How effective will government initiatives be in reducing e-mobility fires?

Fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in e-scooters and e-bikes have multiplied drastically since 2020, reports leading charity, Electrical Safety First. The tragic result has been deaths, hospitalisations, homelessness and staggering financial losses. 

A widespread issue across the UK, in the last 18 months, lithium-ion battery fires in over 150 UK parliamentary constituencies have occurred due to electric mobility devices.

Proposed Government initiatives to reduce e-mobility fires show promise but their effectiveness may be limited as this industry continues to expand rapidly.

Key measures being implemented: ✅

• Legislation: The UK government introduced the Product Safety and Metrology Bill in 2024, aiming to address fire risks associated with e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries.
• Safety standards: Stricter regulations are being developed to address self-certification. Currently, e-bike manufacturers can self-certify their products as safe, potentially allowing substandard items to reach consumers. 
• Public awareness campaigns: Fire services are collaborating with companies and running educational initiatives. London Fire Brigade’s #ChargeSafe campaign with both Amazon and Deliveroo, shares crucial safety advice with users and partners, taking steps in active education to drive awareness and change.
• Research and data collection: The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is collecting data on e-bike and e-scooter fires to better understand root causes and inform policy decisions.

Challenges remaining: 🚩

• Individual homes: There is a lack of specific legislation addressing e-mobility device storage inside individual homes. The Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022 cover fire safety in communal areas of multi-occupancy buildings, but they don’t extend to private dwellings. Leading examples of action to rectify this include Gentoo Housing Association in Sunderland, offering e-vehicle health checks inside customers’ homes, providing advice on safe use, storage and charging. Find out more about this pro-active outreach here.

• Increasing incidents: Despite efforts, the number of e-bike and e-scooter fires has risen. In 2023, 199 fires were reported to OPSS, up from 93 in 2022.
• Converted e-bikes: Post-market conversions remain a significant risk, accounting for 46% of e-bike fires reported in 2023.
• Enforcement gaps: metroSTOR advises that while the Lithium-ion Battery Safety Bill makes clear that it is crucial to prevent poor-quality devices from entering the UK market, this bill doesn’t address damaged or modified items. Find out more about the Lithium-ion Battery Safety Bill and what it might mean for the future.

Continued adaptation and strengthening of safety measures are necessary to effectively reduce fire risks. Learn more at metroSTOR. Educate, Evaluate, Mitigate – how to deal with E-mobility Fire Risk.