It's the battery _and_ the circuitry that matter (Score 1)

Since all batteries in an airplane application need charging and monitoring circuits and those circuits are likely to fail from time to time, batteries that start fires when circuits fail are indeed part of the fault equation. Pushing off the blame onto just the batteries is most likely a PR strategy of Boeing's. If the circuit is essentially part of the battery without which the battery could not function, then the blame lies with the designers who used it: Boeing, not the battery manufacturer. This PR seems to me a "spin-control" by japan and their battery industry to limit the PR damage to the battery manufacturer because it is clear now that Boeing is going to layoff blame for their poor design on the battery manufacturers. The fact is these batteries should never be used in any place where their failure will have catastrophic consequences. But that was a decision Boeing engineers made, not the battery manufacturers. Let's keep the focus on the firm that designed the airplane and certainly conducted studies regarding the consequences of the failure of monitoring and charging circuitry on batteries and physical airplane integrity. I sense a Ford Pinto gas tank human cost trade-off calculus moment of truth coming. Wait for it.