Consumer Reports: Ebike Fires

[tomjasz]

Interested in statistics of EBR members experiencing fire /explosion on their ebike's battery, I changed my charging habits because of threads like this. Sheesh guys I charging my ebike's battery now inside a metal filing cabinet bottom drawer.
I probably need to move it away from all my solar inverters and the bedroom window.
On the other side I have propane tank.
I think I'm going to dig a hole in the GF's rain garden and line it with concrete slabs.
Nah just kidding around. That rubbish can is a good candidate though if you bury it, this way if explosion occurs it will shoot up like pyrotechnics.

Charge before toking… just saying…

 

[Rome]

It takes more effort now to charge batteries. I have to remove battery charge it and only put battery inside bike when ready to ride. My plug and play days is over.

 

[tomjasz]

Go fucking you self.

Atta boy… have another hit.

 

[scottsdalecommuter]

I only charge when I can see the battery, seems to take about four hours so either right when whe I get home from work or at the office. This is one of my wife’s biggest hang ups about a Tesla is she doesn’t want it charging in the garage and starting our house on fire, not sure how real the risk is but I’ve never been worried my ice car will start on fire in the garage.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Looks like another report involving moped-style Ebike

E-bike battery explodes and torches Huntington Beach apartment; such disasters can be avoided, officials say

The e-bike had been left charging for days when it's lithium-ion battery blew up, waking a family of three who escaped their apartment through a window.

www.latimes.com

 

[Gordon71]

Looks like another report involving moped-style Ebike

E-bike battery explodes and torches Huntington Beach apartment; such disasters can be avoided, officials say

The e-bike had been left charging for days when it's lithium-ion battery blew up, waking a family of three who escaped their apartment through a window.

www.latimes.com

Left charging for days???? Kind of like reading a story that went like: Family home catches fire after the family starts to cook dinner but decides to go on vacation leaving it cooking on the stove.

 

[Asher]

Looks like another report involving moped-style Ebike

E-bike battery explodes and torches Huntington Beach apartment; such disasters can be avoided, officials say

The e-bike had been left charging for days when it's lithium-ion battery blew up, waking a family of three who escaped their apartment through a window.

www.latimes.com

Can someone ID that make and model? Looks like a scrambler type but not sure who the maker is.

Everyone should be charging their devices on a timer that cuts power after X hours, eg 4-8 hours.

Left charging for days???? Kind of like reading a story that went like: Family home catches fire after the family starts to cook dinner but decides to go on vacation leaving it cooking on the stove.

You and I know that but most people don't. You need these devices to be idiotproofed or you get innocent victims having their house burned down (family members, neighbors).

 

[Gordon71]

Can someone ID that make and model? Looks like a scrambler type but not sure who the maker is.

Everyone should be charging their devices on a timer that cuts power after X hours, eg 4-8 hours.



You and I know that but most people don't. You need these devices to be idiotproofed or you get innocent victims having their house burned down (family members, neighbors).

You can't idiot proof anything. You can try but there will always be a bigger idiot to thwart the effort.

 

[tomjasz]

You and I know that but most people don't.

I'm with @Gordon71 No stove, auto, and many other potentially dangerous products are idiot-proof. All that needs to happen is to insist on a testing standard. EVERY OEM manual and now every battery maker has a manual that insists batteries not be charged unattended.

 

[Asher]

You can't idiot proof anything. You can try but there will always be a bigger idiot to thwart the effort.

Toyota is a $200 billion dollar proof otherwise. Or antilock brakes or any number of other inventions.

Poka-yoke - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

It would be more honest to simply say you want to see people punished with death, injury or great misfortune for making dumb mistakes.

 

[Gordon71]

Toyota is a $200 billion dollar proof otherwise. Or antilock brakes or any number of other inventions.

Poka-yoke - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

It would be more honest to simply say you want to see people punished with death, injury or great misfortune for making dumb mistakes.

I never said that at all. Antilock brakes aren't going to help someone who makes the decision to drive in a blizzard or the guy who decided to have loaded gun in his car and was killed when his dog stepped on the trigger.

 

[gromike]

Well, here is an article about Lithium ion battery failure from a detailed scientific view point: https://electrek.co/2023/01/30/stanford-lithium-metal-batteries-fail/ .

I guess that at the moment we have an intrinsic problem with these batteries.

 

[Gordon71]

Well, here is an article about Lithium ion battery failure from a detailed scientific view point: https://electrek.co/2023/01/30/stanford-lithium-metal-batteries-fail/ .

I guess that at the moment we have an intrinsic problem with these batteries.

I'm not sure. I ride on average about 20 miles at a shot which usually depletes my battery a little less than 50%. After that it takes 5-6 hours to recharge. I don't think that is considered to be "fast" charging.

 

[gromike]

A high charge rate increases the risk of a catastrophic battery failure, but the following is the kernel of the article :

Just modest indentation, bending or twisting of the batteries can cause nanoscopic fissures in the materials to open and lithium to intrude into the solid electrolyte, causing it to short circuit.
Even dust or other impurities introduced in manufacturing can generate enough stress to cause failure.

That last sentence above kind of has me a bit worried about my ebike batteries. I assume the cells they are constructed with are not from a top tier manufacturer.

 

[Bill G]

E-bike fires made front page of NYT yesterday: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/realestate/e-bikes-fires-danger.html#commentsContainer (paywall). The extremely widespread use of e-bikes in NYC and its high population density make finding solutions difficult if not impossible, The anti e-bike folks are (rightfully) also seizing on the bad (i.e., illegal) riding habits, particularly, but not solely, of delivery folks. Reader comments are interesting and diverse. Tighter regulation/certification of batteries and plentiful safe charging locations might help, but implementation would be a dauntingly challenging...if not impossible.

 

[Asher]

E-bike fires made front page of NYT yesterday: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/realestate/e-bikes-fires-danger.html#commentsContainer (paywall). The extremely widespread use of e-bikes in NYC and its high population density make finding solutions difficult if not impossible, The anti e-bike folks are (rightfully) also seizing on the bad (i.e., illegal) riding habits, particularly, but not solely, of delivery folks. Reader comments are interesting and diverse. Tighter regulation/certification of batteries and plentiful safe charging locations might help, but implementation would be a dauntingly challenging...if not impossible.

New York has problems because of a flood of crappy ebikes and batteries. Comments like yours and even the general framing of the article obscure this or imply the opposite, as if the problem were inherent to electrifying bicycles, or really, any battery powered device.

 

[Tom@WashDC]

E-bike fires made front page of NYT yesterday: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/realestate/e-bikes-fires-danger.html#commentsContainer (paywall). The extremely widespread use of e-bikes in NYC and its high population density make finding solutions difficult if not impossible, The anti e-bike folks are (rightfully) also seizing on the bad (i.e., illegal) riding habits, particularly, but not solely, of delivery folks. Reader comments are interesting and diverse. Tighter regulation/certification of batteries and plentiful safe charging locations might help, but implementation would be a dauntingly challenging...if not impossible.

Asher is correct. I was in NY City a few weeks ago. Most of the delivery ebikes, batteries, wiring, and ebike "store/charging stations" that saw looked really sketchy. Ebike delivery drivers, and the stores servicing them operate on slim margins, and there's a lot of DIY. Human nature being what it is, I presume that they cut corners when it comes to purchasing, repairing, and charging batteries. There's a big market in "used" batteries in that industry.

 

[m@Robertson]

E-bike fires made front page of NYT yesterday: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/realestate/e-bikes-fires-danger.html#commentsContainer.

New York is effectively a unique situation. Your comments make it seem as if these issues belong to ebikes in general, which they do not. As far as bad riding habits go, this too is a slanted, biased take.