Republicans and Democrats of the highly separated House of Representatives in the US surprised the country when they unanimously agreed on a crucial matter regarding electric bikes, local news platform The City reported. However, the bill is different from what most e-bike riders hoped.
EBIKE Act
In hindsight, the US House of Representatives first tackled the EBIKE Act before the most recent “Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act.”
The EBIKE Act aims to aid lower-income customers to access lighter and cleaner electric bikes. It gained a massive support among Democrats. However, Republicans rejected the proposed bill, resulting in its exclusion from the Inflation Reduction Act.
It stimulated significant excitement among current and future bike riders at that time. However, Congress seems to be more supportive of the Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act.
Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act
In contrast to the EBIKE Act, the Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act does not seek to incentivize electric bike purchases. Instead, it authorizes the Consumer Product Safety Commission to introduce federal standards for electric bike battery production and importation.
It has passed both subcommittee and regular committees with unanimous support from lawmakers of both parties. Now, it is pending the approval of the House of Representatives.
“This bill had universal support, and it was voted out with members on the record. It was voted out unanimously on a bipartisan basis.”
Will Wallace, associate director of safety policy at Consumer Reports
Driving factor
Congress’ intention to pass the Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act came following an actual surge in electric bike-induced fires.
According to the local report, nine e-bike and e-scooter battery fires and eight injuries occurred in just the initial three weeks of 2024. In addition, the first time the FDNY started recording the data in 2019, battery fire-related injuries surged 1,053% from just 13 to 150 in 2023.
In addition, 18 people reportedly died in battery-related fires last year from just six deaths in 2022.
“We are in a time where technology is outpacing federal safety action in many ways, moving faster than the measures we need to keep the public safe, and there might be no better example of this dilemma than with the cheap, china-made lithium-ion batteries in the e-bikes, e-scooters and other devices that are now as common in the home as a toaster —but far, far less regulated. So, we are here today because the fires and the injuries caused by these batteries are climbing across New York, and federal action is needed to protect consumers and also our brave firefighters who are on the front lines of this new paradigm in fire prevention spurred by these unpredictable, and often times, very dangerous batteries.”
US Senator Charles Schumer
It is important to note that even if the bill is approved by the House, it still needs to be approved by the Senate. If any amendments are necessary, the bill will need to be returned to the House for further endorsement. If both sides of Congress support it, the bill will then reach President Biden’s desk to be signed into law. However, it will take additional time for the bill to actually take effect in the US.
