Expert Advice on Wet Lithium Batteries...

Hurricane Ian leaves Florida retailers assessing damage — to bikes and businesses Bicycle Retailer

Expert advice
Industry e-bike expert Ed Benjamin calls Fort Myers home. Benjamin told BRAIN on Monday that he was OK but had no electricity. Later on Monday, he sent out an email reminding e-bike owners and retailers that batteries and salt water don't mix...

Did your bike get wet in the storm surge? Get your ebike or ebike battery out of the house right now!

I am sitting at my desk in storm ravaged Fort Myers, hoping to find a way to get this warning out. I just got internet service back about an hour ago.

Our area had as much as 16 feet of flood water from Hurricane Ian. One local ebike shop was close to the river, and had 4-5 feet of water.

When a large format, lithium battery for an ebike is immersed, perhaps for hours, bad stuff happens. The result can be (will be) a nasty fire that is hard to put out.

Don't touch a burning battery!. They are hot, toxic and can explode (scattering burins bits about). Get these out of the building before they cook off.

Once they are burning … call the fire department. Our fire department right now is a bit over stressed, so better to get the bike or battery outside, before it cooks off.

If your bike got immersed, push it outside. If the battery catches fire, use a fire extinguisher to put out the flames, and then cool the battery with a stream of water for a long time. Until it is complete cold, dead, inert. Then leave it outside until it can be disposed of via haz mat waste disposal.

Move now! Stop reading this and get those lithium batteries that have been in the flood waters our of your home or building.

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