Battery Safety and Fire Prevention in Electric Vehicles

A special issue of Batteries (ISSN 2313-0105). This special issue belongs to the section "Battery Performance, Ageing, Reliability and Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2025 | Viewed by 1691

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: lithium-ion batteries; battery safety; thermal failure; safer electrolytes; semi-solid electrolytes; electric vehicles

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Guest Editor
Energy and Electricity Research Center, Jinan University, Zhuhai 510970, China
Interests: energy storage; thermal management; phase change material; energy system design and optimization; thermal runaway; battery model
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: lithium-ion batteries; thermal runaway; battery safety; thermal propagation test; electric vehicles; heat and mass transfer; fire technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs) has brought increased attention to the critical issues of battery safety and fire prevention. Battery safety concerns, often referred to as "thermal runaway", have impeded the widespread implementation of energy-dense lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in EVs and energy storage stations. The development of ultrahigh-nickel layered oxide cathode (e.g. NCM, NCA) and silicon-based anode (SiC) materials has significantly increased the energy density of LIBs. The selection of battery material chemistries plays a crucial role in determining the thermal stability of batteries. High-energy-density LIBs are particularly susceptible to thermal degradation, which can result in malfunctions, overheating, fires, or even explosions. While lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries are generally regarded as thermally safe due to the phase stability of their olivine-structure cathodes, incidents of serious safety issues have been reported, especially with large-capacity (≥300 Ah) LiFePO4 batteries. On the other hand, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are believed to offer better thermal safety; however, our understanding of this aspect lacks detailed mechanistic analysis and empirical evidence. By employing a rational approach to the design and modeling of battery cells at both the individual component level (cathode, anode, electrolyte, and separator) and the pack level, we can enhance battery safety and effectively prevent fires in electric vehicles. This Special Issue aims to address challenges and advancements in ensuring the safe operation of EV batteries.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

  • Thermal failure mechanisms of lithium/sodium-ion batteries
  • Thermal properties of lithium/sodium-metal batteries
  • Advanced materials for thermal stability and fire prevention
  • Battery safety enhancement at the material and cell levels
  • Advanced battery thermal management technology
  • Modeling and the reduced order method for battery thermal runaway
  • Battery safety early warning methods and algorithm optimization
  • Battery safety design and fire prevention strategies
  • Safety standards, regulations, and testing protocols
  • Thermal runaway mechanisms and multi-physics field modeling

Dr. Junxian Hou
Dr. Weixiong Wu
Dr. Changyong Jin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • battery safety
  • fire prevention
  • thermal failure
  • safety enhancement
  • thermal management
  • safety standards
  • safety warning
  • battery failure mode
  • thermal propagation
  • system design and management
  • lithium battery
  • LiFePO4 batteries
  • sodium batteries

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 6710 KiB  
Article
Development and Validation of an Electromagnetic Induction-Based Thermal Propagation Test Method for Large-Format Lithium-Ion Battery Systems
by Changyong Jin, Jiangna Gu, Chengshan Xu, Wanlin Wang, Lirong Liu and Xuning Feng
Batteries 2025, 11(4), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries11040148 - 9 Apr 2025
Viewed by 611
Abstract
This study establishes a standardized framework for thermal propagation test in nickel-7 lithium-ion battery systems through a high-frequency electromagnetic induction heating method. The non-intrusive triggering mechanism enables precise thermal runaway initiation within two seconds through localized eddy current heating (>1200 °C), validated through [...] Read more.
This study establishes a standardized framework for thermal propagation test in nickel-7 lithium-ion battery systems through a high-frequency electromagnetic induction heating method. The non-intrusive triggering mechanism enables precise thermal runaway initiation within two seconds through localized eddy current heating (>1200 °C), validated through cell-level tests with 100% success rate across diverse trigger positions. System-level thermal propagation tests were conducted on two identical battery boxes. The parallel experiments revealed distinct propagation patterns influenced by system sealing quality. In the inadequately sealed system (Box 01), flame formation led to accelerated thermal propagation through enhanced convective and radiative heat transfer. In contrast, the well-sealed system (Box 02) maintained an oxygen-deficient environment, resulting in a controlled sequential propagation pattern. The testing methodology incorporating dummy modules proved efficient for validating thermal protection strategies while optimizing costs. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of thermal runaway propagation mechanisms and the development of standardized testing protocols for large-format battery systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Battery Safety and Fire Prevention in Electric Vehicles)
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