Mayor Eric Adams has signed off on a package of legislation aimed at reducing the risk of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries. 

Forty-six people have been hurt and three people have died in fires started by lithium-ion batteries so far this year, the FDNY said Monday. At a news conference Monday morning, Adams signed into law five bills focused on lithium-ion battery regulation and safety education. 

Some of the e-bikes and e-scooters New Yorkers use to commute and make deliveries are defective — and are powered by “uncertified” lithium-ion batteries, Adams said. 

“Faulty versions of these e-bikes and e-scooters and illegal electric mopeds are being leased, rented and sold to New Yorkers,” he said. “Many of the devices do not meet the basic safety standards.” 

The blazes the batteries spark are “not just regular fires,” the mayor noted. 

“They are basically explosions, and they spread so rapidly,” he said, citing a fast-moving fire that destroyed a supermarket in the Bronx earlier this month as an example. “And it’s more than just water to put them out. It’s a very complicated fire.” 

One of the five bills, sponsored by Bronx Councilmember Oswald Feliz, will bar businesses from selling, leasing and renting out electric micromobility devices that do not meet industry safety standards, Adams said in a press release. 

A second bill, spearheaded by Manhattan Councilmember Gale Brewer, will ban manufacturers and businesses from assembling and selling lithium-ion batteries that contain cells from used storage batteries.

A third bill, sponsored by Queens Councilmember Robert Holden, will require the FDNY to file five reports compiling e-bike and e-scooter fire data, as well as fire prevention recommendations.

The fourth and fifth bills — one sponsored by Brooklyn Councilmember Alexa Avilés and another sponsored by Brewer — will focus on public safety outreach. 

The five boroughs will also roll out a bevy of safety-focused initiatives on top of the legislation, Adams said Monday.

The city will work with the state to launch a program that provides New Yorkers with incentives to buy safe, legal e-micromobility devices, the release said. It will also seek federal funding to improve e-bike and e-scooter safety at NYCHA buildings in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, according to the release.  

NYCHA and Con Edison aim to install charging and storage stations at the Queensbridge North and South Houses in Queens, the De Hostos Apartments in Manhattan and the Van Dyke I Houses in Brooklyn by the end of the year as part of a pilot program, Con Edison said in a press release Monday.

“The project will test whether the use of e-bikes and e-scooters would increase if New Yorkers had suitable charging and storage,” the agency said, adding that the pilot would also “determine whether providing safe, secure charging and storage outdoors would reduce indoor charging, which can be dangerous.”

A separate pilot program the city is launching will allow drivers to park e-bikes and e-scooters on greenways and park drives during the summer months, Adams’ release said.  

A “fire marshal task force,” meanwhile, will identify and address fire code violations, as well as high-risk “hot spots,” his release added.   

In a statement released Monday, FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said the number of fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries in the city has “increased dramatically” in recent years.

The FDNY on Monday said 147 people were hurt in fires started by lithium-ion batteries last year, up from 79 in 2021, 23 in 2020 and 13 in 2019. Six people died in lithium-ion battery-sparked fires in 2022, up from four in 2021 and zero in both 2020 and 2019, the department said.

“It is a problem we are tackling aggressively with our partners in city, state and federal government,” Kavanagh said in her statement. “We are grateful to the mayor for signing these bills into law, and to the City Council for passing legislation that supports the FDNY in addressing this critical safety matter.”