A power bank sold on Amazon started a fire that caused $2 million in damage

NEWDERY power banks, model ZHX-PB22, are now under a formal recall after nine reports of the units exploding and igniting, one of which became a serious fire. The pack is black with yellow cables and was sold on Amazon.com from October 2023 to November 2024 for between $27 and $50. About 21,380 were sold, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall on September 24, 2026 as recall number 26-792.

The notice reads like a short incident ledger. Alongside the single large fire there is one burn injury, and nothing in the notice describes a death. What sets the case apart from most battery recalls is the dollar figure attached to one event, which dwarfs the damage totals CPSC has attached to far larger power bank recalls.

The nine reports and the $2 million fire

The CPSC’s recall notice counts nine reports of the power banks exploding and igniting, including one serious fire resulting in $2 million in property damage and one burn injury. The agency’s stated hazard is that the lithium-ion battery inside “can explode or ignite, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers.” The importer is Shenzhen Xinkewangda Electronics Co., Ltd., which does business as NEWDERY and is based in China. CPSC describes the pack as having the NEWDERY name engraved on the front and the model number printed on the back, which is how an owner can check a unit against the recall.

Compare that with the scale of an earlier recall. When CPSC announced the recall of about 1,158,000 Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks in June 2025, the notice cited 19 fires and explosions, two minor burn injuries and 11 property damage incidents totaling more than $60,700. A single NEWDERY fire, at $2 million, exceeds that entire Anker total by more than 30 times, even though the NEWDERY recall covers roughly 2 percent as many units.

Lithium-ion cells in a pocket-sized pack

A power bank is a small enclosure packed with one or more lithium-ion cells, a protection circuit and a charging port, and it is routinely carried in bags, left under pillows and charged overnight. The CPSC notice does not say what failed inside the NEWDERY units, and it does not name a cell supplier or a defect in the circuitry. It says only that the battery can explode or ignite, which leaves the failure mechanism open.

Owners are told not to put the packs in regular trash, curbside recycling or battery recycling boxes, and to call a municipal household hazardous waste collection center instead.

From a refused recall to a refund

This is not the first time CPSC has addressed these exact power banks. On June 5, 2025, the agency issued a warning telling consumers to stop using the NEWDERY ZHX-PB22, stating that the importer “has refused to conduct a recall.” That warning described the same nine reports, the same $2 million fire and the same burn injury, and urged owners to dispose of the packs immediately under local hazardous waste procedures, but counted about 17,670 units sold between March 2023 and November 2024.

The 2026 recall changes the posture from a warning to a remedy. Consumers can get a full refund, but only after submitting a photo showing the model number, the serial number, the word “recalled” and their last name written in permanent marker, and confirming that the pack was disposed of properly. Claims go through NEWDERY, which can be reached at 888-256-6673. The notice does not explain why the unit count rose from about 17,670 to about 21,380 or why the sales window now begins in October 2023 instead of March 2023.

The micromobility rulemaking and its limits

CPSC’s formal battery-safety work is aimed at a different product class. A notice of proposed rulemaking published June 24, 2026 would set a mandatory standard for lithium-ion batteries in e-bikes, e-scooters, self-balancing scooters, e-skateboards, e-unicycles and hybrid designs, drawing on modified versions of UL 2849, UL 2272 and UL 2271. The notice tallies 227 incidents from 2019 through 2023, of which 195 were fires and 120 happened while the product was charging. Comments closed August 24, 2026.

The proposal would also require tamper-resistant battery enclosures, reverse polarity protection and labeling about thermal runaway and electric shock risk. Power banks are not among the six categories, so no mandatory federal battery standard of that kind covers a ZHX-PB22. The commission’s own micromobility hazard report for 2017 through 2024 associates 45 deaths with battery-related fires: 15 with e-scooters, 11 with self-balancing scooters and 19 with e-bikes. For pocket-sized packs, the agency’s tools remain recall notices, unilateral warnings and the product-by-product enforcement visible in the NEWDERY file.

The notice gives no count of the roughly 21,380 packs still in use, which matters because the refund depends on owners photographing and destroying a pack they may no longer remember buying.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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