So you think an e-bike crash couldn’t possibly create a spark quick enough to ignite liquid hydrogen? Gee, I wonder what all those precautions we had to take when we refilled the hydrogen tanks on the warehouse equipment was for then?... And there were many.
Liability. You work in a shop with open electrical plugs and electric tools and flammable fuels.
It doesn’t mean that there is absolutely no risk, but there hasn’t been any hydrogen vehicles, for as long as hydrogen vehicles have existed, where an accident caused a fire. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but it likely wouldn’t if it’s just a kinetic event absent a source of flame.
First you need to educate yourself, so you do not sound foolish... no one is using liquid hydrogen in cars, trucks, forklifts, bicycles, or at Amazon... it is compressed. Liquid hydrogen is used as a fuel in submarines, rockets, and other very specialized applications.
The problem with using hydrogen as a fuel is not the safety. It has an excellent safety record... far superior to lithium based battery powered devices. The problem is that hydrogen is very expensive compared to other fuels, and the equipment that can handle it costs a lot of money as well.
The advantage to hydrogen as a fuel is that it has a high energy density. My two electric bicycles both have 15ah 48v batteries which comes to .72kwh; the batteries weigh approximately 10 pounds.
The batteries used in my electric bikes store energy that is the equivalent to 1/4 cup of gasoline or about 28 grams of hydrogen. The bikes that are being discussed in the article are fueled by 20 grams of hydrogen that is produced through electrolysis using electricity at home. That gives these bikes approximately 37 miles of range with pedal assist up to 14mph from electricity from a 180 watt fuel cell. If you would have actually read the article you might have realized that the amount of hydrogen is so tiny that if it all leaked even into a bedroom, the hydrogen which weighs approximately 1/16th what oxygen does would end up seeping out of the ceiling in a very short time with only a very remote chance that it would cause a problem.
When I was a child my friends and I used to make hydrogen balloons using lye and aluminum foil. We routinely made far more than 20 grams of hydrogen. We taped firecrackers to the balloons. We bundled them together and wrapped toilet paper around that and lit it on fire when we let them go. We lit small balloons on fire while we were holding them in our hands. Do you want to guess how many injuries my friends and I experienced in years of this type of Tom Foolery? How about None! Hydrogen is not as dangerous in tiny quantities as you seem to imagine.
With hydrogen if there is a leak it dissipates extremely quickly unlike spilled gasoline which creates a hazard which remains dangerous for an extended period of time.