Four New York Explosions Every Week – Rise to That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

First published in JoNova; Video included – “These bicycles when they fail, they fail like a welding torch,” said Dan Flynn, chief of fire at the New York Fire Department.

Fires caused by exploding e-bike batteries multiply in NYC – sometimes fatal

October 30, 20225: 00 AM ET
Heard above Sunday weekend version
MATTHEW SCHUERMAN

NEW YORK – An average of four times a week, an e-bike or e-scooter battery catches fire in New York City.

Sometimes it happens like this on the street, but more often, it happens when the owner is charging the battery lithium ion battery. A mismatched charger does not always automatically turn off when the battery is fully charged and continues to heat up. Or, the highly flammable electrolyte inside the battery’s cells leaks out of the case and ignites, causing a chain reaction.

“When these bicycles fail, they will fail like a welding torch,Dan Flynn, chief of fire at the New York Fire Department. “We’ve seen incidents where people describe them as explosive – incidents where they really have a lot of energy, they really knock down the wall between the rooms and the apartment.”

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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/30/1130239008/fires-from-exploding-e-bike-bataries-multiply-in-nyc-sometimes-fatally

Is there any “green” technology that won’t kill us?

The severity and frequency of these fires makes me wonder if I’m underestimating the fire risk from electric cars. How long will it take for insurance companies to catch up?

While you would expect better manufacturing standards for a 5-6 figure E-Automobile than for a cheap e-bike, there is certainly less risk from a “mismatched charger”, but there are some serious problems with more expensive e-vehicles.

For example A brand new uncontrollable electric car fire consumed the freighter Felicity Ace.

Imagine a similar fire broke out in a large apartment complex in New York, with a parking lot full of trams.

Such a fire could conceivably cause the building to collapse. Tram fires are hot enough to seriously damage concrete and steel structural supports, if there are enough flammable lithium batteries nearby. Heat and toxic fumes can make it difficult to get out. I mean, look at the damage a small scooter did to the apartment in the video (see above). Imagine the apartment fire above multiplied by a thousand times, on the garage floor of a high-rise apartment building.

There is one thing that worries me more than the current green push towards deadly e-vehicles. Raise awareness of the risks Lithium batteries can pose a tough trend towards hydrogen powered vehicles, which in my opinion could be even worse.