Is it dangerous to charge a bicycle battery?

No, not if you handle it carefully. However, if a (bike) battery has been dropped, it can be damaged inside. If you then connect it to the charger, a short circuit occurs in the battery. The result: a fierce fire and toxic fumes that can lead to an explosion!

This risk is particularly present in places where many batteries are charged simultaneously, such as in the workshops of bicycle shops, in bike rental in the recreational sector, and in the home delivery industry.

Although it is not inherently dangerous to charge a (bike) battery, there is an increasing occurrence of e-bike batteries causing fires. Earlier this year, a bicycle shop in Amsterdam experienced such an incident. The batteries caught fire while charging the e-bikes, leading to the evacuation of guests in the adjacent restaurant due to intense smoke.

Last month, a fire broke out at Fletcher Hotel Frerikshof in Winterswijk. Bike batteries spontaneously ignited during charging, prompting the hotel to be evacuated.

Especially when charging many bike batteries simultaneously, battery fire is a real risk. Charging them in a special battery safe keeps the fire and smoke inside the safe. With Batteryguard, the safe doors remain closed if a battery ignites or explodes inside. This prevents consequential damage to your property, giving you enough time to alert the fire department!

If you rent out e-bikes or choppers, or if you repair e-bikes in the workshop, you often don’t know how the bikes have been treated. The problem is that you often can’t see from the outside whether the battery inside is damaged. Read the story of holiday park Roompot and bicycle shop Bike Totaal to see what measures they took.

Insurers are witnessing an increasing trend in damage caused by lithium-ion battery fires. As there is still no definitive regulation for safe battery storage, they are incorporating their own guidelines into their policy terms. The most crucial measure they impose is the charging of batteries in a specialized battery safe. In this video, risk expert Bart van de Broek from Nationale-Nederlanden explains what to consider when purchasing such a lithium-ion battery safe.

Would you like to learn more about our solution for the safe storage and charging of bike and chopper batteries? Our specialists are happy to provide you with advice on the possibilities.