If anything goes wrong with a non air breathing high energy density battery or any high energy density energy storage material it simply becomes an explosive and there hasn't been any clever way to get around this fact. A tiny flaw releases some energy and that area immediately heats up to 5,000 degrees vaporizing anything in its way until there's nothing left but a crater.
If the entire battery could be monitored for eruptions of heat, however, maybe a laser could quell the problem in time:
The question is, how and where is the laser dumping the heat?
If it could instantly dump a billion joules 50 meters above the motor vehicle it might be ok.
Bret Cahill