
New York tries to tackle deadly e-bike fires by installing charging stations for 25 million USD
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After a series of deadly tragedies where charging E-bikes have caught fire in multi storey apartment buildings, New York City has received a 25 million dollar grant to install safe public charging stations.
As reported by AP and FireEngineering.com on June 26, New York mayor Eric Adams hopes the stations will provide a safer way for delivery workers to recharge the e-bikes they rely on to efficiently do their jobs.
The emergency grant of 25 million USD has been provided by the federal government after New York City has seen a steep incline in the last two years in "micro mobility" battery fires. The fires have been primarily caused by e-bikes, e-scooters and also other small vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries catching fire while charging inside apartments and in bike shops.
The latest in a number of incidents with e-bikes charging indoors was when a lithium ion battery caught fire and engulfed an e-bike shop in Manhattan’s Chinatown just days before this announcement was made. The fire killed four people and injuring three others, including a responding firefighter.
“This means that residents will no longer need to charge the e-bikes in their apartments — what we find to be extremely dangerous, particularly when you charge them overnight,” Mayor Adams said at a news conference Sunday June 25th.
According to New York Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, so far this year, there have been more than 100 fires and 13 deaths linked to battery explosions in the city.
Photo credit: Pixabay license.
(The charging station in the photo is generic and may or may not look similar to the charging stations in NYC.)