A recent article titled “Zapped” in the Sunday 1-9-22 Oakland Press detailed problems that GM is having with electric vehicles powered by large lithium batteries. The plant has shut down production while the cause of the defective batteries is investigated and 141,000 Chevy Volts are under recall. According to Oakland Township Fire Chief, Paul Strelchuk, his department has not been called on to respond to any such fire yet. He did comment that Groveland Fire Department had a fire in one of their lithium battery powered chain saws. These fires are hard to extinguish as they burn until all the lithium reacts with water to make flammable and explosive hydrogen gas. ( I was a chemist in a former life.)

According to this 222 page report citing 21,687 incidents, there are a lot of ways a battery can be manufactured with defects or be abused in use, causing fires. See these disturbing charts from pages 4 and 9.