A Queens scooter shop was busted for illegally making highly-flammable “Frankenstein batteries,” fire officials said — but the owner insisted he got “everything from China.”
Invstigators confiscated about 60 battery packs, hundreds of individual lithium-ion cells, 25 e-scooters, and 25 combination electric and gas mopeds from Wilson Scooters in Forest Hills, the FDNY said Thursday.
The Lithium-Ion Task Force – which is composed of the Fire Marshals, Bureau of Fire Prevention, and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection – inspected the shop after communities members tipped off police and put the shop on its radar.
“We have stressed time and time again that unregulated, tampered with, and non-certified batteries are extremely dangerous,” fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said at a news conference Thursday.
“ They kill people, they have killed people , and they will kill more people if businesses continue to operate in this manner,” Kavanagh said. “These are what we have called Frankenstein batteries and we have been warning people not to use these for months.”