Battery Simulation Propels Electric Cars in China Despite widespread use of Li-ion batteries, there is risk of fire hazards Experiments to understand the batteries cost $300 each, with hundreds performed COMSOL used to couple heat transfer and electrochemical reactions, cutting experiment numbers to tens instead of hundreds, decreasing time as well as costs COMSOL News 2012: Dr. Songrui Wang, Institute of Power Sources, China Plot of temperature and temperature rates over time in a Li-ion cell; the region and extent of thermal runaway is pretty evident from the sudden increase in temperature and temperature rate. The cell’s temperature distribution when thermal runaway occurs.