EXPLAINER: Bikes, batteries and blazes spark concern in NYC

NEW YORK — A weekend fire that injured over three dozen people — and forced firefighters to use ropes to pluck people from a 20th-story window — is drawing attention to a rising concern in New York City: battery fires that can arise in the electric bikes and scooters that have proliferated here. City officials are considering new laws after the fire department counted nearly 200 blazes and six fire deaths this year tied to problems with lithium-ion batteries in such “micromobility” devices. “This shouldn’t be happening and we need to figure out what’s going on,” said Greenberger, the executive director of NAATBatt — the North American trade association for advanced battery technology developers, manufacturers and users. The city has seen “an exponential increase” in fires related to faulty lithium-ion batteries in recent years, Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn said. “The responsibility of navigating safe and unsafe batteries on the market should not fall to hard-working New Yorkers,” the mayor, a Democrat, said in a statement.