Fire-Prone Lithium-Ion Batteries a Big Problem for Airlines

The growing infatuation with lithium-ion batteries in electronics has a downside—they have the troubling potential to catch fire.

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The aviation industry is suffering on multiple fronts from the growing use of personal electronics powered by lithium-ion batteries. The appeal of the batteries is their high efficiency. The downside is they have a troubling potential to cause catastrophic mid-flight fires.

Lithium-ion batteries are in almost every portable device on the market, from cellphones and cameras, to laptops and tablets. They’ve been adopted so widely because of their high power-to-weight ratio, great energy efficiency, and long life. The technology also runs most electric and hybrid vehicles.