Are E-BIKE Batteries DANGEROUS? | Electric Bike Dangers

Peter Kaltreider here, Sixthreezero Bikes at e-bikes, exciting one. Are e-bike batteries dangerous?

Well, I'm a firm believer in living dangerously that's why we're having this conversation today, because if you want to live dangerously, well an e-bike battery is not that dangerous. However, there have been recorded as of 2018, the previous five years by OSHA, 25,000 incidents of lithium-ion battery fires and explosions. So that does happen, okay.

So anyway, if you have an old battery, or if it gets damaged, or it gets overheated, or it's charged improperly, the battery can be compromised and it can cause a fire or it can explode. I read an article just this past week of a shop that had e-bikes and they were charging a lot of batteries overnight, and the whole shop, unfortunately, caught fire. This is also happening a lot of times in cities where there are a lot of delivery people who instead of delivering food and other packages by car or by regular bicycle, are using their e-bikes. A lot of times these are cheaper e-bikes and the manufacturing may not be up to par. We may not even know really where the battery came from, and they're also a lot of times charging multiple batteries so they can switch them out and continue with their deliveries. Anyway, apartment buildings are catching on fire too. We're hearing a lot of that.

So lithium-ion batteries are safe, however, they can catch on fire or explode if one, they're damaged. So if you have a crash and the battery gets banged or dented like that, it is compromised at that point. What I would do is the recommendation is to put it into sand or kitty litter and then take it to your recycling facility. That's a different video. If you don't have any of that, of course, you can put it into a clear plastic bag or a couple of clear plastic bags. And then I would put it in a safe place in your house, not near anything flammable. And then as soon as you can, do take it to a recycling facility.

Also charging, make sure you charge properly. You don't want to ever overcharge your lithium-ion battery. That can cause a problem. Also, extreme heat, over 130 degrees Fahrenheit can damage your battery and can cause a chain reaction called thermal runaway, which can cause a fire or an explosion. Also charging in subfreezing weather, so the battery can go in freezing weather, but it can't be charged. I think that a lot of batteries should have a battery management system that won't allow you to do this, but some don't have very sophisticated battery management systems and it could allow you to charge in subfreezing temperatures and compromise the battery.

So anyway, yeah, they're super safe, but there have been a lot of incidences where batteries have caught fire or exploded, and have caused a lot of damage in landfills, trash transfer centers, inside dump trucks, and also in apartment buildings, stores, etc., etc. So anyway, if your battery gets damaged, or if it's been charged improperly, or you left it in the car and it exceeded 130 degrees or something like that, probably a battery you just want to go ahead and recycle. Take it to the recycling center safely in sand, kitty litter, or a clear plastic bag, and get yourself a new one. It's not worth it.

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