Requires the use of a fire-resistant blanket, bag or container when charging a bicycle with electric assist or an electric scooter; requires sellers of such vehicles to include a fire-resistant blanket, bag, or container with the sale of each e-bike or e-scooter; establishes fines.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
252
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EACHUS, COLTON, JACOBSON, McDONOUGH, GRAY, DeSTE-
FANO, ZINERMAN, GALLAGHER, SAYEGH, SHIMSKY, SIMONE, TAYLOR, BENEDETTO,
EPSTEIN, BEEPHAN, CHANG, K. BROWN, HYNDMAN, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, LEVEN-
BERG, DAVILA, COOK, STECK, WOERNER, RAGA -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to the use of a
fire-resistant blanket, bag or container when charging a bicycle with
electric assist or an electric scooter
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new
2 section 1244 to read as follows:
3 § 1244. Battery pack; fire-resistant blanket. 1. Every bicycle with
4 electric assist shall be sold with a fiberglass fire-resistant blanket
5 which shall be used when charging the bicycle with electric assist.
6 Every person charging a bicycle with electric assist shall place the
7 lithium-ion battery pack under such fiberglass fire-resistant blanket,
8 or in a fire-resistant bag or container, while the charging is taking
9 place. If the battery cannot be removed from the bicycle with electric
10 assist and charged separately, then a fiberglass fire-resistant blanket
11 shall be placed over the entire bicycle with electric assist.
12 2. Sellers of bicycles with electric assist shall include a fiberglass
13 fire-resistant blanket or fire-resistant bag or container which meets
14 the requirements of this section for the particular bicycle with elec-
15 tric assist being purchased with each purchase of a bicycle with elec-
16 tric assist.
17 3. A violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of five
18 hundred dollars for the first violation and an additional five hundred
19 dollars for each subsequent violation.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01496-01-5
A. 252 2
1 4. For the purposes of this section, the term "fire-resistant" shall
2 mean a fiberglass blanket or a bag or container which meets the defi-
3 nition of fire resistance as defined in the state fire code as that
4 property of materials or their assemblies that prevents or retards the
5 passage of excessive heat, hot gases, or flames under conditions of use.
6 § 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section
7 1290 to read as follows:
8 § 1290. Battery pack; fire-resistant blanket. 1. Every electric scoot-
9 er shall be sold with a fiberglass fire-resistant blanket which shall be
10 used when charging the electric scooter. Every person charging an elec-
11 tric scooter shall place the lithium-ion battery pack under such fiber-
12 glass fire-resistant blanket, or in a fire-resistant bag or container,
13 while the charging is taking place. If the battery cannot be removed
14 from the electric scooter and charged separately, then a fiberglass
15 fire-resistant blanket shall be placed over the entire electric scooter.
16 2. Sellers of electric scooters shall include a fiberglass fire-resis-
17 tant blanket or fire-resistant bag or container which meets the require-
18 ments of this section for the particular electric scooter being
19 purchased with each purchase of an electric scooter.
20 3. A violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of five
21 hundred dollars for the first violation and an additional five hundred
22 dollars for each subsequent violation.
23 4. For the purposes of this section, the term "fire-resistant" shall
24 mean a fiberglass blanket or a bag or container which meets the defi-
25 nition of fire resistance as defined in the state fire code as that
26 property of materials or their assemblies that prevents or retards the
27 passage of excessive heat, hot gases, or flames under conditions of use.
28 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
