Dreamliner fires spark doubt about eco-friendly lithium ion batteries

GREEN technology is the suspected cause of the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) decision to ground Boeing's fleet of 787 Dreamliners, reports the Washington Examiner.

Lithium ion batteries, which caught fire on several flights, have been favoured by the US government in its promotion of green technology, and a million in subsidies have gone to develop them for cars, trucks and aircraft, said the report.

Boeing and the FAA said the 787 will not fly again until the battery fires are explained and fixed. There have been a total of four reported fires, including one during 2010 pre-delivery flight, according to Scientific American.

A UPS cargo plane made an emergency landing when a shipment of lithium ion batteries caught fire and while the plane landed safely, the aircraft itself was destroyed by fire on the ground.

The problem, according to the MIT Technology Review, is that "because the electrolyte materials used are flammable, no lithium-ion batteries are completely safe".

Small lithium ion batteries are widely used in consumer electronics, but powering vehicles and aircraft is a much bigger challenge. The 787, for example, generates 1.5 megawatts of power, enough to light hundreds of houses.

"As lithium ion battery use increases, so do the concerns related to the fire-safety hazards of these devices," said the National Fire Protection Association.

"Lithium ion batteries just won't do the trick in the kind of mass vehicle applications that the environmental community is pushing for," said Jon Entine, a senior fellow at George Mason University's Centre for Health and Risk.

Nonetheless, Washington has paid US$249 million in subsidies under the economic stimulus programme to A123 Systems, a lithium ion battery maker. But A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy last October. It has since been bought by the A123 Systems (China) Materials Co Ltd of Changzhou between Shanghai and Nanjing, where the Changzhou National Hi-Tech District is to become the R&D centre to develop electric cars.

US President Barack Obama toured the LG Chen lithium ion battery plant in Holland, Michigan in August 2011. The South Korean company got $151 million in federal subsidies, but it has yet to produce batteries and has laid off workers last fall, said the report.

Ener1, an Indianapolis-based lithium ion battery maker, received $118.5 million in federal money in 2009, but filed for bankruptcy last year. The president awarded $529 million to electric car company Fisker, which used lithium ion batteries supplied by A123, said the report. At least two battery fires have been reported in Fisker vehicles, all of which have been recalled, said the report.