In my last post, I described the dangers of charging a freezing cold lithium-ion battery and promised to review the regulations meant to protect us from such hazards. So, let’s do that. While science can explain how an e-bike battery can ignite in an apartment, policies should explain how we ensure it never does. In Canada, the answer is surprisingly incomplete.
Consider a scenario that commonly plays out every winter. Someone buys an inexpensive replacement battery or conversion kit online and plugs it into a charger it was never designed for. In the worst cases, they hook it up to an e-bike that was left out in the cold overnight. These decisions are legal and go unchecked. This, more than any single chemical reaction, is the real safety threat.
To understand the policy gaps, it helps to know what “good” standards look like. There is no shortage of technical standards for lithium-ion batteries. For instance, the widely referenced benchmark for e-bikes is a standard called ANSI/CAN/UL 2849, which tests the whole electrical system – battery, charger, controller and wiring – as one unit. The corresponding complete-system assessment for personal e-mobility devices, such as e-scooters and hoverboards, is covered by UL2272, while the battery packs themselves are covered by UL2271. The underlying cells inside the packs are evaluated against international standards such as IEC 62133-2 and its Canadian equivalent, CSA C22.2 No.62133-2:20. These standards are rigorous and reputable manufacturers meet them.
Here’s the catch: in Canada, meeting these standards is almost entirely voluntary. While Health Canada and Transport Canada recommend that consumers look for these certifications, recommending is not the same as requiring. A battery pack that meets none of these certifications can still be legally sold, shipped and plugged in.
The regulatory landscape, however, is slowly shifting. On December 2, 2025, Health Canada opened a consultation on proposed requirements for lithium-ion batteries and the consumer products that contain them under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA). The proposed rules would, for the first time, point to standards like IEC 62133-2 and require third-party testing through recognized laboratories. This is a welcome step toward mandatory safety.
But this is also where one of the most important regulatory loopholes lies. The CCPSA excludes “vehicles” as defined under Motor Vehicles Safety Act – and e-bikes and e-scooters generally meet that broad definition. So even as Health Canada moves to regulate the batteries used in power tools, toys and laptops, the micromobility devices associated with the sharpest rise in urban battery fires may be left out. Many are treated as vehicles in the consumer-product law, but do not fall within a prescribed vehicle class that is subject to federal motor vehicle safety standards. So, these batteries fall through the regulatory gap between the two laws. This oversight threatens real-world consequences.
There are other gaps that manufacturers and regulators should consider. Certification typically applies to the device as originally sold, but the overwhelming majority of e-bike fires can be traced back to aftermarket batteries, conversion kits, DIY battery packs and mismatched chargers rather than intact factory systems. Online marketplaces add another layer of complexity as there is no gatekeeper checking whether a battery shipped from overseas is genuine, or whether the safety mark is real. Transport Canada has felt the need to publish an advisory literally titled “be aware of what you buy.” A certification that only covers first sale, and not the replacement parts and chargers that follow, fails to address a large portion of the risk.
So, the big question becomes: is mandatory certification worth the hassle? The evidence suggests it is. In 2023, New York City enacted Local Law 39, requiring e-bikes, e-scooters and their batteries to be certified to UL standards before they could be sold. In the years that followed, deaths from e-bike fires in the city fell from 18 in 2023 to a single death in 2025. That is remarkable. Regulation alone did not produce these results. Enforcement, public education and battery trade-in programs, together with a mandatory standard for what can be legally sold, all moved the numbers in the right direction.
None of this means Canadians should fear the batteries in their pockets and garages. It means that as these devices multiply, safety cannot rest on consumer vigilance alone. Closing the vehicular-exclusion gap, extending certification to aftermarket parts and chargers, giving markets real accountability and pairing it all with public education, could turn an “intervention of recommendations” into a genuine safety net.
Photo by Norbu GYACHUNG on Unsplash
