Chinese e-Bike Batteries: A Growing Danger?

What risk do the many Li-ion Chinese e-bike batteries pose to consumers? We’re seeing many fires in China caused by poor quality and modified batteries, or the wrong chargers being used. e-Bike and scooter use has exploded in China, but is the situation there a mirror of the challenges that will be faced by the rest of the world as use increases in turn? What legislation is currently in place in China and the West to mitigate battery dangers, and how can it change for the better? What do foreign fire services think of these personal vehicles? What should importers be wary of?

We answer these questions and more here but be warned, there are some serious safety issues to be faced!

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We previously discussed the dangers of rechargeable batteries in mid-2023: Cheap battery risks and why new compliance laws mean their days are numbered. We spoke about the damage the Li-ion battery supply chain does to the environment and people, the fire and explosion risks of cheap batteries coming from China, and the standards and regulations regarding light and micro-mobility devices like e-scooters. Unfortunately, the risks posed by batteries used by EVs and e-bikes/scooters haven’t changed much since last year.

Looking at the risks of Li-ion batteries used in micro-mobility in China.

There are also increasing numbers of social media videos in China showing e-bikes/scooters catching fire when being charged or even just sitting idle. However, the risks posed by micro-mobility batteries are greater than those in, say, cell phones, because of the intensity of the resulting fires (e-bike/scooter batteries tend to be a lot larger, for instance). These days in China, people buy larger aftermarket batteries for their bikes or scooters that give them more range (the smaller original batteries aren’t such a problem when it comes to dangers), as they need to commute into city centers from further away.

This results in greater risks because the aftermarket battery manufacturers don’t follow the same standards as the original manufacturers and pump out batteries fast to capitalise on the hot market, the same as mask manufacturers did with dubious quality masks during covid times. These batteries are made with quality or process control in poor conditions by unskilled workers. It’s the typical ‘gold rush’ market where some manufacturers at the top are sophisticated, but lots of lower quality manufacturers mushroom up as entrepreneurial people rush to take advantage of the market.

It’s still to be seen if this is such an issue in the EU, for example, but battery safety in micro-mobility is a growing issue in China. (03:57)

What is the Chinese government doing to combat the dangers of batteries?

New rules have been introduced where e-bikes and scooters cannot be taken inside buildings and apartments, and charging stations outside which may look like a rudimentary lean-to in some cases have been built (although the wiring and building of these places are of dubious quality).

There is also a law forbidding aftermarket adjustments to be made to batteries, but this is not followed by many and there are back street ‘garages’ where an unqualified person will modify your e-bike or scooter battery to increase the size without testing it for safety. The problem is that the circuit breakers commonly used in cheap e-bikes and scooters have only 20 milliseconds to stop a dangerous battery from turning into a thermal runaway event and they are not fast enough to react. But to add the proper safeguards that reach international standards to the battery alone results in a cost of around 6,000rmb per battery, while many cheap e-bikes and scooters are on sale for around 2,000rmb (around US$200 or so) for the entire vehicle. (09:21)

What if you’re buying e-bikes and scooters, or batteries for them, from China now?

You need to be aware of the risks now manifesting in many fires and explosions around China. It’s not an isolated issue, though, as only last week there was a death in New York City after an e-scooter caught fire. The NYC Fire Department also consider micro-mobility vehicles to be a major fire hazard and they frankly accuse them of this on their website.

USA Today states in a recent article about battery safety:

How many people die from lithium-ion battery fires?
There has been a dramatic increase in deaths from fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries in New York City, the fire department says.
In 2019 and 2020, there were zero deaths from lithium-ion battery fires, according to the department, but the city has seen a spike since then.
Last year, 17 people in New York died from lithium-ion battery fires, the fire department told USA TODAY. That was up from 2022, which saw six deaths, and 2021, which saw four deaths from the battery fires, the department said.

Fires are only one risk, a burning Li-ion battery emits Lithium hydrofluoric acid which will destroy your lungs when breathed in, so they’re a major health risk. Therefore, importers of batteries and micro-mobility vehicles should be very wary of the source of their products, as today’s legislation is starting to increasingly place the responsibility for injury and damage on the importer’s shoulders. (17:53)

Does China need new battery regulations to make them safer, or to just enforce the current ones?

Now that EVs and micro-mobility vehicles are so commonplace the genie can’t go back into the bottle, there will probably always be fires now and it is not feasible to ban larger batteries. However, some changes could be made to improve the situation:

Add detection measures to batteries that will cut out if a problem is found well before it becomes a thermal runaway event.
Bring in legislation to require that batteries include additional safety measures like this.

China needs new battery regulations that require battery cells to have a thermal cutout included in them as standard. This would be more in line with the EU’s battery regulation that came into force in 2023 which is filled with safety requirements. (21:22)

Safety tips for battery buyers.

It’s imperative to use the manufacturer’s charger with its battery, not random 3rd party ones, as these are also risky, and people need to be aware of that. It is worth paying a small amount extra for an original charger to avoid fires. Also, check the battery, if it looks like it is coming apart and there is separation, reject it, as this is a sign that the Lithium cells are delaminating within the battery. (25:42)

E-bikes and scooters are a new source of risk people need to adapt to.

At the moment the best way to deal with and store e-bikes/scooters is still being figured out. If we look at China as an example, they’ve now stopped people taking them inside which is progress, but they’re all stored and charged together outside in large bays and if one explodes it will take them all with it, so risks are still high. The FDNY is acutely aware of this, hence their grave warnings, but all foreign countries will be looking at these risks and trying to assess how best to deal with them now…it’s a work in progress. (28:46)