Understanding Lithium Batteries

Kathy and Reg Nicoson of EarthX, Inc. explain what you need to know.

By Jared Yates

“Lithium batteries…those are the ones that explode, right?” Kathy Nicoson, global sales director for EarthX, Inc., says this is the question she hears the most. Even though she’s heard it a thousand times, if you ask her this short question, she will smile kindly and provide as long of an answer as you would like to receive.

EarthX is a Colorado-based company that has sold tens of thousands of lithium batteries in the motorcycle and powersports industry since 2009, and has sold thousands of their aviation-specific battery since 2015. As Kathy points out, EarthX batteries were being installed in airplanes long before EarthX sold an aviation-specific battery. It didn’t take long for builders of Experimental/Amateur-Built airplanes to see the lightweight appeal of lithium batteries available for powersports applications, and they have been installing them in aircraft for years.

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