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E-bikes banned from all government buildings due to perceived fire risk

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Alex Bowden's picture

Alex Bowden

Alex has been editor of ebiketips since 2021, switching to a world with motors after seven years working on sister site road.cc, where he contributed news, reviews and the occasional feature. These days he combines his road riding with electric bike testing and a dash of ongoing cricket writing (his first book's due out in 2025).

6 comments

1 month 1 week ago

Forget that most government buildings also have a uninterrupted power supplies for the servers etc. And they constantly keep those things on charge!.... Tell me does anyone know the result of constant charge of lead acid batteries?.... 🔥

2 months 2 weeks ago

According to google, it costs about 14p to fully charge a 500Wh battery.  They'd get laughed out of court for trying to prosecute someone for theft for that.

2 months 2 weeks ago

Does this mean that the next stage in the GPA's regulations will be to stop all government employees from taking mobile phones, tablets, earbuds, rechargeable desk fans, etc., into work and will have to store them in fireproof lockers outside? What about the EVs that currently use the car park? Oops, often petrol cars go on fire too, "Remove them from the premises!" It's getting bloody ridiculous. 😒

2 months 2 weeks ago

How many parked ebikes that weren't plugged have spontaneously combusted in car parks? Guessing the number has to be pretty close to 0. A ban on charging might make sense, a ban on just locking them up doesn't.

2 months 2 weeks ago

As to e-scooters, you shouldn't be parking the hire-scooters at work, or taking them on public transport. The rest of them are illegal anyway, so it's a fair cop.

2 months 2 weeks ago

It's all very well having a desirable e-bike from a reputable brand. However there is no telling whether you are the - ahem - second owner, unaccountably without the use of the originally supplied charger. How is the facilities manager to know?

As to the ban on charging on-premises, this seems to be slanted as a stop on people freeloading on three employer's electric bill.