E-bike ban calls grow amid safety concerns

More states considering public transport bans for the devices.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
There are growing momentum across the country as more states
joined to push for e bikes and e scooters to
be banned from public transport. Victoria, New South Wales and
Queensland are now weighing up the move. The proposed crackdown
follows a series of onboard fires, many linked to the
lithium ion batteries that power these devices. For more, we're

(00:21):
joined by Adam Best as CSIRO research scientists.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Great to have you with us.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
So, first off, how serious is the risk here?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Do they just ignite into flames randomly? Do they not
randomly at all?

Speaker 3 (00:33):
It really depends on how they're treated and what they've
been through in terms of their ride during the day.
So if the bikes have been crashed around or if
they've been through water tightly, likely that they will probably
have leakages into the containerization that they have and this
can then cause short circuits and fire. The other big
problem that we also see with them is puncture, so
whereby something might actually penetrate the box and that can

(00:56):
actually cause the cells to catch fire. But these are
not common events at all. But what we do see
when we see them are pretty frightening fires and that's
why our consumers are rightly concerned.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
These high bikes. They're like answer to picnic, right, they're everywhere. Now,
is this what we're focused on or is it the
overseas imported devices that people are buying online.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Is it a regulation issue.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
It's definitely a regulation issue, and we do see a
lot of these purchased online. I really live by the
phrase at the moment that you get what you pay for.
If you buy a really good quality e bike or
e scooter, you'll probably get a really good quality product.
But if you buy the cheaper ones, then you're more
likely to see very poor battery containers. You may see
poor battery management systems. You may even see really poor

(01:40):
charges and cables, and these are what ultimately cause fire
and flat failure.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
So your research team completed a lithium battery safety reporting
twenty twenty three. One of the recommendations from that and
is it being implemented?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Does it need to be reviewed again?

Speaker 3 (01:57):
Some of the implementation review comments have been implement it.
So the New South Wales government, for instance, recently introduced
legislation around the regulation of e bikes in EA scooters
in New South Wales, but there's still a lot more
work to be done. We have a lot of recommendations
around safety and ensuring that consumers understand about the hazards

(02:17):
of batteries. And that's not just e bikes in the scooters,
that's batteries as a whole. We see more and more
batteries in our lives, from electric vehicles to cast to
homes to grid storage, and so we really want consumers
to be really aware of the hazards that exist in
batteries and to be able to deal with those issues
if and when they occur.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, they seem to go up so quickly, don't they.
It's scary stuff.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Really appreciate your time about them.