Electric bikes, that are quickly rising in reputation, are posing an rising security threat because of fast-spreading fires attributable to the lithium ion batteries that energy them.

The rising hazard is prompting some lawmakers to push for tighter regulation of the batteries and the bikes.

Experts blame the fires on defective batteries offered in low-quality, cheap electrical bikes. The flawed batteries have been notably lethal in In New York City, the place electrical bikes are utilized by tens of 1000's of residents and are in some circumstances left charging in a single day in residence buildings.

If an e-bike battery overheats and explodes, the fireplace spreads shortly and is troublesome to extinguish.

“If you put water on it, it’s not going to die like other fires,” stated Okay.M. Abraham, a analysis professor at Northeastern University Center for Renewable Energy Technologies.

Mr. Abraham, who helped develop lithium battery expertise, informed The Washington Times the electrical bike fires are doubtless triggered by poor high quality batteries that overcharge, change into overheated after which explode.

Mr. Abraham stated e-bike house owners mustn't cost them in a single day or inside residences, unsupervised.

Industry specialists say the harmful batteries are manufactured with decrease requirements to chop prices, and are put in in cheaper electrical bikes. The cheaper bikes are sometimes bought by unsuspecting customers, corresponding to meals supply employees, who could not have the ability to afford higher-cost, name-brand varieties.

Last month, a defective battery in an electrical bike restore store in New York City caught fireplace at evening and tore by way of the residence constructing above it, killing 4 individuals and severely injuring a number of others.

The June 20 tragedy raised the variety of New York City deaths precipitated this yr by electrical bike battery fires to 13, greater than 3 times the variety of such deaths in 2021.

The rising reputation of the bikes, notably in huge cities, has precipitated the variety of battery-related fires to skyrocket. The variety of e-bike fires is on track to rise from final yr in New York City, based on statistics supplied to The Washington Times by the New York City Fire Department.

In 2022, the NYC Fire Department investigated 220 e-bike fires. So far this yr, the division has investigated 114 fires believed to be attributable to the bikes.

The fires attributable to lithium batteries that energy “micro-mobility” units corresponding to electrical bikes are a rising nationwide downside that the U.S. has little energy to completely regulate.  

The Consumer Product Safety Commission reviews from 2021 by way of November 2022, there have been 208 fires in 39 states, leading to 19 fatalities, all attributable to the batteries that energy electrical bikes and different micro-mobility units corresponding to electrical scooters and hoverboards.

In response to the recognition of e-bikes and the rise in fires, the CPSC this yr known as on producers to adjust to voluntary security requirements to make sure the batteries don't pose a hearth threat.

But the fee doesn't have adequate authority to implement the requirement, stated Light Electric Vehicle Association founder and Chairman Ed Benjamin.

“I think we probably have to have an act of Congress to give the CPSC the teeth” to manage the batteries, Mr. Benjamin stated.House lawmakers look like leaning on the CPSC to ramp up enforcement by itself.

A gaggle of House lawmakers representing New York City wrote final week to the Commission, urging members to take instant enforcement motion towards producers who produce batteries that don't meet minimal security requirements.

The CPSC, nevertheless, is simply now within the strategy of creating laws for e-bikes, greater than twenty years after Congress granted it the authority to take action.  

The fee voted in May to simply accept public feedback on whether or not the fee’s present laws adequately tackle the security of e-bikes and the batteries that energy them.  

“More than twenty years ago, Congress authorized CPSC to promulgate regulations to protect the safety of consumers who ride low-speed electric bicycles,” Commissioner Mary T. Boyle stated. “The agency has not done so, and it is past time that we take a hard look at whether we should do so now.”

Mr. Benjamin stated the bikes are solely rising in popularity within the U.S. 

More than 1 million e-bikes have been imported right here final yr, and there are about 5 million e-bikes in use.

“The electric bike is something that has utility for Americans,” Mr. Benjamin stated. “It really has utility for people living in dense cities.”In New York City, which has extra electrical bikes than another metropolis and the place a lot of the lethal battery fires have occurred, Mayor Eric Adams signed laws in March requiring e-bike and e-scooter batteries to satisfy trade security requirements. The laws banned the resale of bikes and batteries and restricted reconditioning of e-bike batteries.

Firefighters, within the meantime, are grappling with a surge in lithium ion battery fires which might be exacerbated by an absence of public consciousness concerning the dangers they pose.

Putting out the fireplace is a problem, specialists stated.

Plastic casing on the batteries lengthens the time it takes to extinguish a lithium ion battery fireplace, permitting it to unfold additional, and the flames produce poisonous fumes.

“It’s a great big hurdle for the fire protection industry,” Brian O’Connor, a hearth safety engineer on the National Fire Protection Association, informed The Times. “They’re just unique hazards that we’re not used to dealing with.”

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com