Growing concerns over a new and evolving fire safety risk?
The causes of fires continue to evolve. Electric blankets, space heaters, faulty white goods and cooking appliances have previously been common reasons behind fires – and many continue to be so. However, the fire industry appears to be facing a new and alarming risk – lithium-ion batteries.
While lithium-ion batteries are used for a wide variety of everyday products such as smartphones and electric toothbrushes, larger units that require regular charging, such as e-bikes and e-scooters are causing alarm. Often stored in homes and flats, or left in stairwells and corridors, there have been growing reports of fires caused by such products.
Though there is limited data relating to the number of fires, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has highlighted that reported fires in London caused by e-bikes and e-scooters rose from eight in 2019, to 24 in 2020, to 59 by December 2021. Privately owned e-vehicles have been banned for safety reasons on London’s tubes and busses by Transport for London (TfL) since December 2021.
As many experts point out, the dangers don’t stop there – pointing to the potential risks of underground car parks filled with electric cars and charging points in the near future. In the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy, released in October 2021, £620 million in funding has been set aside for zero emission vehicle grants and EV infrastructure. The RAC estimates there to be around 700,000 battery electric vehicles on the UK roads in 2023, but “things are changing quickly”, with plans to ban new petrol and diesel car sales after 2030.
One of the key concerns behind the increasing e-vehicle trend isn’t necessarily with all the devices on the market. Though any lithium-ion battery-based product poses some percentage of risk, the same could be said for any piece of electrical equipment.
However, several reports have demonstrated the risks of poorly manufactured, non-compliant e-bikes and e-scooters. For instance:
In June 2022, a large blaze at a high-rise in Shephard’s Bush was found to be caused by the failure of an e-bike lithium-ion battery. The incident was attended by 60 firefighters, with the London Fire Brigade underlining concerns that when batteries and chargers ignite, they do so “with ferocity”, causing fires to develop rapidly.
In late September 2022, Bristol City Council reported that a fatal fire at a flat in Twinnell House was started by an electric bike. Residents had expressed concerns about ‘homemade versions’ of e-bikes with cheaper versions of lithium-ion batteries being stored on the upper floors ‘for months’.
In October 2022, Hammersmith and Fulham Council called for a ban on “dangerous” e-bike chargers due to the fire risk they present, with Councillor Frances Umeh arguing that many of those sold online do not meet the UK’s minimum safety requirements.
The NFCC advises that any e-bikes, e-scooters, chargers and batteries should always be purchased from a reputable retailer, with many fires involving counterfeit goods that don’t meet British or European standards.
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has also issued a similar warning, after discovering nearly 100 fires had been primarily caused by tampered e-bikes in the last year – an 80% increase from 2021.
Questions have also been raised over the safe disposal of lithium-ion batteries. According to the Environmental Services Association (ESA), fires resulting from lithium-ion battery explosions have cost fire services and waste operators around £158 million a year.
In an article in December 2022, Ben Johnson from the ESA told BBC News that more people were putting devices containing these batteries in with household rubbish or mixing them with other recycling.
He explains: “That causes a real problem, because they have a tendency – when damaged – to explode or ignite. And when you put them in general rubbish or recycling, they’re likely to be crushed, compacted, smashed or they might get wet.”
Experts say that lithium-ion batteries should be recycled rather than being sent to landfill, but that they should be stored safely outside a premises and protected from the effects of weather while awaiting proper disposal. Those batteries that have been damaged should be kept separately and placed in a container of sand or similar inert material, such as vermiculite.
Further advice on disposal of batteries is given in the EU Directive 2006/66/EC (ref. 17).
Mitigating the risks of lithium-ion battery fires
Further information on lithium-ion battery fires is available from the following articles or webinars:
