Mayor Adams unveiled his newest plan to prevent the improper charging of lithium-ion batteries as the death toll from e-bike fires ticked up above a dozen this year — but its key initiative of having New Yorkers report problems to 311 got off to a rocky start, The Post has learned.

“Effective immediately, 311 calls regarding questionable activity at bike repair shops or any other locations with batteries [that] are being charged with getting a response from the local fire station within 12 hours,” Mayor Adams said at a Lower Manhattan press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Unfortunately, when The Post tried to report a problem to 311, both online and on the phone, there were no options for the lithium-ion battery issues and were eventually given an email address for fire prevention at the FDNY.

The Post did get an automated acknowledgement to its email — but by not using the 311 system, it was impossible to track the request and see how quickly fire officials are responding the actual issue.

Hizzoner said the the city hopes to reduce the response time for such requests from 72 hours to 12.

The mayor — who spoke a day after the 108th fire caused by e-bike batteries this year tore through a Chinatown building killing four and severely injuring two others — also rattled off a series of “questionable activities” residents should look for.

Those include seeing a large number of batteries or extension cords being used, batteries that appear refurbished or if the business doesn’t appear properly licensed.

“We’re asking the public to play a role,” Adams said, adding, “Let’s not wait until this is going to victimize your family.”

The rocky rollout comes as city lawmakers struggle to balance the regulatory and punitive response to the recent surge of e-bikes, which are primarily used by low-income workers. 

“Now we’re dealing with these, the low wage employees that are doing the right thing to goal is to correct an action,” Adams said when asked why the city hasn’t shut more locations down, such as the shop at the center of Tuesday’s inferno.

The HQ E-Bike Repair at 80 Madison St. had been previously cited for battery charging violations earlier this year.

“Habitual abusers, we will shut down,” the mayor said, “But we’re not going to create a knee-jerk reaction that says every place that sells batteries that we’re going to shut down because then who’s going to supply those who are legally using those batteries and can’t carry out their job.”

A total of 13 people have died in blazes sparked by the batteries this year — making them the leading causes of fatal fires in NYC.

Last month, another fire in Upper Manhattan claimed the lives of four.

A 7-year-old and teenager were killed in a similar fire in April when an inferno broke out inside a Queens home forcing people to leap from their windows to escape.

The first fire connected to the power cells this year erupted in January and killed 63-year-old Modesto Collado and injured 10 others in East Elmhurst.

In all of 2022, six people perished in fires sparked by e-bike batteries, up from four the year prior.

Adams signed Local Law 42 in March allowing for a pilot of outdoor charging areas and created a task force to go after repeat-offending shops and to spot-check for unsafe conditions.

Bronx Democratic Councilman Oswald Feliz, one of the city lawmakers who has led the charge on e-bike battery safety, told The Post the enforcement was key.

“We need heavy enforcement of these rules and education on the matter of making sure people know that uncertified batteries are not sold but also random inspections of specific businesses to make sure they are not selling the batteries they cannot lawfully sell,” he said.

Feliz got his legislation passed requiring only UL-certified batteries be sold in NYC but it doesn’t go into effect until Sept. 7, he said.

Democratic Councilwoman Gale Brewer said she’s considering new legislation that would ban e-bike shops from residential buildings but admitted the many hurdles with any new laws targeted at the e-bike boom that emerged during COVID.

“We have a conundrum,” she said.

“Something has to be done otherwise, we’re going to have many many fires.”