Posted on 06/21/2023 6:47:07 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Four people died in a fire at an e-bike repair shop in lower Manhattan on Tuesday, with another two people reportedly in critical condition under hospital care. Lithium-ion battery storage has been blamed for the tragedy.
The fire broke out overnight in a maintenance shop for electric bicycles and scooters, on the ground floor of a building in Chinatown.
“It’s very clear that this was caused by lithium-ion batteries e-bikes,” Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh told a press conference Tuesday, UPI reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Yes, yes it is.
Make sure to buy plenty of spares and stack them in your garage for safe-keeping..
But it works so well in the movies!
Four died overnight while trying to save ... bicycles? Or, sleeping on the job and not aware of the fire?
After an airplane crash in the fifties where the 100 percent of deaths made no sense, the FAA discovered the actual cause. A small fire had spread smoke into the cabin. The materials burning formed a poisonous gas, even a tiny bit of which caused instant paralysis. Since then, materials used in cars and planes could not be made of substances that, when burned, caused poison gases. A limo fire in California contained those aftermarket upholstery materials and only the driver, in his separate compartment, got out when a dropped cigarette caused a small fire killing the three passengers.
Our homes and businesses contain these common plastics that, when burned, can cause paralysis. That may or may not have been involved here, but it’s something to think about.
Why is the group that is out to kill and destroy pushing electric vehicles. I think we have the answer.
There are huge variations in the quality of e-bike batteries.
Cheap Chinese cells and poor Chinese assembly, crappy battery management electronics, and also batteries which have been dropped or crashed or otherwise damaged are all potential hazards.
A e-bike shop in Chinatown is just where you expect something to eventually explode into flames. And when they burn they are near impossible to put out.
I have two e-bike batteries, although Chinese made they are from a reputable manufacturer, have a good control system, and use Korean (Samsung) cells.
I still only charge/keep then in the garage and I don’t bring them in the house.
NYC has shops at street level and residences/apartments above the shops in multi-story structures.
This was an e-bike repair shop and the victims had the misfortune to rent space above it.
Not a very good article, but it does say it hurt apartments above. So perhaps the victims were all residents. (Who could of course be shop owners.)
I believe the gas you are looking for, beyond carbon monoxide, is hydrogen cyanide. Hydrocarbon fuels such as foams, plastics, synthetic materials give off large amounts of hydrogen cyanide and other toxic gases that can quickly incapacitate (and kill) a person or pet.
This is why modern fires are far more dangerous (and rapid) than fires were decades ago.
The use of smoke detectors still provides an adequate safety margin in most scenarios allowing a person(s) to evacuate (or suppress) when the fire is small. Sadly, in most fatal fires they were not present or operable.
Looking forward to lithium ion powered airplanes!
They go zipping down the bike lanes of Manhattan, sometimes the wrong direction, so now pedestrians have to be more careful crossing one way streets. Some of them even get up on the sidewalks.
I walk across the Queensboro bridge frequently to get to my Long Island City office and the pedestrian lane is only a few feet wide. It was okay sharing the lane with bicycles but these e-Bikes can get up to 30 mph and they pass within inches of you.
I'm surprise there are not more accidents involving pedestrians with those things.
“these e-Bikes can get up to 30 mph”
I fell with a rental e-scooter because I tried to smoke while riding (doesn’t work well). I think the software noticed it and now I seem to have the max speed capped for my account.
I don't need to tell you because I am sure that you are already aware, but for others here...
I have been buying Chinese Lithium-Ion batteries for many years mostly 18650 cells that I use in flashlights, etc... I have never had one of them catch on fire. But I have had some difficulties with expensive Lithium Polymer batteries from toy drones where they again didn't catch on fire but produced some nasty smoke when they overheated. Fortunately, I was using them outside and was able to remove them before they destroyed the drones. Those batteries are designed to be light weight and capable of high discharge rates.
I use some sophisticated charging equipment with these types of batteries that helps to monitor their condition. Any batteries that I suspect might become a problem are charged and stored in a large, detached outbuilding on a concrete floor far enough away from flammable items and debris that if there is a problem when they are left unattended that a fire would be unlikely to spread.
https://www.androidauthority.com/lithium-ion-vs-lithium-polymer-whats-the-difference-27608/
We have rechargeable lithium batteries in so many items these days. Most of them are well designed and pretty safe, but there is a reason for the shipping labels that we find pasted on boxes when we receive electronic items through the mail or delivery services.
The batteries that are found in items that are designed to be light and capable of high discharge rates such as e-bikes and radio-controlled toys are a little different animal than batteries found in phones and computers. The same is true of the high-capacity batteries found in electric cars.
Rumor has it that Harry and Meghan are going to use E-bikes next time they visit NYC in order to avoid a terrifying two-hour car chase.
Every damn landscaping tool and regular tool in CA. is now lithium battery operated!! Scares the hell out of me, I NEVER have tools plugged in inside garage!! If I am going to use a tool I plug it in outside in the morning!!!
There has been a huge increase in people getting killed and injured on bicycles in the last few years. I initially assumed that in our state it was because of people driving while playing with their phones and driving while smoking pot. These are two of the primary causes of our increased traffic fatality rate. But the number of fatal bicycle accidents is up higher than other type of traffic fatalities including motorcycle accidents.
Not long ago I realized that one rarely sees young people riding expensive road style bicycles these days. These days exotic expensive lightweight road bicycles almost always have an older guy with a helmet and multiple flashers visible from every angle riding them cautiously. But we now are seeing all sorts of fat kids and adults riding e-bikes at speeds that they could not achieve on their own.
It used to be that by the time people got fit enough to ride a bicycle fast, they also had developed a set of skills that helped keep them safe even if their traffic etiquette was not all that it could be. Now, as you say people with basically no skills are piloting a semi-motorcycle around with almost no skills, knowledge, or concern for others at high speeds on the same surfaces being used by pedestrians and it is becoming more of an issue than it once was. I have not seen any statistics about the number of pedestrians being hit by e-bikes, but I am sure that this is way up as well.
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