Our industry may still be taken with the concept of two-wheeled electric transportation, but the London Fire Brigade has no qualms about warning our community about the more dangerous side of buying a battery-operated EV.
According to Dan Sutherland’s coverage over at MCN, the Square Mile is seeing more and more lithium battery-related fires caused by small-capacity EVs:
We are seeing an ever-growing number of fires caused by e-bikes and e-scooters in London, roughly one every two days, and already more this year than we saw in 2022. Without urgent research into the causes of these battery fires and proper regulation… we fear we will continue seeing a high level of these types of fires in London.”
– Deputy Commissioner Dom Ellis, London Fire Brigade (MCN)
As of January, Sutherland says that Ellis’s teams tackled 104 e-bike fires and 19 e-scooter incidents; that makes 123 EV fire-related situations, beating last year by seven counts… and that was just until the end of August.
Ellis leaves us with a tip to “never store the vehicle by your front door, in a hallway, or on any escape route” – advice that should be taken alongside the following article we curated on what to do in the event of an EV battery fire (lithium-ion or otherwise).
What do you know about EV battery fires, and how would you stop a flare-up?