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Comment by hyperman1 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder why this happens. Cell phones and laptops also have lithion batteries. I remember them causing fires for a few years, and then it seemed to be over.

So is there something more unsafe about an ebike? Bigger capacity? Or is quality control lacking? Or are they too new and in their 'teething probelms' part of the tech curve? Or are cellphone and laptop batteries burning just as much as they used to, but the news stoped reporting it, while ebikes are the new and scary thing?

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Lack of standards/QA. So many battery packs out of china for ebikes, scooters, etc... are just poorly made, wires running everywhere that get pinched and short out, poor quality BMS with no testing done, just jammed into a metal case sometimes with no mounting points or anything, so they just rattle around in there.

Plus some packs will use cells that aren't very good quality, and are more likely to catch fire if overcharged.

Packs not built for the physical punishment they are to be subject to. This is the same issue the 787 had with its batteries, the packs were not built with the idea that they will be rattling around for years and years, so there was not enough layered abrasion resistant insulative material and protections to keep the pack from arcing. This also includes making pockets for the wiring and running it through those pockets so that wires do not get pinched, and protective electronics to prevent dangerous electrical conditions.

In cell phones most of these things are dealt with by placing extra tape in a number of places, battery packs in cell phones have an outer insulative layer and are held in place with double sided tape.

I think quality control as well as actual engineering standards are lacking. I bought a high end EM3EV battery for my new ebike conversion, and it’s fully twice the price of other options. But it’s made very well and it’s not going to burn up my bike or my house.

There's a lot more ebike manufacturers than phone and laptop manufacturers, and some of them might not have the best quality control in light of the heavy competition.

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