Hundreds of e-scooters damaged after blaze breaks out in warehouse
By Paul Homewood.
Karma, I suppose!!
Hundreds of Voi e-scooters were damaged in a warehouse fire in Bristol yesterday (January 1).
The fire service arrived at 12.28pm and were still at the scene at four hours later.
As many as 200 scooters were damaged, while the fire also affected a number of their batteries. It is unclear at this stage if the blaze broke out from one of the scooters.
Eight crews and a ladder device were needed to tackle the flames, which also damaged the warehouse.
A spokesperson for the service said they monitored the situation throughout the evening to make sure the fire did not re-ignite, which they said is common in blazes caused by lithium batteries such as those in the scooters.
The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental, but an investigation has been launched. Representatives from the council and environmental health also attended the scene.
The fire service spokesperson said that the incident was dealt with "very effectively" alongside their partner agencies.
In December 2021, a long rental Voi began burning in a man’s home. The machine was billowing smoke prompting firefighters to race to the house..
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/hundreds-voi-e-scooters-damaged-6431203
These e-scooters really are wretched things, and are not safe to be on the roads or anywhere else. They are a danger to the public, and would not see the light of day if they were not seen as “climate friendly”.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Peter Hitchens agrees with you (and the rest of his piece isn’t bad either):
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10361187/PETER-HITCHENS-Just-like-Reds-Greens-think-theyre-nice-wrong.html
Most e-scooters I see are ridden by lone males of a certain “type”, couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, until a recent news report about a drug dealer caught on one. Ahah, that is it.
Chav Chariots !!
Risky business…
Elderly man dies after his electric scooter crashes into parked cars
Sunday 02 January 2022
A 74-year-old man has died after his electric scooter collided with two parked cars on New Year’s Day.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said officers were called to reports of the crash on Springfield Road in Tameside, just east of Manchester, at around 1.40pm on Saturday.
The force said the man had been riding on the road when he collided with the cars.
https://www.gbnews.uk/news/elderly-man-dies-after-his-electric-scooter-crashes-into-parked-cars/196511
Good.
I see yet another e-scooter rider self-selected themselves for termination today. A quick Google shows there are hundreds, if not thousands, of e-scooter accidents each year already.
The failure of the gov. to dump the trials and ban them and enforce it strictly is a scandal.
Despite the explicit prohibition notices on the seafront near me, dozens were whizzing in and out the crowds on the pavement yesterday.
The police are also failing to deal with the increasing plague of overpowered e-bikes – it’s becoming increasingly common to be overtaken by ‘cyclists’ doing 40mph+ and never even pedaling.
The vast majority of the people using these contraptions are youths/yobs, so clearly it does little/nothing to take cars off the roads, just puts more very dangerous traffic on them.
I was under the impression that, according to EAPC regulations for on-road use, if the bike has pedals that propel it; the electric motor won’t assist you when you’re travelling more than 25 km/h (15.5mph); and the power doesn’t exceed 250 watts. Also you have to be over 14 years old to ride an eBike.
Off Road eBikes may differ but are not legal for road use. But this doesn’t stop illegal modifications and use.
Obviously, hence why I raised the lack of enforcement.
‘Illegal’ spec bicycles are widely available and hacking to increase power/speed etc. of legal bikes is pretty easy.
The electronic controllers for e-bikes are universal for all markets, they have many configurations available governing things such as pedal assist start, top speed for electrical assist and motor wattage. These configurations are menu driven, the menus are easily accessible to a determined user so a large proportion of e-bikes on our roads no longer comply with UK regulations.
Paul Homewood is an e-bike rider with many pictures of his e-bike on this blog.
I am often overtaken by e-bike riders who are going so fast they could not avoid an unexpected obstruction of the road.
What is particularly dangerous is speeding e-bikes on traffic free cycle paths where young children are riding bicycles. I once regarded these traffic free routes as “safe” but unfortunately they aren’t safe any more.
I used to moan about being overtaken by Pelotons in full animal scaring lycra, but these MAMILs never appeared on traffic free paths so you were safe.
Hi cookers52, thanks for the laugh, I had no idea what you meant by MAMILs until I googled it – fantastic image.
Despite working almost continuously through close on two years of lockdown, having three jabs and taking many precautions I have just retired only to go down with the blasted covid. So here I am in bed all day, pebble dashing the lap top screen with coughing at it and feeling sorry for myself. Your post cheered me up! Thanks
You have hit the nail on the head. This is putting extra traffic on the roads not reducing it as many of these characters would not be making the journey on car and certainly not on a bus. They are mostly joy riders.
I don’t doubt that people are passed by eBikes but I’ve not experienced it personally, although dodging school children on eScooters on cycle/footpaths is the main problem I encounter. My main problem is cyclists who think it’s a good idea to blind other cyclists with modern LED lights deliberately set at eye level for carsdrivers, cyclists and pedestrians going in the opposite directions’
This is from a cycling website
If your ebike doesn’t meet these regulations – either because the motor is more powerful than 250W, or if it assists you when you’re riding more than 15.5 mph – it will need to be registered, insured and taxed as a motor vehicle. In this case, you will also need a driving licence, and you must wear a motorcycle helmet.
These other kind of bikes (also called speed pedelecs) cannot be ridden on cycle paths and must be approved by the DVLA. So while it’s easy to de-restrict an ebike to get the motor assisting you with higher speeds, it is not very wise to do so, both for regulatory and safety reasons.
So it’s a question of policing, so it’s going to like the use of mobile phones when driving – a small proportion will be fined but everybody will carry on as normal. I suppose as most adults on tweaked eBikes will have a driving licence (outside London anyway) then points on that might be slight deterrent
Isn’t it strange that so many perfectly safe things get limited or banned, relying on very far fetched scenarios or dragging in our old chum “the Precautionary Principle”.
Nuclear Power, ‘carcinogenic’ coffee in California, pesticides, GM crops?
But anything “Green”, no matter how obviously hazardous, is welcome and given taxpayers’ cash.
No doubt the brown envelopes also oil the wheels.
Perhaps the insurance industry will put a stop to them.
If the fire was caused by a battery, how much will the next premium be for this warehouse.
Oh der, how sad, never mind.
For the Greenies of Bristol, that’d be more embarrassing than the fire that destroyed the entire fleet of electric motorcycles for the inaugural MotoE season at Jerez in 2019
“MotoE bosses have confirmed initial reports that a short circuit in one of their charging units appears to have been responsible for the devastating fire that destroyed the entire 2019 grid on Wednesday night at their second test in Jerez. The fire broke out in their shared paddock space, spreading rapidly and burning down the entire mobile structure, all 18 machines, and the teams’ laptops, tools, spare parts and riding kit.
In a statement, they said:
Although we are awaiting the official conclusion of the investigation by local police, initial evidence regarding the cause of the fire at the E-paddock of the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto on March 14th seems to point to a short circuit as the main cause of the incident.
The source of the short circuit has yet to be identified but, once the fire broke out, it ignited the high-density battery which is part of the high-performance charger used at MotoE™ events.
The motorbikes were not connected to the charging infrastructure at the time the fire began.”
https://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/motogp/2019/march/motoe-championship-in-doubt-after-catastrophic-fire/
any one checked to see where Peter Hitchens was at the time the fire started? https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/
Saw my first one a fortnight ago; teen lad shot across the road in front of our car and onto the pavement. If what I saw was a typical riding style it’s just a matter of time before he gets himself killed.
Nah Paul, it isn’t that they’re green, it’s just that the great unwashed are so darn lazy that e-scooters are the only way they can get their fat, slug-like corpses from A-B. Anyway, good to see the process of natural selection at work.
NHY & KUTGW….
I see work of art. Where are the scooters?
St James Barton in central Bristol has dozens of these things either weaving madly in and out of crawling traffic or sailing along central arterial dual carriageways holding up other traffic.
I seems (as with urban cyclists) that lights are optional – black trackie bottoms and black hoodies seem popular attire at night.
They *are* illegal on the road – as is any electric two wheeler not using “pedal assist” since 2016 (iirc) – the local councils are quite simply making it up to suit themselves and the police are playing along with this as another sustainable box ticked.
I’ve tried quite a few of them and they vary wildly in construction standards and performance – some are brilliant, some are very flimsy with poorly controlled oversized motors and bad brakes.
Make them get type approval, insurance, safety checks and a 2 hour training course.
However … I suspect given the aging population we might see something along the lines of “EV” sans permit in the UK…
Legislation was introduced to permit the battery scooters as long as they were part of a trial. What the morons fail to see is that this then encourages the use of non-trial scooters that have no controls on their use. Geo-fencing is in place in London to reduce speed in shared pedestrian spaces and even to block them from some streets but you can’t see any of this on street as there is no signage. In fact, anywhere there is a pedal cycle sign a trial scooter may go. I have no problem with scooter riders dying, or suffering life changing injuries other than the inconvenience it causes other people. I do have an issue with pedestrians suffering injuries or being killed by morons using these things.
Gerry
was there a statutory instrument then?
– I’m surprised it isn’t regularly invoked linked to – as around Bristol the council have resorted to volume and vehemence as justification for the trial scheme….
ps
Bristol Council ran a Hydrogen ferry in the docks that carried so few passengers and cost north of £250k – it’d possibly have been more cost effective to hire a helicopter.
“You’re gonna need a bigger landfill”
Apology to “Jaws”
“The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental, but an investigation has been launched…”
It wasn’t me. Honest.
Our security guard nodded off while smoking…
Each Scooter we sell comes with a free personalised Darwin Award
You Brits have mopeds?
Here in U.S., at least where I live, electric scooters are just kids’ toys and would not be on public roads outside of residential areas.
For serious, non-automotive transportation, people use mopeds, AKA “liquorcycles.” When you lose your license for drink driving and still have to get to work, you can still ride a moped. In U.S. form, they are small motorcycles, with limited power ≤5 bhp, and limited to 30 mph.
Perhaps it is the worst punishment for DUI. As you do 30 in the rain in a 45 zone, EVERYONE has to find a way to negotiate around them, all the while thinking, “I know what YOU did!”
Nick Freeman (AKA Mr Loophole) is onto the e-scooter game
see HERE