_Maxolotl t1_iudvq8d wrote on October 30, 2022 at 4:17 PM

some of the scooters sold by the Fly Ebike chain of stores are very poorly made.

You're not gonna see a lot of Bosch system batteries catching on fire. They disable themselves and flash alerts on the bike screens if they have even a brief short between their contacts.

the problem is not batteries in general, it's that we haven't got a good way of rating quality control yet.

Underwriters Laboratories has recently started certifying batteries. As this becomes the norm, maybe a UL listing would be a good way to decide if a battery is allowed in the building.

But there's an unsolvable problem with this anyway: If buildings ban ebikes, what will happen is people will lock the bikes up outside, and take the batteries inside to charge them anyway. Batteries are not big. No building is going get away with searching everybody's bags.

So if we want to address this safety issue, banning bikes from buildings isn't going to work. Upgrading fire protection standards in bike rooms will help.

And a PSA campaign in multiple languages explaining how to be safe with batteries will help too. We do the same thing for space heaters.

BIGTIMElesbo t1_iuefstw wrote on October 30, 2022 at 6:30 PM

Thank you for mentioning Fly. The batteries on those make me quite nervous. The ebike sub has tons of diy folks who make their own batteries or buy cheap random ones online. I cannot express enough how nervous it makes me. Manufacturers like Ariel Rider and Juiced make quality bikes with a lower price point than Fly in some instances. There’s a argument to be made for these companies to invest advertising in this city. I’m a huge fan of the new electric citibikes as well. They’re a blast to ride in addition to being practical. Free the e-bikes, BUT safely!!

IndyMLVC t1_iugjriq wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:45 AM

My building has a store attached to it. To say i'm nervous is an understatement.

ji99lypu44 t1_iueaf9p wrote on October 30, 2022 at 5:55 PM

Omg i see so many of the fly e bikes with people riding around like maniacs here.

Pomfins t1_iuht085 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 1:16 PM

Bike rooms are generally found in newer offices and apartments, generally not where a line share of delivery workers are living. I doubt NYCHA will invest in all the contracting work and building materials and contractors required to tear apart the room and get it up to electrical fire proof standards.

Edit* misspelling