Brooklyn E-Bike Shop Onwer Arrested for Lithium-Ion Battery Violations

A Brooklyn e-bike shop owner has been arrested and charged with violating New York’s new e-bike laws. Tian Liang Liu was arrested for illegally charging and storing e-bike batteries in violation of New York’s fire codes regarding the safe storage and charging of e-bike batteries.

Liu owns Electric Bicycle Shop and FDNY fire inspectors made the decision to charge Liu following several inspections, during each of which Liu was found to be in violation of the fire code.

Liu was charged with reckless endangerment because he was selling e-bikes lacking UL certification, storing loose lithium-ion battery cells, as well as charging multiple e-bike batteries and storing multiple propane cylinders.

Electric Bicycle Shop occupies a storefront below residential apartments, precisely the sort of situation FDNY has found puts people at risk. Inspectors had visited the shop four times previously and detailed each of Liu’s violations during their visits.

“Bureau of Fire Prevention inspectors wrote many violations on our previous visits and they had little or no compliance upon this latest visit,” said FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. “We spoke with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office about this incident and felt that it met the charges of reckless endangerment.”

Prior to Liu’s arrest, FDNY had only issued financial penalties to shops found in violation of the fire code. Shops can be fined $1000 per SKU for either e-bikes or batteries lacking UL certification.

As proof of the ongoing problem, Commissioner Kavanagh said that there had been five fires involving lithium-ion batteries and ten the previous week.

“The problem isn’t going away,” she said.