Investigations by the Coroners Court of Queensland have found a Brisbane man most likely died from a furious explosion after he used the wrong charger to power his second-hand e-scooter.
The court heard a young man known as Tyson had been sleeping in a camper trailer at his grandmother’s residence with his pregnant partner Jade, when an explosion caused severe burns to his body, resulting in his death.
It was heard that two weeks before Tyson’s death, he had obtained a second-hand Zero 10 electric scooter without a charger.
On the evening of March 21, Tyson contacted a friend about needing a charger for his newly acquired e-scooter.
“They discussed whether the friend’s scooter charger, a ‘fast charger’ designed for the Nami Burn electric scooter, would fit Tyson’s Zero 10 e-scooter charging port,” court documents said.
“As a result of this conversation, Tyson decided to borrow his friend’s fast charger and returned home with it.”
Tyson collected his friend’s charger and hooked it up to his e-scooter at the rear of the camper trailer, alongside his mobile phone.
About 20 minutes after going to sleep, Tyson’s partner heard two loud bangs she described as sounding like firecrackers and saw smoke coming from the direction where the e-scooter was charging.
She woke Tyson, who ran towards the door which was near the flames.
Jade remained in bed, shielding her unborn baby from the flames, and eventually jumping from a window at her partner’s instruction.
Tyson had tried to hose himself down while Jade ran to another house for help.
Nearby residents said the explosion from the battery had been so powerful that it caused one house to shake.
Others said by the time they looked out their window at the source of the sounds, the camper was already fully engulfed in flames.
Tyson and Jade made it to a neighbouring property, but once in intensive care, Tyson had been found to be suffering from deep thermal injuries to more than 90 percent of his body.
His family made the decision for him to be given comfort measures and died the next day.
Investigations Revealed Severity of Blaze
In the aftermath of the fire, investigators studied the remnants of the camper and lithium-ion cells were collected for safety evaluation.Examinations showed the e-scooter and charger were not compatible—while the e-scooter should have been supplied 52-volt power, the charger had been outputting 84 volts.
The explosion was so intense that it melted much of the e-scooter’s alloy frame and the lithium-ion cells had ruptured violently, investigators found.
“The damage observed was identified as being consistent with an energetic failure of multiple lithium-ion batteries inside the e-scooter,” court documents said.
“The fire investigation determined that during the fire a lithium-ion battery pack of dozens of type 18650 cells associated with the e-scooter exploded, depositing the cells within and external to the camper trailer by several metres.
“These cells displayed significant heat, decay, and over pressure damage resulting from being involved in a rapidly developing heat and fire event.”
It could not be determined if the exploded batteries had been a factor in, or a consequence of, the explosion.
It was concluded that the cause of the fire was most likely an event involving the e-scooter and the mismatched charger.
Investigators could not categorically rule out human-initiated ignition.
The non-inquest findings also delved into the consumer safety risks of lithium-ion batteries, which court documents said were very common with the increased use of e-scooters, e-bikes, and electric cars.
“While all batteries present risks, the consequences of lithium-ion battery failure can be catastrophic given they are energy dense and contain material that is highly flammable,” the report said.
“Uncontrolled failure can cause an intense self-sustaining fire. Multiple cells are often linked within a battery pack and may create a chain reaction creating a larger fire event.
Thermal runaway is the name given to an internal battery overheating reaction that occurs when heat in a lithium-ion battery increases faster than it can be dispersed to its surroundings.
“The high temperature causes the cell materials to decompose in a reaction that creates more heat, causing the materials to decompose at a faster rate and result in one or multiple cells bursting and releasing toxic, flammable, and explosive gases,” the report stated.
Findings explained that using incompatible chargers or overcharging devices were significant risk factors.
The report warned that people should charge such devices only with the correct chargers, in areas away from living spaces and equipped with smoke alarms.
