Cheap lithium batteries bought online are blamed.. as experts say 'more loss of life inevitable'
default / 2026-04-07
E-BIKE owners have been warned against buying bargain batteries online after a record number of fires. Official figures showed 432 across the UK in 2025 - up 38% in a year, and five times higher than the 84 in 2021.
E-scooter fires also rose to 147 last year from 123 in 2024-a 20% increase. In 2021 the figure was 88.
Many were linked to lithium batteries which burst into flames while charging, spread rapidly and produce toxic fumes.
Last month talented footballer Tommy Ballay-Dean, 16, died in a blaze allegedly sparked by an e-bike charging inside a friend's first floor flat in South-wark, south-east London.
And in June Eden Abera Siem, 30, died in hospital after being pulled from a fire at her home in Wood Green, north Lon-don. Investigators found it was proba-bly caused by the failure of a charging e-bike battery. It was the fourth fatal e-bike fire in the capital in 18 months.
The issue is 'becoming a runaway train that needs to be stopped', said Lesley Rudd, chief executive of charity Electrical Safety First. 'Poorly made batteries and accessories, often sold via under-regulated online marketplaces, are a major route for dangerous devices to enter people's homes, she said.
'Without strong, enforceable changes further loss of life is, sadly, inevitable'.
Vehicles involved in fires are 'always cut-price products sold through online marketplaces with lax quality control', said electronics engineer Nick Bailey.
'And a black market in DIY and coun-terfeit batteries is growing-particularly for delivery riders, built using battery cells reclaimed from disposable vapes', the founder of monitor firm BatterylQ added.
'I wouldn't keep a battery in my home without continuous monitoring, regardless of what the maker's sticker says'.
The government has published three consultations setting out plans to boost safety, including online marketplaces being forced by law to 'prevent, identify and remove dangerous products being sold via their platforms'.
E-scooters were banned on the Transportfor London network in 2021 due to fire risks. Non-folding e-bikes were banned for most services in March last year after one caught fire on a Tube platform. As well as fire, road safety concerns have also grown.
Under UK law, e-bikes must cut out at 15.5mph. But police say they increasingly find many modified to go much faster-especially ones used by delivery drivers.
The fire data came from 37 of 49 UK fire brigades after a Freedom of Information request by the Press Association.