Ian W:
I'm going to look b awkward again, but laptop batteries are rechargeable and
use a different chemistry. We all know some laptop batteries have had issues,
but it's not really relevant to this thread.
Ancient Mariner's post (thanks) triggered memories from years ago about
the volatility and safety of early lithium batteries, primary non rechargeable
types, but haven't heard any reports for years in that respect. My guess
is that the unsafe chemistries from years ago are no longer used. The cells
used in the elt are lithium manganese, nothing like the lithium ion types used
in laptops. The lithium managanese types are also the most common chemistry used
for consumer products, lithium coin cells etc, which are well proven and safe.
Good overview in a Wikipedia article here:
Lithium battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia