Originally Posted by Ed237
Now I'm really concerned: A trusted Lipo manufacturer makes various qualities of cells based upon their application and there is probably no way the average user can tell them apart.
This isn't surprising, I imagine there's a good business case for it. Their technology has probably evolved a lot over the years, leading to better safety, etc. I would think it best to discourage people from buying raw cells and using them in their cars. Rather, the cells should be distributed by an R/C company that then discloses the source and the safety information (or rating if such a system is available), and makes them available in a case.
It seems reasonable that all LiPo should be banned initially, and then each individual cell that's proposed for use in R/C cars has to meet certain safety criteria to deem is safe enough for our sport. Perhaps further rules should be put forth about requiring a hard casing, and maybe even develop some standard sizing for the cases so that chassis designers have something to work with.
If we can get standard case design out there, it would be easy enough to OEM them so the battery companies can buy the cells in bulk, match them, solder them up, etc.