A father from New Malden is warning Londoners to not leave e-bikes charging unattended following a battery explosion that burnt his house down in ten minutes.
Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters responded to a fire on Muybridge Way, New Malden.
The fire started in a conservatory at the rear of the two storey terraced house. The conservatory was completely destroyed by fire, half of the ground floor and part of the first floor of the house were also damaged by fire.
The Brigade's 999 Control officers received their first call about the fire at 1000, and firefighters had the incident under control by 1152. Crews from New Malden, Surbiton and Kingston fire stations attended the scene.
The cause of the fire is believed to be due to the failure of a lithium battery in a converted e-bike. Conversion kits allow people to add an electric motor to their bicycle. They are more likely to fail and cause a fire as not all of conversion kits are sold with a battery or charger. The battery or charger then must be purchased separately, sometimes from a different seller with the risk of the charger not being compatible and increasing the fire risk.
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "We know this bike had been converted from a normal pedal cycle by having a lithium-ion battery pack fitted to it and was on charge at the time of the fire.
“E-bikes are one of London’s fastest-growing fire risks, with a fire on average once every other day. The stark reality is that some of these vehicles are proving to be incredibly dangerous and are at greater risk of malfunctioning, particularly if they’ve been modified, fitted or converted with second-hand products or if the batteries are used with the incorrect chargers.
“We always recommend purchasing items from a reputable high-street seller where, at this time, a product is more likely to meet safety standards."
On average there was a fire from a lithium battery in an e-bike or e-scooter every two days in 2023 in London.
Bus driver Don Hettiarachchi (49), was devastated when the e-bike his son bought burst into flames. He says the e-scooter was charging in the conservatory for five hours while he slept upstairs. He said: “I work night shifts and when I heard the smoke alarm, I initially thought it was a car alarm in the street outside.
"Disorientated, I went to have a look and found the whole of the bottom floor of my home filled with smoke. My son’s converted e-bike was charging inside the conservatory, it had caught fire and the kitchen was full of thick black smoke.
“Luckily it was our smoke alarms that alerted us to get out of the house. I woke my wife and son and we escaped outside.
“The e-bike was bought second-hand by my son, and he’d been using it for about two months. It had been charging for over five hours and was on charge at the time of the fire. It was always charged in the conservatory.
“My wife is still suffering from shock at the moment. We both went to the doctor and took a month off work due to the stress. We stayed in emergency accommodation that the Council helped us find because our home was inhabitable.
“My house insurance expired in the summer. My father-in-law was ill and due to being preoccupied with his illness, I missed paying the house insurance renewal - we lost everything in the fire!
“My advice for anyone thinking of buying an e-bike is to really do your homework before you buy. Make sure the e-bike battery and the charger are compatible with one another. Make sure you buy from a reputable seller that you know and trust.
“Never leave them on charge unattended, in particular overnight, as you need to react should anything go wrong. Don’t think it won’t happen to you because it happened to us and my whole house was destroyed in less than ten minutes by an exploding battery.”