Yes, please accuse anyone who disagrees with you as being a paid shill. Saying that the IPCC has lowered estimates, which it has admitted in its report, is now climate change skepticism? Really?
"But lithium-ion batteries have raised concerns in other vehicles. Two years ago, battery fires broke out in three Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid cars after crash-testing."
"Two years ago, battery fires broke out in three Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid cars after crash-testing."
"After" being the operative word. They crashed the Volts for testing purposes and then left them sitting outside with a nearly full but damaged battery. THREE WEEKS LATER a fire started.
When testing gasoline powered cars it is standard procedure to empty the tank immediately after crashing it, if they had drained or removed the Volts' batteries in a similar fashion nothing would have happened.
> ""After" being the operative word. They crashed the Volts for testing purposes and then left them sitting outside with a nearly full but damaged battery. THREE WEEKS LATER a fire started."
Well damn, those sound like verified deathtraps!
Seriously, the fact that she had to reach back two years probably says enough. On the general note of battery safety in crashes, there have been several Tesla Roadster crashes (to be expected with that style of car) (http://www.wreckedexotics.com/tesla/), how many of them resulted in dangerous battery fires? Clearly these batteries do not present a serious safety concern.
> "But lithium-ion batteries have raised concerns in other vehicles. Two years ago, battery fires broke out in three Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid cars after crash-testing."
Imagine that, structurally compromised systems not disposed of properly are dangerous. That says more about GM than it does the technology.
When I have batteries take damage (falls, shorts, the ever popular screwdriver through them) they are disposed of properly immediately. I also only use proper chargers and don't over charge my batteries. Guess what? I've never had a fire caused by the battery (I've had people plug in components in reverse and blow up the diodes a couple times). I've been working with various battery technologies on a near daily basis for the last 14 years without incident.
Disclaimers: I'm a robotics/electric vehicle enthusiast. I don't do this stuff as my day job any more. I formerly worked in a university research lab building H2 powered race cars.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24229744/tesla-says-c...
"But lithium-ion batteries have raised concerns in other vehicles. Two years ago, battery fires broke out in three Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid cars after crash-testing."