More US colleges banning e-bikes and e-scooters

Electric bikes and e-scooters are increasingly facing bans in US college campuses.

Many colleges are banning them from either being kept in student accommodation or brought on campus due to apparent safety concerns, Electrek reports.

Key issues around the bans are fire safety and collisions with pedestrians, says Electrek, adding that e-bike fires have made headlines during the last year with several New York City apartment fires traced back to e-bike battery fires started during overnight charging.

“While e-bike fires are incredibly rare (everyday millions of e-bikes are charged without a fire), the small yet growing number of examples from cheaply made electric bikes underscores that the issue can still prove lethal,” says Electrek, also pointing out that e-bike riders flouting traffic rules or riding aggressively on footpaths around pedestrians have also led to an increasing number of collisions, often injuring pedestrians.

“The problem can be exacerbated on college campuses that have a large number of students, meaning a penchant for riskier riding in an area with more pedestrians on their phones and oblivious to their surroundings.

“Those two issues, fire safety and pedestrian injuries, are commonly cited among a growing number of universities telling students not to bring e-bikes and e-scooters to campus.”

Electrek editorialises that such “heavy-handed regulations and blanket bans are an overreaction, doing more harm than good”.

New Zealand media reported a person was taken to hospital in late July in a critical condition (since discharged from intensive care) after a e-scooter exploded while being charged in a Wellington apartment.

See the next EVs and Beyond magazine for information on e-mobility battery safety from columnist Jonno Leonard.

Meanwhile, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is reviewing the e-scooter motor vehicle exemption rule.