E-bike lithium-ion battery fires have killed 30 people in NYC since 2022 because there is no safe public charging infrastructure for delivery workers

Delivery workers in New York City — the roughly 65,000 app-based couriers for DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub — rely on e-bikes with lithium-ion batteries that need daily charging. Most of these workers live in shared apartments or rooming houses where they charge batteries overnight, stacking multiple batteries on power strips in cramped rooms. When a lithium-ion battery with a damaged cell enters thermal runaway, it becomes a blowtorch that cannot be extinguished with water. Since 2022, these fires have killed 30 people in New York City and injured over 400, making e-bike batteries the leading cause of fatal fires in the city. The core issue is not that lithium-ion batteries are inherently dangerous — UL-certified batteries from reputable manufacturers rarely catch fire. The issue is that delivery workers, who earn $10-15 per hour after expenses, cannot afford $800-1,200 certified replacement batteries. Instead, they buy $200-300 uncertified batteries from street vendors or online marketplaces, often with cells salvaged from other devices, no battery management systems, and no thermal protection. These batteries are the ones that catch fire. New York City launched a battery-swapping pilot in 2025 with 25 outdoor cabinets in high-delivery-traffic neighborhoods, and a trade-in program where workers can exchange uncertified e-bikes for certified ones. But the scale is woefully inadequate: 25 cabinets for 65,000 delivery workers means roughly one cabinet per 2,600 workers. The structural reason this gap exists is jurisdictional fragmentation — the app companies that profit from delivery do not own the bikes, do not employ the workers (who are classified as independent contractors), and bear no liability for the batteries. The city is left to solve a fire safety crisis created by a business model that externalizes equipment costs onto the lowest-paid workers in the gig economy.