New Yorkers Are Getting the Message on Storing E-Batteries

Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll look at why fires involving e-bike batteries — which have prompted warnings from fire officials in the last couple of years — are causing fewer fatalities in New York City.

Fires from e-bike batteries have not declined, but fewer people are dying in them.Credit…José A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York Times

Lithium-ion batteries provide the power for everything from smartphones and laptops to lawn mowers, but for firefighters the batteries in e-bikes and scooters are particularly dangerous. When those batteries overheat or malfunction, they can spark explosive, fast-moving fires that test the Fire Department’s ability to respond before it is too late.

Warnings about e-batteries rose as e-bike traffic climbed a couple of years ago. Now, there are signs the picture is changing. E-battery fires in New York City are breaking out about as frequently as they did last year, but there were fewer injuries in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period last year. I asked Winnie Hu, a Metro reporter who covers infrastructure, demographics and socioeconomic trends that shape the urban landscape, to explain what is happening.

If there are roughly as many fires from e-bike batteries as there were last year, but fewer deaths and injuries, what has changed?

One big change this year is that fewer lithium-ion-battery fires have started indoors, in individual apartments or stores.