Dangerous chargers for electric bikes found for sale on Amazon and Ebay

Dangerous chargers for electric bikes have been found for sale on popular shopping sites like Amazon and Ebay, a charity has claimed.

Electrical Safety First (ESF) says the dodgy chargers – which could result in a fires or electric shocks – were also being sold on Wish.com and AliExpress.

The charging devices, advertised as accessories for e-bikes to power up their lithium-ion batteries, all failed to meet the necessary standard for UK plugs.

According to ESF, many didn’t even have a fuse in place to protect users.

‘By the very nature of the batteries these dangerous charging devices are powering, it is a potential disaster waiting to happen,’ said Martyn Allen, Technical Director of Electrical Safety First.

One of the Ebay listings showing a dangerous e-bike charger

‘The process of charging e-bike batteries must be done with compatible and compliant chargers. These chargers we have identified for sale all pose an increased risk of fire and electric shock and should never have been available for sale to UK shoppers in the first instance.’

What are the dangers?

Using a faulty charger carries significant risks when trying to charge lithium-ion batteries.

An unregulated power supply can blow the batteries and cause a fire while bad wiring or insufficient protection could also lead to an electric shock.

ESF explained the plugs on the rogue chargers appeared to be smaller in size than the UK standard. Which would increase the risk of a shock if someone accidentally touched the live plug pins.

Blazing saddles: the charred remains of an e-bike that caught fire

What’s more, having incorrect plugs means they weren’t ‘adequately tested’ in line with UK safety laws. So there may well be other things wrong with them.

The charity found nearly 60 listings for the illegal chargers across the four platforms. The most were on Ebay (21) followed by Amazon and Wish.com (both 13) and then AliExpress (12).

What did the retailers say?

Each of the four marketplaces said they had safety procedures in place and they all blocked the listings that ESF flagged to them as part of its investigation.

An Amazon spokesperson said: ‘Safety is important to Amazon and we want customers to shop with confidence on our stores. We have proactive measures in place to prevent suspicious or non-compliant products from being listed and we monitor the products sold in our stores for product safety concerns.

‘If customers have concerns about an item they’ve purchased, we encourage them to contact our Customer Service directly so we can investigate and take appropriate action. We have removed these products from sale while we investigate.’

All of the marketplaces contacted about the rogue chargers took the listings down as a result

Meanwhile, Ebay’s spokesperson added: ‘We take product safety extremely seriously, and welcome the information provided to us by Electrical Safety First about these products. In addition to our block filter algorithms and security teams monitoring the site, we work closely with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure eBay remains free of unsafe products.

‘In this instance, our close working relationship with ESF and the Trading Standards team at Kensington & Chelsea Council enabled the swift removal of these products.’

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