Two Injured In Explosion At GM Battery

by Derek Kreindler

Published: April 11th, 2012

Two GM employees suffered injuries at the company’s Warren, Michigan battery research facility following an explosion and a small fire. Emergency crews were called to the scene at 8:45 A.M Wednesday, and found a small fire as well as two injured employees.

One was treated at the scene for injuries, while another was taken to hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. According to authorities, a battery exploded after undergoing “extreme testing”. The lithium-ion batteries were said to be unrelated to those used in the Chevrolet Volt (seen above, undergoing testing).

#Battery #ChevroletVolt #GeneralMotors #Lithium-ion

Derek Kreindler

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7 of 58 comments

Volts On Fire on Apr 11, 2012

This should nicely tank Volt sales once again. There are stories all over the place today mentioning "GM" "battery" and "explosion" which of course make people think immediately of the Volt. Hashtags and photos not necessary, but greatly appreciated.

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- Mikey on Apr 11, 2012
  
  Well look at that will ya. I always figured that 5 percent of the people on this planet were a$$h--s. 42 comments, and so far we got two.
  
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- Trucky McTruckface on Apr 11, 2012
  
  @mikey And with that comment, you just made it three. Get over yourself.
  
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- Shaker on Apr 12, 2012
  
  @mikey I'm still waiting on excess negativity being applied to the Ford Focus Electric (also supported by "taxpayer-funded" credits). In the meantime, carry on. I hope the guys/gals are OK. On a lighter note: "Spark" might be a risky name for the electric version (which I'd consider buying, at least once these researchers "take it on the chin" to sort the battery problems). For an appreciation for the risks and pain involved with the development of electric vehicles, look at the "DIY" community: http://green.autoblog.com/2012/03/22/pbs-ev-conversion-convention-DIY-EVCCON-EVTV/ And if you're really into it, there's a huge video archive of the exploits of Jack Rickard and Brian Noto as they literally "grind through" EV conversions (burning batteries, exploded DC motors and all) at www.evtv.me
  
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Beerboy12 on Apr 11, 2012

The good side of this is that GM are taking testing seriously. Accidents happen, regardless of fault and blame storming, they are never fun for anyone and 98% are just that, accidents. Hopefully better testing systems and safer batteries come out of this.

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Daveainchina on Apr 11, 2012

Only thing I keep thinking about is that as batteries become more dense and store higher and higher levels of power. How this is going to be a major worry for everyone in the future. Batteries contain an awful lot of energy and uncontrolled discharges of that energy will essentially be explosions. Hopefully as the technology advances we will see them become very safe and stable. Moreso than they are now.

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Shaker on Apr 12, 2012

I learned on EVTV that Tesla is going to start using an advanced version of the Panasonic "laptop" cells that will have an exclusive, built-in current-limiting device (I believe that it's a PTC [Positive Temperature Coefficient] resistor that will automatically limit current at the cell level, should it exceed safe limits -- the really cool (hot?) thing is that it will make the battery safer under both charging and discharging scenarios. This is the kind of tech that will only come faster as more people buy EV's - they WILL become viable, unless there is active negativity towards them. I'm OK with ICE's for the "fun" factor, but I see no issue with the majority of boring commutes being done with something that's absolutely MADE for the job - a car that is very stingy with energy - especially in "stop-and-go" conditions.

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