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Specialized and Ancheer have had bikes catch fire but both issued recalls. These are worth noting but it's far more concerning when a manufacturer does not issue a recall, because then a) owners are left with a potentially defective dangerous product and b) no one knows the product is at risk...

Glad to see it's a class 3. Seems ebike brands are slowly realizing there's little reason to deny you the power you already bought, esp since a 20 mph cutoff is often below what you can get without a motor.

Note how Electrek scrubbed that text about fires being in the single digits, because it was a total falsehood. Every ebike article at Electrek is either fatally flawed or a glorified infomercial, and always sloppy. Now the article blames the rising number of vehicles for the rising number of...

NYC is larger than many (most?) states in population terms, and major retailers definitely abide by state laws like brass knuckles bans in CA. As for NJ, this law is just the opening salvo to get momentum for more action elsewhere. Like for CPSC to monitor imports.

New York has problems because of a flood of crappy ebikes and batteries. Comments like yours and even the general framing of the article obscure this or imply the opposite, as if the problem were inherent to electrifying bicycles, or really, any battery powered device.

You're right, my mistake. Once it passes, it will be interesting to see if Amazon complies. I imagine they'll wait until someone from the city fines or threatens them.

Also Europe, from 2019: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/01/23/dutch-e-bike-brand-stella-startled-after-hit-by-third-fire-in-seven-months/amp/

NYC is set to ban e-bikes with electric drivetrains that haven't earned UL certification. This is gonna kill off those storefronts selling dodgy bikes, though they may still come through Amazon, and there are already lots of other bad bikes on the ground already. Battery reassembly might move...

I recall seeing a bikebiz or similar article about a company that makes a machine to test ebike fuel efficiency under standardized conditions, for manufacturers. I wish someone would obtain and publish these results, like a publicly funded lab like the EPA does with cars. Set a standard rider...

Have you written about this in detail? I'm eager to learn more.

But for the hills and wind... That works because a petrol car is most efficient at 50 mph or so. Electric vehicles are not. Air drag on a bike is logarithmic and quickly adds up at 20+ mph. There's also rolling resistance.

Tips for hypermiling: 1. Always be pedaling, except when you need to slow down. 2. Coast. To slow down, ease off the pedals earlier and coast. This also reduces brake wear. Don't accelerate to a stop like drivers seem to do ... 3. Turn off the assist when you can hit your desired speed without...

California actually passed a great law saying sexual assault/harassment can't be gagged by employers under an NDA. The crazy thing is that all kinds of abuse, fraud and crime still CAN be bound by NDA, for corporations everywhere. I'm not sure if the plaintiffs sign the NDA for more money, less...

The delivery companies don't own anything. It's the deliveristas themselves.

Vancouver has also had a problem with ebike fires. 34 in an 20 month period - haven't crunched the numbers to adjust for population, but it's significant. https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/bc-news/electric-bike-batteries-creating-potentially-deadly-fire-hazard-6153493 Poverty is not peculiar...

NYC bans reassembled batteries. Unclear how they'll actually enforce it. At a minimum, need to do random inspections at stores. If buybacks occur, I hope it's the food delivery companies/customers paying for it, not city residents...

Brands being sued for fires? I only know of Rad, Jetson and Ancheer. There have been lawsuits for manufacturer defects eg motor failures, but that's not the same as fires obviously. Also other catastrophic failures, but not fire related.

You're talking like everyone in the city rides an ebike when it's only a small fraction. And the fires are overwhelmingly concentrated among dodgy imports, not brands that we know and discuss. So it's a fraction of a fraction with serious risk. There's plenty of room for improvement.

My point is that technologies can be and have been dumbed down successfully to make them safer for everyone, and not kept as little dainty fragile things. Art Decos point about tool batteries getting manhandled constantly without issue is a great example. Except that ebikes have already killed...

https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/01/this-e-bike-brand-by-lime-and-didi-vets-pedals-into-the-us-with-12m-raised/ I wouldn't buy one if I were in the market just yet, but they seem promising. Would like to see 750w, 52v, torque sensor, 9 speed version of their commuter bike. The frame and wheels...