Record high for e-bike fires prompts calls for legislation.

Safety experts have warned of the "incredible danger" posed by some e-bikes and e-scooters after the number of fires started by these increasingly popular vehicles soared to a record high last year.

- ALEX ROSS

Firefighters were called to 211 incidents involving these devices in 2024, according to data from the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS). The figures are reported by fire authorities on a voluntary basis and show an incomplete picture across the country, but they indicate a rise in callouts, with 207 reported in 2023 and just 26 in 2020.

Last year, the fires resulted in 86 casualties and eight deaths, and were almost all found to be linked to the battery or generator, prompting concerns over DIY-type e-bike conversions using kits purchased online.

In August, eight-year-old Luke Albiston O'Donnell died from carbon monoxide poisoning after an e-bike being charged in the front room of his house in Merseyside caught fire. The blaze began when the bike's lithium-ion battery ignited, an inquest found.

Just before Christmas, a family's home in Catford, southeast London, was destroyed by a fire caused by a battery from a second-hand e-bike that exploded. The year before, as reported by The Independent, a woman and two children were killed by a fire at their home in Cambridge that was started by a replacement lithium e-bike battery, bought on eBay, that had been left charging.