In the media news recently there have been a number of reports concerning hoverboard fires which may involve the lithium-ion battery and/or compatibility with the power supply. The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating the root cause of these incidents.
In response to these incidents, Underwriters Laboratories (“UL”) announced on February 2, 2016 the development of a new standard, UL 2272 –Battery Systems for Use in Self Balancing Scooters. This standard outlines initial requirements for mitigating fire and electric hazards for self-balancing scooters such as hoverboards. This standard demonstrates that UL is now ready to support retailers and manufacturers in testing hoverboards and their components for electrical and fire safety. Unfortunately, prior to this standard, many hoverboard manufacturers were putting a UL label to indicate they were UL approved or followed UL guidelines when in fact UL had not even made a UL standard for hoverboards. To date, UL has yet to certify any hoverboard for safety. Therefore, even if a product states UL approved it does not mean that it is. It is imperative that you always research whether the UL approval, or any other represented product listing, is valid as the approval can be erroneous and misleading.
