[2025 Audit] 2,400 Battery Fires... "BMS Should Be Mandatory for Electric Bicycles Too"

Sharp Increase in Fires Involving Personal Mobility Devices

On the night of the 27th, at the fire scene of the National Intelligence Resources Management Institute in Yuseong District, Daejeon, a firefighter is placing a fire-damaged lithium-ion battery into a fire water tank. 2025.9.27 Yonhap News Photo by Yonhap

Recently, as the number of users of personal mobility devices such as electric scooters and electric bicycles has increased, related fire accidents have also surged. However, there are criticisms that the government's battery safety measures remain insufficient.

On October 13, Assemblywoman Oh Sehee, a member of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee and chairperson of the Democratic Party's National Small Business Committee, stated that there have been a cumulative total of 2,439 battery fire incidents since 2019. These incidents involved batteries used in electric vehicles, electric scooters, portable batteries, and energy storage systems (ESS).

According to data submitted by the National Fire Agency, from 2019 to June 2025, there were 2,439 battery fire incidents. The number of incidents by year was as follows: 281 in 2019, 292 in 2020, 319 in 2021, 345 in 2022, 359 in 2023, 543 in 2024, and 300 as of June 2025. Notably, in 2024 alone, 543 cases were reported, representing an approximately 50% increase from the previous year.

With the recent rise in lithium battery fires, fire authorities have recommended the use of KC-certified products. However, fires have continued to occur even with KC-certified products, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the current certification system.

In particular, as the population using personal mobility devices (PM) increases, fires involving electric scooters and electric bicycles have also become more frequent. Over the past five years, there have been 516 electric scooter fires, 132 electric bicycle fires, and 41 electric motorcycle fires.

Although a revision to the Electrical Safety Management Act last year introduced mandatory regular inspections for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries, experts point out that due to the characteristics of lithium batteries-which have high energy density but low melting and autoignition points-regular inspections alone are insufficient to prevent fires.

Assemblywoman Oh Sehee pointed out, "Major countries such as the United Kingdom have introduced battery fire prevention measures, such as legally requiring the installation of battery management systems (BMS) in PM batteries, whereas domestic regulations are still lacking."

She added, "Mandating the installation of BMS is not only the minimum measure for ensuring safety, but will also help strengthen the competitiveness of the battery component industry. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy should prepare institutional improvement measures, such as requiring BMS with essential functions like overcharge, over-discharge, and temperature monitoring."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.