Lithium-Ion and LFP Battery Fires: The Real Risks Sailors Face

Lead-acid isn't risk-free either, but lithium-ion and LFP batteries introduce new fire hazards every sailor should understand before switching.

By
Stephen Burnage
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1
A CMPower LiFePO4 battery, complete with internal BMS and color-coded cable runs, sits secured in its dedicated compartment.

Before we consider the safety issues of lithium-ion batteries, we should remember that lead acid batteries are not without risk. Apart from the obvious risk of a sulfuric acid spill or exposure, there are other concerns. Under heavy charge or discharge they can give off heat and gases which can be corrosive, explosive, and poisonous in high enough quantities.

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Stephen Burnage
Stephen Burnage
Stephen Burnage is a full-time cruiser, having retired in 2017. He left Vancouver, Canada and headed south for warmer climates, on his 1975 Cal 34 sailboat “Moonrise”, in 2018. Since then, Stephen, Moonrise and occasionally his wife Anita, have cruised the West Coast of North and Central America. They are presently in Boca Chica, Panama. Stephen originally trained in the UK as an Electrical Technician Engineer and then proceeded to have a forty-year career, managing high voltage electrical systems around the world. Career highlights include building new power infrastructure on six continents; writing a comprehensive paper on how the North American Power Grid operates (and needs to be rebuilt) and; later, owning and operating his own renewable energy business. Stephen is a joint Canadian and British national and a resident of Chile, with an extended family across the world.

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1 COMMENT

  1. the initial portion of the article uses non-LFP incidents as an attention getting/scare device. This is misinformation & not useful Practical Sailor” level information. The first and most basic warning any such article should be “Use only LFP – other chemistries are currently inappropriate”

    as Jack Webb said “just the Facts Ma’am” (and I believe he added ‘and no distracting scary stories about other crimes’)