Why charging your phone overnight can be dangerous, according to Montreal firefighters
Here’s what to know about the risk and how to get the most out of a charge and make your cellphone battery last longer
It’s 11:30 p.m. and you’re in bed, doomscrolling your way to sleep.
As you go down a rabbit hole in search of Halloween costume ideas on TikTok — even though you know you’re going as Chappell Roan — you’re rudely interrupted by your phone.
“Low Battery: 10 per cent of battery remaining.”
You immediately switch to lower power mode in hopes of stretching out another 10 minutes of blue screen-induced happiness, but reality soon sets in: you need to plug in.
So you do, begrudgingly.
But did you know that firefighters, battery experts and safety gurus alike agree that overnight charging — not just for phones, but other personal electronics powered by lithium-ion batteries like your company laptop, your kids’ tablets, the vape pen you don’t want your spouse to know about — should be avoided?
It’s advice firefighters in Montreal were issuing following a port fire this week “fuelled by 15,000 kilograms of lithium-ion batteries” inside a shipping container. The noxious smoke from the fire led to a lockdown in one borough and air quality warnings for other downwind residents.
