E-bike and electric scooter batteries creating fires all over the place...

[editor]

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said an e-bike battery was the cause of a fire in a 12th floor flat in Shepherd’s Bush yesterday.

The fire burnt out a flat in a block in Queensdale Crescent, less than a mile from where the Grenfell Tower fire claimed 72 lives in 2017.

The LFB were called at around 9.20am and needed 60 firefighters to tackle the blaze. Fire crews led six people to safety and one man was taken to hospital.

It seems that the conversion kits are the worst offenders:

The brigade’s fire investigators have determined the blaze was accidental and caused by the failure of an e-bike’s lithium-ion battery.

LFB said it had seen a huge spike in e-bike and e-scooter incidents and have attended 32 fires involving e-bikes and another seven involving e-scooters this year.

There have been a further 17 fires involving other lithium-ion batteries this year and last year, in total there were more than 100 fires in the capital involving lithium-ion batteries.

LFB’s assistant commissioner for fire safety, Charlie Pugsley, said: “It’s incredibly concerning that we are continuing to see a rise in incidents involving e-bikes.

“When these batteries and chargers fail, they do so with ferocity and because the fires develop so rapidly the situation can quickly become incredibly serious.

“These items are often stored in communal areas and corridors and can block people’s only means of escape.

Fire investigators have determined that many of the e-bike incidents involved e-bike conversion kits that convert a standard push bike into an electric bike.

E-bike battery caused Shepherd’s Bush high rise flat blaze

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said an e-bike battery was the cause of a fire in a 12th floor flat in Shepherd’s Bush yesterday.

londonnewsonline.co.uk

E-Scooters set to be banned from Tube after fire drama

E-Scooters are set to be banned from the Tube after passengers were forced to flee from a train after one burst into flames, the Standard can reveal.

www.standard.co.uk

What's the solution, urban?

 

[weepiper]

I have seen some incredibly shonky ebike conversions come through the shop. We won't take a bike for repair if it is going to be in overnight unless they give us the key to physically remove the battery from the bike, or it has a connector that you can disconnect the battery from the motor with. Because they're a massive fire hazard and there's flats above the shop. Some of the really cheap AliExpress ones are just hardwired into the hub motor. I have seen batteries held onto the bike with zipties and all sorts of horrors. Don't get me started on the total inadequacy of the brakes on a £100 supermarket bike with an extra 20lbs of weight added to it and a motor that will take you to 30mph without even pedalling.

 

[two sheds]

I posted up a really scary electric scooter battery fire a while ago. Whole room gutted within a minute or two

 

[Hollis]

There's this one from China!