Nowadays, you see more and more employees arriving at work on pedelecs. Many companies lease bicycles and encourage their use in order to promote sustainability within the company. However, these bikes contain lithium batteries - very handy, but not so harmless.

The safe storage of the lithium battery used on the bike is essential. This means it’s very important to choose the right safety product for its storage.

Often unstable and flammable

It is impossible to imagine our everyday life without lithium-ion batteries. You'll find them everywhere: in e-bikes, phones, laptops and even in vehicles.

These batteries are very unstable when overcharged or exposed to extreme temperatures. Even when dropped, they can cause a lot of damage. Lithium batteries have improved in recent years.  However, things often still go wrong.

Just think of news articles about exploding smartphones, laptops, and even cars that catch fire ‘spontaneously’.

The problem is that there is no such thing as intrinsically safe lithium batteries. ‘Intrinsically safe’, meaning that a battery pack cannot ignite spontaneously. As long as they are not (yet) intrinsically safe, you always need to handle and store lithium batteries correctly. This blog tells you the best way to do this and why it’s so important.

Thermal runaway: batteries running wild

The biggest risk from lithium-ion batteries is ‘thermal runaway’. When this happens, the battery runs wild, so to speak.

Thermal runaway takes place when the temperature of a battery cell rises significantly.

There are serveral reasons:

• exposure to fire
• a fault in the battery management system
• an internal short circuit due to a fault in an individual cell
• something going wrong while charging or discharging the cell
• a poor connection between the batteries
• external damage

Ultimately, this could cause a fire. As a result, toxic substances are released, which are dangerous for fire fighters and people living closely to the explosion site.

Storing lithium batteries correctly

Even though these batteries are used more and more frequently, the law does not sufficiently address the use and storage of lithium batteries.

PGS (Publications on Dangerous Substances) will be issuing guidelines. These will relate to the commercial storage of lithium batteries, and also to energy storage systems.

The best way to safely store lithium batteries is in a sturdy, fireproof cabinet. These cabinets have a special fire extinguishing system, which controls fire in the best possible way. The fire will be restricted to the cabinet. Additionally, these cabinets have a visual and audio alarm, which can be connected to your fire alarm centre.

Once the battery has been extinguished, the fire is temporarily under control, but could always re-ignite.

The combination of fire resistance, extinguishing and the alarm of a fireproof cabinet is the ideal way to keep burning lithium batteries under control.

This makes it the best option for storing a lithium battery.

good practices in buying and handling li-ion batteries

• Only buy devices, batteries and chargers from recognised manufacturers. 
• Follow the manufacturer's instructions for use.
• Cool the batteries after prolonged or intensive use.
• When the battery is charged, unplug the charger from the wall socket.
• Avoid direct sunlight.
• Use the original charger supplied with the device.
• Charge a battery pack near a smoke detector.
• Have you dropped a battery? Check it for damage and replace the damaged parts immediately.