Why deaths from e-bike fires are declining in New York City

NEW YORK – In between food deliveries, Mr Christian Acajabon rode his e-bike to a bustling outdoor plaza in the East Village neighbourhood of Manhattan.

There, he placed a spent lithium-ion battery into a curbside, fire-resistant cabinet to recharge and took out a fresh battery. “This is for all day,” he said before rushing off to pick up an order.

The battery-swopping cabinet is only one part of New York City’s efforts to prevent fires from lithium-ion batteries, which power the e-bicycles and e-scooters that have flooded city streets in recent years. The batteries have also become deadly fire hazards.

Among other moves, the city has banned the sale of e-mobility devices that have not been certified for safety, increased inspections of bike shops and warned of the dangers of lithium batteries in 10 languages as part of a public education campaign.

There are signs these efforts may be working. Although lithium battery fires are still occurring at the same pace as in 2023, the rate of injuries and deaths from them has slowed. There have been three deaths and 84 injuries in 2024 as at Sept 30, down from 14 deaths and 114 injuries

during the same period in 2023.

A key reason behind this decline is that fewer lithium battery fires are occurring inside buildings, including apartments and stores, fire department officials said. When the batteries overheat or malfunction, they can spark explosive, fast-moving fires that can block exits and trap people inside.

Citywide, there have been 202 lithium battery fires in 2024 as at Sept 30, of which 104 – or 51 per cent – have been inside buildings. In 2023, 143 of the 207 fires during the same period – or 69 per cent – were inside buildings.

Fire officials have repeatedly urged New Yorkers to charge and store lithium-ion batteries outdoors whenever possible. A growing number of apartment buildings and workplaces have banned e-bikes and e-scooters from their premises altogether.

Fire commissioner Robert Tucker said that while lithium battery fires remained a threat, he saw progress in fighting that threat. “We are going to work very hard to continue to get the number of fires and the number of deaths to zero,” he said.

In 2023, New York became the first city in the United States to regulate the safety of e-bikes and e-scooters. Local Law 39, which took effect in September 2023, prohibits the sale, lease or rental of e-mobility devices and batteries that have not been certified to industry safety standards.

Since then, city and fire inspectors have inspected hundreds of bike stores and repair shops, issuing more than 275 violations to stores for uncertified e-bikes and batteries and more than 25 violations to online retailers. Each violation carries a fine of up to US$2,000 (S$2,600) for each type of e-bike or other device.

City officials are also developing a network of outdoor e-bike charging stations, including at public housing complexes. In March, a pilot programme costing more than US$1 million signed up 120 delivery workers to test battery-swopping cabinets and e-bike charging racks at five locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Two companies, Swobbee and PopWheels, were contracted by the city to set up charging cabinets with high-quality, certified batteries, which delivery workers could use for free. PopWheels has a battery that was specifically designed to fit Arrow bikes, which are ridden by many delivery workers. Swobbee’s battery can be attached to almost all e-bikes.

During the next seven months, the workers in the pilot programme swopped their batteries more than 14,500 times – with the charging station in Cooper Square in the East Village being the most heavily used. Many workers swopped batteries once or twice every day.

“Delivery cyclists in this pilot have voted with their feet,” said Mr Ydanis Rodriguez, the city’s transportation commissioner. “Thousands of battery swops later, we know they prefer a charging option that is convenient and much safer than charging at home.”

The e-bike racks, however, turned out to be less popular, in part because workers had to leave their e-bikes to charge; the average charging time was about 1½ hours. There were only 1,300 charges before the racks were removed in September.

No fires were reported at any of the charging stations, or with any of the batteries, which were all certified for safety.

City officials have extended the pilot programme until February and are currently working to install more battery-swopping cabinets around the city, including along sidewalks. Swobbee and PopWheels are also planning to expand their cabinets to sites on private property, including carparks.

Mr Acajabon, 51, an immigrant from Guatemala, said he usually swopped batteries at the Cooper Square plaza every day.

Before the programme, he charged his battery in his sixth-floor apartment in Queens and would wake up at night worried that he smelled smoke. He even left his window open in case of a fire. “I was scared that something would happen with the battery,” he said.

Now Mr Acajabon no longer brings his battery home. Instead, he keeps it with his e-bike in a parking garage at night and rides over to the charging station in the morning. NYTIMES