NJ City reveals new e-bike rules with $ 2,000 with fines

Hoboken does not forbid Bicycle.

But officials and lawyers have been done with questions in recent days, while the city of Hudson County is preparing for a new safety order of the electronic bicycle that will enter into force next week.

The ordinance includes new rules about lithium ion batteries that supply bicycles.

According to Hoboken’s ordinance, the use, sale and repair of used batteries are forbidden. E-Bike and E-Sscoer Riders will also be forbidden to load or store their devices in the common areas of residential properties with three or more units.

Anyone who found that he violates the ordinance will be issued a warning. If the problem continues, the breaches can be slapped with fines of up to $ 2,000 on the violation per day.

E-bicycles are a quick and convenient way to cut around a city and have increased in popularity from pandemic. But they also became associated with A kind of fire with fast movement This can be lit if their batteries overheat or explode.

In January 2024, there were 445 incidents recorded by fire battery fires in the US, resulting in 38 deaths and 214 wounds.

Hoboken’s new ordinance may seem simple, but Mike Fritz, who worked with the city to create it, believes that it is “the best, in ensuring the safe use of these products, of any city in America at this time.”

Fritz, co-founder and technological officer chief of the Human Solutions consulting firm, spent much of the last three decades focused on lithium ion battery safety. After New York city officials have decided to address a eruption of deadly battery firesFritz was one of their first calls.

In December, Fritz’s activity, along Hudson, attracted Andrew Wilson’s opinion, the executive director of Bike Hoboken, a non -profit and advocacy for transport.

Wilson was with his eyes on the Hoboken Local Council, who was preparing to vote for a harsher order battery with lithium ions. The measure was So restrictive That Wilson and his team were afraid that the exasperated owners would give up trying to meet their conditions, instead banning electronic bicycles from their properties.

Wilson asked Fritz to write to the Municipal Council a letter explaining the issue.

“Basically, I said,” Hey, before taking dramatic measures, breathing, postponing the vote and talking about it, “said Fritz.

“The Municipal Council was very willing to listen,” Wilson recalled. “They heard the community concerns, they heard the feedback and postponed that original ordinance.”

The Municipal Council, guided by Fritz and several city officials, including its public safety director and the head of the Fire Section, have come to work. Just over two months later, the revised ordinance announced.

“I am proud of those guys,” said Fritz about the Municipal Council. “And they did the homework.”

The Local Council unanimously adopted the Ordinance of February 19.

In addressing high risk batteries and insecure storage practices, the new measures will ensure that lithium ion batteries used in the city meet the standards set by the Solutions, a safety testing business such as e-bicchs, local officials said.

But more importantly, the new rules will keep electronic bicycles on the roads, Wilson said.

“E-bicycles, it shrinks the cities,” he said. “They help to connect people to jobs, schools, companies to reach. And I do this while they mitigate the climatic changes and reduce the parking demand. “

The ordinance will enter into force on Tuesday following a campaign to raise public and education. The most common question that residents have is whether their e-bicycles are about to be taken from them, Wilson said.

But, while the public safety director, Ken Ferrante, clarified in a press release: “We do not ban electronic bicycles or Hoboken e-Ssters.”

Federal parliamentarians are currently weighing an E-Bike battery bill This would require clearer safety orientations.

“So, indeed, Hoboken is Geting Before the curve, “Wilson explained.” Is smart. It is quite reasonable. “

At the local level, there are still more works to do. Wilson said he would like to see the city’s concentrate on creating safer storage options for electronic bicycles, such as fire safety cameras, with suppressor systems and charging shops.

“I do not see what has just passed being the last word in this regard,” he added.

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AJ McDougall can be contacted [email protected]. Follow -o on x to @oldmcdougall.