Lithium batteries cause yet another fire at a Perth factory belching out vast volumes of toxic smoke causing residents to close up their homes and turn off air conditioners.
While petrol and diesel becomes harder to get and is too expensive to buy, sales of second hand electric vehicles across the country have doubled over the past month .
These vehicles with large lithium batteries have been exploding in significant numbers caused by overcharging or for no reason at all. Parking these EV’s in a garage attached to a house poses a great fire risk and there have been many fires caused by battery charging.
In Europe and the UK car ferries and car transport trucks refuse to load them after lithium batteries in these passenger cars have exploded and the ensuing fire is almost impossible to extinguish.
According to the post Storemasta there have been hundreds of battery fires in NSW alone for 2024.
Lithium-ion batteries are still the fastest growing fire risk in NSW.
Fire and Rescue attended 317 lithium-ion battery fires in 2024. This equates to almost one per day. However, that figure is expected to increase as they finalise and confirm incident data from the end of last year.
There has been a significant increase in lithium-ion battery-related fire incidents, with 272 incidents in 2023, marking a 66 percent increase from the 165 incidents in 2022.
As of February 10, there had been 25 battery fires already in 2025 with 13 of those in just one week.
Fire and Rescue statistics indicate that people are four times more likely to be injured by a fire which originates from a lithium-ion battery in comparison to other fire types.
In 2024, NSW recorded its first two fatalities due to a lithium-ion battery fire. Fire and Rescue say it is essential to understand and manage risks to protect life and property.
In response to these worrying statistics, there are now changes in New South Wales to combat battery fires through new regulations.
