My Lords, I will pursue some of the issues I raised in the debate on a previous group of amendments about the safety of the lithium
ion batteries that power many pedicabs, including those that have loudspeakers to provide the noise we have just heard about.
Many noble Lords may not be aware that a fully charged lithium ion battery contains as much energy and potential energy as the equivalent of six hand grenades. If something goes wrong, it can lead to a thermal runaway, which can lead to temperatures reaching over 600 degrees centigrade, as I mentioned earlier. It can release toxic gases that can seriously damage a human’s lungs. The fires are very difficult to put out because they create their own oxygen, which means that special techniques have to be used.
Having said all that, a properly designed and constructed lithium ion battery is inherently pretty safe, unless people do stupid things with it, such as charging it with the wrong charging system, banging it and not being concerned about any damage that they might see, and so on. That is the problem. I do not want to say that lithium ion batteries are bad because, frankly, we desperately need them for many of the developments in transportation and other areas. It is therefore vital that we think about regulations for how we use them, to avoid those problems occurring. Although it is not covered in these amendments, I also hope consideration is given to how we dispose of them when they are no longer in use.
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Amendments 21 and 22 in my name and those of the noble Lords, Lord Berkeley, Lord Hunt and Lord Blencathra, address two particular issues: the charging of those batteries and the batteries themselves. The real concern over the charging of the batteries is that there is currently no set of standards for lithium ion battery chargers and therefore no way for us to check them. If you connect the wrong charger—one not designed for your particular battery—it can power it too quickly or too slowly, possibly leading to damage which can, in turn, cause a problem. There is also the issue of where you charge it so that it is in a safe environment, and so on.
Following the advice of my noble friend Lady Randerson, I would not dream of saying what precisely the regulations should be—that is for Londoners to decide for themselves—but I imagine they would include reference to the charging location in relation to the chargers used, the displaying of signs for safe charging and so on. Amendment 21 basically says that we need a set of regulations on this.
Amendment 22 is about the battery itself. It is bizarre that fireworks, for instance, are covered by a number of safety regulations, with independent bodies checking whether the required standards have been met, but the same does not apply for lithium ion batteries. The same ought to apply, which is why the amendment says that the CE or UKCA mark should be applied and that a conformity assessment body should be set up to establish that they are there. It is really important that action is taken on the charging of batteries and on the batteries themselves. As I have said, I would prefer that to be widened out to cover e-bikes and e-scooters, but we have had that debate. However, these are two important issues that we should address for pedicabs.
I end with a point that I hope the Minister will take back to discuss with his officials. Even if we do some of these things for the batteries, such as giving them the appropriate markings, there will still be a real problem. My noble friend Lady Randerson mentioned the number of batteries in e-bikes that will be bought over Christmas. As she will be well aware, many of those will be bought online. Lithium ion batteries are also often bought online, not least in conversion kits that might be used to turn pedicabs that are currently not powered into ones that are. There are not the same support mechanisms, back-up and control systems for purchasing electrical goods online that there are for purchasing such things in a shop. That is another issue with these batteries, both for pedicabs and in other cases, that I hope the Government will look at.
Together, these two amendments will improve the safety of pedicabs. They will not address noise or other issues that have been raised, but they are important to consider.