Battery danger: Read this if you have an e-bike or e-scooter

And now for something completely different ... electric buses catching fire.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tfl-london-electric-bus-fire-wimbledon-hill-road-north-woolwich-silvertown-sadiq-khan-b1132039.html

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/wimbledon-hill-road-bus-fire-electric-bus-tfl-b1131640.html

I think this provides a useful comparison; it's a very newsworthy event because it happens very rarely. Petrol buses also catch fire. You only have to remember the fires in the first articulated buses in London when TfL first introduced them. It's likely that petrol buses also catch fire more often than electric buses, as that's what happens with cars.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/20/do-electric-cars-pose-a-greater-fire-risk-than-petrol-or-diesel-vehicles

As before, the problem smaller vehicles like e-bikes and e-scooters cause is mainly amplified by people keeping them in their flats, especially when charging them, as well as that some have used and are using inappropriate chargers.

This case from last year resulted in the death of Sofia Duarte. The bike appears to have been one of those conversions you see a lot, mainly ridden by food delivery riders.

Sofia Duarte, 21, died on New Year's Day when an e-bike ignited at her boyfriend's flat on Old Kent Road in Southwark, where she was staying after they had worked late together in a club.

Her partner Luis Zambrano, also 21, survived after leaping from the third-floor bedroom window, but Sofia was too scared to jump.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/sofia-duarte-ebike-battery-london-fire-death-mother-petition-maria-macarro-b1131800.html

There's no suggestion that the bike was her boyfriend's, nor any indication of what caused this particular fire. It'[s also worth noting that the petition says it was a second-floor window.

Her mother and a friend have started a petition:

Sofia’s mother Maria Macarro has helped launch a petition in a bid to raise awareness about the risks of e-bike fires and to call for more regulation on e-bikes, e-scooters and the batteries and chargers sold with them.

Faulty batteries are often sold and bought online, resulting in a swathe of fires across London.

Ms Macarro said: "This matters so much to me because the most important thing in my whole world has been taken away – all because of some stupid bike.

"In honour of Sofia’s memory and the others who have sadly lost their lives too, sign the petition today!"

The petition, which has attracted more than 32,000 signatures, has been backed by the London Fire Brigade.

https://www.change.org/p/implement-legislation-and-regulations-on-e-bikes-and-e-scooters

There's a short list of deaths caused by e-bike fires in it, which is obviously not complete.

As linked to before and still worth noting again:

So far this year London Fire Brigade (LFB) has been called to one such fire once every two days on average – a 60 per cent increase compared to the same period as last year.