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.

velobiz.de, 2017/02/10
Reading time 1:30 minutes

Expert warns: Pedelec batteries do not work as scapegoats in general

The reports went through the German press: A pedelec battery reportedly caused a major fire e few days ago. Now, the publicly appointed and sworn in expert, graduate engineer Dirk Zedler, warns of marking down pedelecs as dangerous in general under the given circumstances.

Die Branche akku-sicher machen_1

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

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