The Bicycle Association launches E-bike Action Plan for Government

The Bicycle Association (BA), the national trade body for the cycle industry, which represents the majority of reputable UK e-bike suppliers, has laid out a comprehensive action plan for Government to tackle the issue of fires attributed to unsafe e-bike batteries – and is calling for its urgent implementation.

This action plan has been consulted on within the Association’s membership, endorsed by numerous stakeholder organisations and also submitted to officials in the relevant Government departments as well as to the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling & Walking Group Enquiry into e-bike safety.

The three key actions required of Government are to:

1. Stop unsafe imports, especially those slipping through direct to consumers via poorly regulated online marketplaces
2. Reform the ‘gig economy’ delivery sector, which drives demand for unsafe e-bike conversion kits, batteries and chargers and incentivises de-restriction
3. Close legal loopholes which permit the legal sale of non-road-legal e-bikes and conversion kits

“These tragic incidents must be stopped, and that requires decisive action which goes well beyond technical regulations,” said Peter Eland, Technical & Policy Director at the Bicycle Association. “We need Ministers and Government departments, especially DfT, DBT and the Home Office, to work together to properly regulate both online marketplaces and gig economy food delivery operators, so that those sectors take real responsibility for the unsafe products supplied through their platforms or used to deliver their services.”

We also need Government action to take non-legal e-bikes off sale, and off the road. Legitimate, road legal e-bikes are known formally as EAPCs – Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles – and these are rigorously defined in law to be similar in performance to normal cycles. EAPCs from reputable suppliers are enjoyed safely by hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, and millions worldwide, for transport and leisure.

In contrast, the throttle-controlled, high-speed vehicles which are often reported as “e-bikes” in connection with unsafe riding, or even use in crimes such as phone-snatching, are not legitimate e-bikes at all – they are illegal e-motorcycles. Government must close the legal loophole which allows such vehicles – and the conversion kits often used to create them – to be sold legally. Taking these products off the market would contribute to fire safety, road safety and help tackle the criminal use of high-speed unregistered e-motorbikes – Peter Eland, Technical & Policy Director at the Bicycle Association

The action plan is detailed, with over 20 pages of policy proposals. It opens by emphasising the industry’s support for and engagement with the ongoing work of the Office for Product Safety and Standards, the UK’s main regulatory agency for product safety, but also stresses that wider cross-Government action is absolutely necessary if the incidence of these fires is to be significantly reduced.

The plan also notes that the reputable UK cycle industry has launched numerous initiatives to distinguish its overwhelmingly very safe products from the unsafe direct imports responsible for the majority of the fires – leading with the E-bike Safety Register of quality-checked brands, and working with the Association of Cycle Traders on the E-bike Positive Retailer Pledge which helps consumers to identify e-bike retailers committed to the highest standards of safety. These initiatives are backed by the “E-bike Positive” public information campaign, aiming to signpost consumers to reputable brands and retailers of safe and legal e-bikes.

Furthermore, the reputable industry continues to engage at national and international levels to further improve the technical safety standards for e-bikes.

Even the safest, fully legal e-bikes are being seriously reputationally damaged by association with fires in unsafe products completely beyond the UK industry’s control. The legitimate e-bike category in the UK is at serious risk as a result. E-bike sales have fallen significantly in recent years, in stark contrast to the worldwide trend, as users face repeated headlines about e-bike dangers, and consequent blanket restrictions on access and insurance.

Our experts have been working on this issue intensively for years, working mostly behind the scenes with Government, regulators, fire and rescue services, the insurance sector, transport operators and many other stakeholders to explore possible solutions and to limit the damage to the reputable e-bike sector.

We’ve summed up our understanding from years of work in this action plan. Now, on the three main points above we urge Government to act urgently – to prevent more tragic incidents and to safeguard tens of thousands of green jobs in the UK e-bike industry which otherwise has so much potential to grow, and to secure the future of this healthy, enjoyable and low-impact form of transport.

Companies in the legitimate UK cycle industry take full legal responsibility for the safety of the products they supply. We think it’s high time that the online marketplaces and gig economy delivery companies take on that same responsibility, and that sales of non-road-legal e-bikes are banned. – Bicycle Association’s Executive Director, Steve Garidis

You can download the full BA E-bike Safety Action Plan here.

The BA submission to the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling & Walking Group Enquiry into e-bike safety is also available for download, and includes further detailed recommendations for immediate Government actions, even ahead of expected legislation, which should provide greater enforcement powers against online marketplaces and overseas sellers. This submission, which also references the full Action Plan, has been endorsed by other key stakeholders, including the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT), the Bikeability Trust, British Cycling, the Motorcycle Industries Association (MCIA) and the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety (PACTS).