Model plane hobbyists know the risks of lithium-ion batteries

Model airplanes, like guns, can be used for good or evil depending on who is operating them.

IMO the public and public officials need to be educated as to the offensive capabilities of model drones, which is mostly not realized by either. (see my tag line)

The FAA issues NOTAMS (flight banning) already anywhere near POTUS and other “VIPS” but criminals, assassins and terrorists won't observe those restrictions anymore than “gun free” zones are observed.

After the first killing-by-drone (by government, criminal or terrorist) I certainly expect a move to ban model aircraft, not unlike the big push now after Sandy Hook.

There are different ‘lithium ion’ types. Boeing is utilizing cobalt oxide batteries to produce a hell of a lot of power

FWIW, all lithium batteries use lithium cobalt oxide on the electrode. It's what helps them generate electricity. Boeing is not using some new, special form of battery. The latest form of Lithium battery is the Lithium Iron Phosphate or Li-Fe battery. A123 Systems has been a leading developer of Li-Fe battery technology. A lot of folks have demonized A123 as being a crony of Obama's but the truth is they existed as a company long before he took office.

There are two primary types of Lithium batteries in operation today: Litium Ion (Li-Ion) and Lithium Ion Polymer. (Li-Poly or Lipo as they're commonly called)

Li-Ion cells are usually packaged in a 'can' similar to dry cell batteries. Lipo batteries are packaged in mylar bags and the form is usually flat and square.

Lipos are used for cell phones, laptops and model airplanes because they are more compact and because of the mylar bags are lighter and more compact. Both are usually rechargable. Li-Ion cells are what is used in modern electric cars such as the Tesla and Volt. Li-Ion cells all include two features: a vent to prevent over-pressure and circuitry to prevent over-voltage/over-discharge. Over-voltage is almost always causes over-pressure as it overheats the battery's contents due to internal shorts. Over-discharge depletes the battery which can also cause internal shorts. Internal shorts cause the battery to overheat, which causes the chemicals to generate heat and gas.

Lipo cells are what are used in cell phones, laptops and model airplanes. Lipos almost never have a vent because they're vacuum-sealed in the mylar bag. Consumer-grade Lipos include the circuitry to prevent over-voltage.

Hobby-grade batteries almost never contain this circuitry. It's up to the user to make sure the batteries do not overcharge or over-discharge.

Cheap consumer-grade batteries for cell phones and laptops are cheap because the manufacturers omit this to reduce cost. When you read about cell phone or laptop batteries catching fire it's because the owners bought the cheap after-market batteries instead of the more expensive OEM batteries.

I've been using Lipos in model airplanes for almost 10 years and the causes of fires is very well understood and documented in the modeling community. The WaPo article does a fairly decent job of explaining these reasons.

“Powerful and lightweight, lithium-ion batteries are the perfect power source for modern gadgets. But ubiquitous as they are, their short history has also been fraught with problems — they have caught fire in cellphones, laptop computers and electric cars, and even destroyed a small Navy submarine.”

Lithium Ion Polymer or Lipo battery fires in cell phones and laptops can almost always be traced to the owners who purchased cheap after-market replacement batteries instead of the OEM batteries.

The after-market batteries are cheaper because the ChiComs who make them omit the battery monitoring circuitry that prevents over-charging or over-discharging that are found in the OEM batteries.

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