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

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

News

Hannoversche Allgemeine, 2017/02/08
Reading time 2:30 minutes

"You don’t check the fuel tank by using a lighter"

We asked Dirk Zedler, graduate engineer and sworn in bicycle expert.

What can make the battery of a pedelec explode all of a sudden? 

This can have several causes. Today’s bicycles are powered by lithium ion accumulators. Wrong charging or a manipulation of the battery can lead to such a reaction. I’ve already seen people screwing a child carrier to the battery.



Today’s fire broke out in a specialist shop where the correct handling of a battery should be well known. What else can have happened?

There are manufacturers with a long tradition in building batteries; they install so called battery management systems. These systems switch off the batteries immediately if a fault occurs. And then there are other manufacturers building batteries that are cheap in the first place.

What do you think a good battery should cost?

Between 500 and 700 Euro. It’s not so much the individual battery which costs, but the electronics which is built in.


Lithium batteries have become indispensable in today’s world, they also provide the power for smart phones, laptops or cordless screwdrivers. What should consumers be aware of?

They should be aware of the correct handling. In former days, we did not use a lighter to check a fuel tank either. Consumers must know that a battery is a powerful energy storage.


What do I have to keep in mind with batteries?

Be sure to only use the supplied chargers, in dry condition and at ambient temperature on a non-flammable plate. It is an advantage to charge the battery in a room with a smoke detector.

Interview: Tobias Morchner

Read the entire interview here.

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