Sales of electric bikes are booming but defective batteries and chargers can cause fires.
When Ollie, a delivery rider in York, England, got his first e-bike in 2022, it was a bit of a splurge. He bought it at a discounted rate negotiated by his delivery company."The biggest issue is that e-bikes are expensive, and ones with safe batteries are extremely expensive, so many people opt for cheaper, less reliable and often dangerous batteries," Ollie says.
Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries are vicious. "These fires are not so much traditional fires. They're explosive and there's a lot of gas involved," explains Robert Slone, the senior vice president and chief scientist for UL Solutions, a safety science company.on e-bike chargers or kits to convert standard bikes into electric ones. And in many places, a shadowy international market for e-bike parts flourishes online.
Thermal runaway is a kind of explosive chain reaction where a cell inside a lithium-ion battery overheats, which then spreads to the many other cells in the battery.Yet for people on tight incomes , manufacturer-approved components and reputable repair shops may be out of reach. Also impractical for many is charging outside, or in a purpose-built facility.
For a delivery cyclist working a 14-hour shift, "the most natural thing in the world would be to come home at the end of your shift, plug your bike in…right there at the door, and go to bed," Mr Slone notes. But it can have tragic consequences.