probably aren't going to throw around and mutilate your laptop so it's okay in there, but putting it in a car is just asking for trouble. Car's mean potential for accidents, which means potential for battery getting deformed, which means a big kabooom. And you can only wonder about adding gasoline to that situation. There is a reason no sane car manufacturer puts Li-Ion batteries in cars. Hybrid cars use NiMH batteries for a reason. So is the case with the more than a century old Lead Acid battery still used in normal cars.
Putting your own life in danger is one thing but driving around with what amounts to essentially a bomb and putting others' life in danger is totally irresponsible and should be against the law. Please do us all a favour and put a big sign saying "Li-Ion powered car" so I can stay far away from such things. Since most of these are being done on existing hybrid cars, I'm going to be wary of driving around one from now on. Especially Toyota Priuses.
Edit: There are safe versions of Li-Ion batteries in development but it doesn't look like its being used in some of these souped up hybrids being reported.
Comments
Anonymous
July 23, 2006
That is certainly true of current-generation Li-ion batteries, but there are apparently advances in the technology which makes it more attractive.
See http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68631,00.html for example.Anonymous
July 23, 2006
Ah yes. I've heard of Valence and Saphion and I wouldn't have any problems with those being used. However it doesn't look like any of those DIY tinkerers are using that. But thanks for the link. Now I can put up links to some pictures about how dangerous Li-Ion can be.Anonymous
July 23, 2006
No worries :-)
I had a look at the link you posted, and you're right: it looks like they're just using normal Li-ion. Luckily there's only "about two dozen" in use - the chances of you actually crashing into one is pretty low! Lets hope they get their act together before it become more popular.Anonymous
July 24, 2006
Uhm, you know what normal cars run on? I think there might be a bit of a fire hazard involved in that as well...Anonymous
July 24, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 02, 2006
My brother-in-law is one of "those people" -- actually, he's been hired by an electric car company that's using stock Li-Ion cells. There's a boatload of research going in to making the crashes as safe as possible. It's not just altruism, either: they can't sell the car until it's passed the crash tests without exploding.Anonymous
December 18, 2007
PingBack from http://oneadayvitamin.info/?p=5724Anonymous
December 18, 2007
PingBack from http://organic.oneadayvitamin.info/?p=16587Anonymous
December 28, 2007
PingBack from http://test.oneadayvitamin.info/?p=8Anonymous
December 29, 2007
PingBack from http://cars.oneadayvitamin.info/?p=8Anonymous
January 30, 2008
Here are <a href=http://groups.google.at/group/daniel1790/web/logos-klingeltne>logos klingelt�ne</a> rainbow card double <a href=http://groups.google.at/group/daniel1790/web/samsung-klingeltne>klingelt�ne f�r samsung</a> earn minus freezeout figure championship <a href=http://groups.google.at/group/daniel1790/web/klingeltne-kostenlos>handy klingelt�ne kostenlos</a> bankroll natural bracelet double buy house.Anonymous
June 07, 2009
PingBack from http://weakbladder.info/story.php?id=6957Anonymous
June 09, 2009
PingBack from http://cellulitecreamsite.info/story.php?id=11267