"New York saw 268 battery fires in 2023, killing 18 New Yorkers and injuring 150 more, most caused by exploding e-bike batteries. If you're not familiar, search "New York battery fires" on YouTube. Grab some popcorn. You'll be there a while. Try the 2021 fire in which two New Yorkers barely escaped by climbing out their fourth floor apartment window, then swinging to a nearby pipe and shimmying to the ground."
"Nationally, the UL Research Institutes reported over 1,500 lithium-ion battery fires in 2023, with 111 fatalities and 621 injuries. A Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioner calls battery fire numbers a vast undercount. Chicagoland has just one reported exploding e-bike home fire, in a Park Ridge home last year. The house suffered $150,000 in damage, Pioneer Press reported. Thankfully, nobody died."
Chicago and New York differ culturally, but the laws of physics and lithium-ion battery chemistry operate identically in both cities. New York recorded 268 battery fires in 2023, killing 18 and injuring 150, mostly from exploding e-bike batteries, while nationally UL Research Institutes reported over 1,500 lithium-ion fires with 111 fatalities and 621 injuries. A Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioner describes official counts as a vast undercount. Chicagoland reported one exploding e-bike home fire last year with $150,000 damage and no fatalities. Battery fires increase with the number of e-bikes and scooters, and such devices are rapidly multiplying in Chicago.
Read at Chicago Tribune
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