55 e-Bike battery fires.

[justinafrika]

Question asked to gain your insights. The FDNY reports that there have been 55 e-bike and scooter battery fires in NY city this year. Has any bikehub user experienced this/know someone who's experienced this? What was the cause?

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-e-bike-scooter-fires-fatalities-fdny-20210813-otyebxidsne2vltv446y4ir62u-story.html

 

PS. Earlier this year a home around the corner from me was entirely destroyed by fire as a result of a cellphone charging incident at night.  A few years ago I had to keep the stepdaughter’s phone at night ‘cos she’d fall asleep with it on charge. Edit: Specifically as she was using a non-OEM charger.

Edited August 14, 2021 by justinafrika

[SwissVan]

Lots of E-bikes in my neck of the planet and I’ve not heard of any battery fires, there are mostly news reports of accidents attributed to the speed of E-bikes.

 

Sooooooo..... who else leaves their cell phone on charge at night while they sleep ???? ????

 

[bertusras]

In fairness, many of the bikes/scooters in NYC aren't what you'd call OEM. Many are DIY conversions and self-assembled.

[DieselnDust]

I've left my cell phone on charge over night many times.

I charge many types of lipo liFe and Li ion batteries and never had a problem. I do use a proper rated charger and in the case of the lipos a fire proof bag or clay pot as I have seen what happens when charging goes wrong with these.

Many times it's either a cheap faulty battery or charger or bad wiring that causes the failure and fires

[aquaratza]

Summed up succinctly by @DieselnDust. An "ebike" can take many many different forms; from something well designed with good safeguards to something that should be charged in a concrete bunker. It's like anything in life. Many cars have accidents, some are predisposed to accidents because they're ill maintained or of a poor design. 

A good quality battery and charger regulates charging current and voltage and keeps a tab on temperature.

"Journalism"

Edited August 14, 2021 by aquaratza

[bertusras]

13 minutes ago, aquaratza said:

Summed up succinctly by @DieselnDust. An "ebike" can take many many different forms; from something well designed with good safeguards to something that should be charged in a concrete bunker. It's like anything in life. Many cars have accidents, some are predisposed to accidents because they're ill maintained or of a poor design. 

A good quality battery and charger regulates charging current and voltage and keeps a tab on temperature.

"Journalism"

Not quite sure what you're insinuating with "Journalism" if the article literally says the following:

Quote

Replacements, and not the batteries that originally come with scooters, are usually the ones to catch fire, he explained. “The most important thing to do is to stick with the manufacturer’s recommended batteries,” Flynn said.

 

[aquaratza]

I was insinuating that it was a poorly written article... and on re-reading it, that was probably a bit harsh.

The advice provided in the article was generic and ignores the possibility that the manufacturer is untrustworthy, incompetent or negligent.

The article title implies it's an ebike-specific issue, but the article itself indicates the problem applies to other vehicles. LiPo-battery fires are a poor quality LiPo-battery problem, not an ebike problem, just ask Samsung and model aircraft hobbyists.

But sure, insinuating it was poor journalism was probably too harsh. There are certainly far worse news sources out there.

[stefmeister]

6 hours ago, SwissVan said:

Sooooooo..... who else leaves their cell phone on charge at night while they sleep ???? ????

 

Every night for the last 10+ years. 

[justinafrika]

18 hours ago, aquaratza said:

Summed up succinctly by @DieselnDust. An "ebike" can take many many different forms; from something well designed with good safeguards to something that should be charged in a concrete bunker. It's like anything in life. Many cars have accidents, some are predisposed to accidents because they're ill maintained or of a poor design. 

A good quality battery and charger regulates charging current and voltage and keeps a tab on temperature.

"Journalism"

Defensive much? It’s a public interest story after all with deaths and thirteen people injured as a result of poor choices. The piece is in fact well informative for those, like me, who know little about e-bikes and e-scooters.

[SwissVan]

7 hours ago, justinafrika said:

Defensive much? It’s a public interest story after all with deaths and thirteen people injured as a result of poor choices. The piece is in fact well informative for those, like me, who know little about e-bikes and e-scooters.

E-bloody scooters...... now there is an object for scrutiny......

We have plenty that are like public hire via mobile phone app and then when the battery dies they just left there on the spot, sometimes idjits just leave them literally in the middle of the cycling paths.

 

[DieselnDust]

EVs are a problem we haven't even begun to fully understand. But I guess the world is prone to bouncing from one huge mistake to the next

[justinafrika]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

EVs are a problem we haven't even begun to fully understand. But I guess the world is prone to bouncing from one huge mistake to the next

Not to mention autonomous vehicles. Three of my corporate clients are automotive manufacturers and a former housemate who is now an engineering director of one of those yesterday said that driverless vehicles will never predominate. He predicted that the most advanced countries wrt auto engineering won’t go beyond devoting a single lane on major routes, but just temporarily.

[Danger Dassie]

On 8/14/2021 at 2:18 PM, aquaratza said:

I was insinuating that it was a poorly written article... and on re-reading it, that was probably a bit harsh.

The advice provided in the article was generic and ignores the possibility that the manufacturer is untrustworthy, incompetent or negligent.

The article title implies it's an ebike-specific issue, but the article itself indicates the problem applies to other vehicles. LiPo-battery fires are a poor quality LiPo-battery problem, not an ebike problem, just ask Samsung and model aircraft hobbyists.

But sure, insinuating it was poor journalism was probably too harsh. There are certainly far worse news sources out there.

Don't see anything wrong with the article?
Pretty straight forward.  

"But the Fire Department already sees faulty after-market batteries as a problem, Flynn told the Daily News.
Replacements, and not the batteries that originally come with scooters, are usually the ones to catch fire, he explained. “The most important thing to do is to stick with the manufacturer’s recommended batteries,”

[DieselnDust]

 the article is fine, the title is click bait

[Headshot]

I've charged phones overnight for years without incident. We always use Samsung supplied chargers however. I think the eBike fire risk is low unless a battery is damaged in a crash - lithium batteries exposed to air can ignite and a short circuit could occur if the wiring is damaged. Obviously this depends on the quality of the bike itself. A cheaper, poorly made eBike could be another story entirely. 

[_David_]

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Edited August 16, 2021 by _David_