E-Bike Batteries Have Caused 200 Fires In New York

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The powerful lithium ion batteries used in small electric vehicles are responsible for a growing epidemic of fires. This year, there have been about 200 fires and six deaths, according to the New York City fire department. This month, an e-bike fire inside a Manhattan high-rise apartment became an inferno that injured nearly 40 people and forced firefighters to evacuate residents using ropes. These fires can spread quickly and suddenly: "We have a fully formed fire within a matter of seconds," the chief fire marshal said at a news conference. As the densest city in America, New York is a micro-mobility haven. Here, small electric vehicles aren't toys for weekend jaunts but vital tools for the estimated 65,000 delivery workers trying to scrape a living through low-paying apps. There are thousands of choices today if you want an e-bike, e-scooter or e-moped. Some of the high-end, name-brand machines are sold in beautiful downtown showrooms for well over $5,000. But many of the vehicles used by New York City's workers come from unknown manufacturers and are sold online or through small shops for between $1,000 and $2,000. Nearly all of these vehicles are powered by lithium ion battery packs, which contain tightly bundled cells that store energy as flammable chemicals. Typically, the cells are kept in sync by a piece of electronic circuitry called a battery management system, or BMS, which makes sure that the cells don't overcharge or release too much energy at once. But that careful balance can get disrupted due to damage, wear or faulty manufacturing, sometimes with dangerous results. Lawmakers are worried too. The authority that manages New York's public housing proposed an e-bike ban on its property this year but backed down after an outcry from low-income residents. On Monday, the city council held a hearing where legislators touted bills to combat the battery fires, including a proposal to outlaw the sale of secondhand electric vehicle batteries, and another to ban all batteries that haven't been approved by a nationally recognized testing lab. If passed, that measure would force riders to use batteries such as those certified by the Illinois-based Underwriters Laboratory (UL), which subjects e-bikes and their batteries to rigorous testing on issues ranging from their performance under extreme temperatures to how easily fire spreads between cells. Manufacturers have to pay a "nominal" cost to undergo testing, said Robert Slone, UL's chief scientist, but "we see a lot of manufacturers showing interest in certifying the batteries". UL sent a statement to the city council supporting the proposed measures, though it said a total ban on used batteries could be overkill: "When done correctly, batteries can be safely repurposed." Something else that would make a big difference for workers is better intel. "Each fire happened, they say it's an e-bike, but we don't know which one it is," said Gustavo Ajche, the founder of Los Deliveristas Unidos, a prominent delivery worker labor group. "There's a lot of missing information." What would be more useful, he said, would be if the fire department committed resources to testing and sharing details about which batteries were safe to use, so that workers could make more informed decisions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.