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NYC e-bike owners wonder where to store them as landlords fear battery fires
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Stephen Nessen
Published Nov 27, 2023
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Stephen Nessen
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Stephen Nessen
Published Nov 27, 2023
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The most unwanted tenants these days in New York City buildings are electric bikes.
An increasing number of landlords and management companies are putting the kibosh on residents keeping e-bikes in apartments and bike rooms, even if they meet international safety standards.
The crackdown comes as illegal or dangerous lithium batteries used in some e-bikes, scooters and mopeds have sparked 243 fires this year, killing 17 people, according to the city fire department. That’s up from 30 battery fires and zero related deaths in 2019.
West Harlem resident J. Manuel Mancilla said he wants to buy a cargo e-bike but can’t find a place to store one. The management company that runs his building, K&R Realty Management, has banned e-bikes, telling tenants in a letter that e-bike batteries are “an extreme hazard to the life, health, safety and well-being, body and property of all tenants.”
Mancilla is the cofounder of Oonee, a startup that installs secure bike parking pods in public places, with locations in Jersey City and Grand Central Terminal — but none in Mancilla’s neighborhood.
He said his landlord’s ban on e-bikes has left riders like him with "zero options and zero alternatives."
The aftermath of a battery fire in Chinatown in June that killed four people.
FDNY
Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, which lobbies on behalf of roughly 4,000 owners of rent-stabilized properties in New York, said insurance companies are squeezing landlords over e-bike risks.
“Owners are incentivized to proactively be punitive against the renter on these batteries because they're frankly scared of losing their insurance coverage if it's found out that they have renters [who] are bringing these batteries into the buildings,” Martin said.
Earlier this month, a fire the FDNY said was caused by an electric scooter battery killed three family members across three generations in Crown Heights and seriously injured a firefighter.
The City Council has tried to crack down on illegal lithium batteries that power e-bikes and e-scooters. In September it passed a law banning local sales of micromobility devices with uncertified batteries.
Last month, the Council passed a bill establishing an office to facilitate trade-ins of unsafe e-bike batteries for certified batteries. Councilmember Keith Powers, who introduced the legislation, said it was the first program of its kind in the country and likened it to gun buybacks organized by the NYPD.
“We're going to get into the business of getting the dangerous equipment off the street and set up a fund to do that,” Powers said.
“Ultimately, we want a safe program that allows folks to be able to use these bikes safely and to not live in fear that they’re going to result in a fire or explosion,” he added. “I recognize in the meantime there are going to be folks who have trepidation about letting them into the building, and that’s because there are so many unsafe ones out there.”
Powers said he expects the program to launch next year.
In another step toward rooting out bad batteries, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection began surprise inspections of bike shops in September.
The agency has since issued 81 summonses for selling, leasing or renting uncertified lithium-ion batteries, including to 14 online sellers. The city also wrote 34 cease-and-desist letters to online vendors for selling non-compliant batteries.
Shane Hall, who works at Bicycles NYC on the Upper East Side, said DCWP inspectors have visited his shop — where e-bikes typically start at around $2,000 and go up to $9,000 — several times, sometimes posing as customers.
He said his shop only sells e-bikes with certified batteries, but added that people's fears over lithium batteries and the growing crackdown by landlords has hit his bottom line.
“We're fighting uphill against negativity,” Hall said. “I've had some clients, unfortunately, that had to sell their bikes because the building said, ‘Okay, fine, I'm glad your bike's safe, but we're not allowing anybody's bikes in.’”
Hall estimated the store’s e-bike sales are down 15% to 20% compared to last year.
Danny Harris, executive director of advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, said his organization has called for expanded bike parking and safe charging across the city for years, because "investing in truly safe and accessible bike parking keeps our communities safe and bikes protected."
“E-bikes are a lifeline for so many — from New Yorkers bringing their children to school to New Yorkers who bike for a living," he said in a statement. "Rather than removing access to bikes, our city should be providing safe and secure bike parking and charging as well as fully-certified UL batteries."
Tagged
bikes
electric bikes
electric scooters
new york city
public safety
fires
batteries
transportation alternatives
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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