FDNY requires landlords warn tenants about e-bike battery safety

The New York City Fire Department is mandating that property owners educate their tenants about e-bike battery safety as they battle an increasing number of fires related to their lithium-ion batteries.  

The fire department says that almost 200 building fires and six deaths so far this year have been due to exploding lithium-ion batteries on electric bikes and scooters, reports Fox 5 New York.

In response, FDNY is now requiring landlords to distribute a safety guide to tenants with about safe handling of these batteries.

"Including which e-bike batteries are safe, which ones are not safe, how to properly charge these e-bike batteries and also when to charge them," said New York City Council Member Oswald Feliz about the safety guide. "So, for example, not to charge them overnight when you're sleeping."

Lightweight lithium-ion batteries are a Nobel Prize-winning innovation that has enabled many modern technologies, especially compact electronics like laptops and smartphones.

However, the batteries’ electrolyte – a solution that lets electrical current flow – is flammable and can catch fire if the battery is overcharged, overheated, defective or damaged.

Feliz has also proposed a bill that would only allow the sale of batteries that are nationally certified, a move that has been opposed by right-to-repair activists who say it would effectively ban the sale of any refurbished electronics.

"How many people are going to really pay attention and do the right thing?" Frank Ricci, the owner of a four-family apartment building and the executive vice president of the Rent Stabilization Association, told Fox 5.

Ricci thanked FDNY for their service but did not have faith in the public to follow their battery guidelines.

"I question how many people are actually going to read the notifications and actually do something that's safe for other residents of the building," Ricci said.

Fox 5 says they also spoke with other New Yorkers who support the FDNY’s campaign but believe new laws and regulations are necessary, like a ban on charging e-bikes indoors.

In September, a fire at a Los Angeles village of tiny homes for homeless veterans was believed to have been caused by a lithium battery of an electric bike being charged.