E-bike fires from thermal runaway kill people in apartments

Lithium-ion batteries in cheap e-bikes and scooters — especially those with third-party or aftermarket batteries — undergo thermal runaway, producing 1,000degF fires that fully engulf a room in under 90 seconds. So what? Unlike a kitchen fire or electrical short, these fires cannot be extinguished with standard fire extinguishers and produce toxic hydrogen fluoride gas. So what? In dense urban housing where e-bikes are stored indoors (because they get stolen outside), a single battery failure kills not just the owner but neighbors in the building. So what? FDNY reported 268 e-bike fires in NYC in 2023, killing 18 people, making it the city's leading cause of fire deaths that year. So what? Landlords and housing authorities now ban e-bikes from buildings entirely, punishing delivery workers who depend on them for income. This persists because there is no federal safety standard for e-bike batteries — UL 2849 certification is voluntary, and the vast majority of e-bikes sold on Amazon and Alibaba are uncertified. CPSC lacks the budget and authority to inspect imports at scale.