The cost of a trade-in and the logistics of the program have been barriers for delivery workers using older bikes.
After a spate of deadly lithium battery fires in New York City, an e-bike trade-in program began to offer brand-new e-bikes certified to industry safety standards at discounted prices to delivery workers who brought in their old ones.
But the pilot program — which initially asked $1,900 for the new e-bikes — has yielded just three trade-ins since July: two e-bikes and an e-scooter.
The meager result illustrates just how difficult it will be to get uncertified e-bikes away from the public and put safer ones into the hands of their heaviest users, the city's 60,000-plus delivery workers.
“Of course I’m worried about the fires, everybody is worried,” said Mohammad Rob, 48, who delivers Uber Eats orders up to six hours a day on his uncertified Arrow 10 e-bike. “But I don’t have enough money to change it.”
The program — which is being funded with $460,000 from donors, including Uber and DoorDash — has gotten off to a slow start in part because of the e-bike prices but also the challenge of reaching delivery workers, many of whom are immigrants and work illegally or do not speak much English. Some viewed the trade-in with suspicion, questioning whether it was a scam. The logistics of the program also had to be worked out, including how to dispose of unsafe e-bikes and batteries.
Many delivery workers said the initial $1,900 price was too high. So two more e-bike options have since been added, for $700 and $928. All three options have been certified to UL 2849, a new safety standard required for any e-bike sold or rented in the city.
Eleven more trade-ins are scheduled for September, of which 10 are for the two cheaper options.
More than 200 delivery workers have applied for a trade-in. But some did not respond when later contacted. Others were not approved because they did not meet the delivery work requirement of at least six months (or could not verify that they did), or they could not come up with the money for the trade-in.
“It’s getting people through the process that’s the challenge,” said Melinda Hanson, a co-founder of the Equitable Commute Project — a coalition of community, education and business groups — which is running the program.
The coalition will hold a series of trade-in events at bike shops in September to try to reach more delivery workers.
Mr. Rob said he would not even bother to apply because he cannot afford to pay, essentially, for another e-bike. This summer has been especially slow, with his earnings dropping by nearly half to less than $600 a week.
But he added, “if it is free, I will take one.”
The trade-in program is the latest effort to fight lithium battery fires, which have killed 14 people and injured 96 others in New York City so far this year. City officials have passed legislation to regulate the safety of e-bikes and e-scooters, and the Fire Department has stepped up inspections of bike shops and public service messages to target hazardous battery conditions.
Trade-in programs can help make safer e-bikes more accessible to delivery workers, said Ligia Guallpa, the executive director of the Worker’s Justice Project, which runs Los Deliveristas Unidos, a campaign for delivery workers.
But, she added, “we’re hoping to see not only city government but the apps step up more to be able to ensure that these trade-in programs come at a more affordable cost, if not free.”
The City Council is considering a proposal to create a free, trade-in program for lithium-ion batteries that would be subsidized by the city and could be expanded to e-bikes, said Councilman Keith Powers, who represents Manhattan.
“We have an opportunity to intervene here to get those bad batteries off the streets,” he said, “just like we do with gun buyback programs.”
Many delivery workers and their advocates said the food delivery companies should be the ones responsible for buying the UL-certified e-bikes for their workers, especially since Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub recently sued the city to block minimum pay standards that would have increased workers’ earnings.
But Josh Gold, a spokesman for Uber, said that if Uber simply bought certified e-bikes for only its delivery workers, it would not solve the larger problem of lithium battery fires.
Instead, Uber and others, including the Equitable Commute Project, have called for a small fee to be added to every food delivery order — which could be paid by customers, food delivery apps or restaurants — to raise money for a fund that would subsidize the cost of e-bike trade-ins for all delivery workers, regardless of who they work for.
Uber has also partnered with an electric vehicle company, Zoomo, on a separate discount program for food delivery workers. They can rent a certified e-bike from $99 a month, or more than half off the regular price of $199, with Uber subsidizing the rental costs for up to a total of $500,000. They have the option of trading in an uncertified e-bike for an additional $200 credit, which can be used toward the purchase of a Zoomo e-bike.
To apply for the trade-in program from the Equitable Commute Project, delivery workers fill out an online form and confirm that they will bring in their e-bikes. In return, they have a choice of three e-bikes, each of which comes with a spare battery: a Tern Quick Haul for $1,900 (nearly $3,800 retail cost); an Aventon Level.2 for $928 (about $2,500); and a Velotric Go 1 for $700 (about $2,300).
George Suazo, 30, a delivery worker for Uber Eats and Grubhub, said that he decided to trade in his folding Fly Wing e-bike, which he bought for $1,600 last year. After hearing about the fires, he has taken safety precautions with his e-bike, such as setting a timer on his phone to prevent overcharging the battery and unplugging the charger before going to bed.
Though he has not had any problems, Mr. Suazo, who lives with his family, said he would feel safer with a certified e-bike. After applying, he was invited to try out the e-bikes at a local bike store and picked the Aventon.
Mr. Suazo said it was an upgrade from his current e-bike, with larger tires and a longer battery range. He said he did not mind paying $928 for it, which he expected to make back in a couple weeks of making deliveries. “The trade-in, compared to what I have, I feel is a great deal,” he said.
Workers who need help paying for their new e-bike can apply for a low-interest loan for as little as $1,000 from Spring Bank, a coalition member, which can help build their credit history, Ms. Hanson said. But workers must have an income of at least $20,000 annually to qualify for the loan. Four loans have been approved so far.
The coalition, which expects to subsidize at least 150 new e-bikes through the program, is seeking additional funding to expand it to other low-income workers.
Marianna Koval, another co-founder of the Equitable Commute Project and a project director at the Center for Sustainable Business at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said that the pilot program was just a start, and that elected officials, restaurants, and delivery customers would all have to work together to get safer e-bikes to the city’s delivery workers.
“We’re trying to show how it could be done,” she said. “But we don’t have the money to do it on a scale that’s necessary to ensure the safety of our delivery worker community.”
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NYC E-Bike Trade-In Program Tries to Get Unsafe Lithium Batteries Off Streets - The New York Times
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