Electric bike inquiry

[Captain Caveman]

In Australia we've been having a lot of fires in rubbish trucks, people keep throwing batteries in the regular recycle bins and when the trunk collects a few bins and then compresses his load they catch fire.

In general there's only two reasons they'll catch fire. Overcharging is a real problem, that will often set them off. The other reason is damage. The most common type of damage can't be seen by the naked eye, if there's a dry solder joint (poorly soldered, weak connection) between two of the individual little batteries in the battery pack and you've gone over one too many rough bumps then there's a danger of that solder joint getting hot during charging.

Australia just introduced a whole new raft of legislation about safety standards and testing of batteries that almost instantly stopped a few of the cheaper imports, now we have to wait and see if it makes much difference. There's not been many car fires here and as far as I know they were all involved in accidents, not many bike fires either, it seems to be mostly the scooters that are the problem and that's probably partly to do with cheap manufacturing.

Had a fair few in the UK like that, though I heard of a new EV bin lorry going up. Not sure if this was due to what was being squashed inside or the EV truck itself as I only briefly saw the one who brought it to the fore. On our news, we don't get most of the EV fire articles, as we usually get them about the UK fires from news abroad about the UK. There are gagging orders on UK press, as they are not allowed to report any negative aspect on certain things such as covid preventers etc. I know because I have indirect connections with the press so I hear of quite a number of hushed up things. We can't usually directly watch other countries news about the UK, but we do get people who are putting it up on YouTube who show the news for us to see before they get taken down. (We no longer have a free press like we once had, but at least we can see things on sites like YouTube before the athorities have them removed).
It is concerning how many people blindly accept what they see without questioning them. The problem today in the UK is now, not so much what they are hiding and preventing us from finding out, but rather that we then become over skeptical and ignore anything we see on news channels such as the BBC, and then end up honestly surprised and shocked when we find the odd news article actually turns out to be true! (Even GB news has been taken over and controlled by the UK government so what is being aired today we sort of ignore, when a year ago one could rely on it as it was).
I remember meeting a gentleman on the train who was one of those rich men who did not look rich, but one knew he was one who controlled things at an upper level, and we became friendly and had a lovely chat. He warned me that if I wanted truth, not to look at the TV as he said it was used for brainwashing, and he told me which newspapers to read that the people like him used to share what was going on with others who needed to know. I will not mention which ones as it is important to keep these safe.
But it does show how we need to find other sources for our information. I remember a person who I am in touch with who is from the USA and when I asked her what was going on in the USA about a certain event on our news, she checked and found nothing about it. So I tried sharing the news link so she could watch it and there was a block on it being viewed in the USA. We regularly have USA news about the UK blocked for us to see here in the UK. One wonders what is going on?

 

[Captain Caveman]

So, something to consider. Battery chemistry is everything when it comes to heat and thermal runaway. The Chevy Bolt also had a similar issue with this. "Don't charge beyond 90%", "Only charge outdoors". All it takes is a few, like literally a few fires, and it makes international news. Yet every day, if you watch your local news, you will hear about a "vehicle fire" and nobody bats an eyelash. Nearly 1 in 10 fires that firefighters deal with are vehicle fires. Nobody cares. A "Tesla" gets in an accident or a fire, everyone loses their fricken minds and our news feeds blow up with all sorts of FUD, but in reality, these events are incredibly rare. Here's the deal though, battery chemistry changes all the time, even within the same model year of vehicle. 2023 statistics mean nothing in 2025, as they are literally different, and hopefully, better batteries.

Yes. There is that. I am one who origionally was for waiting for EV's to drop in price secondhand and going for one. But where I live due to hills, and also longer distances between places, (And I am not wanting to go down the smart phone route and never want to link my bank to a smart phone app), mean that I have no means to charge unless I take a petrol generator with me which kinda defeats the point. If we could pay to charge via our bank card or cash it would not be a problem and I would be tempted.

So when it comes back to battery chemistry. The issue is that if they solved the issues, which no doubt they probably will, it is the internal peace of mind insurance own eyes that drives us.

 

[Judge]

There are ebikes that go above 20 mph.

So, this would imply that you need a driver's license in order to be able to drive a bike that has a max speed greater than 20 mph since there is no ebike license you could obtain.

Interesting that I couldn't find anything specific about e-bikes that can and will exceed 20mph relative to PA laws. You never want to assume any laws "imply" anything.

Your best bet is to contact you local DMV office and ask. Though if they are allowable, why is it not so specified? It may also mean that E-bikes that can exceed that speed are simply not intended to be legal in the state of Pennsylvania. -Period.

Let's just say that what I couldn't find seems well....ominous to say the least.

Essential Pennsylvania Ebike Laws For 2025: Your Ultimate Guide - The Cyclist Choice

 

[velociraptor]

I was unable to find ANY insurance companies in the US that have stated this, nor do they ask if you charge inside your attached garage.

I'm not aware of any in Canada and I work in the field. I do charge my eScooters away from my home out of an abundance of caution. Chinese electronics, right? This is not because of my insurance company, it's me being careful.

BTW, eScooters are a wonderful option for commuting and can be less expensive than bikes, although the exercise component is missing. I love mine.

 

[Judge]

I'm not aware of any in Canada and I work in the field. I do charge my eScooters away from my home out of an abundance of caution. Chinese electronics, right? This is not because of my insurance company, it's me being careful.

Seems to me I saw such an article of someone in the insurance industry citing to be prudent about what equipment you purchase in the way of battery chargers. That losses involving defective equipment would not be covered. But I have no idea if they were talking about a basic HO contract or some kind of personal articles floater.

 

[paloftoon]

Hi all. This thread was locked earlier because people started infusing politics into the thread.
Please keep the thread on topic or create a new thread for a separate discussion if you're about to start to go off-base. Thanks!

 

[paloftoon]

Budget is probably 500, but could be flexible possibly.
Work is food delivery.
Bike must be no more than 20 lbs, no more than 750 Watts, and no greater than 100 lbs.
If the bike can be taken on public transportation, that might be nice.

Any e-bike recommendations (or maybe scooter recommendations)?

 

[Outdated]

Work is food delivery.

For that he's going to need a rack of some kind to carry the food, that counts scooters out.

20 lb is only about 9 Kg, I doubt you'll be able to find anything that's practical under that weight, most are likely to be double that weight.