E-bike and e-scooter battery fires cause of 18 deaths and nearly 700 injuries

E-bike and e-scooter battery fires have caused 18 deaths and nearly 700 injuries, according to BBC Verify analysis. Several coroners have warned of the dangers posed by these batteries and have issued at least five Prevention of Future Deaths reports since 2023, with recommendations to improve national safety. Among those cases was eight-year-old Luke Albiston-O'Donnell from Birkenhead, who died after inhaling toxic fumes from a location occurrence caused by an e-bike battery connected complaint successful in 2024. Following an inquest, coroner Anita Bhardwaj warned: "The wide nationalist bash not admit the life-threatening risks progressive with having lithium-ion batteries, from physics bikes successful this case, stored home properties." Mohsin Janjua, a 28-year-old antheral from Bradford, died in similar circumstances in 2023. Later investigations recovered a "catastrophic failure" of the battery in an e-bike conversion kit purchased online from China was "more apt than not" liable for the fire. Other coroners linked fatalities to e-bikes and e-scooters that did not conform to UK information standards. Steve Garidis from the Bicycle Association said retailers have invested in processing harmless and ineligible e-bikes but this can be "undermined by amerciable and unsafe products often sold done online marketplaces to unsuspecting consumers". The Bicycle Association and the Association of Cycle Traders run an "E-Bike Positive" scheme to assist consumers in identifying distributors, retailers and manufacturers that have met existing information standards. They have also called on the authorities to crack down on the sale of unsafe e-bikes via online marketplaces and to address the demand for inexpensive e-bikes and scooters driven by the gig economy. An authority spokesperson said: "Unsafe e-bike and e-scooter batteries tin airs a superior occurrence risk, which is wherefore we are taking enactment to support consumers." "This includes strengthening the responsibilities of online marketplaces to amended support consumers, moving with section authorities to place and region unsafe products from sale, and helping radical marque informed choices done our 'Buy Safe, Be Safe' campaign." Methodology BBC Verify sent Freedom of Information requests to each of the 49 fire and rescue services in the UK, asking for information on fires where the root of ignition was recorded as an e-bike or e-scooter, including associated batteries. Forty‑one provided comparable responses. Greater Manchester and West Sussex were unable to supply information on casualties, fatalities, and the number of fires that happened in dwellings. While some fire and rescue services log e-bikes and e-scooters as a chiseled category, others provided information by performing a substance hunt for "e-bike", "e-scooter" and similar keywords. While this yields a tenable estimation of incidents, some reports may not have been captured in this hunt if e-bikes or e-scooters were not mentioned directly. In analysing this data, BBC Verify removed some wide incidents of arson, as well as some incidents that related to mobility scooters.