Re: standard operating procedures
The lack of standardisation is indeed an issue insofar that it's new tech, and batteries are still rather unpredictable (as Samsung recently discovered). As soon as you get plate-forming in a cell you have short circuits and a heck of a lot of energy that wants to go somewhere, which is when it gets hairy for a first responder - not sure if cells are sufficiently isolated to contain anything to just one cell.
With a combustion based car it's more a matter of laying down some foam over wherever fluids leak out, which is not an option for batteries.
This may be worth separate safety tests because this has to be worked out one way or the other. Maybe mandate some sort of giant sticker "cut here" where you can rip out a master link, but that still doesn't deal with busted cells going quite literally ballistic..
That First Responders page is actually not such a comforting read...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
