Fire Prevention Week runs Oct. 4 to 10 this year, and the National Fire Protection Association has built its 2026 campaign around charging lithium-ion batteries safely. Those are the batteries in e-bikes, e-scooters, power tools, laptops and phones.
Fire-safety advice focuses on preventing the battery from igniting. Insurance determines what happens financially if it does. Your policy may cover damage to the home while limiting coverage for the e-bike itself or for damage the fire causes to someone else’s property.
Charging is when most of the trouble starts
The Consumer Product Safety Commission reviewed 227 incidents involving e-bikes, e-scooters and similar products from 2019 through 2023. Fires made up 195 of them, and 120 were tied to thermal runaway during normal charging, accounting for 18 deaths and 102 injuries, according to the agency’s proposed battery safety rule, published in June.
That rule would make three UL safety standards mandatory: UL 2849 for e-bike electrical systems, UL 2272 for other personal e-mobility devices and UL 2271 for the batteries themselves.
The comment period closed Aug. 24, and the rule is not final, so for now certification is something you check for rather than something you can assume.
Recalls matter too. In November 2025, the CPSC told owners of certain Rad Power Bikes batteries to stop using them immediately, citing 31 fire reports, 12 of which involved property damage totaling about $734,500. Some of those fires started while the bike was in storage.
The fire is usually covered, the bike may not be
Most standard homeowners policies cover fire damage, including fires started by lithium batteries, the Northwest Insurance Council said in an October 2025 consumer alert.
The same group cautioned that coverage is not automatic everywhere. Some insurers may limit or exclude battery-related fire damage or require you to disclose battery systems and follow safety requirements to keep your protection.
The e-bike itself is a separate question. Standard homeowners policies may treat e-bikes as motor vehicles for some purposes, which can limit liability coverage away from home.
ISO, whose forms are widely used by insurers, revised its homeowners program in 2022 so an optional endorsement can provide liability coverage for certain owned motorized bicycles and scooters. Whether you have that protection depends on the policy form your insurer uses and whether it includes the endorsement.
Allstate’s e-bike coverage guide describes the same pattern from the insurer’s side. Home, renters and condo policies may cover an e-bike only up to a set dollar value, may not cover it once you ride away from home and may not cover damage to the motor or battery.
If your e-bike cost $2,000, a low cap on that kind of property can matter more than your deductible.
Renters carry a risk they rarely price
A battery fire in an apartment can send smoke and water from the firefighting into neighboring units, which makes it a liability question as much as a property one.
Your landlord’s insurance protects the building, not your belongings, and it will not pay for a hotel while repairs are made, the Insurance Information Institute notes. A standard renters policy covers personal belongings against fire and smoke, pays additional living expenses if the unit becomes uninhabitable and includes liability coverage for property damage you cause to other people.
If you sold a house and now rent, your old homeowners protection did not follow you, and the coverage renters lose after downsizing includes some of the pieces a battery fire would test.
Questions to put to your insurer
- Is my e-bike or e-scooter covered as personal property, and up to what dollar amount?
- Does that coverage apply to the battery and motor, or only the frame?
- Am I covered for liability while riding it away from home, or do I need an endorsement or a separate e-bike policy?
- Does my policy limit or exclude fires caused by lithium batteries, and do you require me to list battery-powered equipment?
- If a fire spreads to a neighbor’s home or unit, what is my liability limit?
Get the answers by email so there is a record if you ever file a claim. If the limits come back too low for the equipment you own, the cost of being underinsured lands on you, not the insurer.
An insurer that adds exclusions or asks for new disclosures is also a reason to see what other companies charge. Home insurance rates have exploded, and if you have not shopped around lately, you are almost certainly paying too much.
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New York shows prevention can work
New York City’s numbers suggest a sustained safety push can pay off. Deaths from lithium-ion battery fires fell from 18 in 2023 to six in 2024 and one in 2025 as of the New York City Fire Department’s year-end report, which credited consistent safety messaging and enforcement.
The total number of lithium-ion battery fires did not fall over the same period, rising from 268 in 2023 to 277 in 2024. But the FDNY reported that 90 of the 2023 fires and 133 of the 2024 fires were non-structural, meaning structural fires fell from about 178 to 144.
Fewer people are dying, and fewer of these fires are occurring inside homes, apartments and businesses, but the property risk has not disappeared.
The habits fire safety officials recommend cost nothing. Use a manufacturer-approved charger. Do not charge unattended or overnight. Charge and store batteries on a hard, nonflammable surface, away from doors and hallways you would need to escape through.
Several other fire hazards hiding in plain sight deserve the same check while you are at it, and travelers face portable charger rules at the airport.
Before the next charge, check two things: the UL mark on the battery and the dollar limit in your policy. One lowers the odds of a fire. The other decides who pays if one happens anyway.
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