Posted on 04/24/2022 2:16:38 AM PDT by Libloather
The citywide scourge of lithium-ion e-bike batteries injured a dozen people in four separate fires sparked in a single day, FDNY officials said Friday.
The blazes - three in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn - continued the troubling trend of malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries used to power electric bicycles setting off blazes in city residences. The phenomenon was responsible for four deaths last year, the department said.
**SNIP**
The largest fire was in Brooklyn’s Kensington section just after 4 a.m. Thursday, when an e-bike battery sparked a three-alarm fire that gutted an E. 9th St. home near Cortelyou Road and the rear of a neighboring building, FDNY officials said. More than 100 firefighters needed two hours to bring the blaze under control, with seven people treated at the scene.
**SNIP**
The first fire took place on the third floor of a nine-story apartment building on W. 23rd St. near Seventh Ave. in Chelsea when an e-bike battery exploded into flames, leaving the bike a scorched ruin. A resident of the building suffered smoke inhalation during the 7 a.m. fire.
**SNIP**
The Fire Department recommends that scooter owners never charge batteries unattended, and that batteries should be charged outdoors.
Nationwide, charging lithium-ion batteries for devices like scooters and E-bikes sparked 330 fires in the U.S. from 2015 to 2018, causing more than $9 million in property damage, says a Consumer Product Safety Commission study released in 2020.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
It's a scourge I tell ya. No mention of the CO2 released.
No mention of the CO2 released.
Sometimes its possible to understand Providence enough to Love it—which is slightly different from gloating over Karma.
However, I’m not sure which I am doing.
Cheaply made Chinese aftermarket batteries w/o overcharge protection what could possibly go wrong... As a side note you phone, tablets and laptops have identical batteries in them. If they are name brand items they also have the proper overcharge protection for those cells. We let people carry laptops, tablets and smartphones on aircraft that says something about how safe properly maintained Li-ion cells are.
Never change a battery unattended.And always change the battery outdoors.
Sounds like storing gasoline in to apartment. And don’t smoke while you are leaning over a gas pump.
So is the root cause operator error, or bad batteries?
4 fires....2 days....2 a day.....must be occurring all over and going unreported to the general public?
Charging them on aircraft is encouraged - no?
If you live in an urban pedestrian area, kids on these electric bikes are lethal weapons in training, on the sidewalk, and on the street.
I estimate their top speed at over 25 mph.
You cannot see them coming because almost all of them are painted black, they make no sound, and they have no headlight.
If they approach from behind you, your life and health is entirely in their hands.
I get electric cars, to a point, but why an electric bike?
A traditional bike is just about the “ greenest” mode of transportation out there other than walking.
I guess it’s just an example of how lazy we have become.
Every business class or first class seat I have ever flown in has had a power port so yes you can charge any of them once your reach 10000 feet and have access to the overhead bins. The plugs are on from engine start up I routinely plug my phone and tablet in then drop them in the seat pocket for take off. The higher end seats have 120v 60hz plugs not just USB ports. Properly regulated Li-ion cells don’t just blow up. You have to over charge or over volt them.
Ever try pedaling a bike up 300 foot hills in July in Texas? On the way to work in business casual? Ebikes take all the sweat and efforts out of a short commute to work. No more coming in sweaty and tired. I used to live in downtown Austin going from north to south along Congress Ave you cross no less than 6 river terraces cut by the Colorado River over the last 12000 years the total climb is well over 1200 feet down and up. Do that in August or July parking downtown was $350+ a month for surface parking more for garage. I didn’t have an E bike I had a 80cc four stroke attached to a Mtn. Bike you only had to pedal to 5 mph before grabbing the clutch and off you went at 40+ mph and 200 mpg gas mileage. Once at the office chained up inside the garage for free on the bike take never broke a sweat up and down those terraces.
Put playing cards in the spokes so they can be heard.
Hmm, I thought bikes were the environmentally friendly mode of transportation. But now they’ve put batteries on them making them not so friendly.
Wow...Thanks for posting.
Butt Fires ?
If your knees felt like mine after riding a standard bike you wouldn’t need to ask that question.
The enviro-socialists spread the lie that a bicycle is a "green" mode of transportation. Bicyclists are very unfriendly to the environment; the amount of calories one must consume for the energy expended is very high. All that food requires:
-irrigation (for plants or animals)
-fertilizers (for plants directly or those fed to animals)
-fuel for delivering the food to the packaging companies
-paper and plastics for packaging
-fuel for delivering the packaging materials to the packaging companies
-fuel for electricity for the machinery at the packing companies
-fuel for delivery of the packaged items to the store
-fuel for the oven to cook the food
-fuel for the garbage pickup truck of the packaging waste
-etc.
Mechanized transportation requires very little caloric replacement for the occupants.
Based on my casual observation, NYC is home to many Chinese knock-off E-bikes, and many hobbled together E-bike conversion kits, all driven like WW2 Kamikazes.
Why not take a page out of the lawfare book and sue the merchant?
If one can sue the merchant that sold a gun used in a crime, why not sue the online store that sold the illegal, unregulated battery?
Or sue the idiot that installed it improperly?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.