New York is rekindling its fight against lithium-ion battery fires in electric bikes.
Gov. Kathy Hockle signed a package of bills Thursday banning dangerous, low-quality batteries that she said have been linked to about 270 fires in New York City last year alone, killing 18 people.
“These batteries don’t burn like firewood, they explode like grenades,” she said at a press conference in her Manhattan office, “spreading toxic gases and chemicals everywhere.”
“We are taking the first step toward putting an end to the scourge of lithium-ion battery fires in New York City.”
Authorities say there has been a surge in fires linked to inferior lithium-ion batteries in recent days as electric bikes, often used by delivery workers hired by DoorDash and other delivery apps, have grown in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
FDNY officials warned that many of these batteries were defective due to improper maintenance, and even worse, were being “Frankensteined” together from old units and sold to e-bike riders for less than the newer, safer ones.
Fire investigators had opened investigations into 89 lithium-ion battery fires so far this year as of June, according to FDNY data.
These fires included an apartment fire in East Harlem that killed Indian journalist Fazil Khan and forced other residents to escape by hanging from windows.
The law requires electric bikes, mopeds and other ultra-small mobility devices to carry bright red tags that explicitly warn that they must be unplugged when fully charged, and imposes a series of safety measures for emergency responders and sellers.
It also bans the sale of batteries that don’t meet certain manufacturing standards and requires dealers to register mopeds after they are sold, a measure that could help crack down on scooter-riding robbers, many of whom are immigrants, who police say attack pedestrians.
When asked by The Washington Post about the prevalence of unregistered mopeds, Hawkle said roughly 12,000 have been seized by local police.
“We need to investigate the retailer, the manufacturer, the point of sale, the point of resale,” said state Homeland Security Director Jackie Bray. “It’s really hard to investigate every single bike, but this law takes us upstream.”
