New York: 13 dead in electric bike explosions. The authorities intervene
The presence of e-bikes has grown significantly in New York, but unfortunately the frequency of fires and deaths has also been attributed to the batteries that power them. Now officials are trying to better regulate how batteries are made, sold, reconditioned, charged and stored to avoid such devastating accidents.
This news was reported by Global News . Consumer advocates and firefighters have called on the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish national safety standards that would see unsafe e-bikes and poor-quality batteries out of service.
Too many battery alarms sounding
“We've been sounding the alarm for months,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams noted the day after an exploding battery ignited a fire at a Chinatown electric bike shop last month according to Global News. "We need real action, not just at the state level, but at the federal level as well."
New York City has recorded 100 such fires so far this year, resulting in 13 deaths.
Luckily something is being done. New York's two US senators, Democrats Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, proposed legislation last month that would establish mandatory safety standards for e-bikes and the batteries that power them.
Meanwhile, New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said these fires are especially dangerous because they don't burn; they explode, a fact he shared during a public hearing on the matter that took place Thursday in Washington.
“When they break, they do it pretty spectacularly,” Kavanagh said. Don't go in to get them.
Stand up during COVID-19
The use of these unsafe bicycles has grown significantly in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic. Delivery workers like Lizandro Lopez note that they are aware of the dangers and take precautions to avoid fires.
“As soon as the battery is charged, I unplug it. You shouldn't leave it on for too long,” Lopez told the Associated Press in Spanish, “because if you leave it there too long, that's when you can start a fire.
E-bike batteries work much like the lithium-ion batteries in cell phones, laptops, and most electric vehicles. Just like these batteries are subject to the risk of explosion.
Stricter regulations, safety standards and compliance testing have dramatically reduced the risk of fires in such devices and could do the same for e-bikes, said Robert Slone, senior vice president and chief scientist at UL Solutions, a testing company on products that certifies safety compliance for a variety of electrical products.
“We just have to make it safe, and there is a way to make it safe through testing and certification,” Slone said, “given the history we've seen in terms of fires and injuries and, unfortunately, deaths as well — not just in New York. , but all over the country and all over the world.
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The article New York: 13 dead from electric bike explosions. The authorities intervene comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/new-york-13-morti-per-le-esplosioni-delle-bici-elettriche-le-autorita-intervengono/ on Sun, 30 Jul 2023 05:30:28 +0000.