eBike Charging Fire Risks (1 Viewer)

[CRD]

We were woken up at 5am this morning by our neighbour warning us that his detached garage was on fire. It took three fire engines to put the fire out, which will result in a complete rebuild of the garage as the fire cracked some of the brick walls as well as destroyed the roof.

Everything in the garage was destroyed, including an electric mountain bike worth about £6K. Luckily their cars weren't in it too.

When the firemen dragged out the badly damaged eBike, it was obvious what had started the fire - the battery had become too hot, caught fire and exploded. Luckily it was the loud bang as the battery exploded that woke them up.

Our neighbour had left the battery in his eBike and kept it on permanent charge, with disastrous results.

We have been thinking about buying eBikes and charging them in the garage of our MH. Seeing what has happened today is making me think twice about leaving an eBike battery charging without being supervised. The consequences would be terrible if a battery caught fire and exploded in the MH.

 

[Mikey RV]

The battery charger should turn off when fully charged.

 

[CRD]

The battery charger should turn off when fully charged.

But it obviously hadn't for some reason.

 

[LesW]

Most (all?) of these ebike fires are down to unmatched batteries and chargers bought seperately, I have no worries about leaving our batteries (with matched good quality chargers) on charge during the day.. I have monitored them in the past and there is no excess heat generated.

 

[Nigel Crompton]

My first Q would be "was the charger supplied with the bike?"

Lots of e-bikes & scooters get nicked without the charger; new 'owner' then goes to e-bay or amazon for a charger.
(not suggesting OP's neighbour is a receiver ..)

I've left mine on for hours after charging complete, both stone cold.

That said I'm now going to plug mine into a smart plug so I can see the power use during and after charge/
I always (home or away) remove the battery from the bike for charging.

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[CRD]

My first Q would be "was the charger supplied with the bike?"

I think so and I'm certain that he had bought the bike new from a retailer. If I get a chance, I'll ask him about his charger.

 

[Guigsy]

The vast majority of ebike fires are DIY conversions or cheapo import brands. It's extremely rare that a properly tested and certified design from Bosch, Shimano, etc fails.

 

[LesW]

DIY conversions

Both of ours are DIY conversions, fitted by me, but the kits were from a reputable dealer, bought as complete kits.

 

[Mikey RV]

But it obviously hadn't for some reason.

I would think with a 6K bike it would have a proper charger. Like other peaple have said you get some dodgy Chinese chargers and bikes which are a fire hazard.

 

[Tombola]

Decent reputable bikes and batteries go through stringent checks.

I think all the ones ive seen have been knock off cheap spare batteries or cheap chinese bikes

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[CRD]

It was a Trek mountain bike, so definitely not a cheap Chinese knockoff

 

[Mikey RV]

Was it the original charger that came with the bike.

 

[CRD]

I don’t know, though it’s likely to have been, as I think the bike was only about a year old. When I get a chance I’ll ask my neighbour to find out.

 

[Kayak Kid]

I have both an ebike and an electric moped with their own dedicated chargers, which came with them both from new.

As my car garage is under the house, when charging I cover either with a fire blanket for piece of mind. I never leave them charging overnight. When away in the motorhome, any charging is done outside and never in the motorhome garage or rear rack.

Fire Blankets are relatively cheap to buy. I got a 3M x2.5m one on eBay for £19.99 and is large enough to cover the bike or moped fully. If the battery is removed for charging, obviously a much smaller fire blanket could be used.

 

[Guigsy]

It was a Trek mountain bike, so definitely not a cheap Chinese knockoff

A Trek that wasn't retro fitted with a motor?

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[CRD]

Yep, had an electric motor inbuilt by design. A bit like this, though I don’t know the exact model as it’s my neighbour’s bike, not mine.

 

[lorger]

I had my electric screwdriver go on fire while plugged in in the kitchen just before Xmas, thankfully I was fitting kitchen at time and no harm was done. We have two EBikes and tend to switch off when we’re not there, plus have a linked fire alarm in our garage that would set off all the house ones.

 

[lorger]

Found the photo

 

[CRD]

One of the firemen suggested having a fire alarm in the garage this morning. At first they thought the fire had been caused by an electrical tool being charged, like your screwdriver, but that was before they saw the remains of the eBike.

 

[ToBoldlyGo]

We were woken up at 5am this morning by our neighbour warning us that his detached garage was on fire. It took three fire engines to put the fire out, which will result in a complete rebuild of the garage as the fire cracked some of the brick walls as well as destroyed the roof.

Everything in the garage was destroyed, including an electric mountain bike worth about £6K. Luckily their cars weren't in it too.

When the firemen dragged out the badly damaged eBike, it was obvious what had started the fire - the battery had become too hot, caught fire and exploded. Luckily it was the loud bang as the battery exploded that woke them up.

Our neighbour had left the battery in his eBike and kept it on permanent charge, with disastrous results.

We have been thinking about buying eBikes and charging them in the garage of our MH. Seeing what has happened today is making me think twice about leaving an eBike battery charging without being supervised. The consequences would be terrible if a battery caught fire and exploded in the MH.

We have ebikes from A S Bikes and the instructions say to charge outside. I have charged in the hab area making sure the battery is no where between us and the exit but if an ebike battery does go up anywhere in the hab area whether it's the lounge or the garage it almost certainly will take the whole van with it. At home I charge ebike batteries outside on a hard surface (eg bricks or tiles).

I've thought of buying some vermiculite sheet and fire retardent glue and making a charge box but that's not simple eg do you let the box vent flaming gas or not? The only safe way to charge is 1-2 metres away from the van.

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[jumar]

One of the firemen suggested having a fire alarm in the garage this morning. At first they thought the fire had been caused by an electrical tool being charged, like your screwdriver, but that was before they saw the remains of the eBike.

Good advice to have the garage protected by an alarm....but the sole purpose is to warn of a situation...You must be able to hear the Alarm sounding whilst in the comfort of the house....and preferably whilst sleeping...
Detection and swift action is paramount...
As a user but no expert on eBike fires ( Been retired many years) I need to be aware of such dangers...a steady smouldering fire would set off an alarm before the situation worsened... I'm led to believe that eBike fires have a bigger and more rapid point of ignition and subsequent explosion.

 

[tinkertaylor]

A decent battery should have a bms that prevents these type of things happening. Problem with a bike battery is that there's alot of cells in series being fed with around 48v, if a few cells fail and the bms isn't a good one the remaining cells get overcharged. Smoke alarm is a decent idea, but basically buy a decent battery and make sure the bms system built into the battery is a good one, it monitors individual cell voltages.

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

My Giant ebike charger instructions say to remove it once charged and specifically not leave connected once completed.
I never charge the bike or power tool batteries unattended and usually try to charge them somewhere in view.

 

[Gingernuts]

Aren’t trek and Giant bikes made in China?

 

[Gingernuts]

Found the photo View attachment 861743View attachment 861743

What make was your electric screwdriver?

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[CRD]

My Giant ebike charger instructions say to remove it once charged and specifically not leave connected once completed.
I never charge the bike or power tool batteries unattended and usually try to charge them somewhere in view.

I think this is where my neighbour went wrong by leaving the charger on all the time

 

[lorger]

What make was your electric screwdriver?

I honestly can’t remember, I don’t normally buy the cheapest or the most expensive and tend to buy a decent middle of the range when it comes to diy tools.

 

[jumar]

I think this is where my neighbour went wrong by leaving the charger on all the time

What did your neighbour hope to achieve by keeping the charger connected....
If not using the bike it should be discharged to 60% and stored in that state...topping up perhaps prior to riding....

 

[TinaLes]

The advice that I read up on was to as jumar mentions above, to store the e-bike batteries between 50 - 60% charged while in storage, ideally at an ambient temp also not too cold, not too hot, but also off the bike stored seperately, never left on permanent charge unattended.
I could imagine also that if the battery was stored in the bike, with the on switch engaged, that if the bike drew any current, even a small amount, the this could over time cause the battery to overheat, as indeed an internal short between cells would.
As we have seen on TV, E-scooters are currently posing the biggest threat, especially being charged in home hallways, there are thousands of them available on E-Bay, and too many are not CE rated, they are chucked about, crashed, thrown in the boot of cars etc, basically time bombs waiting to explode.
LES

 

[Guigsy]

Aren’t trek and Giant bikes made in China?

Made in China no longer means it's a poor product. Yes, they still make some crap, but there are plenty of quality products too. iPhones? Pretty much every Lithium battery people have in their vans uses cells and BMS from China.

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