APR 12

A battery pack undergoing "extreme testing" caused an explosion at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan earlier this week. Local news reports indicate that 5 people were injured in the explosion. According to a statement from the company, the battery that caused the blast is "unrelated to the Chevrolet Volt or any other production vehicle."

The GM statement also indicated that, "Chemical gases from the battery cells were released and ignited in the enclosed chamber. The battery itself was intact." Conventional automotive batteries can produce hydrogen gas which can explode in the presence of a spark or flame, as well.

This kind of news is likely to spur concers about the safety of electric vehicles from some corners, and GM has been quick to note that the accident was not related to any of their production vehicles in order to allay concerns from drivers of their vehicles. Accidents are an occasional consequence of stressful testing, and this shouldn't be taken as a sign that electric vehicles are somehow far more dangerous than previously thought.

link: Edmunds Inside Line

via: Michigan Radio

image: WXYZ News

Comments (5)

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written by nathan, April 14, 2012

I don't understand why it is necessary to research dangerous batteries. Cars already have good safe lead acid batteries which don't explode.

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Lead Acid batteries sometimes explode
written by Guest, April 16, 2012

Nathan,
I respectfully wish to inform you that lead acid batteries do occasionally cause explosions or fires. Check out the warnings written on your car's battery. They're not there just to fend off legal concerns.

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written by Mladen, April 17, 2012

Nathan, because current battery technology is way behind what we needed it to be.
And if you read the article again you'll notice that that battery exploded under 'extreme testing'. This doesn't mean an old lady poked it with a stick. It was probably under severe stress.
The human error here was that they didn't organise enough precaution to prevent the human tragedy.

If you wan't to be worried about something highly explosive in your car, simply look at what you put in your fuel tank, assuming you drive an internal combustion vehicle.
Also, try googling all deaths associated to current crude oil derivative fuels. I believe it's more than 5.

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Progress Sometimes Requires Experimentation
written by Francis, April 17, 2012

Nathan - Today's hybrid and fully electric vehicles do not use lead/acid batteries as this type of battery simply weighs too much. Research and experimentation is necessary to find and identify lightweight materials that can hold an electric charge.

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written by David, April 18, 2012

Has the author written "stressful testing" when they meant "stress testing"? Stress testing means testing beyond normal operational capacity (sometimes to breaking point), in order to determine the stability of components and possible modes of failure. Stressful testing implies the procedure itself was stressful.

Obviously it is stressful when things explode, but that probably wasn't the aim of the test!

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