LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Nevada Representative Dina Titus introduced the Thermal Runaway Reduction Act after a lithium iron battery fire shutdown the I-15 for multiple days.
“The disaster on Interstate 15 was a wake-up call that we need to do more to protect the public from dangerous fires related to the transport of lithium iron batteries,” Congresswoman Titus said. “An accident such as the one on Interstate 15 can result in ‘thermal runaway,’ when a battery enters an uncontrollable, self-heating state, which makes fires extremely difficult to extinguish.”
The act focuses on ways to reduce the potential for thermal runaway during the transportation of lithium batteries. Late July, a fire involving six lithium iron batteries on I-15 shut down the highway between Barstow and Las Vegas.
The act would require impact testing for lithium batteries that accounts for forces experienced in transportation accidents.
It also requires the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to issue regulations that set a maximum state charge of 30 percent for lithium batteries set for ground transportation. This is similar to what’s required for air transportation.
Highway agency CalTrans says the I-15 fire was the “first in the United States.
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