Eleven people were killed in fires caused by e-bikes in the UK last year and now ministers face calls for urgent action over the sale of dangerous products.
E-bike fires can be particularly deadly because they can rapidly ignite in a fireball, and because the bikes are routinely left to charge overnight in hallways, they can block what may be the only exit. Campaigners compare the most dangerous products to “unexploded bombs”.
New figures produced by the Office for Product and Safety Standards (OPSS), drawn from data from UK fire and rescue services, reveal what is believed to be the highest number of deaths recorded from e-bike fires in the UK last year.
Yvonne Fovargue, a Labour MP and chair of the all party parliamentary group on online and home electrical safety, said: “These e-bikes can reach a phenomenally high temperature in seconds. They are so dangerous. It is almost like having an unexploded bomb in your house.”
MPs and safety groups are calling for third-party certification to ensure e-bikes, e-scooters and their batteries are approved by an independent body before being available for sale. This is already the case for other high-risk products such as fireworks.
Fire safety officers say consumers should buy from a reputable retailer and warn e-bikes fitted with conversion kits or fitted with batteries bought online may pose a greater risk.
An inquest heard last month how Sofia Duarte, 21, died on New Year’s Day 2023 after a fire broke out in the hallway of a property she was staying in at Bermondsey, south-east London. The fire is believed to have been caused by an unbranded battery pack fitted to a converted bike.
Other residents escaped by jumping out of windows, but Duarte, unaware of the ferocity of the fire, tried to leave by the staircase. She died of burns and smoke inhalation.
Alda Simoes, 46, from east London, a family friend, said: “Sofia’s death was preventable. There were warnings from the fire services and people in parliament.” Simoes has launched a petition to implement stricter regulations to ban the sale of dangerous batteries and ensure safety standards are more robustly enforced.
London Fire Brigade warns e-bikes and e-scooters are now the fastest growing fire risk in the capital. It recorded 149 e-bike fires in 2023, and three deaths, and 87 e-bike fires in 2022, with no deaths recorded. An analysis by the service of 73 e-bike fires in the capital in the first six months of last year found at least 40% were believed to involve a converted e-bike.
Mizanur Rahman, 41, died in March last year after a fire at a flat in east London caused by an e-bike which had been modified with a battery cage and motor. The fire led to an uncontrollable increase in temperature known as thermal runaway, a risk in lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes.
Four months later, Bobby Lee, 74, died from burns and smoke inhalation at a property in north London when a lithium battery on a mountain bike converted to an e-bike exploded. The coroner who examined the death issued a prevention of future deaths notice, warning it is relatively easy to buy e-bike conversion kits that are not of sufficient quality.
Gemma Germeney, 31, and children Lilly, 8, and Oliver, 4, died in a fire at their Cambridgeshire home on 30 June last year. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service concluded the most probable cause of the fire was an e-bike that was charging.
The Labour MP Neil Coyle, who obtained the figures on 2023 deaths involving e-bike fires in a parliamentary answer, said regulators needed stronger powers to force online retailers to take down unsafe products. He said: “The number of deaths is growing and is likely to continue to grow unless there are greater powers to remove dangerous items. Each death is a tragedy, but it’s also an avoidable tragedy.”
Lesley Rudd, chief executive of the charity Electrical Safety First, wants ministers to implement the measures in a 10-minute rule bill on e-bike safety due to be tabled by Fovargue, which includes third-party certification. Rudd said: “The fires caused when these batteries fail are unique in their ferocity and can have devastating consequences.”
A government spokesperson said: “The OPSS works closely with the fire service to try to prevent tragic accidents. It has taken action to remove dangerous products, including e-bike batteries, from being sold and has published guidance for buyers on how to use e-bikes safely. Manufacturers, retailers and online platforms must follow regulations or face penalties that include fines or criminal punishment.”
Officials say there is ongoing research on e-bike and scooter batteries to provide the evidence for the appropriate regulation.
