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EV Batteries Are Dangerous to Repair. Here’s Why Mechanics Are Doing So Anyway
(www.scientificamerican.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
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Jacking Up a Car Is Dangerous. Here's Why Mechanics Are Doing So Anyway
Eh. That's not really comparable to lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are similar to bombs in that they're highly dense stores of energy. If something goes wrong and that energy storage medium gets exposed to air, or there's a failure in a charging safety mechanism, that's a chemical fire at best, explosion at worse, but no matter what, it's extremely toxic.
Lead-acid batteries also present a risk of explosion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery#Risk_of_explosion
That's why you attach jumper cables to the dead battery first.
Have you ever attached jumper cables to a dead lead-acid battery?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery#Risk_of_explosion
A car sitting 6 feet in the air is also a highly dense storage of energy that could be released at any moment. I do get your point, but there are ways to mitigate the dangers associated with working on a pack, and they're not as volatile as you think. Being exposed to air isn't going to cause a cell to explode as the lithium is mixed with other chemicals inside the cell to make it fairly inert. The danger comes from short circuits, whether it be a puncture or bridging contacts with something conductive.