I have been a plaintiff’s product liability lawyer for over 40 years now, and I have been watching a dangerous trend emerging from the increased popularity of e-bikes and e-scooters. I’ve been riding e-bikes for eight years now, and I currently keep several in rotation. So, when I say I follow the lithium-ion battery fire issue closely, it’s not purely academic or professional— it’s the same battery chemistry sitting in my garage every night.
That dual vantage point, as both a rider and a lawyer, is exactly why this topic keeps pulling my attention: e-bikes and e-scooters have exploded in…
E-bikes have changed how millions of us get around — faster commutes, easier hills, longer rides, more fun on two wheels. But the lithium-ion batteries that power these bikes come with a real risk that doesn’t get talked about enough: battery fires. As both an avid e-bike rider and an attorney who handles product liability cases, I want to walk you through two things: what to do in the moment if your battery catches fire, and what to do afterward to protect yourself — physically and legally.
Part 1: If Your E-Bike Battery Is on Fire Right Now
Lithium-ion battery…
I’ve been riding e-bikes for eight years now, and I’ve got several sitting in my garage as I write this. I love them — for the commute, for errands, for the sheer fun of it — and nothing about what I’m going to say here is meant to talk anyone out of riding. But I’m also a lawyer who handles cases involving lithium-ion battery fires, and that combination has taught me something: the same battery pack that makes these rides so enjoyable can, in rare but devastating cases, turn into the worst night of someone’s life. If that’s happened to…
I ride an e-bike every single week, usually more than once a week. It gets me to beautiful locations in my county as well as into the City of San Francisco, sometimes faster than I’d ever get there in a car — and on the right stretch of road or trail, it’s honestly one of the best parts of my week. So when I saw that San Mateo County’s Board of Supervisors unanimously advanced a new e-bike safety ordinance this week, I read it not just as a San Francisco personal injury attorney who handles bicycle and e-bike crash cases,…
