Why do we keep using batteries that burn

There have been a number of incidents with Li-Ion batteries. Boeing's Dreamliners had been grounded, there are numerous reports of the batteries in vape units or their spare batteries combusting on persons, we've heard of cells phone bursting into flames while on night stands and pillows, Tesla cars run into things and damage to the battery means the end of the car after it burns to the ground, etc.

So why do we keep doing this to ourselves? The answer is because it's what you want.  The market has spoken, and it wants a battery that has the highest amount of energy for a certain threshold of price. And we are willing to risk a certain amount of safety to get it. It's nothing more than human nature.

Rest assured, device manufacturers, aerospace engineers, car manufacturers, and any other industry that uses Li-Ion batteries are working hard to find a way to reduce this risk. And the market appreciates that to a point where it will be a run-away success if a solution is found.

Solutions are on the horizon. There are electrolytes that don't burn, and there are experimental constructions that don't get thermal runaway. And of course, there are a number of different chemistries that just don't burn as readily in the labs.