Smoke Production and Detection From Lithium Ion Battery Powered E-Scooter Fires in a Compartment

Published

March 26, 2026

Author(s)

Amy Mensch, Emma Veley, Sebastian Seda, Artur Chernovsky

Abstract

Increased use of lithium-ion batteries in consumer products poses a risk for fires caused by these devices to occur in homes. To characterize the residential fire hazard from a common standing electric scooter, the 281 Wh lithium-ion battery pack was sent into thermal runaway within a small room. The smoke concentration and obscuration, along with alarm times of three photoelectric smoke alarms and temperatures at various points in the room were recorded. Half of the 10 experiments included an upholstered chair next to the electric scooter. The smoke and temperature profiles were unique for each experiment, with some showing gradual increases, and others exhibiting more sudden increases. Elevated amounts of smoke from battery off-gassing were measured prior to sustained visible flaming. The location of the electric scooter relative to the chair affected the risk of fire propagation. Additionally, 76% of alarm activations were recorded prior to sustained visible flaming. These results indicate that the residential fire hazard from electric scooters is dependent on the presence of smoke alarms to alert occupants and also on the proximity of other combustible items.

Citation

Fire Safety Journal

Volume

162

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104780

Local Download

Keywords

battery fires, compartment fires, smoke concentration, smoke detection, smoke alarm performance

Citation

Mensch, A. , Veley, E. , Seda, S. and Chernovsky, A. (2026), Smoke Production and Detection From Lithium Ion Battery Powered E-Scooter Fires in a Compartment, Fire Safety Journal, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104780, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960903 (Accessed March 31, 2026)