A typical student bedroom holds several lithium-ion batteries without anyone thinking about it. A laptop, a phone, a vape, wireless earbuds, a power bank, maybe an e-scooter parked by the door. Put that many batteries into a shared, high-turnover building and the risk picture changes. Not because any one device is unusual, but because the building around it is. Here's what actually increases that risk and what to do about it. That applies whether you're charging the devices or responsible for the building they're charged in.
What actually goes wrong
Lithium-ion batteries don't usually fail with a spark or a flare-up you can catch early. Damage, overheating or a short circuit can set off a chain reaction called thermal runaway. Heat builds up inside the battery faster than it can escape, spreading from cell to cell and releasing flammable and toxic gases as it goes. Once that starts, it burns hot and spreads fast. Lithium-ion battery fires are their own category, not an ordinary electrical fire.
Some of the causes behind these failures are surprisingly everyday. A drop or a crush, a counterfeit or incompatible charger, overcharging, or a battery that never met its claimed standard: none of that requires an unusual device. It applies to any lithium-ion battery, which is why this risk isn't limited to people who own an e-bike.
Where the risk concentrates
E-bikes and e-scooters are behind a growing number of lithium-ion battery fires. Government figures from the Office for Product Safety and Standards show that 66% of reported e-bike and e-scooter fires in 2024 occurred in indoor or residential environments. OPSS confirmed charging in around four in ten cases, rising to roughly half for converted e-bikes. London Fire Brigade recorded 206 e-bike and e-scooter fires in 2025, its highest total yet: 171 involving e-bikes, 35 e-scooters.
One figure matters more than the rest for anyone living in or responsible for shared accommodation: according to London Fire Brigade, of the five people who have died in London fires involving e-bikes, none of them owned the e-bike involved. The risk doesn't stay with the person who made the choice to buy a cheap battery or charge it overnight. It sits with everyone sharing the building.
You don't need to own an e-bike to be exposed to a version of this risk, though. Laptops, phones, vapes and power banks all contain lithium-ion batteries too. They need the same care when it comes to charging and handling them safely.
For students and parents
A few simple habits can help reduce the risk:
- Use the charger that came with the device, or a genuine manufacturer replacement, not whatever's cheapest online.
- Don't leave a battery charging while you're asleep or out of the house, and never charge on a bed, sofa or anything soft.
- Check your accommodation's rules before bringing an e-bike or e-scooter. Charging it in your room isn't automatically fine just because there's a socket.
- Learn to recognise the warning signs, like a battery that's swollen, unusually hot, or smells odd, and stop using it immediately.
- Don't put damaged or old lithium batteries in general waste. Take them to a proper battery recycling point instead; batteries in bin lorries and waste sites are a genuine fire problem in their own right.
It's worth a five-minute conversation before term starts rather than after something's gone wrong. Worth checking the specific guidance for your own device too, since charging advice varies between models.
For accommodation providers, landlords and university housing teams
If you're responsible for a shared building, fire risk assessments already have to cover the risks actually present in its shared areas. Under the Fire Safety Order 2005, that responsibility usually sits with whoever's in control of the building: the landlord, managing agent, or the institution running the accommodation. It covers common areas of flats, HMOs and similar shared housing rather than individual private rooms. What's worth doing now is checking that the current assessment names lithium-ion battery and e-mobility device risk specifically, alongside whatever it already covers.
The National Fire Chiefs Council's guidance is straightforward. Keep e-bikes and e-scooters off escape routes and away from communal areas altogether. Fit heat alarms rather than ordinary smoke alarms wherever residents charge them, and treat a damaged or dead battery as something for proper disposal, not the bin. Some institutions have gone further. UCL, for example, now bans charging or storing e-bikes, e-scooters and similar devices anywhere on campus or in its accommodation, and requires students to charge them off-site instead.
The same laptops and phones that make this risk universal are exactly what Firechief® LithShield® Battery Fire Blankets are built for. It's a fire blanket range designed specifically for lithium-ion battery fires. The Light range covers laptops, phones and other small lithium-ion devices, and performs at temperatures over 1000°C. Whether it's the right addition for a specific building is a question for that building's own fire risk assessment. Firechief's technical helpline is there to help work through it.
A shared responsibility
Most of the steps above are straightforward: use the right charger, make sure policies are understood, and include lithium-ion batteries properly in the fire risk assessment.
But getting these basics right matters. Five people have died in London e-bike fires, and none of them owned the e-bike involved.
In a shared building, one person’s battery can put everyone at risk. That makes lithium-ion battery safety a shared responsibility.
Disclaimer
The information contained within this blog is provided solely for general informational and educational purposes and is not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Before taking any actions based upon this information, we advise the reader to consult all relevant statutory or regulatory guidance and, where necessary, to consult a qualified fire or industry regulation professional. The use or reliance on any information contained herein is solely at the reader's risk.