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[driftdiver]

Wood burns hotter than 649 degrees.

[Steely Tom]

If people knew how close to the edge (in terms of self-destruction) lithium batteries operate, they wouldn't want to be anywhere near them.

Building them into an airframe strikes me as far-fetched.

Lithium battery packs are protected by active circuitry that keeps them from self-destructing. These single-chip "smart power" devices track charge state, keeping it within proper bounds, and also monitor the temperature of the battery.

Some lithium batteries can be put into a dangerous situation by excessive discharge. No, they don't explode by being drained, but they can become dangerous on subsequent charge cycles once they have been deep-discharged.

[babygene]

Seems that there is an easy answer to this. There is a weight issue, but no more that a fat woman sitting in isle 23.

Instead of using the latest batteries, revert to nickle cadmium and ditch the Li-Ion.

[COBOL2Java]

"It can reach millions of degrees - like the earth's core!"

[batterycommander]

Looks like the head of Boeing Engineering is on the accelerated list for early retirement.

[Blood of Tyrants]

This would be what is known as a “bad thing”.

[Rebel_Ace]

They could be considering the new, promising batteries based on thermite...

[ltc8k6]

Pretty much any onboard fire would be hot enough to melt any typical airliner fuselage, as we’ve seen many times, unfortunately.