From the “what could possibly go wrong?” department. There has just been an explosion and second fire at a battery recycling plant in North Ayrshire. The fire occurred at a battery recycling plant in Kilwinning, Scotland, on April 9, 2025. It generated thick smoke and explosions, marking the second such incident at the Fenix Battery Recycling facility in a year, raising safety concerns.

From the Scottish Sun:

Interviews with local residents by STV demonstrate how concerned people are about this facility:

Battery recycling plants handle lithium-ion batteries which can cause fires or explosions due to thermal runawa, a chain reaction releasing flammable gases.

Achieving a safe, cost-effective and environmentally sound storage solution is vital to achieving NetZero by 2050. However, the rollout of Battery Energy Storage Systems, including the one proposed here by Cubico, will make hardly a dent in the UK energy needs when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.

So we have the unproven technology, which not only leads to fires at the sites themselves, but also has major issues when recycling. If this were any other industry, the government would have called a moratorium by now.