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Already more London e-bike and e-scooter fires in 2023 than in the whole of last year

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Rebecca Morley's picture

Rebecca Morley

Rebecca has been in cycling journalism since 2018. She started out at trade title BikeBiz and still contributes features to its monthly magazine, and was also named one of Cycling UK's 100 Women in Cycling 2019.

3 comments

1 year 3 months ago

I think it's the absolute number of house fires that matters, even if the increase in fires is below the increase in ebikes/scooters.

As to "whatabout e-cars", not so many are stored inside people's hallways. They tend to make the news when they set themselves alight inside the hold of a ship and trash the entire shipment of cars. However, so long as there is no injury to the crew, where is the harm in that?

 

No, what rankles with me is that I suspect the increase has nothing to do with retail brand-name ebikes being used with their original charger, yet of course they will be caught up in the hue and cry, barred from trains, etc. But the police/fire brigade are naturally cautious about revealing the provenance of the implicated machines, any suggestion that they may be stolen.

1 year 3 months ago

So the number of fires has increased, but what is the increase in the number of bikes/scooters?  If the second is lower than the first, then there is a problem, but if vice-versa, less of one.  There is undoubtedly a problem, but is it any bigger than that for cars?  I seem to recall a number of e-car fires, but not the same response.

1 year 3 months ago

Of the 60% that were not conversion kits, what percentage were stolen ebikes, hence being charged with whatever the new owner could lay their hands on? I suspect that proper ebikes are much more attractive to thieves for onward sale than are lashed up conversion jobs.