{"id":1172991,"date":"2023-08-07T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T08:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=615236"},"modified":"2023-08-07T08:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T08:45:00","slug":"why-e-bike-companies-are-embracing-recycling-while-fighting-repair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/08\/07\/why-e-bike-companies-are-embracing-recycling-while-fighting-repair\/","title":{"rendered":"Why e-bike companies are embracing recycling while fighting repair"},"content":{"rendered":"
E-bikes have been<\/a> in<\/a> the<\/a> news<\/a> recently for a reason nobody wants: Their batteries are sparking dangerous fires.<\/a> One conflagration burned down homes and businesses in the Bronx, in New York City, in March, and another blaze at an e-bike store in Manhattan killed four people in June. Those fires are bringing additional scrutiny and regulation<\/a> to a mode of transportation that\u2019s been hailed as a promising climate solution. But they are also having an unexpected impact on conversations about the right to repair a bicycle, something generations of bicycle owners have taken for granted<\/a>.<\/p>\n In recent months, People for Bikes<\/a>, the national trade organization representing bicycle manufacturers, has reached out to lawmakers and officials in several states to request that e-bikes be exempted from right-to-repair bills. Those bills aim to make it easier for members of the public to access the parts, tools, and information they need to fix their stuff. The industry claims it\u2019s a matter of safety, and that people without the proper training should not attempt to repair e-bikes \u2014 especially not the batteries. Instead, manufacturers want to see dead and broken batteries recycled, which is why they recently launched a public education campaign<\/a> encouraging consumers to do so.<\/p>\n Recycling is a crucial step for dealing with battery waste sustainably. It keeps batteries out of landfills and it can reduce the need for additional mining of critical battery metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. But for the e-bike industry to be sustainable over the long term, e-bikes also need to be repairable, since repair prevents waste and conserves the resources that go into making new stuff. To right-to-repair advocates, the claim that it\u2019s unsafe for consumers to fix them is familiar: Consumer tech companies like Apple have said the same thing about repairing smartphones for years. When it comes to e-bikes, advocates worry that safe battery handling is being used to distract from another problem they say right-to-repair would help solve: Cheap, hard-to-repair e-bikes are flooding into cities<\/a> around the country. These are the same bikes that sometimes have substandard batteries that experts suspect<\/a> are at the root<\/a> of the fire crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI too want people to go to safe repairers,\u201d Nathan Proctor, who heads the national right-to-repair campaign at the US Public Research Interest Group, told Grist in an email. \u201cBut I don’t think monopolizing access helps at all.\u201d<\/p>\n E-bikes are soaring in popularity<\/a>, and for good reason. These battery-powered bicycles allow people to travel farther and faster than they can using an analog bike. They cost less than cars to buy and to own, take up far less space, and can be parked for free. Compared with gas-powered cars, e-bikes are incredibly climate friendly: A recent analysis<\/a> by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that the typical e-bike rider emits zero to three grams of carbon dioxide per mile pedaled, compared with 350 grams per mile driven in a crossover SUV. E-bikes also have sustainability and safety advantages over EVs, including smaller batteries that require less lithium mining<\/a> and pose less of a danger to pedestrians<\/a>. <\/p>\n