Warning over ‘dodgy’ online e-bike batteries after fires surge

A woman has called for urgent action after a record number of ‘devastating’ e-bike battery fires, with more than one recorded on average every day.

E-bike batteries continue to cause concern after the number of destructive fires increased.

There were 432 fires linked to e-bikes across the UK last year, compared with 313 the previous year, figures collected by the Press Association show.

A particular risk is low-quality batteries and charges sold online, which can have less rigorous safety standards.

Experts said some batteries attached to delivery bikes have even been built using old disposable vapes.

London Fire Brigade saw the most fires from them last year, with 171 related to e-bikes and 35 to e-scooters.

Lives have been lost to the fires, which can spread extremely quickly, with homes becoming death traps within seconds as the flames release toxic smoke.

Sofia Duarte, 21, died in her boyfriend’s flat on Old Kent Road in southeast London when two e-bikes exploded while charging in the corridor, two weeks before her 22nd birthday.

She had finished working in a nightclub on New Year’s Eve when the fire broke out, trapping the woman inside the flat while her boyfriend managed to jump out of the window.

Last summer, 30-year-old Eden Abera Siem died in the hospital after being rescued from a fire believed to be caused by a failed bike battery charger. She was the fourth person killed in a battery fire last year.

Alda Simoes, a family friend who had seen Sofia grow up, said her mum is ‘in pieces’ and continues to struggle two years on after the fire.

She told Metro: ‘It was two batteries on bikes parked at the exit, so it was double the fumes, double everything.’

She accused lawmakers of having ‘blood in their hands’ if more people die before the regulations change.

Alda said: ‘An e-bike fire doesn’t kill just one person, it kills the entire family as well. It is such a preventable death.

‘There has to be a change so her death is not in vain. People will remember that her death changed the law.’

She warned people to steer clear of £300 conversion kits used to transform pedal bikes into e-bikes, which usually retail for around £2,000 – for a reason.

‘It is like if you buy a charger for an iPhone for £3. You charge your phone and it just heats and heats, because it’s not good.’

Nick Bailey, from Battery IQ group, monitoring battery safety, said the bikes and scooters involved in fires are ‘always cut-price products sold through online marketplaces with lax quality control.’

He continued: ‘There’s also a growing black market in DIY and counterfeit batteries, particularly for delivery riders, built using battery cells reclaimed from used disposable vapes.

‘I wouldn’t keep a battery in my home without continuous monitoring – regardless of what the manufacturer’s sticker says.’

Lesley Rudd, the chief executive of Electrical Safety First charity, warned of unsafe batteries which are becoming ‘a runaway train that needs to be stopped.’

She said: ‘Poorly made batteries and accessories, often sold via under-regulated online marketplaces, are of huge concern, and are a major route through which dangerous devices are entering people’s homes.

‘Without strong and enforceable changes, lives are at serious risk and further loss of life is, sadly, inevitable.’

The government is bringing in ways to crack down on unscrupulous online marketplaces with the Product Safety Bill, which is going through Parliament at the moment.

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