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Energy Forensics Group logo Energy Forensics GroupBattery Fire Investigation

Representative matters

What these investigations look like in practice.

Energy Forensics Group's principal is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI) whose battery-fire work spans industrial equipment, consumer mobility devices, power tools, and R&D battery systems. The anonymized matters below show the kinds of questions we're retained to answer and how we answer them. Each follows the same NFPA 921 discipline regardless of who retains us.

Self-balancing electric scooter fireConsumer mobility · 2025
The question
A self-balancing scooter ignited during charging. What allowed a routine charge cycle to end in fire?
Approach
X-ray imaging of the battery pack remnants, analysis of the battery-management system's charging logic, and comparison against the cell manufacturer's storage and charging warnings.
Finding
The BMS logic permitted recharging of deeply discharged cells, bypassing safety lockouts and producing an internal short circuit during the charge cycle. The design violated the manufacturer's warnings on low state-of-charge storage.
Cordless power-tool battery firePower tools · 2025
The question
A power-tool battery entered thermal runaway in service. Was the pack defective, or was something else driving the failure?
Approach
CT scanning of the cells, teardown analysis, and comparison of the cells' discharge specifications against the demands of the tool they were paired with.
Finding
Thermal runaway resulted from a discharge-rating mismatch: the cells were subjected to current draw exceeding their C-rating when paired with an incompatible high-draw tool. CT imaging revealed internal electrode deformation consistent with high-current stress.
Electric ground support equipment fireIndustrial equipment · 2021
The question
A battery fire destroyed electric ground support equipment. Was the battery at fault, or the system around it?
Approach
Analysis of the charging system's configuration against the battery's cell chemistry and specifications.
Finding
The failure traced to a configuration error in the charging profile: maximum voltage was set to 4.35 V per cell on an NMC chemistry limited to 4.20 V, producing progressive overcharge and eventual thermal runaway.
Industrial equipment battery fireIndustrial equipment · 2021
The question
Equipment caught fire after a battery repair. Did the battery fail on its own, or did the repair introduce the failure?
Approach
Forensic teardown of the battery remnants, focused on the replacement components installed during a customer-performed repair.
Finding
The replacement BMS board had been soldered incorrectly, creating a bypass of a critical safety circuit. That modification disabled the system's internal protection layers and allowed the battery to operate outside safe parameters.

Matters are anonymized and described at a level that protects the parties involved. Additional investigations across industrial equipment, consumer products, and R&D battery systems are discussed in engagement conversations as appropriate.

The through-line

Same method, either side of the matter.

Whether the goal is recovery or defense, the investigation is built the same way: origin and cause established through evidence, hypotheses tested rather than assumed, and the basis for every opinion fully documented.

See our methodology

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