[iokanuon]

Actually thinking about it - why not have everything encased in sand all the time, you'd just have to be a kid playing in a sandbox when doing maintenance

[mschuster91]

Heat management. A battery that's surrounded by air can cool itself by convection. A battery that's buried in sand will eventually reach thermal saturation with the sand... at a temperature that it really really should not be at.

[lukan]

Because sand everywhere is kind of annoying?

And dangerous for any moving parts?

[IAmBroom]

Very few moving parts in most batteries.

[lukan]

But batteries are often close to machines in need of energy. And even walking with sandy hands to the sink to wash then, will spread sand. Also some batteries have active cooling.

But a home installation might be done in a way that it is managable though.