Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

SecureRandomNumber t1_jb3hqs0 wrote

Question: why are all these recent fires being started by exploding e-scooter batteries, and not by phones and laptops and cordless power tools and vapes and kids' toys and all the other lithium ion powered devices that we have all been using and charging for years without any widespread safety issues? What is it about scooters specifically that's so dangerous?

37

SamTheGeek t1_jb3l1qg wrote

The vast majority of batteries in phones/laptops are safe and comply with various mandatory and elective safety standards. The e-bikes most commonly purchased do too. But many people buy cheaper batteries or run more amperage through them than is sound, and you get bad results.

There are plenty of incidents with “thermal runaways” in consumer batteries too — next time you’re on a plane, pay attention to the new addition to the safety briefing about not retrieving your phone if it falls into the seat. That warning is because of what happens if you crush a phone (it’s a battery fire)

51

erikbronx t1_jb4eb3v wrote

I concur, I was on a flight yesterday and heard this announcement.

13

EggsFish t1_jb4xyhd wrote

>That warning is because of what happens if you crush a phone (it’s a battery fire)

Interesting - I assumed the warning was to keep you from annoying the shit out of your seatmates/the flight attendants trying to get it lol.

9

anonyuser415 t1_jb5bs7z wrote

Also see this classic XKCD: https://xkcd.com/651/

> If you're worried about bombs, why are you letting me keep my laptop batteries?

4

upL8N8 t1_jb6fxzh wrote

Because no one will buy 2x-3x priced laptop batteries in the airport convenience store. 🌩

1

ohgodimnotgoodatthis t1_jb3kgfb wrote

Cheap Chinese batteries that skip any sort of safety precautions they can to sell cheap garbage. They pass the savings on to consumers who then mishandle/modify them beyond their intended purpose and then you get shit like this happening.

40

PvtHudson t1_jb43sce wrote

Because most normal people don't buy laptops and cell phones off Aliexpress.

25

Dry_Mastodon7574 t1_jb57a46 wrote

This. I wanted to buy an escooter, but couldn't find any that were sold on legitimate sites? (Is Aliexpress legit? It feels off to me.)

2

heresmyusername t1_jb6hv2k wrote

Aliexpress is a marketplace for (primarily Indian or Chinese) slave labor to manufacture dirt cheap products devoid of quality or safety standards.

Shopping for some cheap decor or a knockoff puffer jacket? You're probably good. Need something electronic and/or has a lithium ion battery? Buddy, you're barking up the wrong tree.

Cough up some more dough and you'll be happy you did.

6

Flivver_King t1_jb6e635 wrote

Ali’s press is legit but it’s all Chineseium knockoffs.

2

Grass8989 t1_jb3kd4b wrote

Id imagine because amount of battery power required to propel a bike to 30 mph is significantly more than needed to power a vape pen

11

JoeWhy2 t1_jb4uwys wrote

E-Bikes are limited to 20 mph. If they go faster, they've been modified by the user.

1

doggodoesaflipinabox t1_jb52nru wrote

I've seen way too many e-bikes zipping past at something closer to 40mph.

7

JoeWhy2 t1_jb63g6g wrote

Ha ha! I love that people are upvoting your little fantasy. That's not happening. The motors are required to cut out at 20 mph. However, some users modify them to bypass that limit at a cost. An e-bike going 40 mph on a decent battery is only going to have a range of about 8 miles on a full charge.

2

doggodoesaflipinabox t1_jb8l4k5 wrote

And guess what these mods do? Up the limiters on speed and put a battery that is far too large for its purpose.

0

JoeWhy2 t1_jb8oc75 wrote

Bike batteries that would give you greater range at that speed don't exist. You have no idea what you're talking about.

1

doggodoesaflipinabox t1_jb8r744 wrote

I'm not saying they're always going flat out. They have the capability of going that quickly.

1

down_up__left_right t1_jb3wyzr wrote

Reputable companies vs not reputable companies.

When Samsung did put out a phone model that had these kind of problems they had to do a product recall and replace them because otherwise Samsung's reputation would have continued to sink and less and less people would have bought their phones.

Of the things you listed the vapes would be the biggest concern to me but at least those would be smaller batteries than what we're talking about with e-bikes and scooters.

8

yuriydee t1_jb3l03u wrote

Honestly Im curious too. Is it just really cheap and unsafe batteries from China causing these explosions or what?

2

JoeWhy2 t1_jb4wdiz wrote

That's part of it. It's also continued use of batteries that have been damaged, use of cheap chargers that don't automatically stop charging when battery is full, use of third party chargers to lower charging time, user modified bikes to bypass 20 mph speed limit.

7