Lithium ion battery fire regulation could help heal industrywide black eye

Federal and state lawmakers are moving forward with regulation meant to prevent fires from lithium ion batteries.

While most of the legislation addresses rulemaking by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and therefore does not govern cars and trucks, the lawmaking demonstrates an increased attention to battery fires that have plagued micromobility devices like electric bikes and have caused rare but alarming fires in electric vehicles.

NHTSA also proposed rulemaking April 15 that would add safety requirements and test procedures for vehicle battery systems, ensure that emergency responders have enough information to extinguish vehicle fires, and mandate warnings for drivers about systems overheating and other thermal issues.

EVs and micromobility devices present concerns because lithium ion batteries can self-sustain their heat and fires can be harder to extinguish. An Aug. 1 fire caused by a Mercedes-Benz EQE EV in an underground parking garage in Incheon, South Korea, damaged more than 100 other cars and took eight hours to put out.

More regulation and fewer fires from micromobility and beyond may also begin to heal an industrywide black eye that continues to worry safety-conscious consumers.

"The consumer's mind doesn't differentiate," said Jay Townley, the resident futurist at Human Powered Solutions, which does product design, statistical research and analysis for micromobility device companies. "All they see is lithium ion batteries."

In New York City, where the streets are teeming with delivery riders schlepping dosas, deodorant and dumplings on e-bikes, lithium ion batteries have started 733 fires, killing 29 people and injuring 442 since 2019. In 2023 alone, lithium ion batteries started 268 fires that killed 18 people and injured 150.

In April, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said it had tracked 50 lithium ion battery fires in six months in the state. The San Diego Fire Department said it had seen at least 32 such fires in its jurisdiction from mid-March to mid-May.

While fires are rarer for EVs than combustion engine vehicles, they still happen — in a nascent industry that continues to struggle to overcome public relations hurdles like cost and reliability.

The heat in lithium ion batteries feeds on itself, a process called thermal runaway. The Mercedes mishap in Korea was not an isolated event.

On June 2, the St. Lucie County Fire District in Florida used more than 20,000 gallons of water to extinguish a fire in a Nissan Leaf. And on July 26, a truck carrying a load of lithium ion batteries overturned on an interstate in California and prompted a fire that burned for more than 40 hours.

Many lithium ion battery fires in micromobility come from cheaply constructed batteries, or those that have been tampered with or damaged. Sometimes batteries are mismatched to bikes or charging packs, which can cause overheating and fires.

For EVs, fires can be prompted by damage from crashes, though consumers have also been captivated by videos that appear to show parked vehicles spontaneously combusting, including that of the Mercedes-Benz EQE bursting into flame.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is already working on rules that would mandate safety requirements and certifications to ensure that batteries are well-constructed for micromobility devices. At the federal level, lawmakers are working on two companion bills that would speed this process along.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved one on Aug. 1, which would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to set new standards within 180 days of the bill becoming law. The House of Representatives passed a bill on May 15 that would require the Commission to issue a standard within one year of the bill becoming law, but it would also have to issue rules for equipment like chargers, cables and external packs.

Both micromobility bills are now with the Senate.

"We have seen fires, deaths, injuries all across the country," said Gabe Knight, a safety policy analyst for Consumer Reports. "Ultimately, it's really important to get federal legislation to ensure that all Americans — whether they're in New York, California, Florida, anywhere across the U.S. — are protected" from micromobility fires.

While they wait for a federal standard, states and localities are also acting independently on e-bikes and similar devices.

On July 11, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed legislation that recognizes two testing standards in the state. The package also requires retailers to provide an operating manual, mandates that charging cords have labels instructing users to unplug after use, and directs the state to develop protocols for preventing lithium ion battery fires and training first responders, among other actions.

In California, one state senate bill would require e-bikes to meet standards and be certified by a testing laboratory. An assembly bill would ban tampering with e-bikes to give them an extra burst of speed.

In Rhode Island, the General Assembly allocated the Rhode Island Fire Academy $60,000 to train firefighters on how to respond to lithium ion battery fires.

NHTSA's comment period for the proposed rulemaking, which was open until June 14, sought feedback on a mechanical integrity test for energy systems on heavy vehicles, the application of the rule to low-speed vehicles, and procedures regarding the response and documentation of emergency information.

The agency also asked for comments on the approach to electrolyte release and venting from batteries, single-cell thermal runaway rules and battery vibration requirements in the proposed rule.