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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":894,"relatedVideos":895},112474991714131,"1de842f8-b0e4-41b3-8aef-d37695656423","Are battery regulations up in the air?","are-battery-regulations-up-in-the-air","article/are-battery-regulations-up-in-the-air",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":550,"content":560,"excerpt":568,"featured":50,"reporter":873,"_editable":877,"component":878,"seo_title":543,"categories":879,"visibility":886,"author_company":49,"featured_image":887,"seo_description":568,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":892,"formattedArticleDate":893},"40a873b9-6648-496b-a164-85ba87be4166","2016-07-21 00:00",[],[551],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":554},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":555,"image":556,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":557},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":561,"content":562},"doc",[563,570,575,580,585,590,595,600,605,610,615,620,625,630,635,638,645,650,655,660,665,670,675,680,685,690,695,700,705,710,715,720,725,730,735,740,745,750,755,758,763,768,773,778,783,788,793,798,803,808,813,818,823,828,833,838,843,848,853,858,863,868],{"type":564,"attrs":565,"content":566},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[567],{"text":568,"type":569},"The damage inflicted by hoverboard thermal runaway has provoked further debate over lithium-ion battery safety and transportation, and shone a light on the darker recesses of supply chains.","text",{"type":564,"attrs":571,"content":572},{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":569}," By Simon Rees",{"type":564,"attrs":576,"content":577},{"textAlign":49},[578],{"text":579,"type":569},"It’s a story of cheap alternatives and counterfeits, of corners being cut and producers – including ones who strove to be safe – being tarred with the same brush. Images of scorched walls, fire-gutted rooms and the faces of frightened consumers are used to highlight the damage done.",{"type":564,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":569},"Hoverboards became an overnight sensation in 2015. But unlike the devices imagined in Back to the Future II, these hoverboards do not actually float: they are relatively compact and commonly have wheels embedded on either side.",{"type":564,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":569},"Their designers responded to the success by ordering more units from Asian manufacturing hubs, specifically China. Sales boomed on the wave of enthusiasm, particularly as the 2015 holiday season approached.",{"type":564,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":569},"It was at this point cheaper and unknown brands flooded into the market. They were accompanied by counterfeits of more famous hoverboards or close imitations that played fast and loose with copyright.",{"type":564,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":569},"Keen to save cash, or unsure of what they were buying, many consumers purchased these devices.",{"type":564,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":569},"More worryingly, fires related to hoverboards stated to be reported.",{"type":564,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":569},"The UK’s National Trading Standards Agency announced in early December that it had examined 17,000 hoverboards from October 15 until December 3 and found 15,000 (88%) to be unsafe.",{"type":564,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":569},"On December 24, the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said its investigators had intercepted 32 cargo containers filled with hoverboards, noting they were improperly prepared for shipment as a hazardous material.",{"type":564,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":569},"More than 80% of the shippers were unable to produce validated test reports, the PHMSA noted. It also stressed that failure to comply with US hazardous materials regulations risked civil penalties and, for wilful violations, potential criminal liability.",{"type":564,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":569},"Many shops and online retailers responded by insisting on documentation to double-check standards or stopped selling the technology altogether. Amazon delisted several brands in the US in mid-December and, by mid-January, offered a full refund package for its American hoverboard customers.",{"type":564,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":569},"US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) chairman Elliot Kaye welcomed Amazon’s decision on January 20. “I expect other retailers and manufacturers of hoverboards to take action and offer a full refund,” he added.",{"type":564,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":569},"In the meantime, the CPSC advised people to have a fire extinguisher to hand when using or charging hoverboards in the home. Kaye also warned consumers that some manufacturers might have faked safety marks.",{"type":564,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":639,"attrs":640,"content":642},"heading",{"level":641,"textAlign":49},3,[643],{"text":644,"type":569}," Positives and negatives",{"type":564,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":569},"Using lithium-ion battery packs in hoverboards makes sense for several reasons: they are compact, light and can deliver a great deal of power. They can also stand up to the rigours of being used over fairly large distances.",{"type":564,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":569},"The technology has a 25-year development history and has been utilised across many platforms.",{"type":564,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":569},"Energy capacity was boosted over time by increasing the amount of active material within the cells and maximising the use of available space.",{"type":564,"attrs":661,"content":662},{"textAlign":49},[663],{"text":664,"type":569},"This led to extremely slender separators between the electrodes, the anode and cathode. That can carry some risk and readers might recall the mid-2000s laptop overheating scare.",{"type":564,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":569},"Here it was discovered that tiny metallic dust particles – inadvertently introduced during the cell manufacturing stage – would sometimes consolidate against the separator, perforate it and eventually create a short circuit.",{"type":564,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673],{"text":674,"type":569},"The current produced by this would cause temperatures to rise.",{"type":564,"attrs":676,"content":677},{"textAlign":49},[678],{"text":679,"type":569},"This introduced a risk of overheating and even venting, which usually leads to a cell bursting.",{"type":564,"attrs":681,"content":682},{"textAlign":49},[683],{"text":684,"type":569},"But sometimes the venting resulted in flame, an affected cell then causing its neighbours to respond in kind. This caused thermal runaway, the propagation of which can often be both fast and intense.",{"type":564,"attrs":686,"content":687},{"textAlign":49},[688],{"text":689,"type":569},"With hoverboards there is a line of thought that cheap or faulty batteries were unable to withstand the rigors of usage – that the cell separators or other core components were knocked out of alignment, leading to short circuits and thermal runaway.",{"type":564,"attrs":691,"content":692},{"textAlign":49},[693],{"text":694,"type":569},"However, faulty chargers could also be responsible as they enabled users to overcharge their devices, introducing the threat of overheating this way.",{"type":564,"attrs":696,"content":697},{"textAlign":49},[698],{"text":699,"type":569},"It will take some time before global data on the fires is examined in detail, while various safety bodies are now catching up with hoverboard-specific certification.",{"type":564,"attrs":701,"content":702},{"textAlign":49},[703],{"text":704,"type":569},"For example, the US-based safety organisation Underwriters Laboratories (UL) only unveiled a certification test designed purely for hoverboards, UL 2272, on February 2. Beforehand, only the components of hoverboards, such as cells, packs and modules, were covered by UL standards.",{"type":564,"attrs":706,"content":707},{"textAlign":49},[708],{"text":709,"type":569},"“[Our] engineering teams have now developed the appropriate requirements and methodology to confidently evaluate and test the entire self-balancing scooter [hoverboard] for electrical and firehazard safety as a system,” UL Energy and Power Technologies Division vice president and general manager Jeff Smidt said at the time.",{"type":639,"attrs":711,"content":712},{"level":641,"textAlign":49},[713],{"text":714,"type":569}," Dragon’s den",{"type":564,"attrs":716,"content":717},{"textAlign":49},[718],{"text":719,"type":569},"Cheaper components, specifically batteries, enabled some hoverboard makers to boost profit margins or lower sticker prices in order to win market share. Others might have sought components and batteries away from their usual suppliers as they came under pressure to fulfil burgeoning order books.",{"type":564,"attrs":721,"content":722},{"textAlign":49},[723],{"text":724,"type":569},"And herein lay the greatest risks: for every Chinese battery maker assembling world-class products in immaculate settings, there are those that depend on manual labour with middling-to-poor standards.",{"type":564,"attrs":726,"content":727},{"textAlign":49},[728],{"text":729,"type":569},"“Manual production can mean consistency is fairly low and certainly not as good as machinemade products,” Cadex CEO Isidor Buchmann told Benchmark. “It’s rather like fast-food hamburgers: they might all look alike, but the quality can vary greatly.” Some hoverboard companies might have ended up with batteries they believed to be bona fide and sourced from a reputable manufacturer when, in fact, they were being sold goods under false pretences.",{"type":564,"attrs":731,"content":732},{"textAlign":49},[733],{"text":734,"type":569},"For example, a manufacturer with a fair reputation might test its batteries and set aside those that worked but failed to fully pass quality controls. But instead of being discarded, these batteries then make their way onto the market at clearance prices.",{"type":564,"attrs":736,"content":737},{"textAlign":49},[738],{"text":739,"type":569},"Falling into unscrupulous hands, they could be resold as authentic at the full price or at a further discount to achieve a quick sale.",{"type":564,"attrs":741,"content":742},{"textAlign":49},[743],{"text":744,"type":569},"Here inexperienced purchasers might have been duped or failed to ask the right questions regarding provenance.",{"type":564,"attrs":746,"content":747},{"textAlign":49},[748],{"text":749,"type":569},"With this in mind, some US-based sales companies might be surprised to discover that the batteries they sourced had a far more convoluted journey from battery maker to hoverboard than first thought.",{"type":564,"attrs":751,"content":752},{"textAlign":49},[753],{"text":754,"type":569},"On other occasions the batteries might simply be no-name products, sold at discount prices and accompanied only by claims that the necessary standards had been met.",{"type":564,"attrs":756,"content":757},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":564,"attrs":759,"content":760},{"textAlign":49},[761],{"text":762,"type":569},"“Stay away from clearance batteries – just don’t use them,” Buchmann warned. “We use specified manufacturers like Panasonic, Samsung or LG. We would be extremely cautious of a non-brand Chinese-made battery.”",{"type":639,"attrs":764,"content":765},{"level":641,"textAlign":49},[766],{"text":767,"type":569}," Clipped wings",{"type":564,"attrs":769,"content":770},{"textAlign":49},[771],{"text":772,"type":569},"Airlines and freight carriers were quick to note the potential danger posed by hoverboards once reports of the fires became widely known. Effective January 13, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) noted 76 airlines had prohibited hoverboards and other self-balancing devices.",{"type":564,"attrs":774,"content":775},{"textAlign":49},[776],{"text":777,"type":569},"On January 5, an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) bulletin remarked that passengers and crew should be allowed to travel with devices powered by batteries of up to 100 Wh.",{"type":564,"attrs":779,"content":780},{"textAlign":49},[781],{"text":782,"type":569},"Devices over 100 Wh but below 160 Wh needed approval from an operator, while anything in excess of 160 Wh should be forbidden.",{"type":564,"attrs":784,"content":785},{"textAlign":49},[786],{"text":787,"type":569},"Hoverboard safety has undoubtedly fed into wider debates about the commercial transport of batteries by air. On February 22, the ICAO announced a measure to prohibit, on an interim basis, the shipment of lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft.",{"type":564,"attrs":789,"content":790},{"textAlign":49},[791],{"text":792,"type":569},"“This interim prohibition will continue to be in force as separate work continues through ICAO on a new lithium battery packaging performance standard, currently expected by 2018,” ICAO council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said.",{"type":564,"attrs":794,"content":795},{"textAlign":49},[796],{"text":797,"type":569},"The measure becomes effective on April 1 but does not relate to devices carried by passengers or crew. It is not compulsory but most countries will give the measure serious consideration, according to BBC News.",{"type":564,"attrs":799,"content":800},{"textAlign":49},[801],{"text":802,"type":569},"On February 19, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) unveiled two safety recommendations concerning lithium-ion batteries on cargo aircraft.",{"type":564,"attrs":804,"content":805},{"textAlign":49},[806],{"text":807,"type":569},"It seeks to outline the separation of batteries from other flammable and hazardous materials, as well as establish maximum loading density that restricts the quantities of batteries and flammable hazardous materials.",{"type":564,"attrs":809,"content":810},{"textAlign":49},[811],{"text":812,"type":569},"The NTSB also stated that lithium-ion batteries might provide an ignition source for a fire or explosion; become a source of fuel for an existing fire; or possibly create explosive conditions when subjected to overheating.",{"type":564,"attrs":814,"content":815},{"textAlign":49},[816],{"text":817,"type":569},"At a political level, the US Aviation Innovation, Reform and Reauthorization Act (2016) was introduced for Congressional consideration at the start of February.",{"type":564,"attrs":819,"content":820},{"textAlign":49},[821],{"text":822,"type":569},"If enacted, it will have a major effect of lithium-ion battery transportation.",{"type":564,"attrs":824,"content":825},{"textAlign":49},[826],{"text":827,"type":569},"Under Section 615, the Act would seek to establish legislation for best practices in lithium-ion battery air transport, as well as harmonising international co-operation in this field.",{"type":564,"attrs":829,"content":830},{"textAlign":49},[831],{"text":832,"type":569},"The Act also lays foundations for establishing a lithium-ion air safety advisory committee. Among its many tasks, the committee would facilitate communication across battery and aviation chains. It would also explore the effectiveness of regulations and assess their social and economic impact.",{"type":639,"attrs":834,"content":835},{"level":641,"textAlign":49},[836],{"text":837,"type":569}," Final warning",{"type":564,"attrs":839,"content":840},{"textAlign":49},[841],{"text":842,"type":569},"For hoverboard manufacturers, importers, and retailers a final warning shot was fired over their bows in a letter from the CPSC dated February 18.",{"type":564,"attrs":844,"content":845},{"textAlign":49},[846],{"text":847,"type":569},"They were told to prove their goods met UL 2272 standards and requirements, and that associated battery products must also comply with legislation.",{"type":564,"attrs":849,"content":850},{"textAlign":49},[851],{"text":852,"type":569},"Seizure or detention of unproven products was threatened, while the government body also cited powers to impose civil and criminal penalties for failures to report required information.",{"type":564,"attrs":854,"content":855},{"textAlign":49},[856],{"text":857,"type":569},"Those who believe their devices might be defective must report this or be prepared to face fines and/or jail time.",{"type":564,"attrs":859,"content":860},{"textAlign":49},[861],{"text":862,"type":569},"The letter also noted there had been 52 fires relating to hoverboards in the USA from December 1 2015 until February 17, with over $2 million in property damage caused.",{"type":564,"attrs":864,"content":865},{"textAlign":49},[866],{"text":867,"type":569},"Amazon.com delisted hoverboards on February 23, with only decals and accessories for hoverboards available at that time. Walmart, the largest shopping chain in the US, Toys R’ Us, Target and others also responded by withdrawing hoverboards from their websites.",{"type":564,"attrs":869,"content":870},{"textAlign":49},[871],{"text":872,"type":569},"The lesson of the hoverboard’s sorry saga is now abundantly clear: standards must be met and maintained when it comes to batteries. Negligent cost cutting or ignorance that increases safety risks is simply playing with fire, both figuratively and literally.",[874],{"slug":552,"name":553,"content":875},{"job_title":555,"image":876,"bio":558,"linkedin":559},{"filename":557},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"40a873b9-6648-496b-a164-85ba87be4166\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[880,883],{"slug":881,"name":882},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":884,"name":885},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":888,"name":888,"focus":888,"title":888,"source":888,"filename":889,"copyright":888,"fieldtype":890,"meta_data":891,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/b392abb753/bm-screen-shot-2016-07-21-at-134326.png","asset",{"alt":888,"title":888,"source":888,"copyright":888},"Jul 21, 2016","21st July 2016",[],[],1780501002433]