Never-tackle-an-e-bike-battery-fire-yourself-warns-fire-brigade-after-another-blaze

Cisco-man

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 27, 2023
297
72
Indeed. Even a small phone battery can have severe consequences.





"bbq gas bottles" maybe be humour, but it could also be used as a nudge to heed caution when trying to be safe. Kudos @Cisco-man - Sometimes if you don't laugh you will cry.
Indeed, I’m trying to put it across that you need to think about it - tongue in cheek albeit.
 
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Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
20,982
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There is a lot of common sense lacking in this thread and to much hysteria .
Nearly all fires we see or hear about are down to inappropriate chargers being used and lack of judgement in charging techinques.

Years ago this forum was a good place to come to for advise with no nonsense and great knowledge though there were afew arguments , now it is full of trash and ciphering the bad from the good is a lot worse then ever before.
 

PC2017

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 19, 2017
1,319
334
Scunthorpe
Tbf that article highlighted, to me, & I do grieve for the family, the ignorance experienced by gen pop. I know that busy lives etc have a huge part to play in modern life, however to totally unaware that, lithium batteries can fault, more often than not when charging is beyond me.

The countless media stories, overheating phones (past & present), product recalls from top brands, cargo ships ablaze carrying ev's, the list goes on.

Then fire safety, never block an exit, regardless of the knowledge you have or don't have; always have a fire plan, for me, before ebike & batteries, when I moved in it was drunk(I was censored)-heads smoking and falling asleep. Where has common sense gone... A rhetorical question tbf
 
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Cisco-man

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 27, 2023
297
72
Tbf that article highlighted, to me, & I do grieve for the family, the ignorance experienced by gen pop. I know that busy lives etc have a huge part to play in modern life, however to totally unaware that, lithium batteries can fault, more often than not when charging is beyond me.

The countless media stories, overheating phones (past & present), product recalls from top brands, cargo ships ablaze carrying ev's, the list goes on.

Then fire safety, never block an exit, regardless of the knowledge you have or don't have; always have a fire plan, for me, before ebike & batteries, when I moved in it was drunk(I was censored)-heads smoking and falling asleep. Where has common sense gone... A rhetorical question tbf
Insurance companies have a role to play here. They should be (and probably soon will be) dictating what people should be doing and using, to charge and store these batteries. As Neilh says, if they are charged with a good charger, stored safely (and also not dropped) then all will be ok.
 

StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
1,798
1,014
Where has common sense gone.
When tragedies like this occur, I suspect there is also a degree of 'its not my fault'.

Unless someone is a complete hermit from the news and social media, an eBike user will have heard about eBike fires.

So a simple bit of thought should suggest to a user thats its probably not a good idea to charge an eBike when it is left in a hallway or blocking an exit route etc.

Hoewever, when it goes wrong, and there is a fire, its probably unlikely that someone would own up to knowing that where\when they were charging the eBike was dangerous.
 

StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
1,798
1,014
Insurance companies have a role to play here. They should be (and probably soon will be) dictating what people should be doing and using, to charge and store these batteries.
That could happen, as in the policy excluding fire damage caused by battery fires indoors.

But then I bet a lot of people dont read the insurance small print anyway, if they do have insurance that is.
 

Cisco-man

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 27, 2023
297
72
That could happen, as in the policy excluding fire damage caused by battery fires indoors.

But then I bet a lot of people dont read the insurance small print anyway, if they do have insurance that is.
The difference is that these batteries are now becoming a MAJOR part of all our lives.
 

StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
1,798
1,014
The difference is that these batteries are now becoming a MAJOR part of all our lives.
True.

In addition, its possible that those of us who buy house insurance and take the most basic of precautions are subsidising the premiums of those that know the risks, but choose to ignore them.

A disclaimer: I have no idea if any of the eBike fires have resulted in claims on house insurance.
 

Az.

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 27, 2022
2,093
932
Plymouth
Insurance companies have a role to play here. They should be (and probably soon will be) dictating what people should be doing and using, to charge and store these batteries.
Insurance companies won't be educating people. They will only add small print to policy to mitigate financial risk to themselves.
 
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,262
30,649
Then fire safety, never block an exit, regardless of the knowledge you have or don't have; always have a fire plan
Indeed. Long, long ago in 1963, before pedelecs, laptops and lithium batteries existed, I moved into a converted house flat three floors up which had only the internal staircase, no fire escape.

First thing I did was get a length of 1" hemp rope (scaffolders fall rope) and splice a loop in one end to hook around the divan bed leg, the rope coiled underneath. Then in the event of a fire in the flats below and common staircase I could throw the length of the anchored rope out of the window and shin down it
.
 
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,262
30,649
No need to shin, just do a classic abseil.
Not for me, I've never abseiled and fall rope is far too thick and stiff for abseiling, but I was at the time a 27 year old skilled and very fit climber of thick ropes.

No longer, 60 years later even stairs are a challenge so I live on the ground floor.
.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,531
3,277
Years ago this forum was a good place to come to for advise with no nonsense and great knowledge though there were afew arguments , now it is full of trash and ciphering the bad from the good is a lot worse then ever before.
I disagree. You received good help from me here only last year, when Endless Sphere was useless :cool:

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/my-cargo-bike-build.43189/

...when you said:

I'm fooked
You weren't! Eventually.

There is a very handy "Ignore member" function on this forum you can utilise. So can I.

Some people bellyache far too much at the mere mention of ebike battery fires IMHO.

Others simply want to shut the discussion down, lest it change government policy or somesuch, when the relatively tiny number of people discussing ways to mitigate ebike battery fires and their effects, on this and other forums, is miniscule compared to those viewing the many mainstream media reports, which will only increase as more people buy and use ebikes and other EVs. It's irrational. This is a forum, this is the "Electric Bike General Discussion" section, people will discuss what they wish about ebikes.

Of course people who build their own batteries, or buy established well known branded ebike batteries won't be worried. The guy in the linked article:

“No one before my accident knew of the dangers of these bikes. I never knew not to charge them overnight."

https://planetradio.co.uk/greatest-hits/cambridgeshire/news/dad-lost-everything-in-e-bike-fire/


Rather unhelpfully, the specifics about which ebay battery he bought aren't mentioned in the article, neither is the bike or charger. By and large, people tend to assume just because something is legal to buy, that laws and standards are in place to ensure it's safe and legal to use. Just look at escooters.


There is a lot of common sense lacking in this thread and to much hysteria .
Where's the hysteria exactly?
 
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chris667

Pedelecer
Apr 7, 2009
164
108
@guerney : your inane comments about dealing with ebike fires may have entertained you, but you need to understand that they are (a) not very funny, (b) make it harder to find useful information and (c) are in pretty poor taste when the owner of the bike in the original post was to quote the original article "badly burned".

Don't throw your toys out of the pram if other people call you out for one or more of those reasons.
 
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guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
11,531
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@guerney : your inane comments about dealing with ebike fires may have entertained you, but you need to understand that they are (a) not very funny, (b) make it harder to find useful information and (c) are in pretty poor taste when the owner of the bike in the original post was to quote the original article "badly burned".

Don't throw your toys out of the pram if other people call you out for one or more of those reasons.
I won't see your posts in future. I trust you'll ignore me too.
 

chris667

Pedelecer
Apr 7, 2009
164
108
I won't see your posts in future.
Again, thank you for your interest. Unfortunately I can't ignore you - I often look without logging in. So does everyone else. Like the OP, who has long gone because another thread has been ruined with inane crap.
 
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