Idiot proof - please illustrate your point here with a few examples of "idiot proof" transportation products. Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet this morning, but I can't think of one example I don't see in the news frequently - that has very recently been proven NOT idiot proof..... again!
ABS. Automatic transmission. Always on lights. Shall I go through the rest of the alphabet
At least continue through the "B"s for battery ... think about the treatment millions of cordless tools receive on a job site by often untrained workers ... dropped in mud and puddles, drill and saw handles (with batteries installed) used as hammers, batteries run dead and recharged multiple times a day, etc... yet I am not aware of any tool battery related fires.
Let's consider for a moment that our eBike batteries can have 10 times the number of cells. My earliest, 2014, 20Ah pack had over 100 cells!
And ... it only takes one bad cell ...
I guess I was on a different track. Your always on lights, ABS and auto trans keep you from turning somebody on a bike into a hood ornament? If no, how do they make a car/truck idiot proof? ANY idiot can climb behind the wheel and prove there is NO idiot proof mode of transportation. When in use, you assume a level of risk, or you walk......
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 12+ people in NYC alone in the past two years with vastly less passenger usage/miles. The risks are far from being the same.
I think @tomjasz made an oblique effort (requiring some cogitation on the part of the reader) to get people to realize the difference between tool and ebike batteries. Its relatively simple to armor a pack that contains 2, 4 or 6 cells, for use in a product that is meant to accept physical abuse in the first place, and for which weight is not a particular factor. On the other hand, an ebike batter can easily have 25 to 50 times the number of cells in its pack; an order (or orders) of magnitude more weight, and presents an entirely different challenge that is not the no-brainer that a little piener-wiener tool battery would be. Hell... you want safety? Use LiFePo4. They don't burn. Except they have much less energy density than Li-NMC so you'll trade a 10 lb battery for a 15-17 lb one of the same capacity. My solar generator that uses that chemistry... well, the small portable one weighs 60 freaking pounds.
Did the ebike kill the rider, or did an automobile running them over kill them? Absent actual facts I don't believe the statement that "ebikes have already killed 12+ people". Did they die in a fire? That is not an ebike killing them. Instead its any number of potential causes associated with batteries, practices, even building wiring.
"Past Two-Years!" With a population of 8.5 million, and 8.9 deaths per year, per 100,000, that means 6 eBike deaths per year puts the odds at 0.0097% of dying on an eBike in NYC. Less then 10% of 1% of 8.5 million. How many were stoned on synthetic opioids? Or, had a stroke with SARs COV-19 before committing suicide under a bus because their girlfriend cheated? Or, didn't have working brakes but rode anyway while intellectually disabled? About 2% are intellectually disabled, we see that on EBR. 1 in 4 African American trans kids attempted suicide last year. This two-year stat is not significant enough to mention. It proves that eBikes are safe.
And we don't know anything about these these fires. Were they new Trek or Rad or Bosch, etc., batteries, or were they DIY rebuilds using the cheapest cells on Alibaba? Were people using best charging practices or stupidly careless, negligent practices? We don't know.
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.
And we don’t know that they were not Specialized or another alleged trusted source. I know of 4 big brands in litigation. There are two Specialized here on EBR.
Brands being sued for fires? I only know of Rad, Jetson and Ancheer.
The majority in my area STILL believe belt laws, no littering signs…are the work of the Gubment. Most prefer to sit on their belt.
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