Many people around Kentucky and the rest of the country choose to drive electric cars to help prevent pollution and save money on gas. But questions have been raised as to the safety of certain batteries used to power the cars.

Out of concern that lithium batteries could be a dangerous product, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reportedly retesting hybrid and electric vehicles after a lithium battery caught fire three weeks after a side impact test in May.

This was the first reported fire that has erupted from a lithium battery in an electric car, Bloomberg reported. The event might have been caused by a piece of metal piercing the battery casing, experts suspect.

The lithium battery burns at extremely high temperatures, Bloomberg said. Once the battery casing has been pierced by ferrous metal, it can cause a chemical reaction which makes the battery burn at even higher temperatures, which might lead to a fire.

Federal officials and the makers of the battery-powered cars have tried to duplicate the fire that happened last May. After several tests, they have been unsuccessful. The engineers say there has to be something extremely dramatic to cause the fire. LG Chem, the maker of the battery, knows of this problem and is working to resolve the issue.

The fire in May was strong enough to burn vehicles parked next to it, officials say. It is a rare occurrence, but there have been other instances which lithium batteries have burst into flames. The risk with smaller lithium powered devices such as laptops, iPods and mobile phones is significantly less than the newer electric vehicles.

Of course, if the makers of the lithium batteries know of this risk and do nothing to fix the problem, they could face personal injury lawsuits brought by those who have been injured.

Source: Bloomberg, "GM Volt Fire After Crash Said to Prompt Lithium-Battery Probe," Jeff Green, Dan Welch and Angela Greiling Keane, Nov. 11, 2011.