NYCs deadly e-bike dangers have now even reached into our homes

Five members of the Adam-Maine family went to sleep in an apartment in The Bronx’s Patterson Houses on Oct.27 — and only one survived the night.Three children and one adult perished in the city’s latest confirmed battery-fire inferno, bringing the year’s total fatalities to nine so far.This cause of death didn’t even exist back in 2019.But now that we know the uniquely deadly risks of lithium-ion batteries, it shouldn’t be hard for Gov.

Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council to assure us: Nobody else must die. This family’s incineration fits a familiar narrative. One of the apartment’s residents was storing an e-bike in the apartment’s kitchen, blocking the single exit.

 The same thing happened in August, when an e-bike explosion in Brooklyn’s Albany Houses, another NYCHA complex, killed 18-year-old Caleb Matthews. And just last week, six people lost their lives in a Sunset Park house fire.The FDNY hasn’t determined the cause, but battery-powered micromobility devices were present at the scene. Since 2020, when New York state and city legalized e-bikes and e-scooters, lithium-ion battery deaths have claimed 44 lives — not counting the six souls in Sunset Park. This scourge of battery deaths reversed decades of fire progress.

 Over the past seven years, average annual fire deaths have reached 78, up from 65 annually over the seven previous years.Already this year, 87 people have died in fires. So what is the city doing about this crisis?Not much, over three administrations running — at least not anything effective. Yes, three years ago, Mayor Eric Adams banned the sale of uncertified or refurbished batteries — and the city touts its enforcement sweeps. But even a certified new battery becomes a used, corroded, dangerous battery after months or years of exposure to rain, snow, salt and repeat charges — and the city ignores streetside maintenance and repair of these devices, anyway.

 Nothing will work, unles...