Hoverboard Ignites Inside Luzerne County Home - Reasons Why These Items Burn

On January 4th, a hoverboard reportedly caught fire while charging in a home in Wapwollopen.

Multiple fire departments including Nescopeck and Mocanaqua had responded to the initial report of a possible structure fire.

Responding crews found that a charging hoverboard had exploded and caught fire. Luckily, the fire was Mostly outted by the homeowner.

Debris flew multiple feet from the burning item.

Hoverboard fires are very popular, and are actually related to other popular technological fires and explosions which our reader may be familiar with.

Lithium ion batteries inside of the hoverboard are the cause of the fires and explosions. The same style of lithium ion batteries are included in vapes and laptops which also have a history of exploding and burning.

Not all lithium ion batteries are dangerous, and inherently, not all hoverboards, vapes, or laptops are dangerous either.

18650 style lithium ion batteries have a large market of cheap and dangerous knock off batteries, which malfunction, causing a short circuit, over heating, and explosion of the flamable liquid inside of the batteries.

This is why modern cell phones don't often burt into flames. There is simply not a large amount of cheap and unsafe batteries. However, in the mid 2000's, lithium ion batteries did not have the safety features which they now possess, causing even cell phones to explode and catch fire.

Popular brands of 18650 batteries that are considered to be safe are LG, Samsung, and Sony. These batteries are of higher quality, endure more testing, and carry circuitry which prevents malfunctioning.

So why lithium ion batteries? They're lightweight, hold more power, and have a longer life expectency. If you open up your smartphone, your battery will advise against high temperature and puncturing, which will cause the lithium ion battery to explode.

So not all hoverboards, vapes, laptops, or cell phones are unsafe. Cheap hoverboards, vapes, laptops, and cell phones are unsafe.

Youtube has a wonderful selection of lithium ion battery explosions.