Health and Safety - Share Your E-Bike Battery Experiences & Recommendations

[steveoshima]

Dear Forum Community,

In light of the recent news surrounding e-bike battery safety, I believe it's crucial for us to discuss and share our collective insights and experiences regarding the batteries we use in our e-bikes. Ensuring the safety and reliability of our equipment is paramount, not only for our personal well-being but also for the sustainability of our passion for e-biking.

Many of us have come to rely on our e-bikes for daily commuting, recreation, or as an eco-friendly transportation alternative. However, the growing concerns over battery fires have underscored the need for vigilance and informed decision-making when it comes to selecting and maintaining our batteries.

I encourage each of you to share your personal experiences, preferences, and any tips you might have concerning e-bike batteries. Whether it's a brand that you've found to be exceptionally reliable, maintenance practices that ensure longevity and safety, or any challenges you've encountered, your input could be incredibly valuable to our community.

Let's use this opportunity to help each other make informed decisions, enhance our safety, and continue enjoying our e-biking journeys with confidence.

Looking forward to your stories and insights!

Please list your

1. Battery manufacturer and model.
2. Electrical spec (e.g. 36v 10s3p).
3. Brand of cells it uses.
4. Purchased date, age, and mileage if known.
5. Anything relevant point - Does the BMS use bluetooth, have a temp sensor? Any failures or worse any fires?

To the moderator: Can we get this thread as a sticky if it picks up momentum?

 

[saneagle]

That's just hysteria. None of the 20,000 people, who joined this forum has reported a fire in at least the last 14 years. It would be better to discuss not to leave your battery or ebike anywhere where something might set light to it, like in an airport carpark next to a Landrover PHEV.

All you're going to get from a thread like you suggest, is reinforce the false narrative that your ebike is going to burst into flames and burn your house down if you look in the wrong direction.

We've had countless threads on this matter before and there's already plenty of good advice.

 

[thelarkbox]

Perhaps the RC community with their long history of using lipo batteries could benefit from your concern OP.

 

[flecc]

That's just hysteria. None of the 20,000 people, who joined this forum has reported a fire in at least the last 14 years.

In fact not a single member has experienced a battery fire in the whole 18 year life of this forum since it was established in October 2006. And some of us, including me, also drive electric cars too, our makes including Nissan, Renault, Tesla and Polestar, again without any fires of any fear of experiencing a fire.

In the very earliest forum days when li-ion batteries commonly had simple cobalt cathodes we did have the odd instances of a battery casing swelling when the 18640 cells of that type were failing, but none caught fire. These were the same cells that caused all the laptop fires in that era, found mainly to be due to poor manufacturing standards, but dealing with that and advances in cathodes solved that problem well before the end of that decade.

The present fuss over lithium battery fires has at it's source the recent introduction of illegal privately owned e-scooters and poorly home constructed and mostly also illegal e-bikes.

They are nothing to do with legal EAPCs, the pedelecs that we own and ride, as our 18 year fire free record demonstrates. So as Saneagle has posted, this thread serves no useful purpose and could spark more unnecessary and inaccurate hysteria.
.

 

[Az.]

Here you can find some reasonably good advice:

Battery safety for e-cycle users

www.gov.uk

 

[AntonyC]

not only for our personal well-being but also for the sustainability of our passion for e-biking.

I think it's sensible to discuss the fires we see in the media and what we think are the best responses to them. It's easy for some to abuse the present situation for competitive ends and promote needless restrictions, we should make our voices heard just now.

 

[lenny]

Tempted to open up my UUP batteries, I bought some of the bottle batteries.

"If anyone owns one, they should not use it and contact the seller for redress.”

Warning after banned battery causes Kensington blaze

The battery pack caught alight in a corridor of a hotel in Kensington on Friday 26th January with around 25 firefighters required to put the fire out.

hounslowherald.com

OPSS takes enforcement action over dangerous e-bike battery

OPSS is taking enforcement action and warning consumers about a dangerous e-bike battery manufactured by a company called UPP.

www.gov.uk

 

[Az.]

So as Saneagle has posted, this thread serves no useful purpose and could spark more unnecessary and inaccurate hysteria.

I strongly disagree. New members should not be discouraged from asking questions and opening new threads. Nobody is showing any signs of hysteria. There is an elephant in the room and it is better to address the problem rather than to brush it under the carpet.
Yes, we talked a lot about it, but despite that there is still a lot to learn.

BTW Search engine on this forum is the worst I have seen. I really struggle to find things even when I know what I am looking for and more or less where to find it.

 

[lenny]

BTW Search engine on this forum is the worst I have seen. I really struggle to find things even when I know what I am looking for and more or less where to find it.

Site:pedelecs.co.uk "fire"

For those who think it's easier to annoy you than to Google 'Site:pedelecs.co.uk "fire"' themselves.

letmegooglethat.com

 

[Az.]

Site:pedelecs.co.uk "fire"

For those who think it's easier to annoy you than to Google 'Site:pedelecs.co.uk "fire"' themselves.

letmegooglethat.com

As enigmatic as always Lenny. I am not sure what you are trying to say. I know how to use google and one can't google what OP was asking in first post.

 

[Pingk]

People saying this thread is pointless are missing the forest for the trees. The average member of the public aren't aware of the 20,000 responsible people on this forum. They see the increasing risk of ebikes causing fires and understandably want to be safe.

That doesn't mean they are stupid, obviously these incidents are a minority of actual ebike users, but this dismissive "we're not the problem" rhetoric does nothing to foster trust in our community for the average person.

 

[guerney]

If in in 2021, 1 in 20 people in the uk owned an ebike = 3.5 million. That number must have increased since then - aren't the odds of conflagration occurring very small?

Other prizes you could win include:

 

[guerney]

I think it's sensible to discuss the fires we see in the media and what we think are the best responses to them. It's easy for some to abuse the present situation for competitive ends and promote needless restrictions, we should make our voices heard just now.

Compared to mainstream media, whatever is said on this forum doesn't matter a jot - I believe we're being prodded for the purposes of article research by a journalist using multiple forum identities. Is the journalist a lazy insignificant wannabe?

 

[Az.]

I believe we're being prodded for the purposes of article research by a journalist using multiple forum identities. Is the journalist a lazy insignificant wannabe?

Do you think Weekly Mail deprived access to certain voicemails is now fishing sensitive battery information on our cozy forum? Hmmm... it does make sense...

I feel flattered

 

[AndyBike]

None of the 20,000 people, who joined this forum has reported a fire in at least the last 14 years.

20,000 ?. It was 12000 3 days ago.

Besides. Why would anyone specifically come on and announce such a thing in a 'conversion' led ebike forum. Thats pretty much admitting they've failed.

"Hey guys, i built an ebike and it burned down my garage and killed the cat oh ho ho ho, who'd have thought eh ?"


You really need to drop this 'oh nobody told us so it cant have happened' rational, because its so far from rational its beginning to look like you're in denial

 

[StuartsProjects]

Besides. Why would anyone specifically come on and announce such a thing in a 'conversion' led ebike forum. Thats pretty much admitting they've failed.

Exactly.

The 20,000 figure quoted is a missleading statistic as all but a couple of members will know.

First, there is no compulsion for any of those 20,000 members to report a battery fire.

Second, to me it seem highly likley that a 'member' asking questions about batteries etc who then chooses to ignore the advice, goes the el-cheapo-cheapo route and has a fire is very unlikly to come back to the forum and report the fire.

So rather than invent statistics to prove a narative, what are the real statistics, how many battery fires are there really ?

 

[lenny]

So rather than invent statistics to prove a narative, what are the real statistics, how many battery fires are there really ?

"With the surge in popularity of e-bikes and scooters, has come such a rise in the number of fires that some have called them the new “chip pan” fire. Government data collated from 38 fire and rescue services shows that across the UK there were 227 such fires in 2022 and 338 in 2023. "

E-bikes and e-scooters are a fire and explosion risk. The dos and don'ts

An expert in lithium-ion batteries has called for a public education campaign on the fire risk of batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters.

www.heraldscotland.com

 

[StuartsProjects]

Government data collated from 38 fire and rescue services shows that across the UK there were 227 such fires in 2022 and 338 in 2023. "

So 338 fires reported in 2023.

I wonder how many are not reported ...............

 

[lenny]

So 338 fires reported in 2023.

I wonder how many are not reported ...............

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[sjpt]

BTW Search engine on this forum is the worst I have seen.

Try a Google search against this site:
inurl:www.pedelecs.co.uk xxxxxx