Battery Safety Starts Before the Fire

PHOENIX, AZ — As fail-safe battery energy storage becomes an increasingly important part of how communities generate, store and use energy, one question matters more than ever: How do we make sure the energy transition is also a safe transition?

For Chavonne Yee, this has been the focus of her career.

Yee, Head of Regulatory Development at Viridi, has been appointed to the City of Phoenix Fire Safety Advisory Board, bringing decades of experience in energy storage, power systems, electric vehicles, renewable energy and lithium-ion battery safety to a public service role.

Yee was sworn in by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and welcomed by members of the Phoenix City Council.

“I am honored to serve on the City of Phoenix’s Fire Safety Advisory Board,” said Yee. “Li-ion safety has been my professional focus, and now I can share this knowledge to serve my community.”

For Viridi, the appointment reflects an increasingly important reality: battery safety is community safety.

Safety Has to Be Designed In

The rapid growth of lithium-ion technology is transforming the energy landscape. Batteries are helping integrate renewable energy, support critical infrastructure, provide backup power and strengthen grid resilience.

But greater deployment comes with greater responsibility.

Battery safety cannot be an afterthought. It has to be engineered into the system from the beginning.

“Viridi’s technology shows what’s possible when public infrastructure embraces safer, smarter, and more sustainable energy technologies,” said Jon M. Williams, Viridi CEO

That philosophy is central to Viridi’s approach to energy storage. Viridi’s patented anti-propagation architecture is designed to prevent thermal runaway in one battery module from propagating to adjacent modules—providing an additional layer of protection for people, property and critical infrastructure.

The goal isn’t simply to respond when something goes wrong. The goal is to design systems so that a single failure doesn’t become a system-wide event.

Few people understand that challenge more deeply than Yee.

A Career Focused on Battery Safety

At Honeywell, Yee identified an emerging opportunity in renewable energy and championed a lithium-ion battery safety solution. She developed a roadmap focused on EV battery safety and evaluated competing technologies, ultimately championing thermal runaway detection as a cornerstone of the company’s strategy.

She established third-party testing relationships with UL’s Electrochemical Research Institute, Sandia National Laboratories, the University of Michigan and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, while also working directly with government and industry experts on battery safety standards.

Her commitment continues through her service on the SAE Battery Safety Committee and her previous role as Chairperson of the SAE J2929 Safety Standard for Vehicles with Propulsion Battery Systems Working Group.

Engineering a Safer Energy Future

The Phoenix Fire Safety Advisory Board provides expertise on fire hazards, explosions, hazardous conditions and fire protection systems. As lithium-ion batteries become increasingly prevalent in communities, informed collaboration among engineers, manufacturers, first responders and regulators is essential.

Yee brings precisely that perspective.

Her career spans energy storage, solar, wind, utility power, EVs, telecommunications power and data center power, backed by advanced degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT and UC Berkeley and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

At Viridi, we believe communities shouldn’t have to choose between innovation and safety.

The energy transition needs both.

Congratulations, Chavonne, on this important appointment—and thank you for putting your expertise to work for the City of Phoenix.

A safer energy future isn’t something we wait for. We engineer it.