Recently, our in-house golf enthusiast posted an article from our friends at Big I about the dangers and difficulties of covering Golf Cart fleets using Lithium Ion batteries. In that article Benjamin Peetz discusses the widespread use, storage, and dangers of Lithium-Ion batteries which are in everything around us, from smart-phones to power tools to electric scooters to Electric Vehicles. He also does a deep dive into Thermal Runaway, which is when a lithium-ion battery gets damaged, overheats, and ignites setting off a chain reaction which can create an incredibly dangerous fire/explosion/catastrophic event.
According to research provided by UL Solutions, in 2023 at least 1,600 incidents, 611 injuries, and 115 fatalities related to lithium-ion battery fires in the US.
I personally know of two very bad incidents involving Lithium-Ion batteries. The first was friends whose golf cart caught on fire while parked under their car port. They lost a lifetime's worth of their guitar collection, art collection, and the majority of their home. Thankfully, they survived as did some of the house. I also encountered a situation few years ago in a previous job before coming to Wells Insurance. I photographed real estate, and our company had a unique request to go out to what was once a boat house on a lake where an electric foil board had overcharged, exploded, and burned down the entire boathouse, boat, dock, tiki bar, and everything else along with it...
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
EXPLODED LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES
It only took one short-circuited/damaged battery to set off the thermal runaway chain reaction that caused the initial explosion, sending batteries flying through air. Lithium, being extremely flammable, also self oxidizes adding literal fuel to create a super intense fire that burns extremely hot. The individual batteries contained within the pack were found scattered around the property and in the lake 30-40 yards away from the original ignition point.
What does this have to do with Golf Carts and Clubhouses?
Well, I use this as an everyday example of how things can go wrong and many Golf Cart Fleets are now equipped with Lithium-ion Batteries...big ones! This poses a huge risk for these establishments, creates higher insurance rates, and could prevent carriers from insuring these properties at all.
Our friend had this to say in his LinkedIn Post...
"Golf course owners and executives listen up...lithium batteries in your golf carts will impact your attractiveness in the insurance marketplace. Correction - how you carefully or recklessly handle these exposures will impact your attractiveness. Technology in this thriving golf industry is wonderful but here's how underwriters are ruminating:
1) Are your lithium battery-powered golf carts stored in or under the clubhouse? Or are they in a separate cart storage building?
2) Are your employees adept at storing/utilizing them properly with the proper ventilation?
3) Let's have a conversation about this...some carriers are declining to offer proposals based upon this. So...is your agency equipped with other carriers to deliver? Wells Insurance can provide a robust marketplace for you."
As a travel enthusiast who likes to retrofit my van to be able to camp/live out of it, I've done a lot of research on living "off-grid" (if only for a few days). One of the "coolest" things I've come across in the past couple of years while researching portable solar power are Lithium Iron Batteries (LiFePO4 aka Lithium Iron Phosphate). Companies like Bluetti have eliminated Lithium-ion and completely moved over all of their portable and whole house solar charging systems to Lithium Iron. Lithium Iron Batteries have so many clear advantages over Lithium Ion, safety being the most important. Consider the following differences:
Why Lithium Iron as opposed to Lithium Ion?
- Wider Temperature Range (-4ºF to 140ºF vs 32°F to 113°F)
- Larger number of charging cycles before loss of performance (Thousands vs ~500)
- Longer lifespan even as performance drops (Li-Iron 5 to 6 times greater than Li-ion)
- Non-toxic, non-contaminating, and don't contain rare earth metals (lack of Nickel and Cobalt) meaning less environmental impact (Longer lasting means less E-Waste and release of toxins).
- Unlikely to explode under normal circumstances, even when exposed to hazardous events like short-circuiting, crashes, or extreme temperatures.
- Incombustible, thermally stable, and able to withstand high temperatures without decomposing
- They have a safety valve to relieve pressure, unlikely to release flammable gas or experience thermal runaway.
There is a chance that Lithium-Iron Batteries could be one potential solution to this current insurance dilemma as Golf Courses and Golf Clubs consider their golf cart fleet and the risks posed by Lithium-ion. It may be a matter of pushing the leading golf cart producers such as Club Car and EZ-Go who lease the fleets to them to make the switch. Insurance carriers are likely to come to the same conclusions when it comes to safely and confidently covering country clubs and golf courses. The only arguable downside is cost, as there are only a few manufacturers and limited supply. Although they are slightly more expensive than a lithium-ion battery, the cost difference is negligible when you consider the increased lifespan and safety issues. They will pay for themselves 5 times over and without the danger of combustion compared to Lithium-Ion. At the time of this writing, if you do a Google search there are only a couple of companies offering Lithium-Iron replacements for your Lithium-ion golf cart batteries, such as Epoch Batteries and Dakota Lithium.
If you or your club has questions, please contact the commercial insurance team at Wells Insurance to discuss your potential risk, options, and coverages.
