Claims

A draft ABYC standard for lithium-ion batteries, developed over five years, requires that battery management systems provide an external message before disconnecting, which immediately disqualifies all 'drop-in lithium-ion battery' products from the market because they lack the ability to communicate.

An engineer working on oil rigs in Alberta emphasized to Cote that electrical codes should be treated as the minimum starting point, not as the holy grail or aspirational goal—codes establish the floor, and proper practice should build above that floor, not aim to merely meet it.

The ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) is focused exclusively on safety—specifically preventing boat fires, electrocution on AC systems, and sinking from catastrophic corrosion—and therefore many critical reliability and practicality practices that prevent system failures fall outside ABYC standards because they are not directly related to safety, such as drip loops on connections or booting positive DC connections.

Calder wants lithium-ion batteries with a UL 1973 sticker indicating they have passed the most aggressive abuse testing standard in the marine marketplace, ensuring they won't go up in smoke even if pushed to their published limits or if stupidly operated.