Article is decent but has some flaws. I'll come back to them later.
My initial reaction is: The fact that a major media outlet is running this is bad news. How long before some regulatory agency decides that loose 18650s are too dangerous to be sold to the public?
The loose 18650 batteries, and all "naked" Li-Ion and Li-Poly batteries are only sold as replacement parts.
You don't usually walk down to your supermarket and buy a blister of four 18650, like you would do with alkaline or lithium or Ni-MH batteries.
It is against the rules, as it is dangerous.
But you can walk in a shop and buy a replacement battery for your laptop, cordless drill, or telephone.
These batteries do contain the same Li-Ion or Li-Poly cells, but are built inside a protective box, together with a series of protection and power management circuitries.
Now, the vape part.
Together with the e-cigarettes, China has exported to the West their rules and policies regarding battery safety.
(And - not related to this - the 28 days warranty, and "buyer pays the return shipping" for faulty items).
The widespread opinion is, this can't last, as vaping is becoming more and more widespread, which in turns call for more controls and regulations. (Sad. As usual - few careless people set the bar low for everybody).
Maybe not everybody knows about ANSI FL1 standard on flashlights - which, unusually, turned to be good for users. That is a very minimal standard, tho.
Sooner or later, the spare lithium batteries for ecigs will have to be encased together with the power management circuitry; the controller chips and management communication bus - already exists and are very cheap.
Alternatively, the battery must be non-removable.
The latter - IMO- will be the most likely choice, as it is already happening with laptop, smartphones et similia, but is the one which I don't like.
This will drive the costs up, but that is the price for user safety.