Free public battery charging scheme

[Tony1951]

Maybe I am indeed flaming the flares of lithium battery fires! Horrible puns aside. These from my own individual personal experience. It is now extremely difficult for Rickshaw riders in London to acquire premises where they can store and recharge their steeds. And recently,a couple of colleagues 1, who used to store and charge his e-bike in his rented apartment was told not to anymore. And 2 , a NHS worker no longer allowed to charge her battery at work. Pretty sure my personal anecdotes are isolated.

I have no doubt that these stories of panicked property owners are true, but they are a reaction to the hysteria in the media. They are not a rational reaction to serious risk.

Outside of outright battery abuse, the risk of charging a battery, is no greater than any other domestic activity involving electricity, heating appliances, cooking appliances or even refrigeration.

People react stupidly to hype. That's it. And the more we reflect that hype, the more those flames are fanned.

 

[saneagle]

I have no doubt that these stories of panicked property owners are true, but they are a reaction to the hysteria in the media. They are not a rational reaction to serious risk.

Outside of outright battery abuse, the risk of charging a battery, is no greater than any other domestic activity involving electricity, heating appliances, cooking appliances or even refrigeration.

People react stupidly to hype. That's it. And the more we reflect that hype, the more those flames are fanned.

If you owned a building, would you be happy to rent it to a load of those deliveroo riders with their bikes with multiple batteries or big bag batteries? If you owned an HMO and found out that all the occupants were deliveroo riders, would you do anything?

 

[Tony1951]

If you owned a building, would you be happy to rent it to a load of those deliveroo riders with their bikes with multiple batteries or big bag batteries? If you owned an HMO and found out that all the occupants were deliveroo riders, would you do anything?

Well that is a different category of risk than what I thought we were talking about, but in those cases, I would not be happy. I thought we were talking about sensible chaps being refused access and a nurse being refused permission to store her bike. On the other hand, one of the anecdotes referred to rickshaw riders and I am not sure how sensibly put together their machines are. I just don't know.

 

[saneagle]

Well that is a different category of risk than what I thought we were talking about, but in those cases, I would not be happy. I thought we were talking about sensible chaps being refused access and a nurse being refused permission to store her bike. On the other hand, one of the anecdotes referred to rickshaw riders and I am not sure how sensibly put together their machines are. I just don't know.

This is the problem. How can you make a rule for one but not the other?

 

[Tony1951]

The same kind of hype has been wrongly attached to electric cars too. If you ask around, many people seem to think that battery fires in electric only cars are common. They are extremely rare. Of the 18,545 vehicle fires that occurred in the UK in 2024, only 232 were battery cars. Of course the same source shows that the figure rose 77% from 131 battery car fires in 2022 but that 77% rise is only 99 cars in absolute numbers. In that time there was a large increase in the numbers of electric cars on the road.

So in 2024 - 18313 petroleum based vehicles went up in smoke and 232 electric ones did. The ratio of petroleum to electric car fires is 78:1

There are about 32 million petrol and diesel cars and 1.34 million electric ones.

The ratio of car fires between petrol and electric is 78:1, but the ratio of petrol to electric cars is 23.8:1 - so electric cars are about 3 times less likely to catch fire.

EDIT:

One thing I should add is that the electric cars are generally newer than the whole car fleet and to be fair the fire risk in cars rises as they get older.

I remember when my old skoda diesel was about twelve it developed a pin hole leak in a rubber interconnect between two steel diesel pipes and fuel was squirting out in a nasty haze and soaked the engine cover in fuel. I smelled the leak and stopped and examined the engine. Some people might not have done and I think we can guess how that might have ended. Electric cars may develop age related vulnerabilities too - in time.

 

[saneagle]

The same kind of hype has been wrongly attached to electric cars too. If you ask around, many people seem to think that battery fires in electric only cars are common. They are extremely rare. Of the 18,545 vehicle fires that occurred in the UK in 2024, only 232 were battery cars. Of course the same source shows that the figure rose 77% from 131 battery car fires in 2022 but that 77% rise is only 99 cars in absolute numbers. In that time there was a large increase in the numbers of electric cars on the road.

So in 2024 - 18313 petroleum based vehicles went up in smoke and 232 electric ones did. The ratio of petroleum to electric car fires is 78:1

There are about 32 million petrol and diesel cars and 1.34 million electric ones.

The ratio of car fires between petrol and electric is 78:1, but the ratio of petrol to electric cars is 23.8:1 - so electric cars are about 3 times less likely to catch fire.

Personally, I don't believe any of that data. It's like the vaccine injuries data, which doesn't show even a fraction of the true damage.

You can join this Facebook group to get some actual data. Should we start one for ebikes?

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