Expert Witness Journal Issue 66 April 2026 - Flipbook - Page 50
Lithium battery 昀椀res
- the next insurance wild昀椀re
by Shiza Mukhtar, Paralegal at DAC Beachcroft.
For insurers, this trend translates into a growing
pattern of high-severity property damage, with
lithium-battery 昀椀res spreading so fast that entire
rooms are engulfed before occupants realise
something is wrong. Causation investigations also
become signi昀椀cantly more challenging; once a
battery enters thermal runaway, it often destroys
itself and any surrounding evidence within seconds,
leaving insurers, loss adjusters, and experts with very
limited material to analyse and making it harder to
determine liability, identify recovery prospects, or
rule out third-party contribution. At the same time,
reinstatement periods are lengthening, leading
to more substantial living-expense and businessinterruption claims as properties require extensive
smoke decontamination, structural repair, and
specialist remediation. Importantly, these incidents
are no longer con昀椀ned to industrial or specialist
settings - residential losses now account for a rising
share of lithium-related claims, particularly those
linked to e-bike chargers, portable power banks,
and vapes left unattended or incorrectly stored,
expanding the risk landscape that insurers must
navigate.
Overview
It takes just one moment - a spark, a crushed casing,
a dropped device - for an ordinary household object
to become the start of a devastating 昀椀re. A recent
home-security video that circulated widely across
social media captured the moment a pet chewing a
portable power bank triggered an explosive 昀氀ash,
昀椀lling the room with smoke in seconds. No malice,
no negligence, just a split-second interaction with a
lithium-ion battery.
It is a powerful demonstration of how commonplace,
unpredictable, and fast-escalating lithium battery
昀椀res have become. From e-bikes and scooters to
power banks, laptops, vapes, tools and energystorage units, lithium-powered devices now sit in
almost every UK home and business. As usage soars,
so do 昀椀re losses, and insurers are increasingly facing
claims that are complex, high-value, and di昀케cult to
recover. According to recent data obtained by QBE
Insurance, UK 昀椀re services attended approximately
1,330 lithium-ion battery 昀椀res in 2024, almost double
the 690 incidents recorded in 2022. E-bikes alone
accounted for almost a third (27%) of all recorded
lithium-battery 昀椀res in 2024, illustrating how
everyday consumer products are now driving highseverity losses. This rapid escalation underlines how
ordinary consumer devices are now driving a new
class of high-severity household 昀椀re losses.
Why these claims are harder to investigate
From an insurance perspective, lithium battery 昀椀res
present unique evidential challenges.
1.
This article explores why lithium battery 昀椀res are
rising, the challenges they present for insurers,
and how early, informed response can protect both
indemnity spend and recovery prospects.
Traditional 昀椀re origins such as faulty wiring, cooking
equipment or candles typically leave clear and
recognisable burn patterns, whereas lithium battery
failures can destroy the point of origin entirely,
making it signi昀椀cantly harder for investigators to
identify whether the fault lay with the manufacturer,
the charger, or the way the product was installed or
used.
A growing source of high-severity losses
Lithium battery 昀椀res are not ordinary 昀椀res. They
behave di昀昀erently, escalate rapidly, and often ignite
without warning. When damaged, over-charged or
poorly manufactured, the battery can enter “thermal
runaway”; a chain reaction that causes intense heat,
gas release, and explosion-like behaviour.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
Evidence is often destroyed at ignition
2.
The supply chain is complex
Batteries are often imported, assembled from parts
sourced globally, repackaged by di昀昀erent brands, or
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APRIL 2026
