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Defiant-Sentence-303 t1_jbjekf3 wrote

Reply to comment by dumberthenhelooks in Upper West Side votes against proposed rest stop for delivery workers at 72nd Street by mowotlarx

Putting NIMBYism aside, which is a huge problem on the UWS. One of the main issues here is how unsafe refurbished lithium ion batteries are. A recharging station that brings them all together, especially on the same circuit, is a good way to cause an explosion. I would be way more receptive if the batteries were regulated in some way.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/realestate/e-bikes-fires-danger.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

https://www.axios.com/2022/11/14/apartment-building-ban-e-bikes-battery-fire-micromobility-scooter

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L0L303 t1_jblw1jr wrote

thats not how electricity works ...

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Defiant-Sentence-303 t1_jblx6g7 wrote

It's not an issue with electricity it's an issue with the bikes being in close proximity to each other

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UniWheel t1_jbn3gw4 wrote

>It's not an issue with electricity it's an issue with the bikes being in close proximity to each other

You could design to handle that in the sense of preventing one burning from putting adjacent ones in thermal runaway.

Of the places to charge these things, an outdoor location dedicated to that purpose would by far be the best, even if there are a bunch of them there.

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atheros t1_jbleq0k wrote

> A recharging station that brings them all together, especially on the same circuit, is a good way to cause an explosion.

Did you just make this up?

Putting e-bikes together in one non-flammable place is safer than spreading them out into various places, some of which are flammable. Putting them on one circuit isn't particularly risky. If the bikes are each three feet apart, the probability that a fire will spread between them is low.

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Defiant-Sentence-303 t1_jblfwap wrote

Did you read the articles I linked?

Lithium batteries, especially refurbished ones, can overheat and can cause fires/explosions especially when overcharged. What do you think will happen when one battery explodes when it's in proximity of a bunch of other batteries with the same issues? This is why newer buildings are moving towards fireproof bike rooms

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atheros t1_jblhdai wrote

I did.

I am well aware that they have fires and explode. Did my comment imply otherwise? It did not.

To answer your question, I think that if one e-bike-sized battery explodes three feet from other batteries then the fire has a very low probability of spreading directly to the other batteries. This is because the outside of these batteries are much less flammable than combustible substances like wood. I doubt that there is a single instance of one e-bike directly igniting another e-bike without the fire first spreading to the surrounding structure.

EDIT: I see that you edited your comment and added the sentence: "This is why newer buildings are moving towards fireproof bike rooms". You see that that contradicts the rest of your comment and supports mine, right?

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