Coroner Issues Warning Over Storing E-bikes at Home After Boy, 8, Dies in Fire

A member of the City of London Police Cycle Team takes part in a police operation to confiscate illegally modified e-bikes near Bishopsgate Police Station in London, England, on Sept. 12, 2024. Jonathan Brady/PA

A coroner has issued a warning over the risks of charging e-bikes at home after an eight-year-old boy died following a house fire caused by one of the devices.

An inquest concluded that Luke Albiston O’Donnell died in hospital from carbon monoxide poisoning and hypoxia—low levels of oxygen in the body—after an e-bike which had been left on charge in the front room of his house in Merseyside had caught fire in the early hours of Aug. 4, 2024.

Area coroner for Liverpool and the Wirral Anita Bhardwaj said on Wednesday that the general public “do not appreciate the life-threatening risks involved with having lithium iron batteries, from electronic bikes in this case, stored in domestic properties.”

“There have already been three deaths associated with lithium batteries in the home in Merseyside and we have been informed there were a number of similar fatalities across England,” she said, warning there is a risk that more deaths could occur unless action is taken.

The coroner sent a preventing future deaths (PDF) report to the Office of Product Safety and Standard (OPSS), the National Fire Chiefs Council, and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service which outlines her concerns over public awareness of the dangers of storing these devices.

It is the fourth PFD report to be sent to the OPSS over e-bike fires since August 2022.

Lithium Batteries

The inquest into Luke’s death had concluded that the fire was sparked by the ignition of the e-bike’s lithium battery.

E-scooters and e-bikes are powered by various types of battery, but the most popular are lithium-ion because they have a long lifespan and are lightweight.

However, if they overheat and catch fire, the blaze can spread quickly and produce a toxic odour.

London Fire Brigade Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Field told The Epoch Times, “E-bike and e-scooter fires are the fastest growing fire trend in London.”

Field said: “These type of fires produce toxic, flammable gases that are often hard to extinguish. When these batteries and these chargers fail, they do so with ferocity. These fires quite often develop very quickly.”

According to figures published by the OPSS in August, 13 people died from fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters in 2022 and 2023.

Batteries Bought Online

Coroners, campaigners, and victims of e-bike fires,  including Scott Peden, have called for the government to put in place safety measures.

Peden’s partner Gemma Germeney and their children Lilly Peden, 8, and Oliver Peden, 4, died in a fire in Cambridge in June 2023, caused by an e-bike battery bought online.

In October, online retail giant eBay restricted the sale of e-bikes and e-bike batteries in the UK only by eligible business sellers, citing safety issues.

That same month, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) launched its Buy Safe Be Safe campaign, urging consumers to only buy safe and legal e-bikes and e-scooters and avoid rogue online sellers because of the risk of deadly fires.

Responding to the coroner’s findings, a DBT spokesperson said: “We were sorry to hear of Luke’s death and our thoughts are with his family.

“We take the risk of e-scooter and e-bike fires very seriously, and are clear that the public should too. That is why we launched our ‘Buy Safe, Be Safe’ campaign earlier this year to raise awareness.”

New Guidance

The spokesperson added: “We are also introducing new laws to ensure online sellers only sell safe products, as well as taking action at ports and borders to stop unsafe or non-compliant products from reaching consumers.”

On Thursday, the OPSS launched statutory guidance for businesses producing and distributing lithium-ion batteries for e-bikes.

The guidelines mandate that lithium-ion batteries for these devices contain a safety mechanism to address the risk of sparking serious fires or explosions.

It applies to all lithium-ion batteries for e-bikes, including ones bought online or those sold as part of a conversion kit.

The OPSS said it has already acted to remove unsafe batteries from the market, including blocking two models manufactured in China and linked to incidents in the UK.

PA Media contributed to this report.