christiesplits
Senior Member
There was an apparent fire on a train today due to an e-bike. Is this the first time this has occurred?
|
|
|
TTC: Other Items (catch all)
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
Richard White
Senior Member
From the E-Bike incident..
https://www.reddit.com/r/TTC/s/1Kh04o2f1e
https://www.reddit.com/r/TTC/s/imvBrBIidH
https://www.reddit.com/r/TTC/s/1Kh04o2f1e
https://www.reddit.com/r/TTC/s/imvBrBIidH
Richard White
Senior Member
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Richard White
Senior Member
Someone could make the case that lithium batteries are not banned aboard aircraft.
They could also say that similar batteries are used in electric cars.
My point is that it may be hard to ban them.
T3G
Senior Member
What would be the point of banning them, if there are wheelchairs and mobility scooters running around with lithium batteries? One is as combustible as any other.
The solution here should be to take a look at why this is happening - is it shoddy manufacturing? is it shoddy materials? - and then regulate it to make the problem go away.
The solution here should be to take a look at why this is happening - is it shoddy manufacturing? is it shoddy materials? - and then regulate it to make the problem go away.
PL1
Senior Member
Lithium ion batteries are in cell phones and laptops, too.
They are not legal in checked luggage on aircraft
Richard White
Senior Member
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
The amount of charge allowed for laptop batteries onboard planes is limited to 160 Whr for a reason. The capacity of your typical ebike battery is multiple times that figure.
AoD
ShonTron
Moderator
Member Bio
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2007
- Messages
- 13,286
- Reaction score
- 12,070
- Location
- Ward 13 - Toronto Centre
There are huge variations in the quality and maintenance of electric bikes. Some of the bikes I see around here (which are almost entirely used by food couriers) are in really poor condition, likely as they're used for 6-8 hours a day, every day, without proper maintenance, and are probably on the low end of the market, as they're used by young international students and immigrants without much money. Of course, this is a big problem on the Kitchener Line GO Train.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Richard White
Senior Member
Another concern is the quality of the batteries.
There is very little regulation and people can easily buy cheap chinese made batteries. These batteries are such poor quality that they poae a safety risk.
I once bought a battery off Amazon for my laptop (years ago). It came with 90% Chinese writing and overheated rather quickly.
I had to stop using it thinking it would overheat and go boom
PL1
Senior Member
Pretty much all batteries are Chinese made afaik. Quality varies. Price is important to many people, even though they may get an inferior product.
T3G
Senior Member
I think that's splitting hairs. At the end of a day, if a train burns down and people are injured or worse, whether it came at the hands of an e-bike or e-wheelchair doesn't really matter. "At least the thing that killed your family member was an electric wheelchair" is cold comfort to someone who's grieving.
Banning is a feel good, knee jerk reaction, but it doesn't really make the problem go away. There are loads of reasons why someone who uses an e-bike might be compelled to carry it on transit - perhaps they biked into town in the morning but were hit by a torrential rainstorm in the afternoon; perhaps their bike ran out of charge; perhaps they sustained an injury, or their bike got damaged or vandalized; perhaps they had to run an errand after work that involved picking up an oversize package - do we want to exclude them from using the service because we don't want to do the hard thing and solve a problem?