@Tulyar Yeah sorry man, I don't buy it. The actual risk is statistically nonexistent(I've currently got an FoI request in with Merseyrail about their supposed "safety review" to find out what evidence and criteria they used in their ban, and Edinburgh Trams will be getting the same if Spokes can't get them to back down - I suspect the answer in weaselly terms will be "sweet FA" and that this is happening almost exclusively at the behest of one particular union who are using a single incident on a platform on the London Underground as an excuse to push a full ban with operators nationwide as they did in London, why I have no idea).
Powered wheelchairs are still allowed, mobility scooters are still allowed - their batteries are at least as large as any EAPC, and I've known people who've replaced old failed battery packs in mobility devices with "shonky foreign jobs" because the official replacements were so expensive when out of warranty. Laptops and mobiles are still allowed despite the fact that there have been scandals in recent years where both types of device exploded or caught fire either injuring people or burning down buildings.
Lithium batteries and their risks are simply part of modern life, there is no rational, evidence-based reason I've yet seen to specifically single out ebikes and hold them to a different standard.
I've seen suggestions that the various bans are less about battery safety and more about the wider context; they always seem to be happening in places that are working to enable more cycling and encourage multimodal journeys but where operators have invested in infrastructure and rolling stock with poor provision for bicycles, and banning ebikes which are quickly becoming the main kind of bicycle people use for utility transport is a way of simply not having to deal with the increased demand for capacity, a way for their staff to not have to deal with customers forced to wait on a platform because a train or tram only has space for two bikes. A cop out, essentially.
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