E-scooter and E-bike fires 1

[hokie66]

There is a proliferation of fires caused by batteries in these devices. Charging inside homes has led to destruction of dwellings. There are lessons to be learned. Apparently, there is a wide variation in quality, and the lack of a battery management system would be a big issue.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-bike-battery-fires-ahead-Christmas-boom.html

 

[SnTMan]

I wonder if these things are regulated in the US. I wonder if the regs are enforced? I wonder if US companies buying from China abroad are source inspecting?

To ask is to answer

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[Retrograde]

Here's another one from yesterday - 5 people ended up in hospital.

https://7news.com.au/news/qld/e-sco...me-in-brisbane-injuring-five-people-c-9423557

 

[hokie66]

It wouldn't be so bad if they were charged outside, away from the house. But a lot of people in cities, which is where they are used, don't have that luxury. They live on small blocks or in apartment buildings.

Personally, I would like to see them banned entirely, as the riders are not regulated, and they treat the footpath as theirs exclusively, with no consideration for senior pedestrians, like me.

 

[EdStainless]

If the weight and max speed were regulated, and they had to make noise then I wouldn't mind them.
But I have been nearly killed by these a couple of times.
Charging is no big deal.
I can buy a circuit board on eBay that will handle current limits, temp monitor, and cell balance for about $3.
If I want to monitor each individual cell (rather than banks) then it takes a bunch of feedback wires and $5 board.
Just remember, you never get more than you pay for.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[dik]

Hokie... if your power is Hydro... then these things will have a very small carbon footprint and may be essential in future...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[hokie66]

dik,

With all due respect, that has nothing to do with the problem. And my power is not hydro, never will be.

 

[BrianPetersen]

No standards and no regulation and no accountability to the manufacturer/distributor (who are in a "don't care" regulatory and legal environment), plus human nature to seek out the cheapest price, and here we are.

 

[BrianPetersen]

In this country, any electrical gizmocontraption that you plug into an electrical outlet (e.g. a battery charger) is supposed to comply with CSA standards, and it's supposed to go through the proper approval channels (CSA, UL, etc). Major retailers and brand-name suppliers etc that are based here, know this and don't sell non-compliant electrical goods (otherwise they could have a recall forced upon them). I just checked the battery charger for the laptop that I'm writing this on, and unsurprisingly, it has a ULC marking. But if someone buys something online from an overseas source, and it ends up on your doorstep in a shipping box ... there's no enforcement mechanism.

 

[spsalso]

I do wonder if, since it's "...human nature to seek out the cheapest price,...", whether that is a valid defense in court.

"Yer honer. It's human nature. What else could I do?"

"Get outa here, you scamp. Next case!"



spsalso

 

[dik]

I agree Hokie... but that type of transportation may become more common with climate change. It's an evolving means of transportation.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[JohnRBaker]

These devices also fill the 'gaps' to a concept in the transportation industry known as the 'First mile and the last mile', which is a reference to how a commuter would get from their home to a mass transit terminal and then from another terminal to their workplace.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Its not usually the charger that goes up. Its the BMS, motor power controller or cells.



The two that have gone up round me are owned by lads that DIY there own battery packs.

Its a little bit funny in the UK because some are not very happy with the solar fire data. Turns out that there has only been 1 fire in the last 10 years with the actual inverter or panels. All the rest of them have occurred with the required extras mainly isolators.

 

[TugboatEng]

California's implementation of busses is stupid. The busses have to cater to the disabled so they can't cater to the functional. Stopping every 1000 feet makes the lines take to long to be useful.

John, you are correct that there is a first mile problem. The solution is to have main lines and feeders. The current impedement is exact fee for every boarding. When I lived in my closest city it costs $2.10 evert time I walked through the door of the bus and it could take 3 lines to go 4 miles. It cost a minimum $8.40 to go to the grocery store. The busses recover less than 10% of their operating costs from fares. The buses would cost less to operate if we didn't have to wait for riders to count their fair.

Then again the fair is only intended to keep the homeless off the busses.

There are really easy solutions but somebody is going to complain about discrimination and we'll keep walking back to the stoneage.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

We had the same system here. But we all use a smart card and just wave it at a reader.

They brought in during covid a one hour travel swipe. ie you swipe it on the first bus and its active for travel for the next hour how ever many forms of public transport you use be it trams, trolley buses or ICE buses.

Works really well to be honest. You can enter through 3 doors and not go near the driver.

 

[TugboatEng]

Yes, we have the smart card (Clipper Card) but we can't require it for the same reasons we can't have voter ID.

What we need are two bus systems. One for the functional and one for the dependent. Problem solved.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

We can still pay as well with cash but nobody does apart from Tourists at the airport. You get a stand alone card which I have and you can also link it to your ID card or phone and I think there is other options. All school children get a free pass as well. And if your traveling with them its linked and 1 parent goes free works on the weekends as well. Some don't like it though, the city economic dude says it generates more money than it costs and the parks are full.

If we pay cash it costs 30% more than swipe. Its 35 euro if you get caught and not swiping. And they do seem to know which routes and what times to check. But as its only 1 euro for an hours travel by swipe if my kid isn't with me I can't see the point. Compared to London which always seems to cost me 20 plus euro in travel stepping out the door for the day.

They are also quite good when the roads go to poo in the winter with snow and they start struggling. They just ditch the system and all busses are free and most do use them and leave the cars at home. Again some don't like, but the city dude says it costs less than having to increase the amount of snow clearing gear to cover the 6 days a year they need to do it. They also run the buses 24h during those periods.

And we have a company called Bolt which does escooters via an app on the phone. There is a map which tells you where the nearest one is and how much range it has and logs you into it via a bar code and logs you off it at the other end. They are about 1.50 euro for 5 km. They are not slow either two settings 15km/hour or 25km/hr. The its not worth owning your own at that price for me.

 

[hokie66]

E-scooters which lead to destruction of the house they are charging in don't do much for your 'carbon footprint', dik, whatever that is. And they don't do much for the environment in general, as many of them end up thrown in rivers, etc.

There are plenty of systems for prepaid use of public transport. Every city seems to have its own, and its own rates and rules. Where I live in Brisbane, it is a 'GoCard', but that is no good in Sydney or Melbourne. But if you drive a car on a toll road, the same prepaid transponder works for the whole continent. Go figure.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Must admit the escooter Bolt thing works really well. Always seems to be one about. They reload them with battery packs at night. And no chance of burning your house down.

There doesn't seem to be an issue with people using them to get home from the pub which there would be in Glasgow plus also them getting chucked in the river.

Mind you there are automated coffee machines in the public parks that don't get vandalised as well. Ex soviets more civilised than your average Scot!.

Maybe why I just don't see private escooters and don't hear of houses on fire because of them.

 

[CWB1]

But if someone buys something online from an overseas source, and it ends up on your doorstep in a shipping box ... there's no enforcement mechanism.

Same stateside. Amazon and other online marketplaces are infamous for selling knockoffs and downright dangerous merchandise, its the real reason they can sell for less than the established brick&mortars. Scandals worth noting involved dead dogs (food), sick people (also food), house fires (light fixtures and other electrics), Mitutoyo calipers that weren't, and a pair of Ipods the wife bought ~15 years ago with identical s/ns (copied 1Mx+ per Apple). JMO but we're long overdue for holding their stateside distribution to the same standards that we hold chains and local storefronts.