E-bike explosion

I don’t have an ebike, so know very little about them, but I am aware of issues around fire risks. I’d assumed that this happened when charging but there’s a CCTV video on the BBC website showing one, apparently, simply exploding (although I suppose that it could have been left charging).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-68744317

There’s a suggestion that the issues was that the bike was bought from an online market place, so potentially dodgy components or modifications. Even so, it seems quite sobering if you have one.

Quite remarkable that for such a violent explosion and burn, the bike didn’t move at all

I’m quite happy buying and living with one from a recognised brand, with a distribution channel, QC, testing etc.

i wouldn’t touch one from FB market place, the cheap end of Amazon or home built one with yours.

Chap was on the radio the other month saying how his ‘quite expensive’ ebike had caught fire. When asked how much, ‘oh, nearly £600!’

Like anything decent quality, properly designed and manufactured to the relevant standards products are going to be far safer than home brew lash ups made of substandard parts from AliExpress and the like. Read plenty of eMTB users moaning about reliability issues of their chariots on here, but no explosions that I can recall. These tend to be at the higher cost/quality end of the spectrum.

New York are bringing in regulations to make sure shops and resellers are adhering to safety standards, as a response to fires and deaths. One of the major hazards is them being left on charge in the hallways of flats, which then blocks escape routes. https://www.nytimes.com/article/ebike-laws-nyc.html

Was it a DIY e-bike?

It’s always a cheap shite one that causes these fires. I get adverts for them all the time on facebook, generic sounding companies like ‘Ebikedirect’ or ‘electricbikesale’ and a price tag of 500 or 600 pound for a complete bike with an Alixpress battery and motor fitted.

Or people who buy chargers off ebay that aren’t made for that specific battery, or batteries with no in-built protection etc etc.

Needs massively regulated and checked by trading standards and customs, these devices shouldn’t even make it into the country in the first place.

Does make you wonder what would have happened had that bike been parked up in a crowded commuter train!

Will we get to a stage where e-bikes are banned from public transport or does that open to many questions regarding other batteries in the likes of phones and laptops?

E bikes and e scooters are banned on Spanish trains fwiw.

There is a dodgy DIY e-beach cruiser at work, can’t physically pedal it, and our Security haven’t done anything about it, despite banning all e-scooters. The two batteries on it are massive, with exposed cables everywhere.

Yup, it’s always the cheap and nasty ones often being used with a generic charger bought inline because they’ve been nicked and sold on without one.

I’m happy charging my Bosch powered cargo bike at home but I wouldn’t let homebrew one over the threshold.

This is starting to become a real problem for bike shops as well as many are struggling to get insurance if they touch Ebikes.

There is a dodgy DIY e-beach cruiser at work, can’t physically pedal it, and our Security haven’t done anything about it, despite banning all e-scooters. The two batteries on it are massive, with exposed cables everywhere.

Sounds more like a health and safety issue than security, although presumably the security guys would be told to monitor for its presence.

The problem is, these ‘DIY’/dodgy imports will get genuine proper e-bikes banned from places, including public transport.

Come on, you know how this goes. Nothing gets done until some Deliveroo lash-ups explodes on a train, killing/injuring people, at which point unwieldy and poorly implemented legislation bans e-bikes of every kind, enforced by poorly trained railway staff with little understanding of the distinctions between different kinds of electric two wheeled zimmerbikes. Better safe than sorry!

Will we get to a stage where e-bikes are banned from public transport or does that open to many questions regarding other batteries in the likes of phones and laptops?

escooters and the like are already banned so it wouldn’t surprise me if it came to pass. From the rail companies pov it would be an easy control measure to implement.

Main thing that’s stopping me getting an ebike, is that work won’t let me park it in the building.

E-bikes can be ridden to our new offices but not charged onsite. The fallout is already happening. They’ll be off public transport next, like E-scooters already are.

A quick glance at Facebook marketplace locally.

As an estimate/anecdote:

– 20% are ‘known brand’

– 40% some oddball Chinese made bike, mainly with throttle, wide tyres, massive battery, maybe folding etc

– 40% ‘home brew’s or retrofit kits

It’s the wild west out there…

e.g.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2401884553346267/

– 20% are ‘known brand’

– 40% some oddball Chinese made bike, mainly with throttle, wide tyres, massive battery, maybe folding etc

– 40% ‘home brew’s or retrofit kits

And if you look at the costs of each I imagine the ‘know brand’ is significantly more expensive than the other 80%

Is that because stuff that doesnt blow up is more expensive, or the know brands are overly expensive. When you look at cars it would now appear with new people coming in to the market that the main brands have been over charging for their products.

Kind of related but some tracks are refusing EVs for track days etc now due to the risk of batteries blowing up etc.

I work for citylink/megabus coaches,
E scooters or Ebikes aren’t allowed on any of our buses.
As above, it’s the cheapest shite ones that are screwing it for everyone else.

If you were one of the big known brands you’d be lobbying MPs to get dodgy imports stopped at customs. It must be massively damaging to their business model to have this sort of negative publicity about ‘ebikes’ as they all get lumped together.

Banning then from public transport is very short sighted with net zero targets and all that.

It annoys me that we have a 15mph speed limit for them as well because the kind of people that will use an ebike dangerously at normal road speeds (i.e. 30mph) will derestrict them anyway. Having a limit half the speed of normal traffic is surely more dangerous for the rider than being able to keep up with traffic.

We need proper regulation for the import of any device with batteries to ensure it has been designed, built and tested to be safe. The government aren’t interested as it might stop some of their donors making a profit.

[cynic]the EU sets standards for testing, the UK govt allow in a load of product in w/o verifying any testing was done because surveillance authorities have been cut right back like anything else that was useful but not privatised and profitable, the govt and media use the unsafe products to discredit a category that threatens the anti-LTN and pro-motoring stance they’re dug into a trench over[/cynic]

There’s been talk of new UK kitemarks and similar for e-bikes to address this risk.. all the while there are ISO standards for e-bikes and batteries, chargers, BS standards for plugs, etc. But you can order a fat tyre folding full suspension e-bike from China, low ~30% Anti-Dumping Duty on plenty of them, make a nice margin online .. easy. They’ll send you the test certification pdfs too, no need to pay up $25,000 for ISO testing yourself.

E-bikes and e-scooters aren’t allowed on either train company that operates from Sutton, or their stations.

However, the likelihood of seeing any staff at a station is very low and them bothering to challenge someone is even lower.

I work for citylink/megabus coaches,

E scooters or Ebikes aren’t allowed on any of our buses

Bugger.

That’s just kayboshed plans for a tour of Galloway in June….

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It annoys me that we have a 15mph speed limit for them as well because the kind of people that will use an ebike dangerously at normal road speeds (i.e. 30mph) will derestrict them anyway. Having a limit half the speed of normal traffic is surely more dangerous for the rider than being able to keep up with traffic.

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I think the law I broadly fine as it stands. The law says meet the standards and you have the same rights as a bike every where, with no qualification, age or insurance requirements . That’s roads, cycle paths bridleways trail centres. I’d be very unhappy to be meeting 30mph bikes in any of these situations. I’d be suprised if there were any situations where 30mo was safer than 15 mpg. Legal e-scooters are available that do 30mph but they need a license, insurance and type approval. Crucially there are only allowed where cars are allowed

‘E-bikes and e-scooters aren’t allowed on either train company that operates from Sutton, or their stations’

E-bikes are allowed, e-scooters aren’t.

Might change soon, of course.

GWR allow ebikes on trains, but not escooters, anyway, the issue isn’t ebikes, or escooters, it’s the lithium ion battery packs, your phone could burst into flames if the wrong conditions are achieved during the day, same with a lot more appliances, overall i think the reliability is pretty good to be fair, and improving, just need to eradicate cheap and nasty cells being used in packs.

We have two solar batteries under the stairs, a working smoke detector and an old climbing rope under the bed.

Any battery can malfunction if its damaged or faulty.

Yeah, and they have both a fuel and oxidiser, add to that containment and you don’t really want to be anywhere near one if there’s a thermal runaway or the likes occurring.

How would they even enforce an ebike ban on trains when some of them now look almost identical to normal bikes?

Clearly the only solution is to tighten up on sales of the dodgy kits and batteries (and surrons while they’re at it)

e.g. Raleigh Trace…

The electrical battery/storage world got a kick up the arse 2 weeks ago with the release of guidance for home storage battery systems. They are now recommending all batteries to be fitted outside. And in an amazing statement, Givenergy, a large supplier of domestic batteries have said you can carry on fitting them in the attic and inside your houses:

The new guidance for home storage is available here (need to register, but it’s free):
https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/electrical-installations-protection-against-fire-of-battery-energy-storage-systems-for-use-in-dwellings-specification?version=standard

And, a good video about the type of fires that occur from small domestic batteries, up to cars going off, it’s riddled with ads, but is worth watching if you ever encounter a problem with one of these batteries (basically, get away from it):

Regarding public transport and lithium batteries; the ferry & shipping industry are very concerned around EV’s as a whole. Norwegian ferry co have banned all electric vehicles from it’s ferries;

https://rina.org.uk/publications/the-naval-architect/ferry-companies-grapple-with-rising-threat-of-ev-fires/

The electrical battery/storage world got a kick up the arse 2 weeks ago with the release of guidance for home storage battery systems. They are now recommending all batteries to be fitted outside.

Indeed. In a sweeping generalisation without even so much as making reference to the chemistry withint he batteries.

nMc or lithium thionyl chloride then yeah I’m on board. LiFe4Po then less so.

“Indeed. In a sweeping generalisation without even so much as making reference to the chemistry withint he batteries.
nMc or lithium thionyl chloride then yeah I’m on board. LiFe4Po then less so.”

It’s not just the chemistry involved, they are not being secured properly, and have fallen from attic mounts through the ceiling. Gas is another hazard from many battery types, and it isnt being addressed properly, if a cold attic, like the majority in the UK (certainly England and Wales), the Fitters have not been adding ventilation for the batteries, thinking the natural air flow in the attic space is enough, it isnt, some gases given off are heavier than air, so permeate down into the bedrooms. There is also a lot of debate ongoing about the quality of the installatiosn being put in. Little thought is given to shock and fire protection of the unprotected supplies from the PV arrays. 500 volts + isnt unusual, pull a connector apart at that voltage and you are likely to cause an arc which could start a fire. DC systems are far worse for this than the usual AC household supply.

Most of the issues from cheap ebike fires, is the fault of the charger IMO. They don’t have the clever electronic battery monitoring or protection.

I’ve not heard of an ebike fire from a reputable brand.

Here’s a generalisation on ebike users I’ve seen over the last two days, they’re either minted old juns, mintued young uns or have a waistline wider than their handlebars (or a combination of the above).

This is without mentioning that their wearing all the clothes they own when it’s the only the 4th sunny day in Scotland of the year.

I’m just jealous as I’m piss poor and have to make do with a heavily worn 6 year old bike that I can’t afford to replace.

Anyway, ignore me, it’s all about the smiles, blah, blah, blah (I may have had beer or two).

I don’t know the chemistry that leads to “some gases given off are heavier than air,”

Could you explain or give links?

Gas is another hazard from many battery types

What gas is given off by liFe4po? *

*It does gas I’m aware of it.

But most of the rest appears to stem from poor instalatjon.

Your last point surely lends it’s self to putting the system in a place you don’t routinely visit

A shake up of the racket self cert that is the MCS would be more effective. Stop diy fit outs.