NYC Mayor Adams signed a package of e-bike safety legislation after 2022 saw 219 fires related to the devices.
An electric bike with a battery sits parked outside of a Bronx supermarket the day after a 5-alarm fire tore through a market that fire officials are blaming on a faulty lithium-ion battery, March 06, 2023 in New York City.Mayor Eric Adams signed a package of e-bike safety legislation Monday to stop that chain of events, two weeks after the New York City Council approved the laws.
Amid a surge in demand for food and grocery delivery, New York legalized electric bikes and scooters in August 2020, opening the door to a relatively unregulated market of potentially dangerous e-bikes. Shoddy batteries in New York have had a catastrophic impact on residential buildings, not only starting fires but also potentially causing structural damage due to their explosive nature, officials said.
According to UL Solutions Chief Scientist Robert Slone, the regulations governing micro-mobility devices already existed prior to the New York law. Despite the framework for governing e-bikes already existing, lawmakers have been delayed in responding to the quick growth of micro-mobility devices. "When first responders like FDNY are fighting these fires, it appears to be out and then it comes back and reignites with no sign that it's going to do that…," he said. "So they are more complicated fires to fight, and in some ways, honestly more dangerous fires to fight when they do happen."
While Guallpa said the new laws were a promising first step, the city does not currently have a plan to transition preexisting bikes to safer batteries. Delivery workers typically carry multiple batteries to make it through a day of deliveries, and new UL-certified batteries can cost over a thousand dollars.
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