Are All E-Bikes Created Equal?

 This year, New Jersey passed a law requiring all e-bike users to have a driver’s license, register their bikes and haven insurance by 1 July.  It may well be the most restrictive legislation regarding e-bikes in the United States:  Unlike tiered systems in other jurisdictions, in which e-bikes are regulated according to their speed, power or whether or not they have a throttle or pedal assist, the Garden State’s regulation says, in essence, that all e-bikes are created equal.

Now some folks are saying that it violates one of the Declaration of Independence’s most basic tenets:  that all men are created equal.

No, the state hasn’t declared that e-bikes are people. Rather, immigrants’-rights groups are saying that the law will unfairly burden some of the people who most depend on e-bikes: delivery workers, nearly all of whom are immigrants, and people who live in areas without mass transit but who can’t afford a car or registration—some of whom are immigrants. And most of those couriers and people who commute are riding pedal-assisted machines that have lower top speeds than the ones that are basically just electric motorcycles.

Photo by Seth Wenig

Admittedly, some of those workers and residents are undocumented.  But given the current political and social climate, even those who are here legally and people who were born here to parents who are citizens (including yours truly) would rather minimize their interactions with government authorities.  I can understand their fears; I see ICE agents during rides or while running errands and worry that even someone like me is at risk of becoming the next Alex Pretti or Renee Good if one of those agents is hung over or otherwise having a bad day.  

Why An E-Bike Shop Burned

 Fires know no boundaries.

People on Madison Street, in New York's Chinatown, know that all too well.  Earlier this week, a fire in an e-bike shop spread from its first-floor location to the apartments above it.  As a result, two people are dead and several others remain in the hospital.

The fire is practically an exhibit with all of the problems associated with e-bikes, specifically the lithium-ion batteries that power them and some of the shops that sell and service them.

The shop where the fire broke out had been cited earlier for violations of the city's still-weak regulations regarding e-bikes and their batteries.  A previous citation (which levied a $1600 fine) resulted from the wiring and storage of batteries.  I can understand that shop owners are trying to optimize their limited space, but in that shop, like others, stored batteries in a space in a front shed without ample room or protection from the elements.  Also, according to reports, that shop and others (as well as individual e-bike owners) often use extension chords when charging batteries, or try to charge several at once on a power strip.

Also, I suspect that the electrical wiring and outlets in that shop and building were old.  When new, they probably wouldn't have been strong enough for charging lithium-ion batteries, but after decades of use, they're fire hazards.

There's another shop just like it--on the first floor of building, with apartments above it--across the street from the one that burned. I wonder how well the people in those apartments are sleeping.

(I don't mean to make light of this tragedy.  But I realize that this is the second day in a row I've written about e-bikes.  In my next posts, I'll go back to writing about good old pedal bikes.)