Authorities investigate cause of fire at Sydney e-bike workshop
By Paul Homewood
h/t Glen Cullen
This is getting beyond a joke:
An e-bike workshop has been destroyed in an early morning fire in Sydney’s inner west, causing road closures along the suburb’s shopping strip.
Residents were woken just before 5am on Friday after the fire broke out at the building on Elizabeth Street in Croydon.
The building – which houses a business that sells, rents and repairs e-bikes – was destroyed in the blaze, with insurers and structural engineers called in to assess the possibility of collapse.
The cause of the fire had yet to be determined, Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) said.
“Whilst this property was an e-bike-scooter outlet and assembly business, there is no indication that charging batteries caused the fire,” a spokesperson said. “There is an inherent danger to these batteries once they are involved in or exposed to fire.”
Supt Joshua Turner of FRNSW said the warehouse fire and thick smoke immediately increased the alert level for crews responding to the incident.
“When [fire crews] made access, they found it actually was an e-bike repair centre,” he said.
“The risks of lithium batteries and storage units of electricity was their prime concern. We’ll be working with the police as part of our fire investigation and talking with the owners to see what was actually stored within that premises.”
Turner said lithium batteries “maintain a high level of heat when they’re on fire and they don’t go out as easily as other fuel sources”.
One resident, who lives close to the workshop, expressed their concern about the safety of a heritage-listed building storing “hundreds” of e-bikes.
“If one battery causes a garage to burn, what can hundreds of batteries do?” she said.
Recent incidents involving e-bikes include an explosion and fire at a home in Sydney’s east and a fire in a Darlinghurst hostel which caused the evacuation of 70 people and injured one more.
Both fires were sparked by faulty lithium-ion batteries, with concerns raised by the safety regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, regarding the regulation of rechargeable bike batteries.
Fire and Rescue NSW said more than 60 firefighters and 15 fire trucks attended Friday’s incident. Investigations into the cause of the fire were continuing.
Regardless of the actual cause of the fire, this is yet more evidence of just how catastrophic any fire can be if there is a large lithium battery involved.
This was just a bike shop – just imagine the consequences if it had been a garage full of EVs?
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
No doubt the CCP controlled Lithium battery company were swift to point out that “no-one else had experienced any problems.”
And the Chief Executive had likely picked up a CBE, (or, in this case, a Climate Bribe Extraordinaire!)
Move along, nothing to see here.
Lithium batteries have to be charged from an intelligent charger, you just cannot connect any old charger, it must sense the voltage and current, there is also sensing in the battery pack, to ensure that each cell gets the correct charge.
Even so charging indoors is not really a good idea, I would have thought that by now the dangers of charging large Lithium batteries would have caused a push back against them, but Net Zero has to be achieved.
I am involved in radio controlled model aircraft and most now use electric power with lithium batteries. The danger even from a small lithium battery was realised many years ago, and we use a product called Batsafe Box in which we place a battery to charge it. Not only is this explosion proof with vents to allow the explosive has to escape it has a filter to remove some if the very harmful gases. One if our club members a few years ago was charging in his garage a small 11.1volt 2200 mah battery about 6 ” x 1″ square, in a metal box with a metal lid held down with three house bricks. Hearing a noise he went out immediately by which time the explosive gases had blown the lid off, and the inextinguishable fire had set the whole garage on fire which was destroyed.
Seoul 18 Dec: “At least 18 people hospitalised Sunday night after hotel fire broke out in Incheon.
The fire began from the parking lot of the hotel with three stories below and 18 stories above ground”
Also check out Luton Airport, Bristol Airport, Rainham, Swindon, Perth, Treforest, Preston, Romford, etc etc
A mere bicycle workshop is chicken feed compared with the devastating fire that destroyed the entire 2019 MotoE grid at their 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.
https://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/motogp/2019/march/motoe-championship-in-doubt-after-catastrophic-fire/
We never seem to hear about follow ups to these fire stories. Do we even have dates for reports to be released, eg Luton.
I can tell you that the battery World Rally Championship cars that burnt out at Lydden Hill circuit are still there surrounded by Heras fencing. It is not just the cars but the whole paddock set up including the transporter truck are still there. Other than the team being foreign and, seeing nothing worth salvaging, just went home, I am not sure why it is all still there.
No, caused by kangaroos playing with lighted matches.
“more than 60 firefighters and 15 fire trucks ”
I hope the city can recover the expense from the maker.
Anyone with half a brain would know that EV’s never, never, spontaneously catch fire. It just doesn’t happen, never !
Do a search on “active travel hubs” and you’ll see that it’s a major “investment” in most local authorities. Mine’s just allocated £950K to improve existing facilities, to get us out of our cars.
And, of course local authorities, just like governments, get their funding from us, the taxpayers. Did they have agreement from their funders to spend this huge amount on pipe dreams, instead of the vital services they don’t seem to have the money available to fund? In my road we have blocked and collapsed road drains causing flooding (not climate change), yet we have been told there is no money available to do repairs! (South Somerset).
I suspect that the bicycle and scooter batteries are made to a lower standard than car batteries – although we don’t really know what Chinese car batteries are like – and more likely to catch fire. And they are likely to be charged within living spaces.
After the covid jab, there was a massive increase in deaths. People started keeling over and “suddenly died” was seen regularly. Apparently the “suddenly died”, often very young, were just “natural causes”. So, I presume the “sudden fire” is likewise going to be ascribed as a “natural causes” fire … due to “old age” in the young.
Electric bike caused fatal Bristol flat fire, council says
Published
26 September 2022
This is a sad story as one man fell to his death trying to escape the fire.
These battery powered two wheelers (scooters included) are still not banned,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-63031602
A block of flats on fire IMAGE SOURCE,SUPPLIED
Image caption,
Some residents said they did not recall hearing any fire alarms as they were evacuating the tower block