FFires caused by lithium-ion batteries, which power electric bikes and scooters, have become commonplace in New York, causing deaths and fear among residents, but the city has failed to build infrastructure that could reduce the threat.
New York has seen a dramatic increase in battery-related fires this year. In 2025, there were 292 fires, 51 injuries and one death, according to the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). This year, there have already been more than 400 fires, 83 injuries and 12 deaths.
At the end of October, four members of a family, including an 11-year-old boy, died in a fire caused by the battery of an electric bicycle that was on the path leading to the exit of an apartment on the 11th floor of a public housing building in the Bronx.
Then recently, in a house fire in Brooklyn, six people died and nine were injured, including three firefighters and two police officers. Investigators discovered lithium-ion batteries on site but could not determine whether they were the cause of the fire, city council president Julie Menin said in a statement.
“The presence of lithium-ion batteries on premises is a major concern, and more needs to be done to encourage and enforce safe storage practices. Enough is enough,” Menin said.
London and Toronto have also recently seen a dramatic increase in lithium-ion battery fires, often caused by overcharging and faulty or damaged batteries.
Part of this trend is simply because e-bikes, often used by food delivery workers and commuters, have become more popular.
But in New York, the city has not followed through on plans to build outdoor charging stations that would prevent people from plugging in their apartment batteries, where an overheated or faulty battery poses a greater risk, experts say.
“There’s a ton of bureaucracy around this type of new technology, and while it’s well-intentioned not to let something new roll out too quickly, I think in this case it’s time to do something quickly,” said Laura Kavanagh, former FDNY commissioner.
In 2025, 2.2 million electric bikes will be imported into the United States, according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association, double the number from three years earlier.
In response to the increased usage and resulting increase in fires, the New York City Department of Transportation conducted a pilot project in 2024 in which it hired companies to offer battery swap cabinets where delivery workers could exchange depleted batteries for charged batteries.
Riders completed more than 12,000 swaps over six months and among participants there was a 35% reduction in home battery charging, according to the city.
Following its success, the city announced it would install 25 charging stations, but not until 2027. The city was first required to “gather feedback on site selection, design and implementation.”
In April, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked residents for their input on where they would like to install the 25 cabinets. The city plans to make them available in 2028, the announcement said.
In 2023, the city also announced it received a $25 million federal grant to build 173 electric micromobility charging and storage stations in 53 public housing developments.
“This means residents will no longer need to charge their e-bikes in their apartments, which we consider extremely dangerous,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the time.
At the time, deputy mayor Meera Joshi said residents would begin to “see evidence” of the stations’ existence in early 2024.
Three years later, none have been built.
Even though the Biden administration allocated $25 million for infrastructure, the federal government has not actually provided the funds, according to the New York Department of Transportation.
When asked why the process had moved slowly, a Transportation Department spokesperson said in an email: “The City’s strategy to reduce the risk of e-bike battery fires focuses on removing dangerous devices from our streets and providing safe and convenient e-bike charging options” and the “outdoor battery swap cabinets will make charging safer and more accessible for the thousands of delivery workers who rely on these devices to serve New Yorkers. Thanks Based on public feedback we collected this summer, we are finalizing locations for our public e-bike charging program before moving to the design phase and remaining on track to launch service in 2028.”
Meanwhile, Popwheels, one of the companies participating in the successful pilot project, has installed about 45 cabinets throughout the city, according to CEO Baruch Herzfeld.
He wants to install hundreds more across the city, but has been blocked by a permitting process he calls “ridiculous.” He said it often takes six months for the city to approve a government.
“If I want to install a cabinet that they approve in a parking lot, I have to bring in an architect to do a drawing, and then they have to come and inspect a drawing of an e-bike battery cabinet in the parking lot,” Herzfeld said. “This licensing process is why children are dying. »
The city also often issues tickets to owners of the properties where Herzfeld installed the cabinets, he explained, for minor infractions like a fire extinguisher not having the proper labels or trash on site.
Amanda Farinacci, FDNY deputy commissioner of public information, said in an email that the tickets were not “minor infractions but rather significant concerns.”
“The FDNY has been a very strong partner with the micro-mobility/charging cabinet industry, being very accessible and collaborative in finding solutions,” Farinacci said. “We are a public safety agency and our mission is public safety. Confusing our regulatory responsibilities with getting people to recharge their batteries indoors is completely inappropriate and inaccurate.”
Kavanagh, who spent a decade at the FDNY before leaving in 2024, argued that the department is focused on “too narrow a concern.”
“I respect the concerns they have about the government, but it’s asking the wrong question,” said Kavanagh, who now works as a visiting urban planner at New York University. If “a battery failed in that cabinet outside, it’s almost certain it would only cause property damage. You compare that to “10 New Yorkers dying in fires in the last three weeks.
“It’s just much worse, and so I think we need to put it that way,” she added.
The latest fire could prompt the city to speed up its approval process. On Friday, Menin announced that the city council would hold an emergency meeting on Nov. 20 to provide oversight to ensure the city is properly enforcing current laws and that the public is informed about best practices for fire safety and lithium-ion battery storage.
E-bike fires “can cause people to lose their lives as well as their livelihoods,” Mamdani said on MS Now after the Brooklyn fire. “And so, we’re really looking at every avenue that we have to keep them safe.”
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