Solarcabin
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
What’s causing all the ebike and escooter battery fires?
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What’s causing all the ebike and escooter battery fires?
In the last year lithium-ion battery fires have caught the attention of authorities in New York City. I take a look at the underlying causes.
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- poor design
- assembly errors
- electrical shorting
- use of the wrong charger
- overcharging
- A damaged battery management system (BMS) causes overheating and inadequate cooling
- damage to the case.
These fires happen incredibly quickly, and due to the self-sustaining process of thermal runaway, Lithium battery fires are also difficult to extinguish. They can leak toxic chemicals dangerous to people and pets.
Large batteries such as those used in Electric Vehicles can reignite hours or even days after the event, even after being extinguished. Fortunately, this is far less common in ebikes and escooters.
My opinion: I would really like to see a study of these Ebike battery fires to determine brand and type of battery and charger involved.
I suspect most of these fires are happening with cheap after market or DIY batteries that are not UL listed and using chargers not designed for that specific battery or trying to fast charge an ebike battery. Leaving the battery on the charger after charged or using a damaged battery is probably also a big contributing factor.
If you are using a battery that is not damaged and the charger supplied with that battery and the BMS is working correctly there should be little to no chance of a fire but I still take precautions and charge outside and only when I can monitor the battery and I disconnect the battery as soon as it is charged up. I am also in the habit of touching the battery while it is charging occasionally to see if it feels warm and I have a class 3 fire extinguisher close by just in case.
A lot of these fires seem to involve delivery ebikes that are using fast chargers and many are charging 2-3 batteries constantly for their work. The batteries never have a chance to cool down after being rode at full speed all day before they are being recharged. That is not typical use for most ebikers.
Your thoughts?