NFPA Journal - Fall 2022 - 44

FULL THROTTLE
sparked more than 75 fires in the first
five months of 2022, putting the city on
pace for nearly 190 e-bike or e-scooter
fires this year. That would be a roughly
80 percent increase over the 104 blazes
the New York City Fire Department
(FDNY) reported in 2021, which killed
four people.
Despite what you may read online,
the key to solving the problem doesn't
lie in storing e-bike batteries in your
oven. Instead, experts say a multifaceted
approach targeting e-bike and e-scooter
manufacturers, building owners, and the
public is needed to create a safer future
for electric micromobility devices. And
the sooner that can happen, they say, the
better.
" The majority of lithium-ion battery
fires that fire departments across the
country are dealing with involve these
micromobility devices, " said Matthew
Paiss, a technical advisor in the Battery
Materials & Systems group of the Pacific
WHERE SHOULD
YOU STORE
YOUR E-BIKE
BATTERY
IF YOU'RE
CONCERNED
IT MIGHT
CATCH FIRE?
That was a question posed several
months ago on Reddit, a popular social
media site where users discuss topics
ranging from sports to news to emerging
technology, including e-bikes.
Dozens of Redditors weighed in.
Old grills, ammo cans, toolboxes, and
ovens were a few of the top answers.
For others, the question-and similar
queries posed in other electric bike and
electric scooter forums on Reddit-
seemed to incite anger. " They don't
catch fire, " one user wrote in June. " Stop
fear-mongering. "
The truth is battery-powered electric
micromobility devices, including the
e-bikes and e-scooters that have become
immensely popular in recent years, do
catch fire. Specifically, it's their batteries,
which are often lithium-ion, that
pose a risk. In New York City alone, fire
department officials say these devices
44 | NFPA JOURNAL * FALL 2022
Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).
" With something like an electric vehicle
fire, you may be able to let it burn on
the side of the road. With these, though,
they may be in homes and high-rises, so
fire departments have to engage. It's a
problem we need to address. "
But the popularity of the devices
means that recent efforts to increase
regulation of e-bikes and e-scooters in
some jurisdictions have been met with
resistance and enforcement challenges.
Those experiences could set the stage
for similar struggles in cities around the
world as safety authorities attempt to
manage this emerging hazard, and as
the electric micromobility market gears
up for a period of dramatic growth.
Why do
e-bikes burn?
The first electric bicycles emerged in
the late 1800s, although production
was scant and many designs never
made it off the paper. E-bikes enjoyed
small bursts of niche-market success
through the mid- to late-20th century,
but it wasn't until the past several years
that the design and sale of the devices
became a viable business model, spurred
primarily by a global push to reduce
reliance on gas-powered combustion
engines. The invention, production, and
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NFPA Journal - Fall 2022

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