GM fire likely caused by battery materials

General Motors has learned what recyclers have been learning the hard way for several years: the volatility of lithium-ion batteries can have damaging consequences.

A GM spokesperson told a Detroit-area news outlet that a fire at its “Factory Zero” electric vehicle (EV) production facility last week could have been caused when a forklift truck punctured a container with battery materials.

The same report from the Detroit Free Press indicates the fire started in the Detroit facility’s shipping dock area, saying the fire filled much of the plant with heavy smoke the evening prior, prompting an evacuation of the building and a work halt.

It was the second fire at the plant in the past six months, according to the report, though a fire last October is not believed to have been battery-related.

In the recycling sector, lithium-ion batteries mixed in with other materials has led to a sizable increase in reported fires at auto shredding plants, curbside material recovery facilities (MRFs) and material staging areas at numerous types of recycling plants.

A report released by two waste and recycling-related associations last month estimated the number of fires at waste and recycling plants in North America could now number some 5,000 each year, with lithium-ion batteries the leading culprit.

The lithium-ion battery fires at MRFs, auto shredding plants and electronics recycling facilities typically are caused by smaller batteries found in devices such as smartphones and other small battery-powered devices.

That same report found the rate of catastrophic losses in the sector from fires has risen by 41 percent over the last five years, with insurance rates increasing from less than 20 cents per $100 insured property value to as much as $10 per $100 insured.

A report from Industrial Equipment News says the GM fire in Detroit took seven hours to put out, with firefighters using “copious amounts of water and foam.”

First responders were concerned about exposure to lithium-ion off-gas, while Crain’s reports the Detroit Fire Department has been working in coordination with GM to develop protocols in case of future fires at the EV production site.