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King-of-New-York OP t1_j5xqj4r wrote

Once again an e-bike was involved.

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[deleted] t1_j5yni8o wrote

It says they haven’t found the cause of it yet.. It said there was an ion battery involved but so many more questions need to be asked and clarification before jumping to conclusions:

What actually CAUSED the fire?

Was the battery a manufacturer or third party?

Where/How was the battery stored?

Etc..

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ICantThinkOfANameBud t1_j5yojgh wrote

It's known that cheap e-bikes/scooters/skateboards from China are likely to catch on fire. They're very unreliable. People buy the cheapest shit, and the cheapest shit has the highest chance of stuff like this happening.

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[deleted] t1_j5you3z wrote

I agree, I wish the article would state that though. It makes it out to seem ALL e-bikes are horrible.

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King-of-New-York OP t1_j5ypecq wrote

The sense I get is that there are a handful of high quality manufacturers and a bagful of poor quality manufacturers.

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JayMoots t1_j5zlvne wrote

The Brian Lehrer Show just did an episode about this last week (should still be available on their podcast feed) and this is basically correct. There's an existing certification process that makes the batteries almost fail-proof, but the low-end manufacturers are skipping that process to save money.

A reporter on the episode had an interesting argument that the delivery app companies should be the ones who maintain and charge the bikes, rather than putting the responsibility on the deliveristas.

They'd be able to have better quality batteries, and centralized charging stations that were safely away from residential buildings.

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King-of-New-York OP t1_j5zxgl3 wrote

Are they skipping the process illegally?

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JayMoots t1_j5zzq4i wrote

No, compliance to these standards is currently voluntary. But if this continues to be a problem, I wouldn't be surprised to see either the city or the Feds step in and make it mandatory.

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King-of-New-York OP t1_j604isk wrote

Should have happened yesterday.

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JayMoots t1_j60dazq wrote

The podcast made the point that we actually saw something similar with the "hoverboards" in 2015/2016. In that case, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped in and said "All of these products have to meet this 'voluntary' certification or we're going to ban them from being imported." That seems likely to happen with e-bikes pretty soon.

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[deleted] t1_j5yplan wrote

This is true ^ and people try to save money and buy the cheap stuff and this is the cause of it. Just horrible 😔

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supermechace t1_j5z0a0q wrote

If ebikes were regulated like motorcycles and cars it would improve safety though driving up the cost of an ebike

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[deleted] t1_j5z0s8w wrote

I think it would be better if NYC put more money into Biking infrastructure and maybe safer bike parking so this can be avoided. But I do see your POV though

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Miser t1_j5z8s2e wrote

It's also always important to remember that the number one killer of kids, by far, is cars, not ebikes. Cars. There are now an estimated 1.6 million people riding micromobility in NYC. Those people have saved TONS of children's lives because some of those trips would have been taken by cars, which again are the #1 killer of children.

Do we need better regulations on batteries so that the extremely rare fire in cheap vehicles can be eliminated like anything else that uses lithium ion batteries, of course. But we should be very skeptical of anyone trying to hurt the adoption of micromobility in general, especially if they are hiding behind an argument for safety. They are either lying or seriously misinformed

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Least-Cry-7317 t1_j5zdctz wrote

They’re not extremely rare. There was something like 1600 fires in nyc last year and over 200 involved lithium ion batteries. It should be illegal to own any lithium ion battery product that does not have the UL standard sticker.

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Miser t1_j5zdsf1 wrote

Do you know how many lithium ion devices there are in this city? 200 fires for that many devices is, in fact, very rare. I don't think anyone would disagree that we should have better certifications and enforcement on the cheap shit, but let's keep things in perspective

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Least-Cry-7317 t1_j5zfato wrote

200 extra preventable fires caused by these batteries isn’t rare. The numbers will go up until something is done.

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elizabeth-cooper t1_j5zlrab wrote

Do you know how many cars there are in this city? 16 dead kids for that many cars is, in fact, very rare. Let's keep things in perspective.

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Miser t1_j5zmpni wrote

"An entire kindergarten class of kids being run over, crushed brutally to death every single year in one city alone is really not that much if you think about it." Oh great, thanks Elizabeth Cooper. You're totally not a psychopath.

There are also over 100,000 people sent to the hospital every year in NYC alone by cars that don't die, many of which are also kids. I'm glad none of this bothers you however.

Bikes, including ebikes, save lives. They save kids from being maimed and killed. This is not arguable and you are a sick person if you even try

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ZA44 t1_j5zv6sb wrote

Salivating over run over kids just so you can push your micromobility movement. Totally cool.

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[deleted] t1_j5zbae3 wrote

^ I agree! It doesn't have to be a "pick your poison" type of scenario. There should definitly be some type of enforcement on cheap batteries, but the fact that cars are overtaking the streets is horrible. Not saying that I don't own a car myself, but I rarely ever use it in case of extreme weather. 95% of the time it's me and my trusty Super 73 Lol.

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hollow-fox t1_j5z7tw3 wrote

Once again you spew misleading information with your anti micro-mobility agenda:

“There was a lithium ion battery involved with the fire...we're not sure what the involvement in the fire was or what the cause is yet. That's still being investigated"

So something could have caught fire and a battery was ignited by the fire or the battery could have started the fire. Regardless we DONT KNOW.

On e-bikes and scooters, yes we need regulation which will most like lead to UL certified batteries. Pretty much any lith ion battery fire can be traced back to cheap and mishandled batteries from China. Micromobility makes our environment cleaner and helps reduce car presence which is the true killer of pedestrians and walkable urban spaces in NYC. Yes there are growing pains, but change in the long run is for the better.

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King-of-New-York OP t1_j5zx3d2 wrote

I’m tucked in warm and cozy living rent free in your mind. 😌

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hollow-fox t1_j605p8d wrote

F that, I live in NYC -

The surface area of the brain is about 233 to 465 square inches (1,500 to 2,000 cm2). So let’s just say mine is 360 in and call it 2.5 square ft. I think the average rent is like 5K/month in Manhattan right now and one bedroom is like 750 sq ft (that’s a nice one).

So yeah just to live in my head it would be like $17/month and with security deposit, brokers fee, and 40x income requirements, I doubt you could afford it given your prolific career as a reddit troll.

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