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Several coroners have warned about the dangers posed by these batteries and have issued at least five Prevention of Future Deaths reports since 2023, with recommendations to improve public safety.<\/p>\n
Among those cases was eight-year-old Luke Albiston-O’Donnell from Birkenhead<\/a>, who died after inhaling toxic fumes from a house fire caused by an e-bike battery on charge in 2024. Following an inquest, coroner Anita Bhardwaj warned: “The general public do not appreciate the life-threatening risks involved with having lithium-ion batteries, from electronic bikes in this case, stored in domestic properties.”<\/p>\n Mohsin Janjua, a 28-year-old man from Bradford, died in similar circumstances in 2023<\/a>. Later investigations found a “catastrophic failure” of the battery in an e-bike conversion kit purchased online from China was “more likely than not” responsible for the fire.<\/p>\n Other coroners linked fatalities to e-bikes and e-scooters that did not conform to UK safety standards.<\/p>\n Steve Garidis from the Bicycle Association said retailers have invested in developing safe and legal e-bikes but this can be “undermined by illegal and unsafe products often sold through online marketplaces to unsuspecting consumers”.<\/p>\n