Creating a lithium ion battery that won’t catch fire

Chief technology officer and founder of American Lithium Energy, Dr. Jiang Fan, at the company's Carlsbad, Calif., office, on March 13, 2017. (David Brooks/San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS)

SAN DIEGO: At American Lithium Energy's headquarters outside San Diego, President and co-founder Jiang Fan opens a padlocked door to the company's battery testing chamber. 

Here, squat machines puncture batteries with nails, crush them with a weight and pump so much voltage into them during recharging that they swell like miniature balloons.