Wednesday August 27th 2025
E-bike that caught fire
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
A fire officer has expressed concern about the dangers of substandard charging of Lithium-ion batteries in charge electric scooters and bikes in West Lothian.
Paul Harvey a Watch Commander with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said the spread of lithium ion batteries brought increased frisks of fire from poor equipment.
The latest concerns come as more and more scooters are seen in use on pavements bringing other fears about pedestrian safety and for the often young riders.
It follows the revelation last year by the Local Democracy Reporting Service of the problems being faced by fire crews in London from blazes started in common stairwells ignited by electric scooters and bikes.
Councillor Willie Boyle returned to the subject at this month’s meeting of the Bathgate Local Area Committee, raising questions about the dangers of common stairwells being used to park scooters as well as store potentially hazardous materials.
Councillor Boyle said: “The consequences of such a fire can be devastating for the other residents in the stairwell. The use of scooters has increased. I think there’s a need for legislation. We need to evaluate the risk.”
Mr Harvey agreed. “We do visit common stairs a lot and we’ll engage with occupants where we see risks.
“Lithium ion batteries are going to be fuelling more modes of transport. We do work with partners to make sure they are charged safely. They do present a hazard if they are not charged safely.”
Councillor Boyle first warned of the risks of fire from ebikes and escooters in March last year when he raised the issue at the local area committee.
At the time a senior fire officer explained that SFRS offers advice on only buying the recommended lithium ion batteries and chargers for devices from mobile phones to ebikes, rather than cheaper options.
A fire officer told that meeting “We can only warn people of the dangers. It would be a government led thing to stop people buying inappropriate batteries and chargers.”
If fire officers find a build up of combustibles in stairwells in council owned flats they advice housing teams to leaflet the householders warning of dangers.
Along with the growth on sales of ebikes there’s been a surge in ebike fires. As early as 2023 London Fire Brigade (LFB) reported that in the first three months of that year it had been called to an ebike or escooter fire once every two days – a 60 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2022.
Electrical Safety First a UK charity produced a safety report (Battery Breakdown on escooter and ebike fires). It listed three main external conditions that contribute battery failure.
These are:
Electrical- typically due to overcharge or over-discharge. It can be due to incompatibility between the battery and charger, a sub-standard battery management system or an external short circuit.
Mechanical- triggered by crushing or penetration of a battery with an external object, or an extreme or repeated impact.
Thermal- extreme high and low-temperature environments.
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