Lithium-Ion Battery Blamed for Another 3 Deaths in NYC

New York City officials say retailers and food delivery companies must do more to halt the proliferation of unsafe e-bike and e-scooter batteries, after a fire blamed on an electric scooter's lithium ion battery killed three people over the weekend, the AP reports. "There is blood on the hands of this private industry," Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said at a news conference Monday in front of the charred remains of the Brooklyn row house where the early Sunday blaze killed Albertha West, 81, her son Michael West, 58, and her grandson Jamiyl West, 33. Fire officials said the fire broke out on the ground floor of the building. "It's extensively damaged," Kavanagh said, adding that the battery that sparked the fire was for a "scooter of some kind."

The city has seen hundreds of fires linked to the lithium ion batteries that power electric bikes and scooters in the last few years (a fire linked to e-bikes killed four people in June). City officials have blamed off-market batteries and chargers that don't meet safety standards for many of the fires, and they have lobbied the federal government to strengthen regulations governing the sale of e-bikes and batteries. But Kavanagh said companies also have a role to play too. "Retailers like Amazon and Walmart need to stop selling devices that are not safety certified by a national testing laboratory, and food service apps like Grubhub and Uber Eats need to do more to ensure the safety of their workers who depend on these bikes to make a living," she said.

City officials haven't said whether the battery that caused Sunday's fire came from a vehicle used to make deliveries for one of the food service apps, and they didn't immediately respond to a Tuesday email seeking further information. Tens of thousands of the city's food delivery workers rely on e-bikes to get dinner to customers quickly, and Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi singled out the delivery industry during remarks at a City Hall news conference Tuesday, noting that time is money for delivery workers. (Click for more, including responses from Uber, Grubhub, Walmart, and Amazon.)