I’ll do a full article on this later showing my work, but my back of envelope calculations suggest that the energy stored in an eBike battery is the equivalent of 0.9 to 3.6 sticks of dynamite, depending on the battery’s watt-hr capacity.
Two Treks with Bosch motors and batteries. Always charge the battery off the bike and on the concrete floor of the garage. They are only plugged in when charging. Once the charge cycle is complete, off the batteries they come.
Mike...we have 2 RAD MISSION ebikes. Purchased June 2021. One has had only 2 hours use (1 battery charge cycle) and the other about 10 hours (3 battery use cycle). We store the bikes in cold building with batteries out and kept in heated garage. So far i have only charged the batteries OFF the bike. No fires or any other issues noted so far.
The 3 e-bikes that I have purchased have all had big name-brand batteries. Yes, I suppose they could forge those easily, but the American-owned company that sold me the bikes would still be on the hook.
Susceptibility to fires is highly dependent on specific cell chemistry as each one has different temperature tolerance. Additionally, poorly designed battery management systems (BMS) have sometimes been the cause of fires. Often builders used BMSs designed more for lead-acid (PbA) cells which can destroy Li cells. The main idea for Li is to avoid fully charging or discharging cells.
I agree… Casual observation suggests that many, and possibly most, if these fires involved non UL listed batteries, many of which did not have a properly designed BMS. Unfortunately, the press lumps all eBike fires into a single category. I suspect that the cheap knock-off batteries are the major culprit, but I need field data to know for sure.
We have a Rad bike mini. Charge the battery off the bike. Stored inside home. We also had a scoozy veego same procedure. Have had both for 4 years, use only battery that came with bike at time of purchase. Have sold scoozy last month.
We know of many rv’ers that have multiple batteries for their rad bikes. Lectric is very popular among RV’ers because battery does not come off bike so less stuff to haul around. We know about 30 people with electric bikes or trikes, no reports of fires.
Will your study will be on lithium ion batteries only and not lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo) batteries?
I'll be looking forward to your findings.
I've had a house full of well known brand-name lithium-ion batteries for a variety of devices for years and always use the manufacturer supplied charger and cords. I've have never had any issues with them.
I did have one aftermarket charger and lithium ion batteries for a Nintendo game system about 12 years ago that was recalled by the manufacturer for a fire hazard but never had a fire with it.
Just seeing what a small battery can do on a eBike! Can't even think about what a EV car would be like. Now musk has 50K truck, sounds like a mega ton explosion waiting to happen. Probably wipe out a city block!
A stick of dynamite 🧨 has around 1 MegaJoules of energy, which works out to 278 Watt-hrs. A 100 Ah RV battery has around 1,250 Watt-hrs of storage, which is equivalent to 4.5 sticks of dynamite. Of course you would need to release all that energy in milliseconds to make a big boom. Now consider that a single 20-lb tank of propane has the same amount of energy as 100 Lithium 100Ah RV batteries. That’s the energy contained in 450 sticks of dynamite. No wonder propane and natural gas explosions can level a house!
This is why we need to take propane and Lithium battery safety seriously. If something goes wrong, it can go VERY wrong quickly.
I’ll do a full article on this later showing my work, but my back of envelope calculations suggest that the energy stored in an eBike battery is the equivalent of 0.9 to 3.6 sticks of dynamite, depending on the battery’s watt-hr capacity.
That got my attention when I ran the numbers!
Two Treks with Bosch motors and batteries. Always charge the battery off the bike and on the concrete floor of the garage. They are only plugged in when charging. Once the charge cycle is complete, off the batteries they come.
We have had 2 Huffy model E4870 for 1 year.The battery is manufactured by Suzhou Chilweepower Energy Technology Co.Ltd. 36V 7.8ah. No problems so far.
Mike...we have 2 RAD MISSION ebikes. Purchased June 2021. One has had only 2 hours use (1 battery charge cycle) and the other about 10 hours (3 battery use cycle). We store the bikes in cold building with batteries out and kept in heated garage. So far i have only charged the batteries OFF the bike. No fires or any other issues noted so far.
The 3 e-bikes that I have purchased have all had big name-brand batteries. Yes, I suppose they could forge those easily, but the American-owned company that sold me the bikes would still be on the hook.
Just like you, I suspect the knock-off batteries with forged UL labels (of no labels) to be the main culprits with these fire/explosions.
GoCity
I have a Specilized Creo (a rather expensive Ebike). Have had it for 4 months. Still a very good sold bike.
Susceptibility to fires is highly dependent on specific cell chemistry as each one has different temperature tolerance. Additionally, poorly designed battery management systems (BMS) have sometimes been the cause of fires. Often builders used BMSs designed more for lead-acid (PbA) cells which can destroy Li cells. The main idea for Li is to avoid fully charging or discharging cells.
I agree… Casual observation suggests that many, and possibly most, if these fires involved non UL listed batteries, many of which did not have a properly designed BMS. Unfortunately, the press lumps all eBike fires into a single category. I suspect that the cheap knock-off batteries are the major culprit, but I need field data to know for sure.
We have a Rad bike mini. Charge the battery off the bike. Stored inside home. We also had a scoozy veego same procedure. Have had both for 4 years, use only battery that came with bike at time of purchase. Have sold scoozy last month.
We know of many rv’ers that have multiple batteries for their rad bikes. Lectric is very popular among RV’ers because battery does not come off bike so less stuff to haul around. We know about 30 people with electric bikes or trikes, no reports of fires.
Have a Trek with a Bosch battery. NO fires or explosions.
Not e-bike related but a Dyson knockoff battery explosion.
Thank you for this study. I'm ready to buy an e-bike, but I think I'll wait for your findings.
No fire
Rad rover
Rad rover
Will your study will be on lithium ion batteries only and not lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo) batteries?
I'll be looking forward to your findings.
I've had a house full of well known brand-name lithium-ion batteries for a variety of devices for years and always use the manufacturer supplied charger and cords. I've have never had any issues with them.
I did have one aftermarket charger and lithium ion batteries for a Nintendo game system about 12 years ago that was recalled by the manufacturer for a fire hazard but never had a fire with it.
I’m not sure if eBike batteries can also be Lithium Iron Phosphate or only Lithium Ion chemistry. But I’ll soon find out. 😁
Just seeing what a small battery can do on a eBike! Can't even think about what a EV car would be like. Now musk has 50K truck, sounds like a mega ton explosion waiting to happen. Probably wipe out a city block!
Snoopy
A stick of dynamite 🧨 has around 1 MegaJoules of energy, which works out to 278 Watt-hrs. A 100 Ah RV battery has around 1,250 Watt-hrs of storage, which is equivalent to 4.5 sticks of dynamite. Of course you would need to release all that energy in milliseconds to make a big boom. Now consider that a single 20-lb tank of propane has the same amount of energy as 100 Lithium 100Ah RV batteries. That’s the energy contained in 450 sticks of dynamite. No wonder propane and natural gas explosions can level a house!
This is why we need to take propane and Lithium battery safety seriously. If something goes wrong, it can go VERY wrong quickly.