E-bikes have hit the headlines once again after a fire believed to have been caused by one at a block of flats in east London left eleven people in hospital.
Increasingly popular with Londoners, e-bikes now fill the capital’s streets - and pavements - and have quickly become one of the city’s regular sights and sounds.
But they have also for some time been one of the capital’s fastest growing fire risks. In 2024, the London Fire Brigade recorded 142 fires involving e-bikes, along with 29 e-scooters. On average, there was an e-bike or e-scooter fire once every other day.
The previous year, three people died in fires caused by e-bike battery failures in London and more than 100 people have been hurt by them.
The fire in Bethnal Green on Wednesday night comes shortly after Transport for London (TfL) announced a ban on all non-folding e-bikes on the Tube.
The transport authority had faced pressure from the Aslef train drivers union, who warned there was “no justification for continuing to put staff and passengers at risk by continuing to allow potentially explosive devices on London Underground trains”. The union had threatened strike action over the issue, after an e-bike exploded on a platform at Rayners Lane station.
Not all e-bikes are created equal. Some of the most dangerous, in terms of fire risk, are often ordinary bikes which have been adapted using cheap, badly-designed ‘conversion kits’.
These kits are typically used by gig economy workers, such as food delivery riders looking for a cost-effective way to boost the number of deliveries they can complete in a day. After working a long, tiring shift and returning to their home - usually a shared house or bedsit - they may then leave their e-bike charging overnight.
If the bike’s lithium-ion battery pack overheats, it can explode and can “compromise a good-sized double bedroom in 10-15 seconds”, the LFB’s former deputy commissioner Dom Ellis told the London Assembly in 2023.
Through their #ChargeSafe campaign, the Brigade have been working to share safety tips and advice to e-bike users, including warnings that batteries should never be left charging while the owner is asleep, and that escape routes must be kept clear.
The LFB also warns that a battery “bulging or swelling out of shape is a common sign of it failing” and the same applies “if you notice a strong or unusual smell coming from the battery”.
To crack down on the issue at its source however, mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has urged the new Government to place tighter regulations on the sale of e-bikes and electric conversion kits - something ministers are looking to do through the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill.
The Bill started in the House of Lords and will next make its way through the committee stage in the House of Commons, meaning it is close to passing into law.
In the meantime, e-bike owners can reduce the risk to themselves by visiting the LFB’s #ChargeSafe campaign page: https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/lithium-batteries/
