lithium-ion batteries

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For These Kids, Toiling in Illegal Mines Is 'Only Option'

Lithium demand creates 'new frontier for mining' in Nigeria, with children doing much of the work

(Newser) - Dressed in a faded pink dress, 6-year-old Juliet Samaniya squats under scorching skies to chip at a jagged white rock with a stone tool. Dust coats her tiny hands and her hair as she works hour after hour, for less than a dollar a day in Nasarawa, Nigeria. The landscape...

Answer to Our Lithium Demand May Lie in Arkansas
Answer to Our
Lithium Demand
May Lie in Arkansas
NEW STUDY
Oct 22, 2024 10:10 AM CDT

Answer to Our Lithium Demand May Lie in Arkansas

New research shows the state could have up to 19M tons buried in Smackover Formation area

(Newser) - The International Energy Agency has predicted that demand for lithium could grow by 40 times by 2040, and one US state in particular may be the solution to that demand. Researchers say that Arkansas could have between 5 million and 19 million tons of the chemical element, used in batteries...

Battery Fires Are a Growing Problem on Planes

'One of these thermal-runaway incidents at 40,000 feet does present unique risks'

(Newser) - Devices powered by lithium-ion batteries are overheating more often during airline flights—and passengers often put them in checked bags that go into the cargo hold, where a fire might not be detected as quickly, per the AP . Overheating incidents rose 28% from 2019 to 2023, although such events remain...

Culprit in Minivan Fire: A Children's Book
Minivan Fire
Blamed on a Kids' Book
Aug 29, 2024 12:20 PM CDT

Minivan Fire Blamed on a Kids' Book

North Carolina think 'button' with lithium battery caught fire in the heat

(Newser) - North Carolina officials say the cause of a fire inside a minivan in Burke County was a children's book. A child's car seat was set ablaze when a "button battery" in a children's book caught fire after being left in the vehicle on Sunday, according to...

Parking Garage Fire Illustrates a Growing Problem

Safety codes don't appear to be keeping up with dangers of electric vehicles

(Newser) - An intense car fire in an underground garage last week in South Korea speaks to a problem not just in that nation but worldwide for the burgeoning electric vehicle industry. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the fire began with a Mercedez-Benz EV, one that wasn't even charging at...

Dog Chews Lithium-Ion Battery, With Disastrous Results

Tulsa Fire Department issues warning after home burns

(Newser) - A dog chomping on a lithium-ion battery sparked a serious house fire in Oklahoma, and video of the moment the sparks began to fly has been enlisted by a fire department to show the potential dangers of those batteries. The footage taken from the home and posted last week on...

22 Die in Fire at Lithium Battery Factory

Fire extinguishers failed to put out blaze at South Korea plant, officials say

(Newser) - A fire likely sparked by exploding lithium batteries swept through a factory near South Korea's capital on Monday, killing 22 people, mostly Chinese migrant workers, and injuring eight, officials said. The fire began after batteries exploded while workers were examining and packaging them on the second floor of the...

Swedish Company Says It's Made Huge Battery Breakthrough

High-capacity battery doesn't use any critical minerals

(Newser) - Europe's leading battery maker says it has made a breakthrough that could reduce the world's reliance on China. Swedish company Northvolt, founded in 2015 by two former Tesla execs, says its new sodium-ion battery doesn't use the critical minerals lithium, nickel, graphite, and cobalt—and it has...

Lithium-Ion Battery Blamed for Another 3 Deaths in NYC

New York officials say something must be done

(Newser) - New York City officials say retailers and food delivery companies must do more to halt the proliferation of unsafe e-bike and e-scooter batteries, after a fire blamed on an electric scooter's lithium ion battery killed three people over the weekend, the AP reports. "There is blood on the...

World's Oldest Nobel Winner Leaves a Lasting Impact
He Was One
of the Biggest
Scientists
in Tech
obituary
Jun 26, 2023 2:19 PM CDT

He Was One of the Biggest Scientists in Tech

John Goodenough, who has died at 100, helped invent the lithium ion battery

(Newser) - A scientist by the name of John Goodenough has died at age 100, and if the name doesn't sound familiar, the device he played a crucial role in developing surely will: the lithium ion battery. Goodenough shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on the battery—...

Lithium-Ion Batteries Blamed for Fire That Killed 4 in NYC

FDNY commissioner says it was an 'incredibly deadly' scenario at e-bike store

(Newser) - A deadly fire in New York City has brought fresh attention to the dangers of lithium-ion batteries. Four people died early Tuesday and two others were critically injured after a fire broke out in an e-bike store on the first floor of a six-story building near Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood...

Seconds After Takeoff, 'Gasping' and 'Screaming'

United Airlines flight makes emergency landing after passenger's battery pack catches fire

(Newser) - The Federal Aviation Administration posts warnings on its website about the dangers of lithium batteries, and for good reason: They can cause fires if not stored properly during transit. Passengers on a United Airlines flight Tuesday morning found that out firsthand, when the battery pack for a passenger's laptop...

Experts Warn of Harm When Children Swallow Batteries

Emergency room visits doubled over the decade before

(Newser) - Electronic devices around the house seem to be multiplying, so it stands to reason that more small batteries—health threats when swallowed by children—are being used to power them. "If I only paid attention to the kind of batteries the remote controls required!" one woman wrote on...

South America's Lithium Reserves Are a Boon—Maybe

'Wall Street Journal' looks at the obstacles in extracting one of world's biggest reserves

(Newser) - As the appetite for electric vehicles grows, the Wall Street Journal sees an obstacle in the way of production expanding at a similar clip: South America. The continent is one of three places on Earth—the others being Australia and China—that have substantial reserves of lithium, the metal needed...

Tesla 'Spontaneously Caught Fire,' Kept Igniting

Electric vehicle had been damaged in a crash weeks before

(Newser) - A Tesla Model S had been sitting in a scrapyard for three weeks following a collision when it spontaneously burst into flames this month, then kept re-igniting, transforming into "a heap of melted and burned metal," per the Washington Post . The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District described how the...

Inside America's Race for a Better Electric Car Battery

Auto giants hope small start-ups can propel America in the race for a better battery

(Newser) - Big problems in the supply chain for electric-car batteries came to light last March, when Elon Musk partnered directly with a New Caledonian nickel mine amid rumors that China was planning export limits, Forbes reported at the time. China retains a "near-monopoly position" on the world’s production and...

Do We Have a 'Moral Obligation' to Mine for Cobalt in Idaho?

One of the country's largest stores of cobalt is there

(Newser) - As the planet's need for lithium—or, more specifically, lithium-ion batteries—continues to swell, so too does the need for metals needed to make those batteries. Cobalt is one of them. As Michael Holtz explains in a lengthy piece for the Atlantic , a White House report issued in June...

From Nobel's Chem Prize Winners: Batteries

John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino brought us lithium-ion batteries

(Newser) - The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to the US' John B. Goodenough and M. Stanley Whittingham, and Japan's Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries, per the AP . "Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized our lives and are used in everything from mobile phones to laptops...

Apple Apologizes for Secretly Slowing Down Old iPhones

It's offering $50 off replacement batteries

(Newser) - Apple says it is sorry about secretly slowing down older models of iPhone —and to make sure there are no hard feelings, it will offer battery replacements at a reduced price. In a letter on its website, the company says it would never "do anything to intentionally shorten...

Elon Musk Made Bold Promise, Fulfilled It

World's biggest lithium ion battery is installed in South Australia

(Newser) - Elon Musk promised to have the job done in 100 days or it's free . Well, it looks like Australia will be paying up. Tesla has completed installation of the world's biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia and will be turning it on next week, ahead of a...

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