E-bike batteries have caused 200 fires in New York

new York City delivery workers have to deal with an array of threats: speeding cars, volatile weather, armed robbers and app algorithms that can “deactivate” them if they don’t rush to customers quickly enough. Lately, workers have added another to the list – their electric bikes bursting into flames.To get more news about ebike battery charging, you can visit magicyclebike.com official website.

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.

That’s become a daily concern for delivery workers such as Delores Solomon, a 64-year-old Brooklyn resident who has been working for Uber Eats for about two years to supplement her social security benefits. Solomon said she “lives in fear” that her vehicle might catch fire while it’s charging or even while she’s riding it. Last year, while delivering food on her mobility scooter, Solomon hit a pothole, causing the battery to fly out and hit the pavement, where it burst into flames. “It was like a big popping sound,” she told the Guardian. “It scared me – like, ‘Damn, if that would’ve happened on the bike, I would’ve been blown up.’”

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.

In August, a lithium ion battery fire that erupted after 2am killed a child and her mother in their Harlem apartment. A big reason the fires keep happening is that workers have few options to charge their vehicles. Many charge their batteries in their own apartments and hope for the best. Others rent a spot from one of Manhattan’s e-bike stores, where shops charge dozens of batteries next to each other on makeshift racks. Some people strike up deals with their neighborhood bodegas.

Solomon, who lives on the third floor of a brownstone, is afraid to charge her battery indoors. So she uses two extension cords plugged into one another, dangling nearly 50ft to her bike parked in the building’s front yard – which she knows is still a risk. “Sometimes you might fall asleep and then it’s the next day, and thank God the battery didn’t explode or anything.”

Gustavo Ajche, the founder of Los Deliveristas Unidos, a prominent delivery worker labor group, told the Guardian he uses a parking space inside a private garage that the garage has set up as a charging station. Ajche splits the space with about 20 other workers and has to pay $150 a month for his share. “We try to do our best to keep our batteries in good shape because everybody is scared,” he said.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.”