I believe it depends on the standard but no, third party testing is not a requirement although it is often cheaper unless it’s a really niche thing where maybe one or two outfits do that testing. It does not cost millions but it’s certainly expensive - well within the budgets of most “real” companies that are set up as legit businesses.
Probably nothing available on this new standard but usually sooner or later you can find snippets that will be quoted in trade publications or news sites - full and current standards are very protected against free hosting and they pursue it when they find one.
You can’t look up those fire and building codes usually, either, although most often at the state level they will have something available, but that’s often just exceptions to whatever standard they reference (same at municipal for those that do/can change something). Or sometimes an insurance company or attorney will have access to the full current standards and can share. Usually if you find something online it’ll be just a portion and/or from a long superseded edition (which may still apply but how do you know).
Even our own flashlight standards are still somewhat hidden…did find some info awhile back that was finally available. Keep in mind that the flashlight standards were largely driven by (and rallied against) by flashlight manufacturers themselves. Most of it had to do with honesty in claims (light output mostly but waterproofing as well). Since everything is voluntary there in terms of participation and marketing, there’s nothing really to be done about it except complain to companies that fudge and keep our enthusiast test results happening then let the wallets speak the loudest.
I’ll see if might be able to find the NYC wording but often municipal stuff is just surface treatment and all the important details are buried in code books and such that are not easily viewable by the public. I’m curious if they made allowances for the various UL-similar certifications around the world (Europe and Japan mostly)…if they didn’t then that’s a serious misstep and example of all too common poor legislation by people in those roles that don’t know as much as they should.
First they came for the hoverboards then the bicycles and the scooters. I’m sure ul means well and they’ve done a lot to make the world a safer place. I am quite sure that ul would conclude, if they have not already, that consumers handling loose lithium ion cells is a bad idea. So if New York or anywhere else decided to pass a law based on ul standards for flashlights very few people here would be happy. Flat top batteries= FAIL
Anduril 1 ,2 , you can change the temperature limit= FAIL
Plus probably a boatload of other things in A1, A2 they don’t like.
There are tons of things that ultimately ul would or has already deemed not safe about many flashlights on the market. Is it any wonder that the first two lights that got ul approval ether had a built in 2600 mAh battery or used alkaline batteries?
Having been through this in a prior career, the cost of compliance is not so much the testing fees (there are after all many harmonized standards with other agencies such as CSA, ETL, CE) as it is the hours of engineering time dedicated to learning, adapting, and in the case of a rejection re-adapting to the standards.
It will depend on the standard. Chunks of what I’d call broad critical safety information in the likes of the national electrical code, fire code are available for free online. And some bits of code can be deduced (with varying degrees of accuracy) should the law/regulation/rule specify min/max values in its text. But in general if it’s of interest to manufacturers or the trades then charging for access is simply part of the business model.
What if the business model is to make as much money as possibly at any cost?
In sports both teams go through rigorous treatment to ensure the game is being played fairly. If the slightest wrongdoing is found the player is ousted and typically publicly humiliated in the form of bad press and writeups, etc.
If the exporting country, I wont mention any names, is also not held to a similar standard and made to follow rules and regulations, the entire businesses model goes to hell.
This is basically were we are today.
The latest business model is to essentially form a company, manufacture the cheapest product that has the most eye candy, colorful ads, tens of thousands of reviews, sell the crap out of it, dissolve the company, then start over with a different name and do it all again avoiding any legal liability as the life of your company is six months at best.
Sound familiar, look at the tens of thousands of companies on Amazon, companies you never heard of, that wont be anywhere to be found in a few months. These companies make a huge profits , avoid any industry regulation, and avoid any legal liability.
All I’m saying is we need to understand exactly what the problem(s) is and exactly what the law is going to do to address that problem(s). And will there be unintended consequences. Right now we know none of that.
This guy on YouTube spends 10 minutes to fully explain why a 50-year-old law regarding kids bikes doesn’t work today. The dumbest bike law you've never heard of - YouTube
But we do know, the problem are battery fires in high density dwellings, the law will regulate what batteries as well as electronic components for e bikes can be sold in nyc
Herein lies the problem…laws are not drafted to address the issues, but to punish the divergent. If anyone ever bothered to do a benefit analysis of public information/education vs. enforcement/accountability (i.e. penalty), they would most likely find a significant depreciation of incidental causation. Yes, guardrails are necessary to maintain a civil and responsible society, but the law is only as effective as is public acknowledgment of the legal guidelines.
Personal EV usage has been promoted, adopted and increasingly utilized by a significant number of metro dwellers across the city. I don’t live there nor have knowledge about the regulatory standards, but I fail to understand given the evolution of EV usage the lack of a reciprocal campaign by the municipality to provide resources for public guidance with regard to safe practices relating to EV power sources.
Herein lies the problem…laws are not drafted to address the issues, but to punish the divergent.
Yes and No. they ban sell of uncertified batteries, so in a way they address the issue, no inferior components, no fires, OTOH, they can’t stop people from bringing them from unregulated jurisdictions, nor they even try. However the real reason for this law, is to create a task force, aka money allocated, position of power created, as well as using this task force for something else later. take atf for example, they started in 30s regulating alcohol, then decades later they were regulating tobacco as well, then in late 60 they began regulating firearms and recently explosives, So do not be surprised when in 30 years this task force becomes federal agency and will be regulating what you think. you think of laws as immediate effect, politicians look decades ahead, how can they regulate more aspect of our lives, and make it easier for them.
Electric Bike Fires and Lithium-Ion Batteries - Consumer Reports This lengthy article written last December looks at the issue from many angles and talks to people in the industry. In the end other than labeling things as “cheap batteries”, whatever that means, and pointing out that most of these fires happen during charging, we still don’t understand what it is that ul is looking for. I went to YouTube to better understand what chargers are used for these bicycles and/or scooters and found a few videos regarding faster more powerful chargers. Many different battery voltages. Some of these aftermarket chargers have selectable voltage and amp settings. 4, 8 or 10 different plug connectors on different manufacturers batteries, bikes , scooters. Those problems are not going to go away with UL certification of complete bicycles or simply battery packs. Apparently Panasonic is assembling a fair number of these packs for probably higher end bicycles.