The starting point: A spectacular accident in Hanover on February 7, stirred up the cycle industry, irritated pedelec owners and made the daily media use bold headlines: An electric bicycle battery had allegedly caught fire after the charging. This happened in the shop of an electric vehicle seller which burnt down as a consequence. The fire had not yet been fully extinguished when the safety of pedelec batteries was questioned in general by the media and private individuals already.
Zedlers asks for patience in this matter
In the resulting excitement Dirk Zedler asks for patience in this matter: “Blanket speculations on the safety of pedelec batteries as a consequence of this event of loss alone are not reasonable.” He shows himself convinced that not all vehicle batteries can be measured by the same yardstick: “We know that various reputed battery manufacturers use every technology available to successfully prevent their products from malfunction.”
In the current case, however, Zedler also expresses concern: “On the other hand we had to state that the shop in question offers complete vehicles, conversion kits, batteries from little known suppliers as well as tuning kits on their website. With some of these products the statutory reference values for the legal operation of pedelecs and further vehicles on public roads are most probably ignored. This raises doubts as to the safety awareness of the e-bike shop. Final statements cannot be given until the official findings as to the investigations of the causes of fire will be available,” states the bicycle expert.
Author: Jürgen Wetzstein
