Perth's worst battery fire, and why it may not be the last

In April, Perth suffered its worst-ever battery fire when, at the Li-Ion Energy recycling yard in Maddington, around 80 tonnes of lithium polymer batteries, designed for use in electric buses self-ignited from a single pack and burned for five hours blanketing the southern suburbs in toxic smoke, sending a man to hospital and destroying an estimated $7 million in property. Three months on, the danger has not passed.

Over the past few months, I have been following up on the issue with Justin Manton, Li-Ion Energy founder whose company won the 2025 Telstra National Promoting Sustainability Award.

The story behind the headlines should concern every Western Australian.

According to Justin, the batteries behind the fires were units made in France and were identical technology to those subject to a recall following several thermal runaway fires in France and NSW. It doesn’t seem the recall notice made its way to Australia.

Believing they were entering a contract to recycle the batteries in good faith, Li-Ion Energy alleges that the recall notice and known risk potential of the batteries were not provided. Given the full picture of the risk, Justin says they may have refused the contract or taken it on as a much more expensive hazardous materials disposal contract. But it could only determine that if the recovery of materials could have been managed safely.

It is concerning to think that these batteries, which were transported across the country from NSW, could have self-ignited at any point in transit, despite all paperwork indicating they were safe.

Following the original fire, the Justin says he warned authorities that a significant risk remained of potentially faulty batteries on site exploding, and on the fourth of June they did. Despite this second fire, he believes that critical information about the recall and known faulty batch numbers continues to be withheld.

On 27 June 2026, he wrote a letter of complaint to the responsible departments and Ministers regarding the Government’s lack of action in supporting the emergency management of the issue. In the same letter he detailed how his company had exhausted all its resources managing the issues and keeping the site and nearby environment safe.

A crew of just four worked around the clock, some pulling 16-hour shifts, relocating potentially volatile batteries to segregate and limit the risk and pumping out contaminated water to stop it reaching nearby waterways. Without the effort and resources of Li-Ion Energy, an industrial fire would have become an environmental disaster.

The Larger Concern

Here is my real concern: this fire is the tip of the iceberg. As the Government pushes vastly more battery technology into our energy system, it does so with an immature end-of-life framework, inadequate recycling and recovery structures, and regulation that is not fit-for-purpose.

Final Thoughts

Emerging, poorly understood technologies are being rushed in with little thought, and it is businesses and communities that are left carrying risks they could not reasonably have foreseen. Smaller Western Australian businesses, like Li-Ion Energy, stand vulnerable in the face of large multinational corporations who are not being adequately held to account in their end-of-life and risk management strategies for new and potentially hazardous technologies. 

We need proper standards for the quality control, transport, storage, recycling and disposal of these batteries before the next fire, not after it.

I'll keep pressing the Government for answers.

Regards,
Phil