E-Scooter & E-Bike Battery Fires

Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Act

E-bike fires can have devastating consequences. They don&#;t have to.

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Congress has the opportunity to advance legislation that would protect Americans from deadly battery fires and preserve access to the e-bikes and e-scooters consumers want. The Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Act is a bipartisan bill that would require the CPSC to issue a safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in e-mobility devices. UL Standards & Engagement encourages the passage of this important legislation.

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Why are battery fires in e-bikes and e-scooters a safety concern? 

• E-bikes, e-scooters, and hoverboards are commonly powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to leverage their high power-to-size ratio. Lithium-ion batteries are also used in other e-mobility devices like motorcycles, wheelchairs, golf carts, all-terrain vehicles, and ride-on floor care machines.
• Electric bikes, scooters, and hoverboards are exposed to demanding conditions such as vibration, water exposure, or mechanical shock from a bump, drop, or fall during use. This can increase the risk of damage to the lithium-ion batteries powering these devices.
• Damaged or malfunctioning lithium-ion batteries may slip into thermal runaway, an uncontrollable, self-heating state that can lead to smoke, fire, toxic off-gassing, or explosion.
• Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries are faster and more aggressive than other fires.
• Safer batteries are more expensive, and alternatives that are counterfeit or cut corners on safety are flooding the market.  
• There is a lack of awareness among consumers about just how dangerous their e-mobility devices can be.

How can UL Standards reduce the risk of battery fires in e-bikes and e-scooters?

UL standards reduce the risk of battery fires in electric bikes and electric scooters by ensuring that products are designed and constructed according to rigorous safety requirements. When an e-bike, e-scooter, or hoverboard is certified to a UL standard, buyers are assured that the product&#;s batteries, chargers, electrical systems, and more, have been designed and tested to withstand conditions that the device may encounter during normal use. These conditions include high ambient temperatures, water exposure, and vibration. Certain tests even take abnormal use and foreseeable misuse into account, such as mechanical shock from a drop or fall, or overcharging due to a fault in the charging control circuitry.

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Standards are written and published by UL Standards & Engagement in collaboration with expert stakeholders from a variety of interest categories, including industry and manufacturing, academia, government, retail, and consumers. Learn how UL Standards & Engagement is working with stakeholders to make these e-mobility devices safer.

How you can get involved

Safety standards require input from diverse stakeholders. Learn how you can get involved in our standards development process and apply to join a technical committee here.

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eCouleeRider said:

Is the BMS in a Rad battery in the battery itself, or in the controller?

Click to expand...

I believe it is in the battery itself, I don't see how it could do cell pack balancing otherwise. FWIW, after installing an aftermarket controller there were no config parameters oriented to the battery, besides the low voltage shutoff (I use 40v) which kills power to the motor but still leaves the lights and controller powered. So I will bet that if I set the controller voltage shutoff to some silly low value (eg 36volts), the battery's BMS would shut things down before reaching that low voltage. Not going to test that though, want to milk this battery for as much useful life as I can get. When the BMS does shut down the battery that battery stays off until charged for a while. Only did that once just to see what would happen.

There are two fuses in the battery, a 40amp and 5 amp; I assume the 40amp is for discharge through the main terminals, and the 5 amp for charging via the barrel plug. I didn't know of the pulling power via charging port trick, I'd be careful about drawing more than 2 amps from that.

I believe it is in the battery itself, I don't see how it could do cell pack balancing otherwise. FWIW, after installing an aftermarket controller there were no config parameters oriented to the battery, besides the low voltage shutoff (I use 40v) which kills power to the motor but still leaves the lights and controller powered. So I will bet that if I set the controller voltage shutoff to some silly low value (eg 36volts), the battery's BMS would shut things down before reaching that low voltage. Not going to test that though, want to milk this battery for as much useful life as I can get. When the BMS does shut down the battery that battery stays off until charged for a while. Only did that once just to see what would happen.There are two fuses in the battery, a 40amp and 5 amp; I assume the 40amp is for discharge through the main terminals, and the 5 amp for charging via the barrel plug. I didn't know of the pulling power via charging port trick, I'd be careful about drawing more than 2 amps from that.

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