Great to see my ex-colleagues at OPSS on the front foot or should I say fast peddling out a safety message before Christmas concerning what consumers need to be thinking about if they own or are considering buying an e-bike or e-scooter.
So what are the takeaways?….
Lithium-ion batteries and conversion kits get a mention ✔️
Purchasing these products from a reputable seller gets a mention ✔️
Following the manufacturers guidance gets a mention ✔️
Charging in a safe place again gets a mention ✔️
All credible but please imagine your kitchen at home for a minute and all that encompasses it. Let’s focus on your toaster which is classed as one example of an ‘attended appliance.’ This essentially means it should not be left in operation without being supervised. This is because toasting bread is the process of applying heat to a combustible substance. Catch my drift?
For me there has to be a conversation about not leaving your e-bike or e-scooter unattended when you are charging it and perhaps a) under the influence or b) about to tread those wooden stairs to bed at night before snoozing off for your optimum 8 hours of sleep! It doesn’t bear thinking about whether it be the damage that could be done to products in the house, the structure of the house and all those residing within its 4 walls. Lastly there should be mention of charging near fully working smoke alarms, that’s certainly what I would be doing!.. ❌
So, the whole concept of charging and when you charge is a key message that should be made clear to spare any confusion amongst consumers. It’s certainly something I wrap into discussions with manufacturers when considering the supply of safety messages around products.
Whilst I’m here it really has to be mentioned that this particular message is a tricky one to land given we are in the middle of an energy crisis and being told continually that using white goods for instance at night is less expensive or at certain times of the day. Thinking smart charge points for electric vehicles here too but that’s another post for another time maybe…
So good intentions here but ideally further detail might be needed to lesson consumer confusion and unintended misuse…
