If you happen to purchased an e-bike on Amazon for a value that appeared too good to be true, there’s a good probability you may’ve been proper. A federal shopper watchdog simply issued a recall for about 24,000 e-bikes within the sub-$1,000 value vary, all of which have been bought at well-liked retailers together with Amazon, Walmart, Sears, and Wayfair.
In line with the recall discover, issued by the U.S. Shopper Product Security Fee (CPSC) on July 17, the affected bikes have been bought underneath the model title “VIVI.” The recall comes resulting from a possible fireplace and burn danger posed by the bikes’ 36-volt lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, which have already resulted in 14 reviews of overheating and three reviews of fires, although, fortunately, no accidents have been reported. Full particulars of the recall—together with affected fashions and retailers—are listed within the discover.
Sadly, this isn’t the primary time that the next-to-non-existent e-bike and e-bike battery laws within the U.S. have resulted in fireplace considerations.
Why are e-bikes catching fireplace?
In line with a 2022 article by the Nationwide Hearth Safety Company (NFPA), the primary UL Requirements & Engagement security requirements (a voluntary security certification) for private electrical micromobility units have been created again in 2016, after greater than half 1,000,000 electrical hoverboards have been recalled resulting from overheating and, in some instances, explosions.
“The reality is battery-powered electrical micromobility units, together with the e-bikes and e-scooters which have develop into immensely well-liked lately, do catch fireplace,” the NFPA wrote. “Particularly, it’s their batteries, which are sometimes lithium-ion, that pose a danger.”
In the present day, UL Requirements & Engagement has two separate security requirements for each e-bikes (UL 2849) and e-bike batteries (UL 2271). These requirements require a one-time certification check to substantiate {that a} product is secure, which generally price between $30,000 and $100,000. Nonetheless, in most U.S. jurisdictions, these certifications are usually not required—and there’s presently no federally mandated security customary.
Of the VIVI model e-bikes concerned within the current recall, the entire affected fashions which are presently out there on VIVI’s web site declare to be licensed with UL 2849, however not with the battery particular UL 2271. A number of of the affected fashions look like both unavailable or not bought.
A 2022 investigation by Shopper Experiences discovered that free laws have resulted in lots of firms skirting round ample security precautions for each e-bikes and their lithium-ion batteries to keep away from added prices. This pattern was made even worse by the truth that, earlier than Might 2 of this 12 months, Chinese language importers (which account for almost all of the U.S. e-bike market) have been incentivized to maintain costs low by the de minimis exception, which allowed items underneath $800 to enter the U.S. tax-free.
“Lack of regulation or industry-wide acceptance of security requirements might go away lower-income customers at higher danger than these capable of afford high-end units which are likelier to be UL-certified,” Shopper Experiences famous.
As of 2023, New York Metropolis started requiring UL certification on all e-bikes. A UL Requirements & Engagement examine printed in 2024 discovered that the speed of deaths and accidents within the metropolis started to sluggish considerably after the legislation was put into place. And, this coming January, California is ready to observe New York Metropolis’s instance with its personal UL necessities.
Nonetheless, because the Shopper Experiences’ investigation famous, till a federal customary for e-bike security is ready, it’s seemingly that different states will proceed to come across issues brought on by defective batteries.
“Regardless of the mounting toll of fires, accidents, and deaths tied to e-bike batteries, producers and sellers have did not take important steps that will defend individuals’s security,” mentioned Gabe Knight, coverage advocate for Shopper Experiences, in a press launch. “When an {industry} isn’t placing security first, individuals rightly anticipate the Shopper Product Security Fee to step in. CR’s investigation exhibits that the CPSC can’t do its job as rapidly or successfully because it must so long as Congress forces the company to struggle with one hand tied behind its again.”
