Urgent e-bike warning issued after battery explodes and fire rips through house

Fire chiefs have issued an urgent warning to e-bike owners after a lithium battery exploded and caused a fire to rip through a house within seconds.

Flames engulfed a property in Leicester yesterday evening after the lithium battery in an e-bike overheated.

One person was rescued from the first floor of the house and no one was killed, firefighters confirmed.

But they warned e-bike owners to allow the battery to cool completely before using the correct charger and to never leave the device unattended.

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said: 'Green Watch attended a house fire on Saturday involving an e-bike which was on charge.

'One person was successfully rescued from the first floor. Great team work alongside colleagues from Western, Eastern and Wigston stations.

'It takes seconds for a lithium-ion battery fire to spread.'

E-bike battery fires increased by 70 per cent in 2023, with 270 lithium-powered machines burning in the last year.

Fire and rescue services responded to 48 per cent more blazes from all lithium ion battery-powered devices last year than in 2022.

Serious incidents include a bike that burst into flames at Sutton station in south London during the rush hour a couple of months ago.

The two wheeler set alight on a station platform on March 21 at 5pm.

Another horror incident involving an e-bike with a faulty battery saw a whole home engulfed in flames in Caerphilly, south Wales.

The family and their four dogs managed to escape to safety, but their home was left destroyed by the inferno.

A third of lithium ion battery related fires started in e-bikes, of which 160,000 were sold in the UK in 2021, the Telegraph reported.

But dangerous e-bike fires have been reported further afield than the UK.

Gut-wrenching CCTV footage captured the moment two backpackers narrowly escaped being incinerated by an exploding e-bike at a hostel in Sydney.

While in Mexico a man was seen trying to use Coca-Cola to put out a fire on his cargo bike.

In February Ian Potter, assistant coroner for Inner North London, issued a warning over the lack of regulation on e-bike conversions and the potential risk of fires, which are caused by a build up of heat when charging.

It came after a pensioner, Bobby Lee, 74, died in a house fire caused by an overcharged battery.

Coroner, Mr Potter, warned that batteries sold in e-bike conversion kits are often 'significantly inferior quality and construction' in comparison to the ones installed on purpose built electrical bikes.

He said: 'There is currently no British or European standard specific to e-bike conversion kits and/or chargers and consequently:

'It is relatively easy for people to buy, particularly from online marketplaces, e-bike conversion kits and/or lithium-ion batteries that are not of sufficient quality or otherwise not of an appropriate standard to charge safely.

'There is an increased risk of people mixing and matching lithium-ion batteries with chargers that carry a different voltage rating.

'It is clear to me though that there is a substantial existing, ongoing and future risk of further deaths while it continues to be the case that there are no, or insufficient, controls and/or standards governing the sale in the UK of lithium-ion batteries and chargers for electric powered personal vehicles and e-bike conversion kits.'

Mr Potter has written to the Chief Executive Officer of the Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) warning about the dangers of charging e-bikes.

Aside from concerns over the risk of fires caused by the batteries that power them, there have also been warnings over the safety of the public when e-bikes are used by carless riders.

Under UK law, e-bike motors must cut out when a speed of 15.5mph is reached, but police are increasingly finding many have been modified to reach much faster speeds, which pose a lethal threat to their riders and pedestrians.

This was demonstrated to frightening effect when pedestrian Sakine Cihan, 56, was knocked down and killed by a rider who had been travelling at 30mph in London in 2018.

City of London Police confiscated 295 e-bikes between August 2023 and 2024 - more than any other force that provided data - although they were unable issue a total for the previous 12 months and therefore were not included in the overall figures.

The force recently seized one e-bike capable of reaching 70mph, which featured an electronic display indicating it had covered more than 6,000 miles.

Twenty-seven out of 46 police forces provided data in response to several Freedom of Information requests.

Among the forces with the largest year-on-year increases in e-bike seizures were Wiltshire Police (from 24 to 64), Police Scotland (from 60 to 233), Derbyshire Police (from four to 23), Northumbria Police (from 18 to 58) and South Wales Police (from 66 to 137).

Some forces said their figures related to all e-bike seizures, while others specified their statistics were for illegal e-bikes.

E-bikes are also regularly being used by criminals to snatch people's phones whilst walking along the street.

Shocking dashcam footage from last year showed one brazen thief using an e-bike as a getaway vehicle after snatching a man's phone as he waited for the pedestrian crossing in South Kensington.

Another video shows a man obliviously taking photos in central London when all of a sudden a thief motors past on an e-bike and takes the phone from his grasp.

Acting Sergeant Chris Hook, who is part of the leadership team within the force's cycle unit established in July 2023, explained that a 'broad spectrum' of people ride illegally modified e-bikes, such as commuters, food delivery workers and criminals snatching phones.

He said: 'The high speed and power of these vehicles means they're ideal for riders to come in, take the phone and get away before the victim knows what's happened.'