Counterfeit Lithium-Ion Batteries Infiltrate Market

As an auditor for battery manufacturers around the world, a mechanical engineer at the University of Maryland Michael Pecht often tours immaculate manufacturing facilities. They are like “the cleanest hospital imaginable: semiconductor-type cleanliness,” he says. But he also saw the opposite, and a lot of it. Pecht estimates he has inspected dozens of battery factories where he found employees watering plants near the production line or smoking cigarettes, where particulates and contaminants could get into battery components and compromise their performance and safety.

Unfortunately, scenes like this are just the tip of the iceberg. Pecht says he saw a poorly assembled lithium-ion cameras with little or no security features and, worse, no fakes. These counterfeits can be home-made or factory-made and masquerade as models from well-known global brands. They were found in scooters, vape pens, e-bikesand other devices, and also caused fires and explosions with lethal consequences.

The prevalence of counterfeits is on the rise, causing growing concern in the global battery market. In fact, after rash of fires V New York over the past few years, caused by a malfunction batteriesincluding many e-bikes used in urban delivery cyclistsNew York prohibited sale of uncertified batteries. Currently the city creation of the first battery replacement stations for e-bikes as an alternative to charging at home, to encourage couriers to replace dead batteries with new ones rather than charging them at home, where a faulty battery could cause a fire.

Compared to certified batterieswhose public safety risks may be exaggerated, danger fake batteries may be undervalued. “With these counterfeits it’s probably an order of magnitude worse,” says Pecht.

There are several ways to make a fake battery. Fraudsters often relabel old or scrap batteries made by legitimate manufacturers such as LG, Panasonicor Samsung and sell them as new. “Creating a new label and putting it on is so easy,” Pecht says. To get a higher price, they sometimes relabel actual batteries with labels that claim they have a higher capacity than the cells actually have.

But the most common counterfeit batteries, according to Pecht, are homemade ones. Manufacturers of counterfeit products can do this in the conditions at hand, since the construction of a lithium-ion cell is quite simple. With anode, cathode, separator, electrolyte and other electrical cells, even 1-day battery manufacturers can make them work.

What they don't do is make them as safe and reliable as tested and certified batteries. Manufacturers of counterfeit products skimp on safety mechanisms that prevent problems that lead to fires. For example, certified batteries are designed to prevent thermal escapea chain reaction that can begin due to a short circuit or mechanical damage to the battery and lead to an uncontrolled increase in temperature.

Judy JeevarajanVice President and Executive Director of the Houston Electrochemical Safety Research Institute, which is part of Research Institutes Underwriters Laboratories (UL)headed study counterfeit batteries in 2023. In the study, Jeevarajan and her colleagues collected both real and fake batteries. lithium batteries from three manufacturers (whose names have not been disclosed) and pushed them to the extreme to demonstrate the differences.

One test, called destructive physical analysis, involved dismantling small cylindrical batteries. This immediately revealed differences in quality. Legitimate, higher quality examples contained thick plastic insulators at the top and bottom of the cylinders, as well as axially and radially oriented tape to hold the “jelly” core of the battery. But illegal copies had thinner or no insulators and little or no protective tape.

“This is a serious safety issue because original products are manufactured with specific characteristics to reduce the risk associated with high levels of safety. energy density which offer lithium-ion cells,” says Jeevarajan.

Jeevarajan's team also subjected the batteries to overcharging and short circuiting. Legitimately tested and certified battery, same as the iconic one 18650 lithium ion cylindercounteracts these threats with internal safety features such as positive temperature coefficient, in which the material becomes electrically resistive as it heats, and a current interrupt device (CID), which automatically shuts off the battery electrical circuit if internal pressure rises too high. Law lithium battery Jeevarajan's test had better insulators and internal construction. It also had a high quality CID which prevented overcharging and reduced the risk of fire. It was not in any of the other cells.

Despite the batteries' complete lack of safety features, great care was clearly taken to ensure that the counterfeit labels were the same shade and markings as the original manufacturers, Jeevarajan says.

How to recognize a fake battery

Because counterfeiters are so adept at duplicating manufacturers' labels, it can be difficult to accurately determine whether lithium batteries shipped with consumer electronics device or a replacement, which can be purchased from sites such as eBay or Amazonare actually genuine goods. It's not just individual consumers who face this problem. Pecht says he knows of cases where device makers bought LG or Samsung batteries for their cars but couldn't verify their authenticity.

“You can’t tell by visual inspection,” says Jeevarajan. But companies don't have to dismantle the cells to conduct due diligence. “The absence of protective devices inside a cell can be determined by performing tests to check their presence,” she says. The easiest way, Pecht says, is to have a standard of comparison on hand—a known, legal battery whose labeling, performance or other characteristics can be compared with the questionable cell. His team will even go so far as to CT to look inside the battery and find out if it is built correctly.

Of course, most consumers do not have the equipment on hand to verify the accuracy of all information. batteries in their homes. So to shop wisely, Pecht advises people to think about what batteries and devices they use. Units in our smartphones and large high capacity batteries found in electric cars That's not the problem; they are subject to strict quality control and are unlikely to be counterfeit. The most likely place to find counterfeits is in cylindrical batteries used in small, inexpensive devices, he said.

“They are primarily used as energy and power sources for portable applications, which may vary from your cameras, video camerascell phones, power bankspower tools, e-bikes and e-scooters,” adds Jeevarajan. “Most of these products are sold with part numbers that match the manufacturer's part number. Electric vehicles are a very high-tech market and they will not accept low-quality cells and batteries of questionable origin.”

The problem with combating the problem of counterfeit batteries is that new rules tend to focus on consumer behavior, such as trying to prevent people from storing or charging them incorrectly, Pecht said. e-bike batteries in their apartments. Safe handling and charging are indeed critical, but it is even more important to try to keep counterfeit products out of your supply chain. “They want to blame the user for overcharging or doing something wrong,” he says. “But in my opinion, the problem lies with the cells themselves.”