A Li battery is a bomb and terrorist will quickly lean this
The reaction is a strait redox reaction
However the fuel & the oxadizing agent are both in the battery
In a normal fire, the fuel is burned by the oxygen in the air
In the battery the oxadizing agent is in the battery so it does not require air to "burn" .
Putting foam on a fire deprives it of air but if air is not needed then the foam does nothing
Same story with water, get one burning and you can toss it in a lake & it will continue burning till there is nothing left to burn.
And Musk want you to put one on the wall of your house
Li batteries are a wonderful technology and are perfect for applications where you have low power drain and are weight & space restricted
Hearing aids, body inplants , calculators , LED torches , Computers .
Hand held power tools , robot vacuum / mowers , are pushing the limits of their practicability
Using them in cars is plain stupid and after a couple of babies secured in their crash proof pods on the back seat of some EV get nicely roasted ,,,well done then there will be a massive change of attitude to them
By that Time Musk will have used his ill gotten gains to have bought several other businesses , and sold down his shareholding in Tesla so the new share holders will be stuck with the liability claims .
His extravagent performances have embedded into peoples minds so deep that most will not even believe that the batteries are dangerous & claim people like me are stooges for oil companies .
Hydrogen is far safer and has a higher energy density that Li batteries ever will
It is the perfect fuel for transport but every time it gets a mention you instantly get back refferences to the horror of the Hindenburg so no one wants to be within 10 miles of a hydrogen powered vehicle.
Better suited for heavy transport like busses trucks & trains , marginally better for cars due to distribution difficulties .
Shipping should all be nuclear : electric powered by a liquid salt reactor which the USA abandoned so Nixon could have loads of scrap plutonium to make bombs with and the Chinese have just about perfected .