How to Keep Your E-bike Batteries Safe and Prevent Fires

Another week, another four fires in NYC caused by improper charging of lithium batteries, typically for scooters and e-bikes. NPR reports that fires caused by these batteries are on the rise: there have been 174 battery fires this year, more than double the numbers from 2021. Six people have died and 93 have been injured. Part of this alarming trend can be attributed to the increase in e-bike and e-scooter usage, which has caused a higher volume of batteries being recharged more frequently. On top of that, as e-bikes and e-scooters become more popular, unregulated knockoff parts including batteries and chargers are flooding the market, sometimes with disastrous consequences. NPR noted that often, bike delivery workers are now using multiple e-bikes in a single day, swapping chargers and batteries between the bikes in an effort to keep up with work demands—all while making minimum…

Read more…