Another fire! Energy storage really can't escape this time.

A fire that broke out early this morning has once again "awakened" the entire new energy industry.

At 2:48 AM on April 14th, a fire broke out at BYD's Pingshan base in Maluan Street, Pingshan District, Shenzhen. Videos and photos from the scene quickly spread on social media. The topic "BYD company fire" immediately became a trending topic.

Soon, official reports and company responses followed. According to the Pingshan Emergency Management Bureau, at 2:48 AM on April 14th, 2026, a fire broke out in a multi-level parking garage in Maluan Street, Pingshan District. Emergency response and fire departments at both the municipal and district levels rushed to the scene immediately. The fire has been extinguished, and there were no casualties.

Subsequently, BYD responded, stating, "Early this morning, a fire broke out in a multi-level parking garage in our Pingshan Industrial Park. This garage is a dedicated parking area for test and scrapped vehicles. The fire has been extinguished, and there were no casualties." According to informed sources, the garage did not involve finished vehicles.

From a factual perspective, this was a fire that was promptly brought under control within the industrial park. However, in the comments section of social media platforms, some netizens almost reflexively asked, "Was it a battery explosion?"

This is not surprising. Over the past few years, from electric vehicle fires to Energy Storage power station accidents, a collective understanding has been accumulating: in the new energy era, all fires will ultimately be traced back to the battery.

01. Not an isolated case, lithium battery safety is entering a period of high-frequency exposure

Just a few days ago, a fire in Australia once again sounded the alarm.

At 1:45 pm local time on Sunday, a fire broke out at a battery recycling facility in Maddington, southeast of Perth, Western Australia. This recycling center, named Li-ion Energy, stored approximately 80 tons of lithium-ion batteries. The fire spread rapidly, and local emergency services issued a hazard warning, designating several blocks as a warning zone.

Based on information disclosed afterward, the danger of this fire far exceeded that of a typical industrial accident. According to company personnel, the fire originated in the middle of a tray of batteries, and during attempts to extinguish it, the fire intensified rapidly in a short period, ultimately forcing an evacuation.

This scenario has become a "typical path" in lithium battery accidents: localized anomaly → rapid amplification within a short period → failure of human intervention.

Similar accidents are not uncommon in China.

Recently, the Emergency Management Bureau of Boluo County, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, released the "Investigation Report on the '11.7' Fire Accident at Huizhou Lite-On New Energy Co., Ltd. in Yuanzhou Town, Boluo County, Huizhou City," showing that the fire affected an area of ​​2,062 square meters, resulting in the deaths of two employees from smoke inhalation and direct economic losses of 9.11 million yuan. The fire was caused by thermal runaway of 18650 ternary Lithium Batteries, which quickly spread.

Related data shows that there have been over 30 energy storage-related fire accidents globally in 2025. And this trend has not slowed down in 2026. On January 21st, local time, a fire broke out in the Energy Storage Battery system of a Tesla charging station in San Marcos, California, USA, leading to the temporary closure of some parking lots and businesses in the affected area.

When these events are put together, a clearer signal emerges: lithium battery safety is transforming from an occasional risk into a high-frequency variable.

02. More Than Just Accidents: Lithium-ion Battery Safety Hindered by Three Hurdles

As these incidents are brought to the forefront, a more critical question emerges: why do these fires keep recurring?

This isn't a failure in a single(link/step), but rather the result of multiple factors converging. More precisely, current lithium-ion battery safety is stuck at three unavoidable hurdles.

The first hurdle is the inherent technological challenge. The core advantage of lithium-ion batteries is their high energy density. But this very advantage naturally places them in a tug-of-war between efficiency and safety.

As batteries continuously pursue higher energy density, their internal stability is compromised. Once overcharged, short-circuited, subjected to external impact, or exposed to high temperatures, the internal temperature of the cell rises rapidly, triggering a series of irreversible exothermic reactions—what the industry calls "thermal runaway."

Even more problematic is that once this reaction is ignited, it's difficult to interrupt artificially, often exhibiting self-accelerating characteristics, rapidly escalating from a localized anomaly into a systemic risk.

In other words, under current technological paths, lithium batteries are not without problems; they always operate with a risk boundary that requires strict management.

The second hurdle is the underestimated human error. Looking back at past incidents, many seemingly sudden fires actually concealed simple problems: fire suppression systems not functioning properly, safety exits being blocked or locked, and employees lacking basic emergency training… These are not technical difficulties, but rather execution issues.

However, in reality, these kinds of basic errors occur repeatedly. The reason is straightforward: in fierce market competition, costs are squeezed relentlessly, and safety is often the easiest thing to sacrifice. Furthermore, some companies, in order to seize market share, use low-price strategies to push inferior battery cells into the distribution chain. When product quality becomes inconsistent, systemic risks are amplified, ultimately creating a vicious cycle where bad money drives out good.

The third hurdle is the gradually exposed blind spots in the supply chain. Compared to the production and application ends, the safety issues at the recycling end have long been neglected.

As the new energy industry rapidly expands, the number of retired batteries is accumulating at an even faster pace. A large number of batteries are entering the recycling, dismantling, and reuse stages, but the corresponding standards and regulatory mechanisms are clearly lagging behind. This reveals a deeper problem: the risks of lithium batteries do not end at the user end, but permeate their entire lifecycle.

From manufacturing to transportation and storage, to end-use applications and recycling, a failure at any stage can become the starting point for the next accident.

Returning to the initial fire that sparked the discussion, its cause may not have been directly related to the battery, but it serves as a reminder to the entire industry: safety is no longer an add-on, but a fundamental variable determining how far the industry can go.

In the short term, growing pains are unavoidable; but in the longer term, only through this round of strong regulation and a thorough shakeout can the industry truly mature.