Why Fox News wants you to be afraid of electric bikes
Fox News is no stranger to the tactic of fearmongering as a way to stir up its base. But the media network’s latest misdirection campaign attempts to use fear to attack a surprising new target: electric bicycles.
Electric bicycles are essentially normal bicycles but with the addition of a small electric helper motor and a lithium-ion battery for energy storage. They go faster than most pedal bikes while requiring less effort from the rider, which has made them a popular alternative vehicle in cities and suburbs. They’ve found favor as cheaper car replacements for many people. As a type of small EV, or electric vehicle, it’s not exactly a wonder that Fox News would put e-bikes somewhere on its enemies list.
But with a misleading story running last week entitled “How e-bikes are exploding and killing people,” the media giant leaves little room for doubt about just how far they’ll go with misdirection to try and scare people away from the fastest-growing form of low-cost, efficient, and effective transportation.
It’s true: All the long-term trends show that electric bicycle sales are skyrocketing. They’re outselling electric cars in the US, and in some areas, e-bikes are soon set to outsell all cars – gasoline or electric. They’re helping replace the tired image of Americans driving their single-occupant SUVs a mile down the road for a gallon of milk.
That makes them ripe for Fox News to hold up as some form of boogeyman to scare up their base, a group that is famously resistant to change. And e-bikes are exactly the kind of change that Fox News would vilify – a low-cost technology that helps Americans of all socioeconomic levels get around without a clutching dependence on Big Oil and Big Auto.
The basis of Fox News’ attack on electric bicycles is cherry-picked fire data in New York City.
You might have heard about electric bicycle fires in the news lately, as it is a topic that is getting increasing coverage despite the relatively few events. Even with minimal incidents compared to the number of e-bikes rolling around the city, examining any threat to public safety is certainly warranted. Between the dense urban population of NYC and the higher-than-average number of e-bikes used in the city, the issue has become a growing concern.
What you might not know (since it is much less frequently reported) is that most of these electric bike fires aren’t related to electric bikes at all – they’re much cheaper electric scooters. Most of the pictures of these fire aftermaths show charred husks of cheap Chinese e-scooters.
But regardless of the semantics, the underlying concern is this: Why do these batteries catch on fire, and how concerned should the public be?
Why can e-bikes sometimes catch on fire?
So what’s going on here? There are hundreds of thousands of high-quality e-bikes and e-scooters in the US with battery certifications and proper safety protocols. Even so, low-cost e-scooters (and yes, sometimes e-bikes too) have been increasingly imported to the US with low-quality lithium-ion batteries that, in very rare cases, have caught fire. It’s usually when people have used the wrong third-party chargers or have tried to do at-home repairs on the complicated battery systems.
That distinction isn’t overly complicated. It’s not that it requires any significant amount of nuance to understand. But it also isn’t as flashy as a Fox News headline of “How e-bikes are exploding and killing people.”
And it’s not that Fox News doesn’t realize the incredibly small size of the actual risk. A single line admission gets tossed near the very end of the article, presumably in a halfhearted attempt to claim some form of balance: “In the meantime, it’s important to note that the vast majority of e-bikes on the market are safe and reliable when used as intended and maintained properly.”
By Fox News’ own admission, there had been a single fatality in NYC this year from this spate of e-bike or e-scooter fires at the time of publishing.
But even while paying lip service to the small proportion of e-bike fires within the larger e-bike population, the story fails to properly frame the impact of the threat. For instance, did you know that cyclists in NYC are over 10 times more likely to be killed by a car than to be killed by an e-bike fire? In 2021, there was a single e-bike fire fatality compared to 19 cyclists killed by cars in NYC. That same year, there were over 200 pedestrians or micromobility (bike, scooters, mopeds, etc.) riders killed in NYC.
I don’t mean to unjustly minimize the real risk of e-bike fires but rather to justifiably demonstrate how minimal the risk truly is. Just like how there was a spate of Samsung cell phones with lithium-ion batteries catching on fire a few years ago, the actual risk was significantly smaller than the reporting made it feel. Dozens of phones out of millions is a similar ratio to the e-bike and e-scooter scenario now.
Does Fox News actually care about transportation dangers?
It is true that NYC has seen approximately one dozen deaths due to lithium-ion battery fires in micromobility vehicles in the last few years. And there have been legitimate, balanced reports from other news organizations about e-bike fires. In the same period, though, many hundreds of pedestrians have been killed by cars and trucks in the city. Thousands of pedestrians are killed by cars in the US each year. Often dozens per day. Dozens.
But that doesn’t play into the Fox News narrative, and so it doesn’t get coverage. It also doesn’t get included for reference to understand the size of the e-bike fire risk.
That’s because when you tell people the truth, that you’re between 10 to 30 times more likely to die by being hit by a car while walking around the city than from an e-bike battery fire, it doesn’t promote the right type of fear for Fox News. It shows that the true villain isn’t the e-bike but rather the car.
The truth doesn’t scare people away from effective, low-cost alternative transportation. Instead, it shows the very fact that Fox News wants to hide: that e-bikes aren’t the problem – cars are. E-bikes, in fact, are the solution. Steps are being taken to reduce battery fires, but even if they weren’t, a drastic increase in e-bikes used to replace cars would still save lives by reducing fatalities. It’s simple math.
If Fox News cared about saving lives or protecting people, it wouldn’t pander fear about NYC’s single-digit deaths per year from lithium-ion batteries in micromobility vehicles. It would highlight the city’s hundreds of deaths per year from cars killing pedestrians. But you won’t hear about that because the goal isn’t to save lives. It’s to use fear and misdirection in an attempt to resist a changing transportation paradigm that is slowly shedding our nation’s dependence on Big Oil and Big Auto.
Fear keeps people hooked, and Fox News is well practiced at wielding it. When someone peddles that fear in an attempt to prop up a boogeyman, we should always ask ourselves why.
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In a bold bid to combat the crippling air pollution crisis in its capital, Delhi, Indian lawmakers have begun high-level discussions about a plan to phase out gas and diesel combustion vehicles by 2035 – a move that could cause a seismic shift in the global EV space and provide a cleaner, greener future for India’s capital.
Long considered one of the world’s most polluted capital cities, Indian capital Delhi is taking drastic steps to cut back pollution with a gas and diesel engine ban coming soon – but they want results faster than that. As such, Delhi is starting with a city-wide ban on refueling vehicles more than 15 years old, and it went into effect earlier this week. (!)
“We are installing gadgets at petrol pumps which will identify vehicles older than 15 years, and no fuel will be provided to them,” said Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa … but they’re not stopping there. “Additionally, we will intensify scrutiny of heavy vehicles entering Delhi to ensure they meet prescribed environmental standards before being allowed entry.”
Making it prohibitively difficult for Dehli’s residents to own and operate older, presumably more polluting vehicles is one way to reduce harmful emissions and air pollution, but Sirsa’s team isn’t just targeting newer vehicles. They’re also planning to deploy more than 900 electric transit buses, part of a larger plan to replace 5,000 of the city’s 7,500 total bus with lower- or zero-emission options this year alone.
The Economic Times is reporting that discussions are underway to pass laws requiring that all future bus purchases will be required to be electric or “clean fuel” (read: CNG or hydrogen) by the end of this year, with a gas/diesel ban on “three-wheelers and light goods vehicles,” (commercial tuk-tuks and delivery mopeds) potentially coming 2026 to 2027 and a similar ban privately owned and operated cars and bikes coming “between 2030 and 2035.”
Electrek’s Take
After a Chinese government study linked air pollution caused by automotive exhausts and coal-fired power plants to more than 1.1 million deaths per year in 2013, the nation’s government took serious action, shuttering older coal plants and imposing strict emissions standards. The country also incentivized EV adoption through license-plate lotteries favoring electric cars and a nationwide EV mandate set to kick in by 2030.
The results were astounding, and the technological innovations that have come from an entire nation of talented engineers all “pulling in the same direction” have put the West to shame, with Western auto executives repeatedly sounding the alarm and lobbying for tariffs and other protectionist policies on both sides of the Atlantic.
To see India make move towards a gas and diesel ban like this, and on such an aggressive timeline, can only mean that they’ve been paying attention … and America is about to fall even further behind.
SOURCE: India Times; featured image by Sumita Roy Dutta.
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Last week, Parker Hannifin launched what they’re calling the industry’s first certified Mobile Electrification Technology Center to train mobile equipment technicians make the transition from conventional diesel engines to modern electric motors.
The electrification of mobile equipment is opening new doors for construction and engineering companies working in indoor, environmentally sensitive, or noise-regulated urban environments – but it also poses a new set of challenges that, while they mirror some of the challenges internal combustion faced a century ago, aren’t yet fully solved. These go beyond just getting energy to the equipment assets’ batteries, and include the integration of hydraulic implements, electronic controls, and the myriad of upfit accessories that have been developed over the last five decades to operate on 12V power.
At the same time, manufacturers and dealers have to ensure the safety of their technicians, which includes providing comprehensive training on the intricacies of high-voltage electric vehicle repair and maintenance – and that’s where Parker’s new mobile equipment training program comes in, helping to accelerate the shift to EVs.
“We are excited to partner with these outstanding distributors at a higher level. Their commitment to designing innovative mobile electrification systems aligns perfectly with our vision to empower machine manufacturers in reducing their environmental footprint while enhancing operational efficiency,” explains Mark Schoessler, VP of sales for Parker’s Motion Systems Group. “Their expertise in designing mobile electrification systems and their capability to deliver integrated solutions will help to maximize the impact of Parker’s expanding METC network.”
The manufacturing equipment experts at Nott Company were among the first to go through the Parker Hannifin training program, certifying their technicians on Parker’s electric motors, drives, coolers, controllers and control systems.
“We are proud to be recognized for our unwavering dedication to advancing mobile electrification technologies and delivering cutting-edge solutions,” says Nott CEO, Markus Rauchhaus. “This milestone would not have been possible without our incredible partners, customers and the team at Nott Company.”
In addition to Nott, two other North American distributors (Depatie Fluid Power in Portage, Michigan, and Hydradyne in Fort Worth, Texas) have completed the Parker certification.
Electrek’s Take
With the rise of electric equipment assets like Bobcat’s T7X compact track loader and E10e electric excavator that eliminate traditional hydraulics and rely on high-voltage battery systems, specialized electrical systems training is becoming increasingly important. Seasoned, steady hands with decades of diesel and hydraulic systems experience are obsolete, and they’ll need to learn new skills to stay relevant.
Certification programs like Parker’s are working to bridge that skills gap, equipping technicians with the skills to maximize performance while mitigating risks associated with high-voltage systems. Here’s hoping more of these start popping up sooner than later.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Parker Hannifin.
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Based on a Peterbilt 579 commercial semi truck, the ReVolt EREV hybrid electric semi truck promises 40% better fuel economy and more than twice the torque of a conventional, diesel-powered semi. The concept has promise – and now, it has customers.
Austin, Texas-based ReVolt Motors scored its first win with specialist carrier Page Trucking, who’s rolling the dice on five of the Peterbilt 579-based hybrid big rigs — with another order for 15 more of the modified Petes waiting in the wings if the initial five work out.
The deal will see ReVolt’s “dual-power system” put to the test in real-world conditions, pairing its e-axles’ battery-electric torque with up to 1,200 miles of diesel-extended range.
ReVolt Motors team
The ReVolt team starts off with a Peterbilt, then removes the transmission and drive axle, replacing them with a large genhead and batteries. As the big Pete’s diesel engine runs (that’s right, kids – the engine stays in place), it creates electrical energy that’s stored in the trucks’ batteries. Those electrons then flow to the truck’s 670 hp e-axles, putting down a massive, 3500 lb-ft of Earth-moving torque to the ground at 0 rpm.
The result is an electrically-driven semi truck that works like a big BMW i3 or other EREV, and packs enough battery capacity to operate as a ZEV (sorry, ZET) in ports and urban clean zones. And, more importantly, allows over-the-road drivers to hotel for up to 34 hours without idling the engine or requiring a grid connection.
That ability to “hotel” in the cab is incredibly important, especially as the national shortage of semi truck parking continues to worsen and the number of goods shipped across America’s roads continues to increase.
And, because the ReVolt trucks can hotel without the noise and emissions of diesel or the loss of range of pure electric, they can immediately “plug in” to existing long-haul routes without the need to wait for a commercial truck charging infrastructure to materialize.
“Drivers should not have to choose between losing their longtime routes because of changing regulatory environments or losing the truck in which they have already made significant investments,” explains Gus Gardner, ReVolt founder and CEO. “American truckers want their trucks to reflect their identity, and our retrofit technology allows them to continue driving the trucks they love while still making a living.”
If all of that sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve heard of Hyliion.
Hyliion electric semi truck
Before it changed its focus to develop Carnot-cycle generators and gensets, Austin-based Hyliion built a number of EREV Peterbilts using the then-new 15L Cummins diesel as a generator and employing the same sort of battery and e-axle-arrangement as ReVolt.
In addition to being located in the same town and employing the same idea in the same Peterbilt 579 tractor, ReVolt even employs some of the same key players as Hyliion: both the company’s CTO, Chandra Patil, and its Director of Engineering, Blake Witchie, previously worked at Hyliion’s truck works.
Still, Hyliion made their choice when they shut down their truck business. ReVolt seems to have picked up the ball – and their first customer is eager to run with it.
“Our industry is undergoing a major transition, and fleet owners need practical solutions that make financial sense while reducing our environmental impact,” said Dan Titus, CEO of Page Trucking. “ReVolt’s hybrid drivetrain lowers our fuel costs, providing our drivers with a powerful and efficient truck, all without the need for expensive charging infrastructure or worrying about state compliance mandates. The reduced emissions also enable our customers to reduce their Scope 2 emissions.”
Page Trucking has a fleet of approximately 500 trucks in service, serving the agriculture, hazardous materials, and bulk commodities industries throughout Texas. And, if ReVolt’s EREV semis live up to their promise, expect them to operate a lot more than 20 of ’em.
SOURCES | IMAGES: ReVolt; via Power Progress, TTNews.
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