York cycle shop joins campaign surrounding electric bike safety
A new initiative is being launched to encourage people to buy from reputable brands
A new campaign is being launched by a collective of cycling organisations to improve education and dispel myths surrounding e-bike battery safety and the benefits electric bikes bring to the UK economy and health of the nation.
Cycling UK, the Bicycle Association, and the Association of Cycle Traders have formed a coalition.
Andy Shrimpton runs Cycle Heaven in York and is supporting the campaign: "We want to draw the distinction between the sort of bikes that cause the fires, unregulated and the sort of brands we sell, from reputable brands from blue chip companies."
"We only sell these reputable brands, I've sold e-bikes for 20 years and we've never had a safety issue with an e-bike system, occasionally you get faults with them but not one that is a safety related fault."
The move comes after the new Labour Government announced a ‘Product Safety and Metrology Bill’ to address and protect the public from fire risks associated with e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries in the UK.
Despite E-bike sales in the UK hitting £310 million in 2022, new figures from the Electric Bike Alliance shows over half of UK adults (54%) are aware of recent eBike battery fire incidents with a fifth (23%) of UK adults stating that they will not buy an eBike due to these incidents and a quarter (25%) of UK adults surveyed now worry about eBikes charging near them.
The lack of education and awareness to identify legitimate e-bikes and safe batteries is something the coalition is trying to change, with close to two thirds (64%) of people suggesting educational content such as regulation and safe battery handling would help lower their concerns around using and owning an eBike.