Why Every Lithium Battery Is a Time Bomb

The phone in your pocket is literally a time bomb. 

If that sounds like hyperbole, Google "lithium battery fires" and feast your eyes on the headlines. 

I took the liberty of doing it myself and am including just the first page of results for your convenience:

The number of lithium battery-sparked fires in NYC alone has risen by 500% since 2020 and is already averaging more than one per day this year, with the rate only set to increase. 

But why? Why are lithium-ion batteries, which have been advertised as the future for energy storage across the board, so dangerous?

It all goes back to their fundamental design — a fatal flaw that’s shared by just about every rechargeable battery on Earth today. 

Within the battery is a component called the "electrolyte." This is a liquid solution through which electrons flow from the anode to the cathode. 

This electrolyte is chock-full of organic solvents as well as dissolved oxygen. Those two ingredients are basically an incendiary device, with both fuel and oxidizer located in close proximity to one another. 

You're Carrying One of These in Your Pocket

The only thing that’s missing is heat. 

Introduce enough heat to get that electrolyte to start boiling out the oxygen and the fuse is lit. Wait for enough heat to build up for a flash to occur and you’re in business — or in this case, on fire. 

Heat, as you’ve probably noticed, is something that all lithium batteries have to endure on a regular basis. You already know this if you’ve ever charged your phone. 

The older a battery is, the less efficiently it takes on charge, with more and more energy being lost to heat with each successive charging cycle. 

For most lithium batteries, failure begins after several hundred charge cycles. 

Eventually, all of them fail. When it comes to consumer devices, however, the battery’s performance drops off so much that it’s typically replaced before that failure becomes catastrophic. 

Occasionally, however, if a battery is poorly produced, poorly refurbished, or simply damaged through the course of regular usage, the worst-case scenario unfolds. 

The Big Apple Is the World Capital of Burning Batteries

In the case of most of the lithium fires in NYC, the culprit is an improperly serviced e-bike battery, but as time goes on and more and more devices hit the secondary market, the incidence rate of these fires will only increase. 

This has become such a problem that airlines have already put strict regulations on how lithium batteries can be transported. 

In cities like New York, similar regulations are being introduced to control the flow and storage of such batteries. There are buildings in the city today, for example, where things like e-bikes are no longer allowed. 

In view of all this, can we truly trust lithium to be the gasoline of the 21st century, as it’s been billed?

Obviously not. 

That’s why all the major battery-makers in the world have been working overtime to create a replacement for the traditional lithium-ion battery. 

One company, a relative unknown, has secretly already won this race. 

Say Goodbye to Li-Ion Forever

You’ve probably never heard of this company, as it’s less than 1% the size of most of its competitors, but in a few years' time, this Australian high-tech materials company could be a household name. 

Its batteries use no lithium at all. 

Instead, they employ a space-age material that only a few years ago was little more than a science project…

A very serious science project that won its researchers the Nobel Prize in Physics. 

Today, the batteries this company is getting set to commercialize are a quantum leap beyond anything the world of consumer tech has ever seen. 

They carry 2–3 times the charge, can last for 3 times as many charge cycles, are far safer and more stable… and they charge up to 70 times as fast. 

You read that right. That’s a 7,000% increase in charge speed, meaning you could charge your phone — or your EV, for that matter — in less than a minute. 

Like I said, you probably haven’t heard of this company, but you can own it. Its stock trades publicly on two North American stock exchanges. 

All you need is the ticker symbol and it can be yours. 

Interested in learning more? Get all the details right here.

Fortune favors the bold,

Alex Koyfman

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His flagship service, Microcap Insider, provides market-beating insights into some of the fastest moving, highest profit-potential companies available for public trading on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges. With more than 5 years of track record to back it up, Microcap Insider is the choice for the growth-minded investor. Alex contributes his thoughts and insights regularly to Energy and Capital. To learn more about Alex, click here.