Oh Dear

May 21, 2023 Longrider Consumer Matters, General News 13

That’s sad.

London firefighters have put out blazes from faulty e-bikes and e-scooters every two days since the start of this year, figures have revealed.

Statistics from London Fire Brigade show there were 158 fires caused by the vehicles since the start of last year.

Meanwhile across Britain, e-bike and e-scooter fires have killed eight people since 2020 and been linked to 190 injuries, The Times reports.

And there have been 48 e-bike fires and 12 e-scooter fires in the capital since the January 1 alone – at a rate of more than three a week.

In January, an e-bike left charging overnight ignited at the home of Rab Shearer, 60, in Litherland, Merseyside. Mr Shearer was killed in the blaze while his son Gary, 23, died in hospital two weeks later after trying in vain to save him.

Ooops. They were always a bad idea and people did just have to jump on the bandwagon. If the things self immolate, that’s a gain in my book. Horrible things that are a menace on the roads, ridden by morons who think that road traffic laws and roadcraft don’t apply to them. Sure, I’m sorry people have died, but I’m not sorry they are proving to be a bad purchase – after all, they are illegal on the public highway and I’m heartily sick of having to take avoiding action because their users are incompetent fuckwits who have no place using a motorised vehicle on the King’s Highway.

It’s worth bearing in mind that their bigger cousins, the milk floats we are being urged to buy, make even bigger pyrotechnics.

13 Comments

  1. An entire container ship full of electric cars went up in flames a while ago.

    I have had arguments with people who think that batteries are the answer to the intermittent nature of wind and solar power. A million Nissan Leaf power packs could, if fully charged, back up the national grid for one hour. That gives some idea of the size of battery that would be needed to back up the grid for times when there is no wind for several days. Now imagine the size of the buildings that would be required to house said batteries and the kind of fire hazard that they would be. Totally pie in the sky.

  2. I’ve no issue with e-bikes or e-scooters; I do though have issues with the users thereof. In London (and probably other cities) they are often used in place of mopeds by the deliveroo (yes, it’s a verb now) mob, none of whom care about road safety or, indeed, fire safety – as these stories show. They are often using dodgy chargers (hence the fires) or have chipped the equipment to ensure speeds in excess of the 15.5mph they are legally restricted to. Plod, as you might expect, are generally as useful as a chocolate teapot when it comes to doing anything about them.

      • Seriously? People have actually turned up for the course on e-scooters? I don’t know why it even surprises me.

        • No, they want to take it on mopeds. They turn up late, unable to speak English, usually wearing tracksuit bottoms and trainers. Very few end up completing the course. They come with the attitude that it’s a formality. They go away having discovered that it isn’t. Frankly, I resent being used in this way. I came into this role to teach people to ride motorcycles, not to enable the worst practices of the fast food industry. So, yes, most of them don’t get a certificate. If they get out on the road, they are invariably too dangerous to complete the two-hour road ride.

          Then we get the pleading, begging, threats and attempted bribes.

  3. The problems with these stupid things – Chinese (very likely) and therefore by definition utter shite. Remember hoverboards a few years ago? Pretty much the same.

    Probably the worst thing you can do with Li-ion batteries is to try and fast charge them, but the whole milk float fantasy relies on the normalization of such abuse.

    I do see these asinine toys now and them. Hope nobody has one in the block I live in!

  4. I’ve got 2 ebikes and they are great pieces of kit. E scooters on the other hand…. I disagree with you lumping e bike riders with people who ride e scooters. As an ex motorcyclist myself i could say that all the stupid motorcyclists i’ve met and seen are representative of all motorcyclists. You wouldn’t like that I’m sure- it wouldn’t be true and neither are your generalistions of cyclists be they e bike riders or not.

    • Depends what you mean by e bike. A battery assisted bicycle is a bicycle and is used as such. I have no problem with those. However, we are increasingly seeing what are small capacity electric motorcycles that are illegal, being used. Usually recklessly in my observation. This is what is being referred to here.

      I haven’t generalised at all. I’m out on the road on a daily basis and have to take avoiding action or instruct students to, frequently enough to make a judgement here. Any comments I make are based on observation.

  5. I think that there is a significant difference between a battery assisted bicycle and an e-scooter. The e-bicycles are much more stable and are generally used more sensibly. E-scooters have very small wheels and are inherently unstable and generally ridden by idiots.

    • Also, e scooters and e bikes are motor vehicles and are illegal except in specific circumstances. And to use one of the legal ones, you have to have a current UK driving licence. None of this applies to battery assisted bicycles.

  6. Senora O’Blene bought me an electric bicycle six years ago, as I’m getting on in years, and we live in a countryside full of hills.

    I can go anywhere now, just as I would when I used ordinary pedal power, and the delight of re-living travel on two wheels is exhilarating and immensely enjoyable! I never had a motorbike, just a Lambretta when I was younger, but these new bicycles are a godsend for a 75-year-old.

    I have no truck with kids on these little scooters, but somehow, these children seem to shun electric bicycles which might mean they have to actually do something to make them go, like pedal or something!

    It’s the dangerous car and van drivers which I fear the most, but the worst element is the poor state of Kent roads, as it’s Sod’s Law which states that every time one sees a pothole, it cannot be avoided because there’s an impatient driver trying to pass…

  7. Also, these Li battery fires give off some horrendously toxic chemicals including cyanide gas.

    If you’re ever near one, try not to breathe until you’re upwind or clear of the smoke.

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