E-bike fires: Can they be stopped?

0:03Hi, it's Helen Awadiyah and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. coming up if we need to look at a twisted reflection of our lives surely we can just look at the news why charlie brooker has had his work cut out for him in the seventh series of black mirror which is out today this is definitely a original black mirror it's either technology going wrong and causing misery and chaos in people's lives or romance and heartbreak and enduring love. I think there'll be something for fans of all of the previous seasons. We'll be joined by the London Standards culture and lifestyle writer India Block to discuss the return of everyone's favourite dystopian drama on Netflix.

0:52But first, a raging fire tore through flats in East London last night as firefighters battled ablaze believed to have been sparked by an e-bike battery. The fire engulfed a residential building on Cornwall Avenue in Bethnal Green just before midnight as eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters tackled the blaze. 17 people were treated at the scene by the London Ambulance Service, with 11 of those taken to hospital. All 18 flats in the residential block were damaged by the blaze and dozens of residents had been displaced as a result. Witness accounts suggest the fire was started by a lithium battery from a second-hand electric bike, though the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

1:41It is not the first fire believed to have been caused by an e-bike battery. A recent Standard investigation found fires sparked by dangerous e-bikes and e-scooters in London have doubled in just three years, leading to Transport for London to ban e-bikes on their underground networks. Why do these fires get sparked? Just how big of a problem are dodgy e-bikes for the capital? And can this be regulated? Well, joining me now to discuss it all is local democracy reporter Noah Vickers. Hi, Noah. Thanks for joining us. Hi, Helena. Great to be here. Now, this fire is under investigation, allegedly started by an e-bike battery.

2:24This is not the first case we've heard. how many fires are sparked by e-bikes or e-scooters in the capital? Well, e-bikes have for a while now been the fastest growing fire risk in London, as far as the fire brigade are concerned. I mean, people will have seen a lot more e-bikes, especially since the pandemic and the kind of lifting of lockdown restrictions. And they won't just have seen rental e-bikes, but they also will have spotted increasingly people riding on standard bicycles, which have been adapted or retrofitted, often used by gig economy people working in for delivery companies like Uber Eats or Deliveroo.

3:02These e-bikes can be particularly dangerous. So in 2024, we saw an increase in the number of e-bike fires in London. The brigade recorded 142 fires involving e-bikes along with 29 e-scooters. So that means on average there was an e-bike or e-scooter fire once every day. Back in 2023, three people in London died in fires caused by e-bike battery failures and one of the hundred people have been hurt. So this is a growing problem. What is the main reason as to why the fires start? Well, the main reason is that these bikes use lithium-ion batteries, which if they've not been built properly or to a sufficient standard, they can be extremely flammable and explosive, essentially, if the battery hasn't been designed in a safe way.

3:58So I remember attending a meeting of the London Assembly almost two years ago now, but it was already on their radar then. And the deputy commissioner of the fire brigade, Don Ellis, said that basically with e-bikes and e-scooters, just the amount of energy in those battery packs is enough to compromise a good size double bedroom in about 10 to 15 seconds. So that really tells you just how suddenly one of these fires can spark. and sadly I mean the reason often is that these batteries you know they're being used by people working very long hours in the gig economy sometimes you know doing a 14 hour shift they get back to their home they're unlikely to be on a decent income with the work that they're doing so they might be in a house share they might store their bike either in a corridor or even worse in their own bedroom and they might leave the battery charging overnight the risk of that of course is that again if they've been built cheaply or poorly designed those batteries can overheat and that's what can cause the fire to start and cause immense damage very quickly.

5:05Now I note that you say if they're not made properly so this is really a problem of essentially illegal modification of e-bikes and e-scooters. Is this something that can be regulated? It can be but it's difficult. I mean as you say we need to distinguish between different types of e-bikes that are on offer in London The rental ones have been properly designed. They're safe to use in the sense that they're not suddenly going to catch fire. But it is a major concern looking at the problem more generally. I mean, back in the sort of early part of 2023, the first eight and a half months or so, the Met police seized and destroyed over 220 illegally modified e-bikes.

5:48This is the main issue, people buying these conversion kits online and often not buying them from reputable sellers, usually because of the issue of cost. I mean, the bottom line that they can get these kits cheaply because it might enable them to, if they're delivery riders, do their work more quickly, earn a bit more cash. And this is something that the Office for Product Safety and Standards, which is the government's arm's length sort of health and safety body, are trying to regulate more closely. They're conducting research on how is it that people are able to come by these kits so easily online?

6:25How can it be made more difficult or at least how can people be warned that these kits aren't necessarily going to comply with health and safety laws in this country and that they could put someone's life at risk? Now last month we saw that Transport for London enforced a ban on e-bikes Can you tell us why? Is that for the same safety reasons that we've been discussing here? Essentially yes So this ban came into effect at the end of March It happened after video footage emerged of an e-bike on fire at Rayner's Lane station which actually meant that temporarily the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines had to be suspended for a short period while the incident was dealt with by the fire brigade But that episode basically led the train drivers union, Aslev, to say that it was considering balloting its members for strike action over the issue of e-bikes being allowed on the Tube.

7:19A spokesperson for Aslev said at the time, there can be no justification for continuing to put staff and passengers at risk by continuing to allow potentially explosive devices on London Underground trains. Now, I spoke with the mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, later that week, and he acknowledged that, you know, that video clip of the fire at Rainer's Lane was pretty scary to watch. And I think clearly for him, it was important that some sort of action be taken. So it was taken at the end of last month and it applies to non-folding e-bikes. Well, finally, how can we balance encouraging people to use e-bikes, for example, for environmental benefits with making sure that they are safe?

7:59Yeah, I think that's, it's a complicated question because e-bikes are still quite new in this, you know, in London, in the country more widely. They've become very popular very quickly with different groups of people. Young people especially seem to love them and get a lot of use out of them. They're massively convenient. The fact that you can just, you know, find one within about two or three minutes walk from wherever you might happen to be and ride it right up to where you want to go. and as you say they have significant environmental benefits they don't produce you know pollution through any sort of tailpipe so in theory this should be a very good thing for the city but they've obviously brought big challenges in terms of things like parking cluttering up the pavements that's become an issue beyond the real concern of fire safety so I think it needs to be a combination of things really to encourage people to use them in a responsible way that means you know if they They buy an e-bike online.

8:53They should do it through a reputable seller. They should think carefully about where are they buying this from. You know, it may well cost them a bit more, but they want to know that they're buying a quality product, that they'll be able to use it for a longer period of time and it won't put their safety at risk. And I think, you know, if they do have an e-bike and they might not be living in the biggest home, they want to be able to store those bikes safely. I think it's so important that people understand that they shouldn't be keeping their e-bike in their bedroom, potentially blocking their escape route if it were to catch on fire.

9:24They should think very carefully and follow what the London Fire Brigade says. It offers advice on this. It's been running a campaign called Charge Safe to try and encourage people to think really carefully about how they use their e-bikes and charge up their batteries. And basically follow the guidance there would be my suggestion. Let's go to the ads. In part two, we'll be joined by the London Standards culture and lifestyle writer India Block to discuss the starry cast taking part in the seventh installment of hit sci-fi analogy series Black Mirror. We'll see you back here in just a moment.

10:06Welcome back. The latest series of Charlie Brooker's dystopian show Black Mirror has landed today on Netflix. Renowned for its often savvy and disturbing takes on humanity, Black Mirror's seventh series is widely expected to comment on the rapid pace of change in politics and technology. Previous series of the show have taken us from creepy memory devices, phone implants, robotic bees and everything in between, with the last series changing direction to a focus on horror with a werewolf plot twist for the ages. Does the new series follow suit or is it something completely different? Well, here to take us through it all, including the A-list cast, is culture and lifestyle writer India Block.

10:55Hi India, thanks for being here. Hi, it's great to be back. So tell us, how long has it been since we last had Black Mirror on our screens? Not actually that long. So Black Mirror season 6 came out in June 2023. and obviously we're now in 2025, so less than two years, which I think considering the writer's strike and how long it's been taking to get things through the studio system, it's actually a pretty rapid turnaround. You've seen the whole of Black Mirror Series 7. Is this a change of direction since the last series? I'd say it's more of a return to the original Black Mirror conceit. about the perils of near future technology.

11:43So last season, it was a bit controversial. I personally enjoyed it, but there was more of a horror focus. So we had sort of Demon 79, we had Locke Henry, Maisie Day, kind of true crime or demons or werewolves. As a fan of the horror genre, I thought that that was really exciting and fresh. but this is definitely a more of a original black mirror it's either technology going wrong and causing misery and chaos in people's lives or i think they've learned a lot from sam junipero which is one of the sort of all-time favorite black mirror episodes that had a very emotional through line and there's quite a lot of romance and heartbreak and enduring love through this season.

12:31So yeah, I think there'll be something for fans of all of the previous seasons. Now this series is really jam-packed with celebrities. Which actors can we expect to see this series? Yeah, so pretty much every single one except for the second episode, Bette Noire, which is also set entirely in the UK and has more sort of up and coming stars. Every other one has someone big who you will recognize. So the first episode, Common People, has Rashida Jones, Chris O'Dowd, and Tracee Ellis Ross. Episode three, Hotel Reverie, you've got Issa Rae, Emma Corrin, Awkwafina. Episode four is Peter Capaldi's episode.

13:13And there's also a cameo from Will Poulter, who is someone who has previously appeared on Black Mirror, and that's a little callback to his character there. Episode five, Eulogy, is a fantastic two-hander between Paul Giamatti and Patsy Ferran. Patsy's been in quite a lot of things recently, including Mickey 17. I think she's a really exciting rising star, but also quite a familiar face now. And then the sixth and final episode is the one I think that's been the most hype around, is the return to the USS Callister. It's USS Callister into infinity. So the cast that survived the first episode are all returning.

13:52Probably the biggest name there is Nanette Cole. So yeah, lots of big names. Black Mirror is, of course, famous for its Easter eggs. Do we get many in Series 7? Oh yeah, we did. Not since Taylor Swift has an intellectual property been so self-referential. Some of them are quite obvious ones, like Will Poulter's character returning. Streamberry gets a lot of shout-outs. There's various addresses that reference San Junipero. And then there's ones for the real obsessive fans. So the Blink and You'll Miss It names of places or songs. That's another one that Charlie Brooker really loves to reuse musical motifs.

14:38You know, at this point, it's become part of the Black Mirror extended universe to have Easter eggs. So, yes, they are still there. Well, finally, tell us how many episodes are there in this series? And did you have a favourite? it yep so there's six episodes uh personally I really loved Hotel Reverie and I really enjoyed Eulogy so some of the more sadder romantic episodes I felt they really made the most of those the stars they cast um people have a lot of opinions they feel that it's moved away from its British roots that it takes you out of it perhaps to have these famous faces but because Hotel Reverie is set in two eras of Hollywood.

15:24It's incredible to have Issa Rae flexing her comedic chops. Emma Corrin, they're just brilliant. And they're really bringing their sort of Diana-esque accent to an old Hollywood star. Awkwafina is very funny as per. And similarly, Eulogy, I think it could be a play. It's so good. Paul Giamatti, perfectly cast as this sort of sad grumpy old man and Patsy Farron is just really really good so yeah those would be my two favorites I think a lot of people like Common People that first one with Rashida Jones and Chris O'Dowd personally I found it way too depressing but maybe that's just me

16:08and that's The Standard for all the latest news and to read more about the stories featured in this episode head to standard.co.uk if you'd like to get in touch with us we'd love to hear from you drop us a line at podcast at standard.co.uk