Gasoline just burns. It takes a very specific state to get it to explode.

Not that I'm recommending it, but you could fill a coffee can with gasoline and light it on fire and with only minimum care, be completely safe.

Do the same with an equivalent-energy amount of lithium batteries and you better have a good pair of running shoes.

Go watch some youtube videos of exploding laptops.

The latest big MacBook battery has 100 watt hours of energy fully charged.

A gallon of gasoline has 33,000 watt hours of energy.

So that macbook's battery has 2.3 teaspoons, about 1 centimeter cubed, or 11 mL equivalent energy of gasoline. I have spilled that much gas on my shoe and not given it a second thought. Another way to put it is a laptop battery has about as much energy in it as a shot of vodka.

I'll happily store many bottles of liquor in the cupboard without a thought of the fire risk.

An equivalent battery carelessly stored is scary.

I get where you are coming from here, but this comparison is deeply flawed. It is possible for some lipos to burn explosively, but this isn't the common scenario for the designs and containment used in vehicles. The car fires that we've seen with lithium ion fires have not presented as massive explosions, though the fires themselves can be very difficult to extinguish.

You know that millions of homes have natural gas installation, capable of emitting essentially unlimited amounts of explosive gas with only a single leak required, right?

It's not just that, but Carbon Monoxide poisoning from incomplete combustion is just as much of a killer.

I love cooking with gas but to be completely honest I'll be happy to see the back of it.

Gas hobs are kinda nice. Direct induction is good enough, but I will miss gas burners for some cooking.

On the other hand Gas ovens are crazy nonsense. The electric oven was already the obviously superior choice last century and they've only continued to get better.

Yeah I really love cooking on gas hobs. We're moving house next year though and will be going induction.

And you keep the macbook on your lap for how long without a worry?

The failure mode of a modern lithium battery is much more benign that the quarter-stick of TNT you're making it out to be.

> Do the same with an equivalent-energy amount of lithium batteries and you better have a good pair of running shoes.

You're just fear-mongering, and that's an absurd level of hyperbole.

Thank goodness New Jersey and Oregon have the sense to restrict untrained operators from handling that dangerous substance!