Nearly half of e-bike fires in 2024 linked to post-market conversions

E-bike and e-scooter fires reported to OPSS in 2024

The UK Office for Product Safety & Standards (OPSS) has reported that 211 fires involving e-bikes or e-scooters were notified by fire and rescue services in 2024.

This figure is drawn from voluntary product-related fire notifications sent by fire investigation teams who identified these vehicles as the most probable cause of a fire.

London Fire Brigade submitted the majority of these notifications, accounting for 175 of the total.

OPSS clarified that these reports are used to identify potential product safety issues but should not be used to estimate national fire figures or compare fire and rescue service performance.

The notification process was relaunched in 2023 with updated guidance, which has led to a gradual increase in the number of submissions from UK fire and rescue services.

Conversions account for large share of e-bike fires

According to OPSS data, 170 of the 211 fires involved e-bikes, with 45% of these (77 incidents) involving post-market conversions.

These conversions are typically kits added to standard pedal bicycles, often outside manufacturer-approved conditions.

Fires involving e-bikes of unknown build totalled 59 incidents.

Manufactured e-bikes were cited in 34 fire reports.

There were also 39 fires involving e-scooters, one involving an e-unicycle, and one involving a mobility scooter.

OPSS stated that this breakdown is based on voluntary submissions using either the government’s notification template or bespoke spreadsheets and templates submitted by individual services.

Revisions to earlier datasets have also been made, with figures for 2022 and 2023 updated based on late notifications.

Residential settings accounted for two-thirds of incidents

OPSS reported that 66% of fires involving e-bikes or e-scooters in 2024 occurred in indoor or residential locations.

The most commonly affected property types included single occupancy houses (45 fires) and purpose-built flats or maisonettes (38 fires).

Sixteen incidents took place in houses of multiple occupation, and 15 in converted flats or maisonettes.

Commercial properties such as retail units and restaurants accounted for 15 reported fires.

Garage or shed fires were reported in 7 incidents.

Four fires occurred in hotels or hostels.

New classifications introduced in the 2024 dataset included ‘road vehicle’ and ‘public transport and infrastructure’, accounting for 4 and 2 fires respectively.

In 16 cases, the property type was not specified.

OPSS noted that these revised categories allow for more accurate analysis of risk environments compared with previous years.

Fires mostly started indoors or in outdoor domestic spaces

The point of fire ignition was recorded for most incidents, with 101 of the 211 fires beginning in indoor spaces.

These included sleeping areas (20 fires), living rooms (25), kitchens (13), corridors (14), and indoor storage areas (8).

Seventy-eight fires occurred outdoors, including on roads or streets (37 fires), gardens or courtyards (19), parks or open land (9), and balconies (8).

Garage or shed fires were also counted in this outdoor grouping, totalling 11 incidents.

Transport-related fire origins were recorded in 3 cases.

OPSS reported that 29 fires had unknown or unclassified ignition locations.

The expanded categories for 2024 provided more detailed insight into fire settings, including newly added tags such as bathroom area, railway infrastructure, and outdoor storage areas.

Battery ignition and charging linked to many incidents

In 93% of the 2024 incidents (196 out of 211), batteries or generators were identified as the source of ignition.

Fifteen incidents had no confirmed ignition source.

Charging status was known in 162 incidents, or 77% of cases.

Of the total fires, 82 (39%) occurred while the device was charging.

A further 80 (38%) occurred when the product was not on charge.

Charging status could not be determined in 49 incidents (23%).

Converted e-bikes were disproportionately represented in charging-related fires, with 38 of 77 incidents (49%) occurring during charging.

E-scooter fires occurred during charging in 16 of 39 incidents (41%).

For manufactured e-bikes, 12 of 34 fires occurred while charging (35%), and for e-bikes of unknown build, 15 of 59 (25%) were charging at the time.

OPSS warned that the high number of unknown charging statuses limits the ability to directly compare across product types.

Eight fatalities and 86 casualties recorded in 2024

OPSS recorded 5 fatal incidents involving e-bikes or e-scooters in 2024, resulting in 8 deaths.

A further 42 fires led to non-fatal casualties, totalling 86 individuals.

OPSS stated that these figures only include cases where such outcomes were explicitly disclosed in the notification data.

This means the true number of fatalities and injuries may be higher.

Figures from earlier years, including 2022 and 2023, were updated in this release to reflect delayed data returns.

The department confirmed that future revisions would continue as more notifications are received, and any necessary corrections would be made with clear explanation.

E-bike and e-scooter fires in the UK: 2024 report: Summary

OPSS received 211 notifications of e-bike and e-scooter fires in 2024.

170 fires involved e-bikes.

77 of these were post-market conversions.

59 e-bike fires involved unknown build types.

34 fires involved manufactured e-bikes.

39 incidents involved e-scooters.

One fire involved an e-unicycle and one involved a mobility scooter.

66% of fires occurred in indoor or residential settings.

23% occurred in outdoor spaces.

3% were in transport settings.

London Fire Brigade submitted 175 reports.

Fire start locations included roads, living areas, sleeping areas, kitchens, and outdoor storage.

93% of fires had batteries or generators as the ignition source.

82 incidents occurred while charging.

80 occurred when not charging.

Charging status was unknown in 49 incidents.

5 incidents resulted in 8 fatalities.

42 incidents resulted in 86 casualties.

29 ignition locations were unclassified.

Figures are based on voluntary data from fire and rescue services.