Crushing Huge Lithium Ion Batteries with Hydraulic Press 

Big thanks to everybody that are part of the Zombie battery campaign for making this video possible! I have been wanting to do this for many years but I haven't had resources to do this in a safe and responsible way (are any of my videos safe and responsible?) but now it's done and it was worth of all the effort. And great that we were also able to deliver some important information with the entertainment!

"To minimize the risk of nothing happening" Now THAT'S the spirit! 😂

Last one is Lithium-Iron-Phosphate, which is a MUCH MUCH safer chemistry (unfortunately less capacity). The lack of fire in the last test proves how much better LFP batteries are for vehicle safety.

OH WOW!!! that first one went from zero to fire SO FAST!! This vid taught me so much about the dangers of damaged Lithium Ion Batteries!

RU-vid algorithm.. please do your thing. This video is actually quite important and what an excellent demonstration of what improper disposal of lithium-based batteries can lead to. This video MUST have hundreds of millions of views. This is required viewing for the world seriously. Aside from it being incredibly educational and funny, it’s also important.

You know it’s gonna be good when the show starts outside

Holy crap I'll absolutely be more careful with battery disposal from now on. Cheers!

Good video for increasing awareness. While I know about the dangers of lithium batteries I honestly didn't expect such a huge energy release from the first example.

I have been using lithium batteries and battery packs/sticks for industrial and personal applications for years. These batteries seem resilient when we use them, but become dangerous without continuing analysis and care. Batteries should be respected more than the devices we use them for, no exceptions, no matter the battery chemistry. They will be angry with you if you mistreat them, and they can destroy everything you own! Thank you for this wonderful safety statement! Entertaining as always!

I love how you’ve been incorporating informative content into crushing things lately, amazing as always!

I am surprised how the little 18650 cell exploded and flamed up with such fury! Certainly an eye opener since I use and abuse power tools in confined spaces, my pre-work checklist now has another safety critical element. Thanks for helping raise awareness of how dangerous every day items can be if damaged.

That was an incredibly educational video!! Well done showing the dangers of tossing this stuff in the general trash. I didn’t realize how dangerous these cells were. Thanks!!

THATS YOUR TESLA IN A CRASH

The primary hazard with lithium cells isn't the lithium itself, as it is diffused through the electrodes. It's the energy that they store being released suddenly. So for the best bang and flames they have to be fully charged. Fully discharged cells are fairly safe.

2:34 "To minimise risk of nothing happening..." Brilliant!! Love your work.

Now THIS is how to do a PSA. I'm glad you were able to do it safely thanks to the collaboration of Recser.

Your accomplice was very pleased with the first battery test and an indication of the promising results to come.

Obviously we're usually here because it's fun to watch things get destroyed but this is really a great way to illustrate the destructive risks that come from poor battery disposal that we just don't consider! Great job making us learn something!

Those power tool batteries being crushed was a lot more violent than I was expecting

One of the very few RU-vid thumbnails that wasn't exaggerated!! Bravo!!

The outcomes will be very different if you crush a fully charged vs. a completely discharged battery. The "full" battery is likely to explode. The "empty" battery is more likely to just smolder.

I've known about this for years. That's why I always carry around with me a lithium battery and a hydraulic press in case I'm ever in a survival situation and need to make fire. 🧠

Great Video. I appreciate you taking the time to share the dangers of batteries. Thanks from Michigan.

Great educational video on safty handling of old unused batteries.

"Minimize the risk of nothing happening" is just brilliant. 😁

Excellent balance between entertainment and education. Keep up the great work 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Didn't expect the small drill ones to explode so much😳👍

When he said "Even I didn't want to do this at home." I just lost it. I love this channel.

My cousin works for the sanitation dept and someone threw a vacuum in a garbage bag. When they crushed it in the truck it lit up.

WOW, you put a lot of effort to make this video! Amazing! Thanks for all your videos

Your wife is so funny in your videos. Her laughter is 1 of the reasons why I love your videos 😂👍

As much fun as you guys have this shows how serious and how quickly a problem can occur. Thanks Lauri!

1:10 "So don't try this, or anything like this at home, this is stupid." THAT'S THE SPIRIT!!!

Possibly the best ever HPC video!

When you crushed the phones I expected the Wicked Witch of The West from The Wizard of Oz to appear

Educational and fun. Hope none of your equipment was damaged beyond what you might have expected. Thank you very much.

Thanks for doing this, I'm in NYC and we've had so many horrible and deadly fires because of cheap Lithium Ion batteries, I'm sharing this with a lot of people to help with awareness Also, keep in mind that Lithium is recycled at almost 90%, it's a limited but highly recyclable material.

Analysing the fumes that come off the batteries would have been interesting also the amount of pressure used before combustion took place, great video really enjoyed it.

Wow didn’t realize how dangerous they are ! Thanks for sharing this

I'm impressed by that last one. I genuinely expected it to go off like a bomb.

I didn't expect that such small batteries can cause such a dangerous fire. But the two accu packs for wireless tools really shocked me. Everyone should handle these packs with much more respect and definitely no one should dump them in household trash. Thanks for showing to us 👍

"Minimise the chance of nothing happening." That's the kind of talk that gets you subscriptions.

That is a very good video on Lithium battery safety. You really crushed it on this one! 😁😁😁

I addition, you should turn lithium batteries in because the spent batteries are highly recyclable. The recycling chain will eventually become a very important part of the life cycle for making new batteries.

I was a LITTLE worried ... till you started going into all the safety precautions and warnings ... LiPo is NO JOKE! Thank you for showing how serious people need to treat these amazing lil bundles of energy.

The engineer who designed the last battery pack deserves salary rise. You crushed entire pack and it didn't explode.

Wow, now I really respect batteries...thank you for these awesome tests

Great video, it is very easy to underestimate the damage these batteries can do. I would not have expected such a huge fire.

I love how even the tiny batteries are dangerous. Those little beasties go BOOM

WOW! That last crush was the best. Love how those cells came squeezing out and nothing happening.

I'm glad you did this with proper safety this time. The video you deleted years ago was really dangerous ❤

Wow. I was about to do some of these experiments at home. But you did all of the work for me! I LOVE YOU!

One of the most informative and educational RU-vid videos I've seen.

That was very informative, scary but gets across the dangers these batteries can pose

Awesome video that makes us aware of how dangerous these batteries are. Some days ago an Electric scooter exploded in Madrid underground. The place, the access doors were completely destroyed. No one was seriously injured, but the chief board of Madrid city transports have just decided to Ban all electrified personal mobility devices in Madrid public transport

Honestly impressed how well the dgi battery handled being crushed. In Germany all electronics retailers with a sales floor larger than 100m² have to accept electronic waste for disposal, including batteries. If, like me, you don't have a car to bring your electronics to a waste management facility, that's a good place to get rid of it, too.

Thanks for the excellent video, I clearly haven't been taking battery recycling nearly seriously enough :O

That fire around the press piston at 5:40 looks so epic it could be your new profile picture!

Wow the first small cell was a real eye opener! Two or three of those in your hip pocket could seriously spoil your day!

Awesome. A excellent showing of how really dangerous these batteries are.

"To minimize the risk of nothing happening" - Hydraulic Press Channel

Hosts after last battery pack fails to explode: "My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined."

Very informative. I’m pretty sure if a zombie battery ever gives me a heart attack, it won’t be from the fumes. It’ll be from the sudden explosion of fire and chemical anger in my face! Great vid as always.

This is awesome, and thank you for showing the public the horrible things that can happen to poor waste disposal workers if someone can't be bothered to dispose of their batteries at a recycling point. This also neatly shows why entire shipments of electric cars catch fire and everyone has to abandon ship when one slightly badly put-together one shorts out and explodes...

Very nice demonstration why you should not, under any circumstances, throw batteries in any kind of bin than an special battery bin. Well done.

One of the coolest episodes yet

"...to minimize risk of nothing happening..." Brilliant.

I've hardly started watching this video and it already freaks me out. Just three days ago, the car workshop of two friends of mine burnt out due to a lithium-ion battery. Just like any other day, they had left their flashlights to charge overnight, but one of them (not even 6 months old and made by a pretty well known German manufacturer) was obviously damaged and cought fire... now my friends are standing before the ruins of their existence and right now it's unclear what their future will look like. Makes me sick just to think about it.

In Belgium we have Bebat for battery recycling (and lamps). You can find drop off points in every supermarket and DIY store. Taping the terminals is a great tip btw, because you could otherwise cause a short in the drop off box.

Wow! Great demonstration!

Really good that you made this video. Finland is the coolest even the fire department comes out to teach in RU-vid videos.

It really puts into perspective just how much energy is stored in those cells

I wish I had an explosion park. ❤

I currently own a take-home hilti drill so seeing you explode one of those batteries gives me such a goofy big grin! 😄 I love it! So much fire!

Remember kids, always charge your batteries to full capacity before putting them under an hydraulic press!

The charge state makes a huge difference to the energy released during damage to the batteries..I suspect the e-bike batteries had a very low to zero charge state.

As much a public service announcement as anything else! You went full Mythbusters with this one, taking it out to the bomb range!

Wow, i haven't seen this channel in years, and I'm surprised how the production budget has increased during that time.

That firefighters suit looks really slick, over here where I'm from have some baggy loose fitting suits 😂

I've been paranoid for a while as I have an ebike with a 13s5p battery (65x5000mah 21700 cells). The fire would be terrifying. This puts it into perspective.

That last battery must have been using LTO cells, since they don't explode or even catch on fire... just a little puff of smoke. Safest lithium tech we have currently I believe.

Electrical engineer here. The amount of energy released when crushing or piercing a battery depends on how much energy the battery has stored at that time. A fully charged battery will release an enormous amount of energy (e.g.: explosion/fireball). A battery that is mostly discharged will barely even smoke. As long as a battery doesn't contain any poisonous metals that can leech into the ground (lithium is generally pretty safe in this respect), it's actually safe to throw batteries in the trash as long as all the stored energy is released from the battery. Generally this means discharging the battery beyond what normally would be considered the minimum charge for that type of battery (thus destroying the battery's chemistry permanently). Many advanced battery chargers have this capability. But the most reliable way to discharge any battery is to submerse the battery in salt water (table salt is excellent). The water will penetrate the case and short all terminals together, and discharge the energy in a controlled fashion. The water will prevent any fires. This method is safe for even heavily damaged and compromised batteries. Keep the battery in the water for a couple weeks, in case you try this yourself. The salt water method destroys the battery, so you have no choice but to throw it out after doing this.

This is a good illustration of why AvE often refers to electricity as angry pixies.

That final battery is well designed. Also, this felt like a beyond the press episode. Even Henri makes an appearance.

These results are shocking!

the two best channels coming out of Finland... This one and "Tykylevits"

Honestly, I feel like this video is a great way of showing and demonstrating that when experts say that you should not do or try things at home, The mean it not to keep you from having fun, but to keep you from potentially hurting or even risking your own life as a whole, by doing what they do. And also why it's always a good idea to have proper legal authorization and safe environments to do such dangerous experiments in. I'm glad you guys were granted the authorization to not only do this but also do it in a place safe enough to where the risks of these batteries, are effectively null with proper safety taken. Additionally with these batteries is that severity of the fire also can stem from if the cell is charged or not. The PRIMARY risk involved with recycling used batteries is that, if improperly disposed of, and not completely discharged of the primary charge, or just entirely discharged to the point the battery is completely dead and no longer functional at all on it's own, it will explode in a fireball. Which varies of course on charge but, is effectively tha battery's charge getting dumped all at once... explosively... Your best bet is to safely discharge them using a dedicated load that can discharge the batteries safely for handling and proper recycling.

I have about 10 of those large hilti batteries in my truck bin, fully charged, at all times. Kinda crazy how powerful those are

I'd love to see this done with fully charged LiFePO4 batteries, to see how much safer they are. Supposedly super safe, but I'd love to see this demonstrated!

Whoa. Even though I knew it was coming at 1:32 I still jumped and flinched a bit. That was way more violent then I expected for such a small battery. Respect learned.

Bloody Heck, well done mate

I think it was completely dependent on the state of charge whether anything happened or not. That's a good rule of thumb, if you're disposing or transporting batteries - always discharge them to empty or close to empty if you don't need them to contain energy for you. Then on the other hand, if you're storing batteries long term, it's good to have them at like 70% so that they don't die on their own. Of course, then they can explode if disturbed so pick the location wisely.

How charged the battery is plays a big roll in how dangerous/exposive is is when damaged. The same battery might explode at 100% and only fizzle at 30%.

Basically, they're all the same battery lol. But super awesome. The drill packs were the best. great video

"To minimize risk of nothing happening" - LOLOL Golden words

Cool video. Can you make a hydraulic press tool that can turn some of the vertical pressure to twisting the head of it for a grinding motion? Might be cool to see things being crushed AND grinded. Maybe vertical slots that gradually turn on a hardened grinding piece with teeth, and the shaft has beefy pins corresponding do the slots. As the shaft slides into the grinding piece, the pins slide down the slots and turn the grinding piece as its crushing.

I had heard of how flammable lithium batteries are, but I didn't expect how damned nasty and persistent the fires are. Even that AA cell (first one) was an eye-opener!

Honestly terrifying and concerning. I love the entertainment mixed with practical information, thanks!

Instead of tossing my batteries in the garbage, going to mail them to this channel.

I live in Wichita, Kansas in the United States. I can't believe how explosive some of those batteries were. The last one showed the advancement in battery safety technology. Great video, science classrooms all over the world should get this video and show the students how dangerous lithium ion batteries really are.