Tag: e-bike fires

Why Communities Can’t Trust Micromobility Rental Businesses

jimmymac

Spokane’s KREM2 reports that a Lime charging facility caught fire in Spokane Valley on October 7th. The report explains that the fire’s cause was unknown, but a Spokane Valley Fire Department spokesperson believed it was likely an electrical problem. Anyone with the most basic understanding of battery charging (and the dangers associated with battery charging) would immediately pick up on two glaring red flags in the KREM2 report. First, the report says that “no one was in the warehouse at the time” of the fire. Rule one for avoiding a…

Dutch Insurers And Firefighters Worry About Increase Of E-bike Fires

jimmymac

The Dutch, already ranked first in the world for per-capita-bicycle ridership, have adopted electric-motorized bicycles in record numbers. It is reported that e-bike sales have already surpassed the sales of human-powered bicycles (excluding children and racing bikes) in the Netherlands. With this increase in e-bike usage comes a not-so-surprising increase in fires linked to e-bike battery charging disasters. The NL Times is reporting that Dutch fire agencies and insurers are troubled by the increase in fires caused by battery charging. The article reports that e-bike fires in 2017 surpassed fires…

The Interior Secretary Wants To Sell More E-Bikes, But At What Cost?

jimmymac

The one-page document from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt (Order Number 3376) did far more than redefine non-motorized recreation. The Order revealed a seismic shift in how the Department of The Interior views its responsibility in overseeing public lands. Conservation and stewardship are replaced with a new mandate to exploit public lands to the fullest. And maybe that’s what the majority of Americans want? The Interior Secretary also showed a lack of understanding by adopting the language crafted by the e-bike industry, whose objective is to sell more e-bikes. Trying to…

Promising Research May Lead To Reduction Of E-Bike Fires

jimmymac

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Engineering are reporting that graphene (bonded carbon atoms in a sheet form one-atom thick) may take the oxygen out of lithium battery fires. The report explains that the reasons lithium batteries catch fire include rapid cycling or charging and discharging, and high temperatures in the battery. These conditions can cause the cathode inside the battery — which in the case of most lithium batteries is a lithium-containing oxide, usually lithium cobalt oxide — to decompose and release oxygen. If the…

Battery Fires Create Concerns For Every Electric Bike Owner – Updated 11/14/2019

jimmymac

Bike Europe, a publication claimed to be the “leading trade journal for the bicycle, e-bike market” recently published a courageous story on the dangers of Lithium-Ion batteries used in the majority of electric bikes (e-bikes). The publication had a fire safety engineer and battery safety professional examine the aftermath of a fire ignited by an unattended charging battery in a bicycle shop (click here to watch the ignition and blast-off). His observations are frightening. The expert is quoted as saying that Lithium-Ion batteries are, “rather unreliable, rather explosive. You are…

Lyft E-Bikes Pulled From San Francisco Bike Share Program After Two Fires

jimmymac

The San Francisco Examiner is reporting that Lyft has suspended its e-bike share program on the streets of San Francisco after two e-bikes caught fire in separate locations in the span of a week. Jonathan Baxter, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Fire Department, said the department classified the incident as a “battery pack issue” and a “fire from battery pack.” The fire was deemed not suspicious by the San Francisco Fire Department although a Lyft spokesperson has told media outlets that vandalism has not been ruled out (by Lyft)…

Another “Rare” Fire Destroys All MotoE Series Race Bikes

jimmymac

The UK’s Independent is reporting that all the bikes and equipment for MotoGP’s electric support series, MotoE, were destroyed in a paddock building fire at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain. This comes just a few weeks before the start of the 2019 series. All the bikes in the spec-class are provided by Italy’s Energica. It is difficult to imagine a scenario where 18 bikes could be safely made race-ready in time for the series’ beginning. It is also unimaginable that MotoE series management would allow this equipment to be…

UPDATE: E-Bikes Not Only Electric Vehicle To Poise Fire Hazards – The Finger Pointing Begins

jimmymac

November 3, 2018: Gizmodo is reporting that Segway, the supplier of the Lime Bikes scooters that have caught fire or overheated, fired off a response today that, while not mentioning Lime Bikes directly, points the finger at the scooter rider as the real source of the overheating problem. The response says: “We have observed that operational hazards do rise from extreme abuse and vandalism of the vehicles in the scooter-sharing market. Considering the fact that the management and maintenance of shared scooters and the identification of damaged vehicles highly rely…

E-Bike Storage Facility Destroyed By Massive Fire, Releases Toxic Smoke

jimmymac

Stella Fietsen, a bicycle company located in the Netherlands, suffered a devastating fire in their e-bike and e-bike battery storage facility. European News reports that the fire broke out around 2:30 p.m. in a store room at Stella Fietsen’s headquarters. The article reports that the store room where the fire originated contained 3,000 electric bikes and 6,000 batteries. The building collapsed and is considered a total loss. The fire was classified as a GRIP 3. This means the fire “threatened well-being of (large groups of) the population within a single…

E-bike Fires More Prevalent Than Claimed?

jimmymac

While e-bike publications claim fires are a rare occurrence, more reports of exploding e-bikes and e-bike fires seem to point to a larger problem. The latest report comes from the Sun, a British newspaper and website. The story includes video footage of the bike burning and exploding. You can read the story by clicking here. The exploding bike is a mountain bike that appears to have been converted to an electric-motorized bike with the addition of a hub motor. These inexpensive and popular conversion kits can turn bicycles into a…