Jolson Technologies have credentials as a Battery Expert Witness for cases involving lithium-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries and other electrochemical energy storage devices. You can download Dr. Olson’s information here Olson – Resume – Papers – Patents.
We have past legal experience with both product liability cases and product failure cases.
Dr. Olson learned the business during several projects with Case Forensics; fire investigations involving lithium-ion batteries. We have observed evidence that can sometimes differentiate between a cell potentially starting a fire and one consumed in the fire, but this advance wasn’t legally or technically documented. Forensics of lithium-ion battery fires are extremely challenging.
On the lead-acid battery side, John Devitt has given Dr. Olson advice on the legal aspects of battery manufacturer defense cases involving ignition of evolved hydrogen. Other failures of lead-acid batteries mostly implicate the equipment manufacturer or end user, as well.
Jolson Technologies’ forensics and failure analysis capabilities could result in convincing evidence for your case. Science can often provide an objective determination of causation, and this is true for battery failures.
Contact us today to evaluate our ability to help your case.
More info:
Although most companies involved with investigating and testing batteries are engineering based, the mechanisms of a batteries’ operation are described by electrochemical theory, broadly it is primarily a chemistry discipline. In order to truly understand how a battery behaves, you need to have a good understanding of electrochemistry. Our focus on electrochemical mechanisms are more relevant to most cases than physical analysis by engineering companies. The areas of importance for electrochemistry are: active materials, capacity, discharging rates, charging rates, cycle life, temperature dependence and importantly safety. When new batteries are invented, the primary focus is on the electrochemistry to define materials, performance and the safe limits of battery operation (and what happens when you exceed them). Dr. Olson has extensive prior experience in this area.
After batteries are commercialized there is a lower importance of electrochemistry because safe operating limits have already been defined; problems are almost always due to operating conditions outside of the defined limits or product defects. So electrochemistry does not lose all meaning mostly because of safety, connected to operating outside limits or identifying defects. For a demanding application, operation limits can be exceeded unless effective battery management (electrical and thermal) is used. For example, why does a lithium-ion battery explode. This important question can be answered on many levels, but one of the most fundamental is the explosion is often the result of a thermal runaway. There are a number of ways that the thermal runaway can start and most don’t result in explosions because of safety features incorporated into the batteries. The safety features of lithium-ion batteries are what makes an actual explosion very rare.
How do you determine if the failure is the responsibility of the battery manufacturer, the equipment manufacturer or perhaps the end user? Product liability often transfers down the value chain, so careful consideration of the culpable parties is important. Product defects have culpability for the manufacturer, but it may be difficult to prove, especially if the battery has been destroyed. The equipment manufacturer could have culpability if it can be shown that the operation outside of the normal limits is due to inherent product design. This could be related to the charging, battery management functions or improper sizing for the application. The end user also has a responsibility to operate the battery within known limits and to be aware of safety issues, as well. The potential for fraudulent claims is also a possibility, especially with greater visibility of lithium-ion fires in the news.