Electric Bikes and Electric Scooters: Fires
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of trends in the number of battery fires for electric personal mobility vehicles such as e-bikes and scooters for each year since 2020.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government collects data on incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs), with this data including the cause of the fire and the source of ignition. This data is published in a variety of publications, available on gov.uk here. This does not yet include data on whether fire incidents attended were caused by or involved batteries for electric mobility vehicles, such as electric bikes or electric scooters.
Our new Fire and Rescue Data Analysis Platform (FaRDAP) is being rolled out and work is ongoing to update the data it will collect covering both the questions and answer categories to capture lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, e-scooters and e-bikes, and more.
In addition, OPSS publishes data using information available from Fire and Rescue Services on fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters. Updated data now including figures for 2017-2024 was published in June this year on gov.uk here.
MHCLG is working closely with FRS and officials from other Government Departments to build an evidence base, share intelligence and develop mitigations to tackle the fire risks linked to lithium-ion batteries and PLEVs.
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