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Last week, an enormous fire broke out at the Fenix Battery Recycling plant in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland. In 2021, Fenix joined with Eco Recovery to recycle lithium-ion batteries from eScooters, electric mopeds and eBikes.
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Plumes of smoke could be seen as far as 10 miles away as the Fenix plant went up in a blaze on 9 April. Loud banging noises could be heard as far away as neighbouring towns Irvine and Stevenston as thousands of batteries exploded.
Police said that people had been hit with flying batteries. Residents were warned to stay indoors and keep all windows and vents closed due to the overpowering smoke. Some nearby properties were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
The blaze was eventually extinguished, and firefighters left the scene more than a week after the fire first broke out, Hazardex reported on Monday. An investigation into the cause of the fire is still to be carried out.
Almost exactly a year before, there had been a similar massive blaze at the plant, which raged on for four days. An investigation into this incident found the blaze was likely caused by “leakage leading to combustion.”
Following the 2024 incident, two enforcement notices were served on Fenix to remove waste batteries that had been on the site for longer than six months. It is not known whether Fenix had complied with the Enforcement Notices by the time of the second fire and explosions on 9 April 2025 but it appears they did not, according to a local resident.
The Scottish Sun, reporting on the 2025 incident, quoted a resident who lives next door to the plant as saying, “Basically, that Fenix lot moved out and washed their hands of it, so there’s been 50-60 barrels of batteries sitting there with no one stepping up to clear them away. It’s a disgrace. It was a disaster waiting to happen.”
Although there is no mention of lithium-ion batteries among the “barrels of batteries” on the site, what is the probability that there were?
The Fenix plant recycled a variety of battery types, including lithium-ion, alkaline and NiCad batteries. In 2021, Fenix Battery Recycling partnered with Eco Recover to set up a recycling scheme for Personal Electric Vehicle (“PEV”) batteries across the UK and Ireland. “A pilot scheme is running in the South West and will be rolled out across the UK,” Circular Online reported at the time.
Eco Recover is a division of EcoMove, an electric bike, scooter and moped business based in Bristol. At the time when the new scheme with Fenix was announced, batteries from eScooters, electric mopeds and eBikes had to be exported to the USA or Europe for recycling.
“By 2025, it’s estimated that there will be 4 million eScooters, 12,000 electric mopeds and 350,000 eBikes on the market, resulting in catastrophic numbers of lithium-ion batteries going to landfill. The new scheme aims to increase the number of batteries recycled in the UK and make lithium-ion battery recycling cleaner and more sustainable, Circular Online said. “Fenix are the only UK-based lithium-ion battery recycling facility.”
Lithium-ion batteries are well known for their combustible nature; many examples of these batteries suddenly bursting into flames have been widely shared on social media and in the corporate press over the years. Completely missing the irony, Circular Online went on to say, “all of the collections carried out by Eco Recover will be done using 100% electric vehicles, further minimising their contribution to carbon emissions.”
What will Eco Recover do with the batteries in the “100% electric vehicles” when they need replacing, after running the gauntlet of whether the batteries will self-combust while in use? Will they end up being stored at a recycling plant, shipped overseas or in a landfill?
For those who need reminding about the hazards of lithium-ion batteries, below we have republished a 2024 article by Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki, an “Earth science professor-in-exile.” Please note that some of Wielicki’s article is behind a paywall, so we have only republished the portion that is free to read. At the end of his article, we have added links to previous articles we have published that highlight the dangers and risks associated with batteries being used in “green,” “eco-friendly” initiatives as an excuse to “reduce carbon emissions.”
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The Fiery Reality of Lithium
By Dr. Matthew Wielicki, 31 October 2024
On October 27, 2024, a lithium battery recycling plant in Fredericktown, Missouri, erupted in flames, sending smoke billowing across the town. Early reports from ABC7 Chicago indicated that, fortunately, no workers were seriously injured. However, thick smoke forced evacuations in nearby neighbourhoods and raised major concerns about the pollutants released by such fires.
This incident occurred just days after another lithium-ion battery-related tragedy in Belmont, New York, where a fire, reportedly triggered by a battery explosion, killed one man and seriously injured another. According to News12, the Belmont incident led to a large emergency response, underscoring the clear dangers associated with lithium-ion batteries, technology often touted as essential to the “clean energy” movement despite its inherent instability and risk of thermal runaway.
With battery-based energy storage expected to expand dramatically in the coming decades, thermal runaway is more than a fluke danger; it’s an intrinsic risk. This hazard needs to be fully understood before we place these power plants, and potential chemical bombs, near densely populated areas.
Let’s break down how we got here, why lithium-ion batteries rose to dominance, and how the reality of thermal runaway casts a shadow on a battery-powered future.
A Brief History of Batteries and the Reign of Lithium-Ion
The concept of batteries traces back over 200 years to Alessandro Volta, who created the first device capable of producing a continuous electric current. Volta’s voltaic pile gave birth to the concept of energy storage, eventually leading to batteries that could store and release electricity efficiently. In the 20th century, the electrochemical storage market expanded with the development of lead-acid batteries, which became widely used in vehicles, and nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries, a lightweight, rechargeable option used in early consumer electronics.
Despite these advancements, batteries remained clunky and inefficient by today’s standards. Then came the lithium-ion battery in the 1990s: a lightweight, energy-dense alternative that fundamentally changed our approach to energy storage. Lithium-ion cells have since become ubiquitous, powering everything from smartphones to electric vehicles and industrial power grids.
Their compact size, high energy density and rechargeable nature have made them essential to our battery-powered world. But these benefits come with a cost: the unstable chemistry of lithium-ion cells makes them prone to thermal runaway, a reaction that can lead to fires, explosions and toxic emissions.
What Exactly Is Thermal Runaway? [The remainder of Wielicki’s article is behind a paywall. Suffice to say: Thermal runaway is a process where an increase in temperature leads to further temperature increases, often resulting in destructive outcomes. In the context of lithium-ion batteries, thermal runaway is a critical safety concern. It can be triggered by internal failures of batteries, such as defects in the separator that cause an internal short circuit. External factors like mechanical damage, external heat, overcharging, or short circuits can also initiate thermal runaway. Once initiated, thermal runaway can be very difficult to stop and can lead to extremely high temperatures, violent cell venting, smoke and fire.]
Related:
- London’s spontaneous bus combustion: How is this being allowed to happen?
- Norwegian Shipping Company bans electric vehicles on its vessels
- We’re in a worldwide lithium battery fire epidemic
- Battery storage for solar farms poses a growing threat of catastrophic and uncontrollable fires
- World’s largest battery storage facility for power from solar panels burns and poisons nature reserve
Featured image: Battery explosion firm was blocked from operating at English HQ after damning report, The Daily Record, 12 April 2025
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Categories: Breaking News
Look at this GREEN Energy, what a pollution! One event like this probably pollutes more than the carbon dioxyde they were suppose to save. The article says it is the second fire!!! Electric vehicules and lithium-ion battery are a bad direction. Specialists that calculate the total pollution of vehicules from conception to end of life recycling demonstrate the combustion engine vehicule is the less polluant!
Gouvernments will tell you the contrairy, go dig for yourself and you will find out the truth!
The EV cans are nothing more than a death trap, and are certainly not carbon neutral, every fastener, is derived from the petro chemical industry, as for the Li-Ion batteries do people know those materials have to be mined and the mining equipment all guzzle those hydrocarbons?
The Great greening agenda is not a healthy option for neither man, woman, child or animal. People seem to think the EV fad is clean energy and less destructive compared to hydrocarbon fuels.
The green agenda is nothing more than a short term con for the oligarchs, with those green/gray products that reach EOL is destined for land fill, usually exported to one of the many dump sites in the middle east, where those land fills cater for everything including clothes, electronics, toxic/chemical waste.
As for installing those battery banks next to a primary school that is a disaster just waiting to happen with the risk of injuring and/or killing children if those battery banks were to spontaneously combust, whilst polluting land, sea and air.
A great way of decimating a population, put the new generation on the chopping block by placing their lives in danger!
Lets see if the politicians will grant permission for those battery banks and installations be installed on government sites, including those socalled parliaments!
I presume that Fenix is not pronounced as Fen-ix, but Feen-ix, like Phoenix. How appropriate.
Correct! The English pronunciation is Phoenix.
The evil is in plain sight…
[…] Inferno at Scottish battery recycling plant where lithium-ion batteries were being stored; when will… […]
17th April, 2025 – “Yet another EV fire on board a Cargo Ship – This time Zeebrugge”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN7JLUBc4jM
He gets to the fire 40 seconds in