Originally Posted by
Machaca
Pedantic comparisons between inexpensive mass produced batteries (over 2 billion mobile devices, laptops and tablets sold in 2012) and the 787 batteries is as foolish as equating the map application on your smartphone to the Honeywell navigation package on the 787.
Well, quite!
Aviation-grade batteries will have to pass far more stringent regulations and certification requirements than their consumer-grade equivalents - it goes with the territory. Obviously, being a relatively new technology as far as aviation use is concerned, some of these requirements will probably need to be tightened as more real-world use cases highlight potential issues.
Talk of lead-acid (and probably even NiMH) technologies ignores the fact that
they cannot supply the required juice for the systems.
@TeachMe : If I recall correctly, the problems with consumer battery fires were traced to a combination of a sub-standard batch of the batteries themselves with poorly-made mains chargers. Are you using the mains charger when flying (I'd be surprised) or another device?