Labour has been urged to ban e-bikes from charging inside after a series of fires and safety hazards prompted urgent action from the authority.
It comes after an e-bike battery charging inside was found to have caused a fatal house fire in Bradford that claimed the life of a 28-year-old man.
The urgency was captured in a recent Prevention of Future Deaths report by West Yorkshire coroner M D Fleming, who called for new regulation after Mohsin Janjua died from smoke inhalation when a converted e-bike battery caught fire while charging in his living room in 2023.
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The coroner’s report specifically targets the Office for Product Safety and Standards, demanding stricter regulation of lithium-ion battery sales through online marketplaces.
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E-bike and e-scooter-related fires have caused more than 200 incidents
The coroner also called for enhanced public awareness campaigns about the potentially lethal risks of charging e-bikes in domestic properties.
The tragedy unfolded in the early hours when Janjua, who was sleeping on his sofa, awoke to find the bicycle he had modified with an electric motor engulfed in flames.
He immediately alerted his mother and son upstairs, and all three escaped through the front door.
Believing his brother remained trapped inside, Janjua re-entered the burning property.
His brother had actually jumped from an upstairs window to safety, sustaining injuries in the process.
Despite his injuries, the brother attempted his own rescue effort but was beaten back by dense smoke and intense heat.
Firefighters later discovered Janjua unresponsive in a rear upstairs bedroom.
LONDON FIRE BRIGADE | E-bikes are more likely to catch fire at homeThe coroner determined that a catastrophic failure of the lithium-ion battery, which Janjua had purchased online and installed just a week earlier, triggered the blaze.
Fleming’s report highlighted that Janjua had bought a 20-amp/hour 52-volt battery through eBay, with forensic testing revealing the product failed to meet UK safety standards.
The battery and charger, believed to have originated from China, were non-compliant with British regulations.
The coroner expressed grave concerns about “the current unregulated sale of lithium-ion batteries”, particularly those marketed for e-bike conversions via online platforms.
Fleming noted that marketplace operators currently disclaim responsibility for third-party products’ safety, which often fails to meet the UK standards.
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The report demanded consideration of new regulations making online marketplaces “jointly responsible for ensuring the safety and legal compliance of products sold on their sites”.
The coroner has given the Office for Product Safety and Standards until September 25 to respond with proposed actions.
Government statistics revealed a dramatic surge in e-bike and e-scooter fires across the UK, with incidents involving electric personal vehicles rising from just five in 2018 to 91 in the first half of 2023 alone, according to London Fire Brigade data.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards recorded 93 fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters throughout 2022, jumping to 199 incidents in 2023.
Nearly half of the 2023 e-bike fires involved post-market conversions, where standard bicycles were modified with electric motors and batteries.
LONDON FIRE BRIGADE | E-bikes and e-scooters have been blamed for causing a large number of fires The data showed that seven fires in 2023 resulted in fatalities, claiming 10 lives in total. An additional 40 incidents caused non-fatal casualties, injuring 72 people. Fire investigators found batteries or generators were the ignition source in 92 per cent of cases.
Research indicates that two-thirds of e-bike fires occur in residential dwellings, with bedrooms accounting for 27 per cent of ignition locations. Corridors, living rooms and kitchens each represent between 12 and 16 per cent of fire starting points.
Converted e-bikes pose particular dangers, with 67 per cent of these vehicles on charge when fires erupted in 2022, compared to lower rates for manufactured models. Half of all e-bike and e-scooter fires happened during charging.
London Fire Brigade guidance has warned that fires involving electric personal vehicles have increased exponentially, urging building managers and landlords to implement specific storage and charging protocols.
