Why you shouldn't mess with lithium ion

[MorphDaCivic]

Even lead acid batteries can cause fires.

Here's a story about a 1968 bug, with a battery under rear seat. Caught fire from seat springs shorting out the battery. Car is a total loss.

Clinton fire chars old VW, couple's groceries | ksl.com

[JRP3]

Originally Posted by ConnClark

Except this is a brad new state of the art vehicle using lithium ion phosphate batteries.

PHL Solar Car Team gears up for Australia race - Technology - GMA News Online - Latest Philippine News

That link says laptop cells, which means LiCo, not LiFePO4.

[ConnClark]

Originally Posted by JRP3

That link says laptop cells, which means LiCo, not LiFePO4.

From the article

“We now use Panasonic lithium ion phosphate batteries," explains Charleson Meridones, one of Sikat II’s young engineers.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally Posted by ConnClark

From the article

“We now use Panasonic lithium ion phosphate batteries," explains Charleson Meridones, one of Sikat II’s young engineers.

But shouldn't that be "iron" not "ion"?

[JRP3]

It's rather confusing. Since LiCo seems to have twice the specific energy density of LiFePO4 I'm not aware of any laptops using LiFePO4, though the "laptop" reference may have just been referring to the 18650 format.

[ConnClark]

Originally Posted by Ladogaboy

But shouldn't that be "iron" not "ion"?

Right now there are only two main types of lithium ion phosphate battery chemistries on the market, lithium iron magnesium phosphate and lithium iron phosphate. They are both very similar and one is just as stable as the other. Lithium iron magnesium phosphate is slightly more efficient however.

[NeilBlanchard]

There are a lot of types of lithium ion batteries, with lots of different formulations:

Lithium-ion battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some with iron, manganese, cobalt, air...