Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what fire safety standards are
applied to lithium ion batteries in e-bikes, e-scooters and
mobility scooters; and whether such batteries are safe to use and
be charged in buildings.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy () (Con)
My Lords, the product safety regulatory framework places
obligations on manufacturers to ensure the safety of consumer
goods, including the batteries used to power them. In short, the
law requires that batteries used in such products must be
inherently safe, regardless of where they are used, charged or
stored. To support them, manufacturers may choose to apply
standard EN 62133-2, which specifies requirements and safety
tests for the safe operation of portable, sealed secondary
lithium cells and batteries.
(Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. I have a
different EN number, which I will not bore the House with. He
will be aware of a number of fires allegedly caused by lithium
ion batteries in cars, on bikes and on scooters, which have
caused house fires and one on an Underground train. One
manufacturer told me that
“unless we can prove that a product has caused serious accident
or injuries, there is no priority from Trading Standards to do
any pro-active checks”.
Is not the answer to have proactive checks, as I believe they do
in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, for about 10 years to
prevent these illegal imports causing more fires, allowing the
development of lithium ion batteries to continue safely?
(Con)
The noble Lord highlights an important point. I am devastated
that our EN numbers do not match, but I would be happy to compare
them afterwards if the noble Lord wishes. It is vital that we
carry out checks on illegally imported products; the fire that he
referred to was caused by something not in conformity with UK
standards. We carry out checks on a risk-based approach where
required.
(Con)
My Lords, does the Minister not agree that if these e-scooters
are privately owned, they are illegal, so they should not be
taken on to the train in the first place?
(Con)
No, I do not. If they are privately owned, there is a prohibition
on riding them on public highways, but there is nothing wrong
with taking them on trains if permitted by the train
operators.
(LD)
My Lords, e-bikes and e-scooters are a great innovation, but it
is the wild west out there. A lack of regulation and enforcement
is giving them a bad reputation. There have been e-scooter trials
and the assessments are now complete for many places, so there is
no longer any excuse for government inaction. Will the Minister
undertake to work with Department for Transport colleagues to
commit to an early date for tighter restrictions on both imports
and the way in which these vehicles are used on our roads and
pavements?
(Con)
I do not share the noble Baroness’s enthusiasm for banning
e-scooters. The Department for Transport is considering options
for how best to regulate them and to crack down on their illegal
use, which we are all concerned about. New measures being
considered will be designed to create a much clearer,
fit-for-purpose and fully enforceable regime for regulators.
of Headley (Con)
My Lords, as we make the transition to net zero, we are going to
need to rely on batteries more and more. Some 156 out of the
world’s largest 211 battery factories are in China, which owns
and controls enormous swathes of the supply chain. If we are
going to get security of supply in batteries, what steps are the
Government taking to ensure that that is going to happen?
(Con)
The noble Lord makes an important point. The access to minerals
and rare earth required to make batteries is a source of
considerable interest to the Government. We are looking closely
at where supplies can be obtained. He will be aware of the number
of recent announcements on car batteries now being manufactured
in gigafactories—or they will be—in the United Kingdom, but it is
an important issue, and we need to bear it in mind.
(Lab)
My Lords, when introduced and managed well, e-bikes and
e-scooters can be part of the solution to many of the world’s
urban transport and health issues. In fact, this morning I cycled
in on my Scott e-bike, which got me here ahead of a lot of the
other traffic. As my noble friend said, the solution is simple:
better regulation and better enforcement. Do Her Majesty’s
Government have any plans to introduce further enforcement and
regulation which will help deliver good-quality batteries and
good-quality bikes and scooters on our streets?
(Con)
I am delighted to hear that the noble Lord came in today on his
e-bike. I am unable to resist the opportunity to say that perhaps
he could have a word with his friends in the trade unions, to
allow us all to come in on the Tube if we would like to at the
moment. As I said earlier, the Department for Transport is
considering options for how best to regulate e-scooters and crack
down on their illegal use.
(LD)
My Lords, as there is time in the schedule, can I invite the
Minister to reconsider his reply to me? He accused me of calling
for the banning of these vehicles, when I specifically praised
their innovation. I asked for regulation, not annihilation.
(Con)
If I heard the noble Baroness wrong, I apologise of course. We
support responsible regulation. If that is what she supports us
in doing, it is welcome news.
(Con)
As one who does want annihilation, can I ask my noble friend to
ensure that when these wretched machines, which go up to 40 mph,
are on the roads, they are all properly registered and numbered,
with their drivers fined if they are not wearing helmets?
(Con)
I am not surprised that the noble Lord supports annihilation. I
do not agree with him. E-scooters represent great opportunities
for urban mobility. Yes, we need to regulate them properly,
ensure that they are used safely and of course ensure that riders
are safe, but they offer a responsible commuting option for many
people.
My Lords, however these things are regulated, we are building up
a massive resource of batteries that one day will have to be
disposed of, with the environmental risks that they bring as
well. What assessment have the Government made of how in the long
term we will deal with what could before too long become a
problem?
(Con)
The right reverend Prelate makes an important point but, of
course, better than disposing of the batteries would be to
recycle them. A number of technologies exist to enable batteries
to be reused, recycled and repurposed. There are a number of
instances of electric car batteries being reused as portable
electricity storage devices in the home.
(Lab)
My Lords, what incentives are the Government offering to
householders with solar PV panels to install batteries so that
they can become more self-sufficient in their electricity
generation, including charging their electric cars where that is
possible?
(Con)
It is an important point. We offer an attractive tariff for
consumers who generate their own electricity to export to the
grid but, as that tariff is lower than that for which they would
have to buy the electricity themselves, there is an incentive, if
possible, to store it and reuse it. As we get more EVs, we will
see their increasing use as storage devices, and companies will
start to offer an attractive tariff to enable electricity to be
released from those at times of busy demand.
(LD)
My Lords, going back to the right reverend Prelate’s question,
how many facilities for recycling batteries are there in the UK,
and what is being done to make sure that we have end-to-end
design technologies in this country?
(Con)
I do not have figures for the precise number of battery recycling
plants in the UK. I am aware of some developments in that field,
but I do not have the precise numbers. The noble Baroness makes
an important point: that we need to ensure end-to-end recycling
and reuse.
(Lab)
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his earlier response
to me, but he will be aware that in the last month two train
companies have banned electric bikes and scooters being taken on
to their trains. That has now been withdrawn, but it was done
because London Fire Brigade’s press release was a bit unclear
about the risk. This goes back to the lack of a firm
specification for and firm enforcement of the quality of
batteries so that there is no misunderstanding. It has upset a
lot of people.
(Con)
I think that there was one incident on one Transport for London
train, which was caused by an illegal product—it was not even
properly regulated. In what I thought was a gross overreaction,
Transport for London then banned e-scooters, but other train
operators allow them. It is obviously a matter for individual
companies to work out the risks, but a relatively tiny number of
incidents have been caused from the more than 1 million that we
estimate are currently in use.
