By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams on Monday announced plans to launch a new, lithium-ion battery-charging pilot program early next year that will allow an initial group of delivery workers to safely charge their bikes in public. The pilot will test a variety of technologies to charge e-bike batteries at multiple locations across the city, developed as part of the administration’s “Charge Safe, Ride Safe” plan to protect New Yorkers from fires caused by lithium-ion batteries and promote safe electric-micromobility usage. Those technologies will include battery-swapping networks, as well as secure bike parking docks that supply fast charging to delivery workers’ e-bikes.
“By investing in battery-swapping networks and fast-charging e-bike docks, we’re building e-bike-friendly infrastructure and preparing our city’s streets for a new generation of users,” Adams said.
Developed as part of “Charge Safe, Ride Safe,” the pilot being announced today will test out different implementation paths to inform future citywide efforts for public e-bike charging, as well as collect feedback from delivery workers. The DOT developed the pilot through the agency’s DOT Studio, a research and development partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and Newlab, the urban tech growth hub. Over the last six months, DOT has worked closely with its Studio partners, as well as with the FDNY and delivery workers, to identify several companies to produce unique potential safe and convenient e-battery charging options.
This pilot builds upon several other initiatives to develop more outside-of-home charging options for New Yorkers, including establishing “deliverista hubs” in vacant newsstands in partnership with Los Deliveristas Unidos and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and winning a $25 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to install 173 outdoor electric-micromobility charging and storage stations at 53 New York City Housing Authority developments.
“Charge Safe, Ride Safe” focuses on four key areas: promoting and incentivizing safe battery use, increasing education and outreach to electric micromobility users, advocating for additional federal regulation of these devices, and expanding enforcement against high-risk situations. Additionally, this year, Mayor Adams has also signed several bills to further regulate lithium-ion batteries sold in New York City and strengthen fire safety related to battery fires, including bills that prohibit the sale of unsafe, uncertified lithium-ion batteries or dangerously refurbished batteries.
In June, Mayor Adams, FDNY Commissioner Kavanagh, and New York City Small Business Services Commissioner Kevin Kim launched a new action plan to expedite investigations into potentially hazardous conditions involving lithium-ion batteries, as well as launch a comprehensive outreach and education campaign to educate bike shop and bike repair shop owners about the dangers of lithium-ion batteries and best practices to avoid fires. As part of the plan, 311 calls regarding questionable activity at bike repair shops or any other location where batteries are being charged will get a response from the local fire station within 12 hours.
E-bikes and e-scooters are an affordable and convenient alternative to cars and are essential for delivery workers and other New Yorkers who rely on this mode of transportation for their livelihoods. Fires caused by batteries that power electric micromobility devices are a significant problem in NYC, growing from 30 in 2019 to 253 in 2023. These fires are particularly severe and difficult to extinguish, spreading quickly and producing noxious fumes. From 2019 to 2022, these fires resulted in an average of approximately three deaths and 66 injuries per year. So far in 2023, these batteries have already resulted in 18 deaths and 133 injuries.
