Incompatible Chargers to Blame for Many E-Bike Fires, Warns Report

A person rides an electric scooter along the Cycle Superhighway in Oval, south London, on April 1, 2023. (Susannah Ireland/AFP via Getty Images)

E-bike owners are at risk of getting injured in fires if they are using incompatible chargers for vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries, a charity has warned.

Amid growing concerns over fatalities and injuries caused by blazes from e-bikes and e-scooters, charity Electrical Safety First has called for more safety regulations (pdf).

Improper charging or use of incompatible charging kits can cause an e-bike battery to explode, causing fires that are difficult to extinguish and that can easily reignite.

“The huge amount of energy that is released over time when a battery bursts into flames is unlike other fires,” Electrical Safety First Chief Executive Lesley Rudd told the BBC, adding that a room could be destroyed “in a matter of minutes.”

The lithium-ion batteries become thermally unstable when charged with a voltage that is too high.

A survey of 1,000 e-bike and e-scooter owners has shown that more than a third were using incompatible chargers, while 43 percent of owners said they used chargers bought separately, which may be incompatible with the e-bike voltage.

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Electrical Safety First has warned riders to use only the charger provided with their vehicle or those specifically designed for the battery voltage range.

The fire and toxic smoke released in an e-bike battery explosion can cause severe injury and death. In the UK, eight people have died since the beginning of the year in incidents linked to lithium-ion battery fires.

A 60-year-old man died in Liverpool in a fire caused by an e-bike charging overnight. A woman in London died in a fire linked to a converted e-bike’s battery bursting into flames in the entrance of her flat.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has warned that when people charge their e-bike batteries in communal areas, a fire could block neighbours from using escape routes.

The Electrical Safety First’s research showed that 44 percent of e-bike or e-scooter users charge their devices in communal areas, such as hallways.

In 2023, the LFB has been called to, on average, an e-bike or e-scooter fire once every two days. In total, the brigade attended 87 e-bike and 29 e-scooter fires last year.

No Silver Bullet Solution

A common cause for the fires has been linked to conversion kits, said Electrical Safety First. The charity has discouraged consumers from buying kits that convert a manual pedal cycle into an e-bike.

Even though the kits that are sold online may come at a better price for consumers, they are not regulated in the same way as ready-built e-bikes or e-scooters.

“When it comes to conversion kits, there is no dedicated standard. The product being sold is not a finished product, and in many cases, does not include all of the components required to build a complete e-bike,” the charity said.

While e-vehicles provide many benefits for users, who can avoid being stuck in traffic and can get to their destination more easily, they require more regulation, the charity said.

“There is no silver bullet solution to resolving the safety issues surrounding e-micromobility,” Electrical Safety First said, calling on the government to address the gap in e-vehicle regulation.

The charity said that the government should mandate the development of a consumer product standard, specific to fire resistant charging containers for e-micromobility batteries. Online marketplaces should be regulated by a legislation, preventing them from selling unbranded and potentially non-compliant conversion kits, Electrical Safety First said.

Safety concerns have prompted Transport for London to ban e-scooters or e-unicycles in stations or at other public transport premises. This follows incidents of defective lithium-ion batteries causing fires on the underground.

Train operating companies Southern Railway and ThamesLink have banned all e-scooters, e-unicycles, e-skateboards, and hoverboards on their trains and stations from June 1.