All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

In our daily work as we deal with bicycle safety, technology and user manuals we come across lots of safety risks. The most frequent ones are published in articles of the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR – Europas Rennrad-Magazin Nr. 1, BIKE – Das Mountainbike Magazin Europas Nr. 1 and E-Bike – Das Pedelec-Magazin to make this information important for the sector accessible to a wider public.

For many years now the Eurobike Show Daily accompanying the annual international Eurobike Show has given us the opportunity to publish our perspective on major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent lectures about all topics relating to bicycle technology and bicycle market. In addition, we are regularly cited by further special-interest magazines or trade journals as well as more and more by radio and television and in their media reports, which shows us that we are completely right with our information. The section NEWS informs you about the latest news from our specialist fields. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to topics of interest.

ebikemagazin.de, 2017/02/17 and e-bike 01/2017
Reading time 1:30 minutes

Are pedelec batteries dangerous?

Battery fire

On February 7, a pedelec battery reportedly caused a major fire during charging in a pedelec shop in Hanover, Germany. This is not the first case of this kind. Are pedelecs dangerous in general? A comment of bicycle and electric bicycle expert, graduate engineer Dirk Zedler.

Are pedelec batteries dangerous?
Bicycle and electric bicycle expert, graduate engineer Dirk Zedler, calls for prudence.

"The explosion of an electric bicycle battery on February 7 in Hanover caused a car park building fire. According to police reports, the fire broke out in an e-bike shop in the ground floor of the car park building on Tuesday... The owner of the e-bike shop stated towards the police that there had been a loud bang and fire had broken out in several corners at the same time... The fire caused a damage at an amount of half a million Euro." That’s what SPIEGEL online reported late afternoon on February 7.

This is not the first case of this kind which went through the media. This fuels, of course, the fear of an unpredictable risk with a pedelec in your home. But this generalized conclusion is wrong in the opinion of bicycle and electric bicycle expert, graduate engineer Dirk Zedler.

"Blanket speculations on the safety of pedelec batteries as a consequence of this event of loss alone are not reasonable. Not all vehicle batteries can be measured by the same yardstick. We know that reputed battery manufacturers use every technology available to successfully prevent their products from malfunction. According to Zedler, the shop in question would offer fully assembled vehicles, conversion kits, batteries from little known suppliers and tuning services on their website. With some of these products the statutory reference values for the legal operation of pedelecs on public roads are most probably ignored. This raises doubts as to the safety awareness of the shop. Final statements can only be given when the official findings as to the investigations of the causes of fire will be at hand. But one thing is clear: Pedelec batteries do not work as scapegoats in general."

Our advice: Buy pedelecs and batteries from renowned manufacturers in specialist shops. And what is also important: Do not tamper with it on your own. And never charge a battery which shows external damage. See your specialist dealer and replace it!

Author: Julia Milan
Photo: Zedler

Read the entire article here.