Aiming to reduce the number of fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries that power e-bikes, the city is making delivery workers an offer it hopes they can’t refuse.

The Department of Transportation on Thursday began swapping hundreds of safer e-bikes, chargers and batteries with workers willing to trade in illegal e-bikes, electric mopeds or gas-powered mopeds that can’t be ed with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

“This is not just about protecting delivery workers,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said at an agency facility in Washington Heights where the new e-bikes were unveiled. “It’s about protecting them, their families, their neighbors and all New Yorkers from deadly fires.”

Since 2019, fatalities across the city, according to the FDNY. That  includes 18 deaths in 2023, when there were 268 such blazes.

The batteries that power e-bikes and similar so-called micromobility devices were blamed last year for 277 fires, 95 injuries and five deaths. 

“I would say this is like trading in a Kia for a Mercedes, it’s a win-win for everyone,” Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said in response to a question from THE CITY about the new bikes. “From the Fire Department’s perspective, I don’t want to jinx us, but we’re at zero deaths this year — one death is too many, 18 is way too many.”

The several efforts to reduce the number of fires tied to lithium-ion batteries, which peaked last year, even as the number of deaths dropped.

“The numbers are trending in the right direction, for sure, especially when it comes to deaths, but there is still tremendous work to be done,” Tucker said. “We know that micromobility devices are part of the future of New York City.”

The free trade-in targets the legions of food-delivery apps. It provides them with new e-bikes, chargers and batteries that are certified as safe by recognized safety labs such as UL Solutions.

It is open to food-delivery workers who are 18 or older, have earned at least $1,500 from making deliveries in the last year and own and use a micromobility device for work. The application period opened Thursday and runs through the end of June.

“This is about safety, dignity and recognition,” said delivery William Medina, of Los Deliveristas Unidos and the Worker’s Justice Project. “For too long, we have been forced to rely on unsafe bikes and on uncertified batteries, risking our lives and the lives of our families just to make a living — even charging a bike at home became a dangerous moment.”

The of the trade-in require delivery workers to complete an online safety course, follow the rules of the road and pledge to stick to a citywide 15 mph speed limit for e-bikes proposed last week by Mayor Eric Adams.

“We expect that all these delivery workers will ride at 15 mph,” Rodriguez said. 

The 400 e-bikes included in the first wave of the trade-in program can top out at 20 mph, officials said, and come equipped with individual speedometers. 

Rodriguez pointed to statistics showing that more than 80% of New Yorkers place a food delivery at least once a week, with nearly a quarter ordering four times per week. He also said the tech companies behind the apps need to play a role in making things safer for workers and residents of apartment buildings.

“We encourage all the food-app companies, from DoorDash to Uber and others, to do their part, to also not put the pressure they put on delivery workers so that they have to go so fast in order to deliver the food to our apartments,” he said.

Delivery workers who spoke with THE CITY said the pressure to deliver food as quickly as possible can be intense.

“We know the rules of the road,” said Enrique De Lucio, 60, who was making a pizza delivery Thursday in the Financial District. “Whether we stick to them, that’s another matter.”

Santiago Ramirez, 35, was among the first delivery workers to show up at a DOT outpost in Washington Heights to trade in the e-bike he’s been using for the last year.

He said he made the move to avoid potential run-ins with NYPD officers cracking down on unsafe e-bikes.

“If everything is in order, you won’t have a problem with the police,” said Ramirez, who makes deliveries in Manhattan and Queens. 

Eliseo Sanchez, a 52-year-old delivery worker, said the 15 mph speed-limit proposal doesn’t concern him as much as trying to steer clear of trouble with the NYPD.

“Speed doesn’t interest me,” he said in Spanish. “I simply want the bike to help me and cut out any headaches.”