Gupta’s research at Waterloo’s Fire Research Facility focuses on recreating these failure scenarios in controlled conditions. By triggering thermal runaway in battery cells and capturing high-speed data, his team is working to reveal how fires start, spread and evolve in at speeds consistent with the failure. Industry standards, engineering controls and ongoing research are already reducing risks and collaboration between academia, industry and regulators is accelerating progress. “The big takeaway is that most of the engineering systems that support battery technologies are actually pretty good,” Gupta says. As data centres continue to expand, supporting AI and digital services, ensuring the safety of the batteries that power them will be critical.