NFPA Journal - Fall 2022 - 45

market viability of electric scooters has
followed a similar path to e-bikes.
According to the market research
firm Allied Market Research, the global
micromobility market is expected to
grow from about $40 billion today to
$215 billion by 2030, with much of that
growth attributed to the boom in battery-powered
electric devices. By next
year, roughly 40 million e-bikes are
expected to be zipping down city streets
worldwide. " An incredible transformation
of personal electrified transportation
technology has taken place around the
globe and shows no sign of slowing, "
reads a pamphlet titled " Guide to micromobility, "
published by Underwriters
Laboratories (UL) in March. " More and
more, light electric vehicles and personal
transportation devices are populating
worldwide markets. "
While there's no comprehensive
data on how often e-bikes or e-scooters
catch fire, it does happen with some
regularity. New York City, for example,
has seen a substantial number of e-bike
and e-scooter fires in the past two years,
according to Joe Jardin, chief of fire prevention
at FDNY, and incidents are on
the rise. " The numbers increase weekly, "
he added. " That's how active this issue
is. "
In India, where a government initiative
is calling for 80 percent of
two-wheeled micromobility devices to
be electric by 2030, a series of e-bike
and e-scooter fires made headlines in
May and June, with some leading to
fatalities. An investigation by the Indian
government attributed the blazes to
poorly manufactured battery cells, and
experts agree that e-bike and e-scooter
fires are often caused by battery or other
equipment defects. " A lot of these products,
including the chargers that come
with them, may be constructed with
low-quality components, " said Paiss.
But the cause of the fires isn't always
manufacturer error. Companies like
Lime and Bird, which provide e-scooter
rentals in cities worldwide, have long
used a model that employs people to
charge their devices overnight-the
more scooters you charge, the more
you get paid. Not surprisingly, this has
led to people overloading electrical circuits.
Images posted in online forums
Photographs taken by FDNY of fire scenes involving e-bikes and e-scooters detail many
of the hazards involved with charging and storing the devices. Charging multiple devices
can overload electrical circuits or power strips, while poorly manufactured batteries and
charging equipment can result in fires that can become severe in a matter of seconds.
for " juicers, " the term used to describe
people who get paid to charge e-scooters,
show dozens of cords snaking in
between scooters plugged into power
strips, which are plugged into more
power strips before being plugged into
outlets. In 2018, a family in Saint Paul,
Minnesota, escaped injury when a blaze
broke out inside a garage where eight
e-scooters were being charged. " The
garage wasn't able to support the electrical
[load], " Saint Paul Fire Captain Joe
Blank told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Paiss said he also has concerns over
e-bike and e-scooter batteries being
damaged through physical force-like a
juicer throwing them into the back of a
van or users treating them harshly-or
by after-market modifications or repairs.
According to an article published last
year by New York magazine and the
tech news website The Verge, many
e-bike-riding food delivery workers in
New York City maintain their devices
not by seeking repairs at bike shops or
another authorized dealer, but instead
" with the help of a traveling mechanic
known only as Su. "
Regardless of why an e-bike or
e-scooter fire starts, when it does, like
any other lithium-ion battery fire, it can
be exceptionally difficult to control. Fed
by a chemical reaction known as thermal
runaway, the blazes can spew toxic
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NFPA Journal - Fall 2022

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