Can solar flares cause electronics and batteries to explode?

Solar flares by themselves would likely not cause the batteries to catch fire. A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is a different story. Solar flares give off light energy (visible as well as x-rays, gamma rays, etc). Our atmosphere would deal with these for the most part. There might be some leak through, but not much and probably not enough to fry electronic circuits. CME’s on the other hand send of magnetic energy,. A strong enough CME could impact Earth’s magnetosphere and end up frying wiring, transformers, etc. Batteries, by themselves and not in a circuit, would largely be left alone. The magnetic energy of the CME would induce electricity in circuits which would fry them. A battery not in a circuit wouldn’t feel it the same.