The growing number of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries has prompted the New York City Public Housing Authority to propose a total ban on e-bikes in its buildings. But the reasons are not so simple, the solutions are fiendishly complex, and the consequences can be devastating for thousands of hard-pressed couriers.
New York firefighters have responded to 26 public housing fires since 2021, according to The City. This includes fires in early August that killed a 5-year-old girl and a 36-year-old woman in Harlem, and deaths and injuries in the Bronx. Battery fires are on the rise in other parts of the city, causing 73 injuries and 5 deaths, with 130 investigations this year, according to Canary Media. This is a sharp increase from 104 battery fire calls a year earlier, 44 in 2020 and 30 in 2019.
The response from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a proposal to ban all ebikes and ebike batteries from public housing by October 15th. NYCHA made no policy changes until recently. (NYCHA is accepting written comments on proposed rule changes at Lease.changes@nycha.nyc.gov.) Delivery worker support and micromobility advocates counter, arguing that a total ban would punish low-income delivery workers and immigrants and generally discourage using e-bikes as a low-carbon means of getting around Gotham.
However, lithium-ion battery fires make headlines, and for good reason. They accelerate quickly, burn very strongly in reactions with thermal runaway, and are difficult to extinguish on their own. A typical e-bike battery consists of dozens of individual AA-sized batteries (18650 cells) connected together and managed by a battery management system (BMS). Any of these batteries can be poorly made, shorted, overheated, or improperly charged due to faulty, damaged, or waterlogged easements, connections, or BMS.
UL has a certification standard for electric bicycles (UL 2849) , which includes battery design and housing, which are commonly used by well-known brands. But among New York City’s roughly 65,000 bike messengers are many homemade converted e-bikes, lesser-known brands and imported goods, and modifications to remove voltage or speed restrictions. “It’s not about high quality. Is it about what I can afford?” Curbed said in January.Hildalin Colon Hernandez, political director of the delivery group Los Deliveristas Unidos. Even with UL certification, low-cost e-bike suppliers can greatly influence battery cell parameters to improve performance or range, at higher risk.
All of this would be potentially dangerous enough if city e-bikes were operated under what manufacturers and their lawyers would call “normal use,” but most delivery work is anything but. Charlie Welch, CEO of battery supplier Zapbatt, told The Next Web that while suppliers set the standard, “everyone rides (e-bikes) like they stole them.”Riders push bikes to their limits all day long and then leave them to fully charge overnight, which is arguably the fastest way for a battery to age. And older batteries are even more prone to accidents and fires as the dendrites grow and threaten to connect the anode and cathode in the battery.
An outright ban on public housing will come long before the broader changes needed to fight fires. Both e-bike proponents and detractors have recommended tougher battery regulations, whether imported or retailed. Battery designs and composition are likely to be improved, but they are far from ready to replace standard lithium-ion batteries. Los Deliveristas Unidos is working on a shared storage space for bikes, chargers and toilets for couriers. One is underway in Brooklyn, and more may follow soon.
Beneath all of these solutions lie the general conditions in which delivery drivers are glued to their phones, rushing for one-time food orders and transporting them around a city that is still heavily car-centric, and then repeating this dozens of times, sometimes in one shift.. , averaging $12.21 an hour, according to a 2021 survey of 500 app-based couriers.
One cheap and readily available help suggested by many e-bike veterans on forums and subreddits (and Canary Media reports): exit timers. For $8 or less, e-bike owners can leave the battery plugged in overnight, but make sure it only charges until it normally reaches full capacity. It’s not a fix, but it could mean fewer fires.