A city-backed e-bike battery company violated FDNY safety rules before a fire incinerated 433 battery packs in a Brooklyn shipping container—and working New Yorkers are the ones breathing the toxic fumes of another green-energy partnership gone wrong.
PopWheels, one of three companies the Fire Department and Department of Transportation authorized in 2024 to run outdoor battery-swapping kiosks, is supposed to be part of New York City's answer to deadly lithium-ion battery fires. Instead, an FDNY investigation found the company violated its safety agreement with the city by charging and storing battery packs in unapproved cabinets before the August 15 blaze at its Fort Greene storage unit, according to the New York Post. The fire, which the FDNY described as an "all-hands" event, caused roughly $500,000 in damages. No one was injured, but the agency couldn't determine whether the violation caused the fire.
So much for the cure being safer than the disease. Lithium-ion battery fires are up 68% this year in New York City, and two such fires earlier this month in the South Bronx and Sunset Park killed 10 people. The City Council has scheduled an emergency hearing for November 20 to demand answers from city agencies and stakeholders.
PopWheels is only authorized to service Arrow E-Bike brand battery packs, but video obtained by the Post shows Whizz battery packs also being charged at outdoor kiosks citywide—another apparent violation that critics say endangers New Yorkers. The FDNY slapped PopWheels with numerous summonses last month at its outdoor charging sites.
Co-founders David Hammer and Baruch Herzfeld insisted in a statement their safety record is "impeccable," boasting over half a million UL-certified battery swaps without an in-service incident. They claimed there was "no charging or discharging" inside the shipping container when the fire broke out and dismissed the FDNY citations as "ticky tack" violations for issues like littering, rodent droppings, and outdated fire extinguisher tags.
But the company's private tone was different from its public one. In a memo to investors, PopWheels referred to the August incident under the codename "Zanzibar" and noted: "Nobody was hurt. There was no press [and] our relationship with the FDNY is good." The blaze left the company with a $150,000 hazardous-materials cleanup that "insurance won't cover" and acknowledged that "losing 400+ batteries effectively froze growth."
Councilman Phil Wong (D-Queens) didn't mince words: "Companies pushing lithium-ion batteries and these devices are making millions while innocent New Yorkers are losing their lives in fires, yet somehow their profits continue to come before public safety."
The pattern is clear: public money funds the mandate, private companies pocket the profit, and when the fire hits, the public gets the damage control—literally. The City Council hearing on November 20 will test whether any elected official is willing to treat green-energy partnerships with the same scrutiny they'd apply to any other industry storing volatile chemicals in residential neighborhoods.
