UL1973 and UL1642 do a pretty through job of addressing functional safety of batteries and safety of the individual cells. Perhaps some LiON batteries are finding their way into the USA market without 3rd party certification. How to prevent uncertified or unlisted products from reaching the retailers ?
From: Scott Xe <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, August 5, 2023 9:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] BBC news article re Li-ion batteries... Dear Ted, I couldn't agree with your views more. It is crucial for us to tackle these issues, despite the existing regulations and testing standards in place. The regulatory authorities and enforcement bodies must thoroughly assess why these measures have proven ineffective in preventing the sale of unsafe products in the market. Regards, Scott On Fri, 28 Jul 2023 at 20:39, Ted Eckert <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I can give additional background on the reason why these fires have become common in New York. A large number of residents of New York City use delivery services for goods and food, such as Uber-Eats, DoorDash, and GrubHub. The adoption of these delivery services accelerated during the COVID lockdown, and it has become a major business in the city. The drivers for these services are contractors, not employees, and they get paid based on delivery without reimbursement for expenses. Driving a car is expensive, and finding parking is very hard. Delivery people who drive cars often lose money because they incur too many parking tickets. The delivery people have switched to battery-powered electric scooters and bicycles. These small electric vehicles are optimal for the delivery services since they can move around stopped traffic easily, and they can be brought inside the door of a building for a delivery, avoiding the risk of parking fines or the vehicle getting stolen. However, the batteries will only last for a few hours of use at most. The delivery people want the option of using the electric bicycle or scooter all day to try to make more money. The common solution is to remove the battery that came with the vehicle and replace it with a much larger after-market replacement. The delivery services do not pay well, so people look for the cheapest option they can find for a large battery. The regulations in the United States make it easy to order something online that has undergone no safety testing at all. The result is that a battery of dubious quality is placed in an electric bicycle by a person with dubious technical skills. No effort may have been made to match the charger with the battery. The battery may not be provided with the physical protection necessary to avoid damage during use. The question isn’t why there are so many fires, but why there aren’t more considering the circumstances. In the United States, there is reasonable indemnification of the test laboratories. The test laboratories accredited under the OSHA Nationally Recognized Test Laboratory (NRTL) system have a reasonable level of protection. If a product carrying one of their certification marks fails, they can be sued, but it would be hard for that law suit to make it to court. The test laboratories will indicate that they tested samples on a given date and found those samples to meet the technical requirements of the standard at that time. Their report does not state that the samples were safe. It only states that they passed testing of specific requirements. The legal system places the responsibility for safety onto the manufacturer. The challenges that I see are that battery manufacturers willing to ignore safety might be willing to forge safety certification marks and documents. I strongly suspect you can buy product online and have them shipped to the UK or Europe with a Declaration of Conformity based on nothing. I suspect manufacturers will claim their products meet requirements without testing or documentation to back it up. If the manufacturer is located outside of Europe and has no legal presence there, they can sell on line and avoid responsibility. I strongly suspect that this is why there are stricter requirements for online importers and distributors in the new GPSR. The overall issue is not new. Insufficient testing, forged or missing documentation, irresponsible actors shipping from the far side of the world and the other problems have existed for a while. However, the large size of the batteries in these scooters and bicycles, and the common charging of them indoors in buildings with a large number of residents, creates an issue where a failure can jeopardize many more lives in a single incident. Ted Eckert The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. From: Matthew Wilson | GBE <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, July 28, 2023 2:11 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [PSES] BBC news article re Li-ion batteries... I thought this news article that was on the BBC TV broadcast bulletins 27th July might be of interest. “Batteries for e-bikes should be regulated in the same way as fireworks, heavy machinery or medical devices because of the fire risk they pose, a charity [UK based Electrical Safety First] has said” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66304564 Disclaimer: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please delete it from your system, do not use or disclose the information in any way and notify the sender immediately. The contents of this message may contain personal views which are not the views of the company, unless specifically stated. GB Electronics (UK) Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under number 06210991. 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