NYC Wants Unsafe Lithium-Ion E-Bike Batteries To Be Stopped At the Border

[rcjordan]

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/23/07/27/219206/nyc-wants-unsafe-lithium-ion-e-bike-batteries-to-be-stopped-at-the-border

[ergophobe]

How does one know before a fire that a battery is well or poorly made?

I thought this was essentially random. Are there tests? Manufacturing standards? Self-diagnostics on the battery or charger?

[rcjordan]

IIRC, NY and other govs want a UL certification ...they forget that the Chinese will just print one.

[ergophobe]

Ah, okay. I used to have a login to the UL database, but it expired. I wonder if they have a spec for Li E-Bike batteries. Or for Li batteries in general... and the answer of course is yes

https://www.ul.com/services/battery-safety-testing

[rcjordan]

I just checked my 18v Ryobi tool batteries and they are UL listed, as are the chargers.  A half-dozen of those large-ish batteries continually charging unattended in the garage are a concern.

The other big stock of li-on batteries in the house are Panasonic Eneloop AA & AAAs.  The chargers are UL but I can find no indication on the batteries or online that the batteries themselves are UL listed.

Whenever I buy replacement batteries for the robot vacs they are always generic from China.  The same goes for the few specialty devices such a small backup power units for electronics.