50 July/August 2024 | E-Mobility Engineering With lithium-ion batteries among the top causes of fatal fires in New York, Peter Donaldson talks to a company set on making e-bikes less risky Fired up over safety It only takes a few minutes on the internet to realise there is a big safety problem with e-bike batteries. Even a basic search for ‘e-bike battery fire statistics’ yields alarming numbers, press reports, government recommendations and official statements, such as the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) recent declaration that e-bikes and e-scooters are now the city’s fastest growing fire risk. In February, the LFB reported a 78% increase in such fires in 2023, compared with 2022, with 155 cases attributed to e-bikes and 28 to e-scooters. Three people died and about 60 were injured. It’s a similar story around the world, with the US House of Representatives passing the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act in May in response to pressure from the New York City Fire Department, among others. Point of crisis “We reached a point of crisis in New York City. Lithium-ion batteries have caused approximately 500 fires and killed 24 people in the last two years, and continue to be among the top causes of fatal fires in New York City,” said fire commissioner Laura Kavanagh when she testified before the US consumer product safety commissioner in July 2023. It is against this background that Soteria Battery Innovation Group – alongside 13 collaborators, including NASA, Dow, the FDNY and Clemson University – has been carrying out research to come up with a standard set of design features that improve safety, which the industry can apply to the manufacture of e-bikes, either voluntarily or by force of law. This global consortium boasts more than 110 member organisations, drawn from government, academia and industry, including Mercedes Benz, DuPont and General Motors. Soteria’s initial research included the dismantling of more than 20 battery packs from OEMs and third-party producers, and a poll that questioned more than 1,018 e-bike riders, of whom 157 had experienced a battery fire. Riders were profiled to build a picture of typical use patterns, their experience with fires, and demographics that could have an impact on the probability of a fire, while OEMs were interviewed to gain an understanding of how they approach pack design with safety in mind. Soteria found third-party battery packs, which cost about 40% of the E-bikes are becoming increasingly popular, prompting a focus on the safety of their battery packs (Image courtesy of Pexels)
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