Why Do Lithium Ion Batteries Catch Fire. To understand how a Li-ion battery can catch fire or explode it is necessary to investigate how the battery is built. Ross Dueber November 16 2016 739 PM Lithium-ion catches fire due to its flammable electrolyte and not simply because it is a high energy battery.

The conditions that preempt an e-bike fire vary. Before analyzing why lithium-ion batteries catch fire lets understand how they work. The lithium they use is in the form of Li cations only and they do not burn.
Battery components are designed to be lightweight which translates into thin partitions between cells and a thin outer covering.
Since 1991 lithium-ion batteries have been the standard for power across industries from cell phones and computers to. If a lithium-ion battery pack fails it will burst into flames and can cause widespread damage. Catching fire if something goes wrong then is in their nature. To understand why those batteries keep catching fire first you need to understand how a lithium-ion battery works.
