Gabriel Dolores, a Mexican native and delivery worker residing in Corona, Queens, recently purchased a second-hand lithium-ion battery through Amazon in order to continue his job with Relay. It didn’t take long before disaster struck, and his life was forever altered.
With the help of a translator, Dolores recounted the fire that broke out at his home on the morning of March 17 when the battery burst as he recharged it, igniting flames in his home that left him homeless with burned, bubbled flesh.
According to FDNY sources, 60 firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to Dolores’ 96th Street residence in Corona, Queens at 6:34 a.m. While the fire was placed under control in under 30 minutes, he was whisked to Harlem Hospital with second degree burns.
“He is very sad because he lost everything. He lost his phone and he lost whatever he had in his room. His clothing, all of the important papers. He lost everything. Basically, right now he doesn’t even have underwear. It’s an unfortunate situation for him but he said he is grateful he is alive,” Jose Rodrigo Nevares Castilla said, a member of Dario De Los Delivery Boys, who helped provide translated details the dire situation.
E-bike fires have been tearing through New York City like a knife through hot butter, leaving destruction, charred apartments, and broken hearts in their wake.
It’s just the latest danger facing delivery workers in the Big Apple, who constantly deal with the threat of attempted bike robberies and traffic collisions in the sun, rain, and sleet.
Resulting from relatively small Lithium-ion batteries, these power sources have a big impact on the lives of e-bike owners and their neighbors when these devices explode into fireballs. In a conversation with amNewYork Metro, Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn said that the batteries can explode while both on and off charge. He also recommended owners only use batteries that are paired with its designated bike.
Dolores’ injuries came just days before Mayor Eric Adams signed a new package of legislation into law aiming to combat the sale and distribution of second-hand lithium-ion batteries across the city.
17 comments:
You didn’t need a prophet nor a psychic to see this coming.
All these e-bikes need to be registered licensed and insured. Only a matter of time before one of these clowns store and charge these things in a high rise/project.
Fake news. The government and corporations want to take away our freedoms.
Stop the tyranny.
Tip of the iceburg, more fires as these battery's age combined with being worked in hotter temperatures. These e-bikes used for delivery's are worked super hard and always on quick charge. They don't stand a chance after 150 or so charge/discharge cycles.
The mayors new law is badly written and will do nothing to curb this problem because "certified" or battery's can still do the same thing depending on how many cells go bad at once and that is unpredictable and the nature of such battery's with high demand power requirements.
An e-car or e-bike motor isn't going to run on a single 3.65 volt cell, not yet in the year 2023 anyway. These e-bikes and e-cars were ALL rushed and not ready.
Like most the owners of these e-bikes the mayor had people with zero understanding of how these battery's and chargers work, the demands, and strict charging guidelines.
"Oh they will be certified"
Well Certified for what? ,
RoHS, factory OEM certified? ...Both of which will do you no dam good.
A big issue is near all these scooter battery's are made in China whose version of safety is just as moot against shorted cells & fire as the US and EU versions.
Unlike the EU and American "green, tree people" written versions of RoHS certified, which imposes primarily landfill, pollution issues focusing on substance concentrations for a product or component, China RoHS only restricts "substance concentrations" on only each homogenous material in the product.
In other words a battery can be RoHS certified with the fancy sticker but it can still light up like an acetylene torch.
Fuses wont work and wont help you with all these battery's nature.
The only fix is to ban all the e-bikes until the battery & charging technology is standardized, ready and perfected.
All street versions should be standardized with the same battery, motor and charging technology. You don't need 0-60 MPH in 2 seconds to deliver noodles on NYC streets
The cost of such bikes and that kind of lightweight high voltage/high current battery's is currently only achievable with lithium (in 2023) will likely triple if perfected with safety over cost in mind.
2-Forget about Oxygen & hydrogen fuel cells, Remember the Hindenburg and Apollo 13!
Such in the hands of the assholes who own and operate these bikes like the victim., who likely is an illegal immigrant working and driving this country, no permits, no license, no insurance, cant read or write in any language, who needs a a F_@$#ng translator says it all.
We he able to read the manual and safety section for that bike, battery and charger, like most in these fires?
I doubt it.
-Joe
First they'll come for your batteries, then they'll come for your gun, then they'll come for your SUV.
I'm packing my bags and taking my e-bike to the "Great swamp of Florida"
Time to go back to the steam engine...
Elections with voter id is the one and only solution for this problem.
One party rule is not working in NY...
No sympathy here. The voters elected Addams, Hoochul and Braggg who represent the epitome of high crime, bad laws and an unsafe city. The voters knew this before the election and voted for them anyway. They got what they voted for. Next time vote for someone else.
"Elections have consequences." - Barrack Obama
Luckily gasoline cars don't explode and kill too many people.
Only 285 people murdered on New York City roads last year and 51,883 injured.
You can't ask for safer than that?
Let's ban bicycles, pedestrians and scooters.
Every day and in every way, NYC is becoming a third-world city. Sloppy Joe's wide open borders ensure the entire nation is becoming the third world. Stolen elections have consequences.
Curious to know how many fires were started by bad batteries in phones and other devices.
It's well time that our lawmakers passed a, "Don't say lithium battery" law, similar to one of those laws that they passed in the "Great Swamp" of Florida. I think their one was slightly different. Something about "Don't say Meatball", or whatever.
Curious to know how many fires were started by bad batteries in phones and other devices.
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Cant be many that actually caused big fires. Most all phones and small devices can use a small capacity single 3.7 volt Lithium cell (usually flat Lithium polymer) and since the current demand is so low they could be fused and also has a thermistor and protection board built into them. The back of the phone, GPS, IPOD, PAD whatever also acts as a heatsink.
(They could explode (rare) if left in the sun, punctured, dropped to many times but only hold around 1.5 amp hours (around 5 watts) of energy)
Also short if placed on a ancient color CRT monitor with a degaussing coil or large electromagnetic device (the EMP destroys the diodes and protect board)
About the protect board:
A phone battery cell itself never see's more then a 200 milliampres load even if you take a jumper and short it. (you get a click, fuse opens and the battery puts out nothing)
The protection board also prevents the battery from running too low, hot or overcharged. You get a "battery low" indication or % indication but the cell itself is never discharged below a certain safty voltage.
These e-bike battery's with 20, 30, 40 cells in series have none of this, it be to costly and physically large. You get 1 thermister on 1 cell that reports the temperature to the charger. if your lucky. And if an adjacent cell not near that thermister goes bad or is overheating the charger will never know, then you have a case of firecrackers going off, worse flames burning 2500 degrees like July 4th magnesium sparklers.
Unlike Ni-Cad and Nickle metal hydrate that benefit from being fully discharged, Lithium cells are the total opposite, Lithium battery's must never EVER be allowed to be fully discharged.
Lithium battery's are total different animals and shouldn't be called battery's at all.
Joe
NYC is an aquapolis. One way you can have economic growth AND cleaner resources is to use more boats. This means unburying the part of Flushing River from the 1963 World Fair, and extending the Flushing River to Jamaica Bay. Extend the G train to Laguardia, over Hell Gate to Ft Lee, Hoboken (linke to Secaucus 7 train), Jersey City, Wall Street, back to Brooklyn. Such a multi-purpose loop linking lower middle class neighborhoods would allow retail workers to be more competitive by gaining access to a wider variety of employment.
@NPC_doofus, RE: "Sloppy Joe's wide open borders ensure the entire nation is becoming the third world. "
I presume that it was these "wide open borders" that allowed you or your ancestors into this great land, despite having an exceptionally low IQ.
Who told you that crock, some school teacher or college professor?
No, it was skills and sponsors and vetting at Ellis Island that allowed ancestors into this country. If you were a screw-up, had disease or no sponsor to carry you should you not be capable of paying you way.
If not you got put in a barracks till a ship was available to send your ass back!!
All my ancestors had special skills (brick layers, steel workers, terracotta, chefs and sponsors to pay for them.
Now what we have the worlds 4th world dumping ground of people nobody wants.
1/2 cant read or write in any language, 1/2 the female's are pregnant or become pregnant on arrival. Most will never support themselves, why would they when they get all they need free and all sorts of protection.
Near every dollar they do make off the books goes to alcohol and sending money back to the home country to smuggle over more. Look at Home Depot parking lot in the morning.
And BTW, the work these illegals do is total shit, they cant even read rulers or work level. Neighbor just had an awing put up. Not one ruler or level used, only tossed up with a couple cordless drills.
Its all crooked, cockeye out of plumb and dented from being dropped from the second floor. There were also bag of "extra parts" like anchor bolts, gutter caps, downspouts in the pickup truck thrown out.
Now the neighbor has a lawsuit with the contractor who only came at the end to collect the $$ balance who says "its acceptable" The contractor is now claiming one of his men got hurt on the job, wants to contact his homeowners insurance.
Anybody having home improvement work better have and attorney drafted, legal signed in writing, at time of sale: All installers/workers will have insurance, speak English and have the skills needed, no illegal or un-insured labor working on private property or the contractor is liable.
If a contractor is un willing go someplace else.
No stupid "coyote" boss picked up on a street for directing and translating procedure.
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