I hear a lot about e-bike and e-scooter batteries being a risk if bought cheaply whereas name-brands are better. I remember A Samsung Note phone having this problem as well. What causes this and how is it fixed/brought under reasonable control
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The short answer is that batteries are an energy source, usually chemical energy if we’re talking about lithium ion batteries. They store energy until it’s needed, and then slowly release that energy in the form of electricity. If you were to compromise the physical battery, then you run the risk of all that energy releasing at once.
So why do cheaper batteries explode more often? The simple answer is that it’s cheaper because it uses cheaper material and build processes. The cheaper material may be easier to compromise, and the cheaper build processes may exclude additional safety measures.
That’s not to say every cheap battery will explode, not are expensive batteries perfectly safe. But batteries that are less well made will be more prone to accidental damage
“Battery” is a term for any system that holds potential energy for later use. Two connected lakes to power a dam is a battery. Holding a rock up high to power a pulley is a battery.
In the case of the battery you are thinking of, we have a small object with two chemicals closely connected but separated that have electrons (little energy balls) that really want to go from one of those chemicals to the other.
There are many forms of “power output”, spinning a motor, producing light, powering a magnet, activating computer cells, and they all will produce some amount of heat, as that is the most efficient form of expending energy (think friction).
A cheap battery is made poorly, meaning the barrier between the two chemicals is prone to failure. When that happens, there is no other form of consuming the energy, and so it all becomes heat.
Lots of heat in a small enclosed space means boom.
It comes down to manufacturing standards. It’s incredibly important that a lithium cell be manufactured to a high standard because there’s a tremendous amount of energy should something go wrong.
Basically, if there is a problem with the separator, then a short circuit inside is likely. If a short occurs then it’s incineration time.
Poorly made cells will take less abuse before failing catastrophically.
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