UL Certified Ebikes

[Dewey]

To recap, there appear to be at least 6 places where you can check the compliance or certification of a particular e-bike brand or model to the UL standards UL 2849 & UL 2271:

UL Solutions "UL Product iQ database" (to check if a model is certified by Underwriters Laboratory)
ACT E-Validate Directory (3rd party UL compliance testing by the ACT Lab)
SGS North America Certified Products database (3rd party UL compliance testing by the SGS Lab)
TUV Rheinland North America Certipedia (3rd party UL compliance testing by the TUV lab)
NBDA E-bike Google sheet (relies on voluntary updating, not complete)

OSHA maintains lists of current and former US National Recognized Testing Laboratories. It is worth noting UL, SGS & TUV are listed, whereas ACT is not but is an internationally recognized ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.

Oct 2024 edit: another database listing UL certified brands is:
Intertek ETL Listed Mark Directory
Significantly it is Intertek that tested Bosch systems to UL 2849 and batteries to UL 2271

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

To recap, there appear to be at least 5 places where you can check the compliance or certification of a particular e-bike brand or model to the UL standards UL 2849 & UL 2271:

UL Solutions "UL Product iQ database" (to check if a model is certified by Underwriters Laboratory)
ACT E-Validate Directory (3rd party UL compliance testing by the ACT Lab)
SGS North America Certified Products database (3rd party UL compliance testing by the SGS Lab)
TUV Rheinland North America Certipedia (3rd party UL compliance testing by the TUV lab)
NBDA E-bike Google sheet (relies on voluntary updating, not complete)

OSHA maintains lists of current and former US National Recognized Testing Laboratories. It is worth noting UL, SGS & TUV are listed, whereas ACT is not but is an internationally recognized ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.

So, clear as mud...

Thanks! Very useful info for any prospective ebike buyer. This post oughta be pinned where it can be easily found.

 

[revelpaul]

To recap, there appear to be at least 5 places where you can check the compliance or certification of a particular e-bike brand or model to the UL standards UL 2849 & UL 2271:

UL Solutions "UL Product iQ database" (to check if a model is certified by Underwriters Laboratory)
ACT E-Validate Directory (3rd party UL compliance testing by the ACT Lab)
SGS North America Certified Products database (3rd party UL compliance testing by the SGS Lab)
TUV Rheinland North America Certipedia (3rd party UL compliance testing by the TUV lab)
NBDA E-bike Google sheet (relies on voluntary updating, not complete)

OSHA maintains lists of current and former US National Recognized Testing Laboratories. It is worth noting UL, SGS & TUV are listed, whereas ACT is not but is an internationally recognized ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.

An interesting observation is that Bosch doesn't seem to appear in the UL database anymore. I swear I saw it in there before. I checked all of the categories that @Fire_Safety listed in a previous post. Maybe I'm missing something.
Bosch is shown in the NBDA database as having 2849 certification, but it looks like they listed their testing agency as Intertek. Intertek would be a NRTL, but as far as I recall, back a year ago, only UL and SGS (i think) could actually certify 2849 (not just test for compliance).. I think Bosch would have gotten their certs at least 2 years ago.

Another observation is that it looks like Rad got both ACT lab AND some other NRTL to test their bikes, as they appear both in the ACT lab database AND the UL database despite ACT not being a NRTL.

 

[Dewey]

An interesting observation is that Bosch doesn't seem to appear in the UL database anymore. I swear I saw it in there before. I checked all of the categories that @Fire_Safety listed in a previous post. Maybe I'm missing something.
Bosch is shown in the NBDA database as having 2849 certification, but it looks like they listed their testing agency as Intertek. Intertek would be a NRTL, but as far as I recall, back a year ago, only UL and SGS (i think) could actually certify 2849 (not just test for compliance).. I think Bosch would have gotten their certs at least 2 years ago.

Another observation is that it looks like Rad got both ACT lab AND some other NRTL to test their bikes, as they appear both in the ACT lab database AND the UL database despite ACT not being a NRTL.

Weird about Bosch. It looks like RadPower had UL certify their new for ‘24 Radster models, whereas the rest of their lineup were tested as UL compliant last year by ACT Lab.

 

[revelpaul]

Weird about Bosch.

Does anyone with a Bosch powered bike have the UL sticker that has the UL file number? Just curious now.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

An interesting observation is that Bosch doesn't seem to appear in the UL database anymore. I swear I saw it in there before. I checked all of the categories that @Fire_Safety listed in a previous post. Maybe I'm missing something.
Bosch is shown in the NBDA database as having 2849 certification, but it looks like they listed their testing agency as Intertek. Intertek would be a NRTL, but as far as I recall, back a year ago, only UL and SGS (i think) could actually certify 2849 (not just test for compliance).. I think Bosch would have gotten their certs at least 2 years ago.

Another observation is that it looks like Rad got both ACT lab AND some other NRTL to test their bikes, as they appear both in the ACT lab database AND the UL database despite ACT not being a NRTL.

Bosch only has UL-2849. I don't think their 2271 is not valid anymore.
I remember speaking with UL, and previously, Bosch had passed UL-2271 with Intertek, and after the revamp of UL-2271, they were on the list for some time, but someone at UL mentioned that "Bosch is there only because they were grandfathered in" or something like that. As you mentioned, it was done at Intertek, not UL.

Several companies are using SGS for the following reasons:

1. They are cheaper by 2x compared to UL
2. The testing time is faster
3. Some of the tests are not very stringent (for example, UL gave us a tough time because both the male pin on the charger and the female pin on the battery have to survive 10K mating cycles. This is a bit extreme and weird because their electronics testing standards are not as stringent as ASIL-C-rated tests.

I have seen several Chinese companies present UL from SGS.
A few of the more popular brands in the US (AVENT** and Juic**) have TuV and SGS certificates, respectively.

From my own research, UL-2849 is easier to pass as an overall system than going through UL-2271 separately for batteries. Companies like EcotXYZ (you know this company) have passed certain tests this way.

After spending a lot of time and money on this, it is clear that UL is also learning about testing standards, and we have a bit more work to do before finalizing the "Gold standard" for micromobility battery safety.

 

[revelpaul]

Bosch only has UL-2849. I don't think their 2271 is not valid anymore.

From my own research, UL-2849 is easier to pass as an overall system than going through UL-2271 separately for batteries. Companies like EcotXYZ (you know this company) have passed certain tests this way.

After spending a lot of time and money on this, it is clear that UL is also learning about testing standards, and we have a bit more work to do before finalizing the "Gold standard" for micromobility battery safety.

Thanks for the reply, Ravi.
If Bosch is actually certified to 2849 (even if they were grandfathered in), they should show up here, right?

• Here are the existing Listee companies that have ULS Listed e-Bikes: https://productiq.ulprospector.com/en/search?term=qgns

I agree on your points above on 2849/2271. It certainly is not ideal, and has a ton of problems, but until someone comes up with a better standard, we are stuck with it.

 

[m@Robertson]

I agree on your points above on 2849/2271. It certainly is not ideal, and has a ton of problems, but until someone comes up with a better standard, we are stuck with it.

Considering that legislators may be hard-coding the UL standard numbers into legislation, I would not be surprised if we get stuck with them forever. Consider for instance how many U.S. states have kept the 749w motor limit (almost all of them) even though so many ebike motors say '750w' on the side, which technically makes almost all ebikes non-compliant with the law. Thats a standard everyone ignores (almost everyone, City of Honolulu required ebike registration, then revoked registrations for 750w bikes for this reason), but a safety standard is a different animal.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

To recap, there appear to be at least 5 places where you can check the compliance or certification of a particular e-bike brand or model to the UL standards UL 2849 & UL 2271:

UL Solutions "UL Product iQ database" (to check if a model is certified by Underwriters Laboratory)
ACT E-Validate Directory (3rd party UL compliance testing by the ACT Lab)
SGS North America Certified Products database (3rd party UL compliance testing by the SGS Lab)
TUV Rheinland North America Certipedia (3rd party UL compliance testing by the TUV lab)
NBDA E-bike Google sheet (relies on voluntary updating, not complete)

OSHA maintains lists of current and former US National Recognized Testing Laboratories. It is worth noting UL, SGS & TUV are listed, whereas ACT is not but is an internationally recognized ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory.

So, clear as mud...

The author can Zen E-bike batteries to the list as well.
We now have official certification from the UL labs. It will get updated on the UL database in about 1-2 weeks.

 

[JGcycle]

The author can Zen E-bike batteries to the list as well.
We now have official certification from the UL labs. It will get updated on the UL database in about 1-2 weeks.

View attachment 178099

Way to go.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I had a discussion with the director of UL, who oversees the E-bike division. They seem to be committed to holding high standards when it comes to UL-2271 and UL-2849 standards.
From our own experience, it is clear that UL holds a more stringent standard than other labs.
There are certain things E-bike customers should keep in mind:

1. If a company claims to be "UL-certified," do they have a certificate to show?
2. "UL-certified" and "Certified to UL-2271" are not the same thing.
   Many companies have undergone testing at other labs but claim to be UL-certified. Be wary of this.
   Ultimately, it would be best if you did not compromise on safety

 

[PsychoBilly]

The whole UL thing is overplayed. UL marked bikes, and components aren't necessarily safer than those that aren't, especially when the owner is factored into the equation. A lot of owners wanna make an electric bicycle something it's not. Electric bicycles aren't motorcycles, and aren't physically safe at motorcycle speeds. Next is cheap, and or incompatible components. These are what leads to fires.

Electric bicycles north of 28mph are street legal without a VIN. You can count on LE becoming more aware of E-Bike rules the more common they become. They will pull you over on your bike if they catch you breaking the laws.

Enjoy E-Bikes for what they are, and don't make them something they're not meant to be.