E-bike and e-scooter batteries should be regulated in the same way as fireworks after a spate of fatal fires in the UK, a safety charity has said.
Lithium-ion cells that power the increasingly popular vehicles should be approved before sale to prevent greater loss of life, said Electrical Safety First (ESF). At least 12 people have died in suspected e-bike and e-scooter blazes since 2020 in the UK.
Similar rules were enforced in New York City earlier this year after a spate of fatal fires. The proposal comes amid potentially dangerous chargers discovered for sale in the UK, often imported from China, on eBay and Amazon.
The Guardian has previously revealed the number of e-bike and e-scooter battery fires has quadrupled in the UK since 2020, injuring at least 190 people.
The latest fatalities linked to the vehicles were in Cambridge on 30 June after an e-bike reportedly caught fire, and on 6 July in London where, according to police, a man died after an e-bike left on charge likely burst into flames in Kentish Town. The London fire brigade is responding to e-bike fires every other day in the capital.
Andrew Beaton, from Lancaster, whose council house was destroyed earlier this month when a £500 e-bike he bought off eBay went up in flames, told the Guardian the batteries “exploded like hand grenades” and his wife and daughter only just escaped with their lives after becoming trapped upstairs. The bike was on charge overnight and caught fire at about 1.30am.
“The government should be making sure they are all tested before the come here,” he said. “What happened to the other children [in Cambridge] – that could easily have been us.”
The experience has traumatised his family, he said.
Lesley Rudd, the ESF chief executive, said: “This unique type of fire requires special measures to tackle the increasing problem. We need to get on top of this issue now to prevent more lives being lost. There are too many reckless operators in this space, such as third-party sellers on online marketplaces, who are risking the lives of the public and giving responsible manufacturers of these products a bad name.”
Faulty e-bike batteries can catch fire, leading to explosions, 600C heat and “thermal runaway” that can quickly cause major blazes, video of laboratory tests shows. A fully charged e-bike battery can release stored energy equivalent to the explosives in six hand grenades, ESF estimates.
With e-bikes allowing riders to zip along at 15mph with minimal pedalling, sales have risen to about 165,000 a year and account for nearly one in 10 new bikes in the UK, according to industry research. They are widely used by gig economy food couriers. But experts say that cheaper unregulated batteries, people using the wrong chargers and being left plugged in unattended overnight means more people are getting hurt.
Four people died in an e-bike shop fire in New York last month, where this spring new laws were introduced restricting the sale, lease or rental of e-bikes and electric scooters that fail to meet recognised safety standard certification.
London fire brigade’s assistant commissioner for fire safety, Charlie Pugsley, said: “We launched our #ChargeSafe campaign earlier this year as firefighters in London are tackling an increasing number of ferocious fires caused by lithium batteries that produce toxic, flammable gases that are hard to extinguish.
“We’re calling for urgent research into the causes of these battery fires and to help prevent these fires in the future, which cause damage to property as well as serious injuries, and in some cases fatalities.
“We are also calling for the government to bring forward the product safety review being led by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and ensure safeguards are in place to protect people from unknowingly purchasing dangerous products from online marketplaces. The OPSS should consider the need for a standard or regulations for e-bikes, conversion kits, as well as batteries and chargers.”
The Bicycle Association trade body, said there was a “growing issue with e-bike and e-scooter battery packs and chargers, especially those sold via online marketplaces, which pose a serious risk to the public”.
“The UK cycle industry will fully support swift regulatory measures to address this issue, to safeguard the reputation of the e-bike category and its potential to transform our cities with healthy, enjoyable low-carbon transportation.”
