E-bikes Are Going to Keep Exploding
Just past midnight on a Tuesday in June, an e-bike battery erupted into flames while charging in a Manhattan repair shop. The blaze was quick and likely very, very hot. Firefighters responded within five minutes, but it was already too late: Flames spread to nearby apartments, killing four people.
It was not the first incident like this. New York City has been rattled by more than 100 battery fires so far in 2023, to its fire commissioner, killing 13 people. In one incident in January, an e-bike or e-scooter battery caught fire and . Battery fires are not just happening in New York: From January 2021 to late November 2022, the Consumer Product Safety Commission received reports of more than 200 “” and 19 fatalities, from 39 states, related to “battery-powered micromobility products”—industry jargon for e-bikes,
