Suspected e-Scooter Battery Fire Scorches Retirement Home, Claims 1 Life [Australia]

Epoch Times ^ | 1/16/24 | Nina Nguyen

[CFW]

A blaze that was likely to be sparked by a mobility scooter battery has torched a retirement home and claimed the life of an elderly man in Adelaide, Australia.

Trevor Fielden, 83, was found dead at Crestview Retirement village at Hillcrest in the city’s northeast.

His wife, Grace, escaped the inferno and was taken to the Royal Adelaide hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services rushed to the site at 10:15 p.m. on Jan. 15 and found two of the three adjoined units engulfed in flames. The neighbouring residents were not home at the time.

Twenty-four firefighters worked for an hour to put out the blaze and prevented it from spreading to the third unit, Metropolitan Fire Services (MFS) said.

The estimated damage to the property was $250,000 (US$164,000).

[CFW]

E-scooter batteries have caused fires over the past few years resulting in more than one dwelling to burn down. I certainly wouldn't store one in my home. But just think, this is mobility scooter. Where are you supposed to store it so that it is accessible for the disabled person when they need it?

[bigbob]

The important question to always ask is, was the recommended charger being used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions? And had any damage occurred?

[frank ballenger]

So if an EV owner defiantly parks his or her EV scooter inside an apartment in your apt. building can you sue after the whole building burns down?

Sorry to all for discussing working within the legal system.
Not an endorsement, just wondering.

[volunbeer]

Sad, but very predictable. This is a real problem and the potential risks are growing each year as more of these are purchased. All of us want people who are disabled to have the best mobility devices they can, but these are also going on airplanes (in the cargo hold).

I do not see how any aircraft will survive such an incident (see link below). I wish it were not so - they do afford people much more freedom but for public safety the best compromise might be to lose some range for a safer battery chemistry. While such failures are rare it can be quite deadly in certain places such as high rise apartments, retirement centers, etc.

Batteries found in scooters like the one in this UL demonstration video are approximately the same as those found in many e-wheelchairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRPW8zN_c0E

[volunbeer]

FWIW - these things fail far more often than EV’s which have far more safety (thermal management/battery management) built in and higher quality batteries.

There is always some level of risk. I am pretty vocal about my opinion that these batteries are not ideal for larger applications such as buses or other heavy equipment, but the highest risks seem to be found in these e-bikes, e-scooters, and sadly now, e-wheelchairs.

[bigbob]

Batteries are made up of cells connected in series/parallel to achieve the desired voltage and capacity. There are some crappy cells to be sure, but the interconnects are done with welded nickle straps and after a few bounces, they can break and connect things that shouldn’t be. All lithium chemistries require battery charge management (BCM) circuits and if the controller can’t tell what’s happening in a particular cell or string it can overcharge, and bad things can happen.

[SaxxonWoods]

A couple here have a pedicab company. I thought they were very fast on their pedals. Turns out the cabs were also battery powered. ‘Were’ because 5 of them burned along with their garage awhile back.

[NWFree]

You forgot the Segway device battery fires

[CFW]

“‘Were’ because 5 of them burned along with their garage awhile back.”

---

There have been several stories of that happening. Batteries need to be improved to the point that a fire is not such a risk.

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-ebike-store-fatal-fire-789d04a128a93160810743acf9c4f893

“4 dead after battery causes fire at New York City e-bike shop that spreads to apartments”

[steve86]

“There are some crappy cells to be sure, but the interconnects are done with welded nickle straps and after a few bounces, they can break and connect things that shouldn’t be. “

I don’t believe that’s a significant modus of e-bike or scooter fires. In the cases where it does happen it would tend merely to open the circuit. Too high of a charge current or not terminating the charge at the proper time are the principle causes. Neither of these conditions tend to occur often with OEM battery packs or chargers; but are almost expected when chargers are swapped or rush charging jobs are attempted or a pack is built from inferior cells (high resistance or other defect), such as at the NYC e-bike delivery outfits.