Warmists have been super-hyped on getting Everyone Else to ride Ebikes in big cities (and not so big cities). They have all sorts of deals going with companies to rent them and sell them in places like NYC. How’s that going?
How E-Bike Battery Fires Became a Deadly Crisis in New York City
His girlfriend told him not to buy the electric scooter.
But Alfonso Villa Muñoz was intrigued. He was working in a Brooklyn bodega last August when a delivery man said he knew someone selling one for $700. Mr. Muñoz said yes.
The scooter was cherry red with the number 7 on the front. Under the seat was an extra-large lithium ion battery. When it needed charging, Mr. Muñoz would remove the battery from the scooter and use both hands to lug it up to the couple’s third-floor apartment in College Point, Queens.
A month later, the battery exploded in the living room, unleashing flames that engulfed the apartment. Mr. Muñoz screamed for their 8-year-old daughter, Stephanie, who was asleep. He could not breach the wall of black smoke to get to her. Stephanie died from smoke inhalation.
“It’s like you bring in death and destruction to your house, and not only to you, to everybody around you,” said Mr. Muñoz, 36, pulling off his glasses to wipe away tears. “You could lose everything.”
Now, I think bikes would be much better in big cities like NYC than all those vehicles, regardless of fossil fuels or EV. You could take the subway when raining or bad weather. But, there are consequences of rolling out products that aren’t particularly safe.
E-bikes and e-scooters have flooded New York City’s streets in recent years, embraced by delivery workers and commuters alike as an economical and efficient new way to get around. But even as the devices have grown in popularity to become nearly ubiquitous, the batteries inside them have made New York City an epicenter for a new kind of ferocious and fast-moving fire.
These fires are “uniquely dangerous,” warned Laura Kavanagh, the city’s fire commissioner. With little or no warning, the batteries can ignite, leaving seconds for people to escape. In just three years, lithium battery fires have tied electrical fires and have surpassed blazes started by cooking and smoking for major causes of fatal fires in the city.
This couldn’t possibly happen with EVs, right?
Reasons for the uptick of these fires are myriad. They include a lack of regulation and safety testing for individually owned devices, hazardous charging practices (like using mismatched equipment or overcharging) and a lack of secure charging areas in a population-dense city with numerous residential buildings, where most fires start.
But for New Yorkers who rely on e-bikes and other battery-powered devices to make deliveries or otherwise earn a living, the fires have forced a choice between financial stability and personal safety.
Unlike with cars, cell phones, and many other products, the Ebikes are not necessarily from big name producers, and the standards are not always there. Fortunately, NYC wouldn’t do something like ban private cars or make them so expensive people couldn’t drive them in the city, right?
Read: Good News: Those Ebikes Warmists Want Everyone (Else) To Ride Are A “Deadly Crisis” From Fires »
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