The short version
A lithium-ion cell that fails does not behave like other consumer electronics. Thermal runaway is self-sustaining, it produces its own oxidiser, and it does not respond to the fire extinguisher under your sink. Put that cell in a 20-kilogram device that lives in a hallway, gets dropped, rained on and charged overnight next to the only door, and you have the fire problem Australian regulators spent the last eighteen months trying to legislate away.
New South Wales moved first and moved hardest. Its e-micromobility regime rolled out in three stages: from 1 February 2025 only devices meeting prescribed safety standards could be sold; from 1 August 2025 they had to be tested by an accredited laboratory and hold a certificate of approval; and from 1 February 2026 the vehicle, its battery and its charger each have to carry a safety approval mark before sale. Penalties reach $825,000.
Queensland went a different way. Its Transport and Other Legislation (Managing E-mobility Use and Protecting Our Communities) Amendment Bill 2026 passed on 4 June 2026 and attacks the problem through road law rather than electrical safety law — redefining a legal e-bike as one built to EN 15194, and giving police the power to seize devices that are not.
Victoria consulted, received the submissions, and has not yet decided. And in June the ACCC named e-micromobility one of its four product safety priorities for 2026–27, with $6.6 million of Commonwealth funding to build a national standard that does not exist yet.
So the honest summary for a buyer in August 2026 is: the certification mark on a new e-bike in a Sydney shop means something real and specific. Almost everything about that sentence changes if you move the shop to another state, or move the purchase to an overseas website.
Why the rules exist: the fire numbers
These are not our figures. They come from Fire and Rescue NSW via the NSW Government, and from the ACCC.
| E-micromobility fires in NSW | FRNSW recorded 23 in 2022, 67 in 2023 and 93 in 2024, plus 10 in the opening weeks of 2025 — 193 fires across that period, described by the government as more than one a week. |
|---|---|
| All lithium-ion fires in NSW | A broader count of every battery type puts FRNSW callouts at 165 in 2022, 272 in 2023 and 323 in 2024 — a 95 per cent rise in two years, or about 5.7 a week. E-mobility devices were the leading single source. |
| Deaths | FRNSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell, in February 2025: “Three people have died within the last 12 months in NSW from fires involving lithium-ion battery-powered bikes.” The ACCC’s June 2026 figure is five deaths nationally in recent years from battery fires linked to e-bikes or scooters. |
| Injuries, separate from fires | The ACCC cites Queensland Government data of 14 fatalities in e-bike or e-scooter incidents in 2025 and a 23 per cent rise in emergency department presentations against 2024. St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney reported serious e-bike injuries doubling. |
Two different harms are bundled together in the political conversation and it is worth keeping them apart. Battery fires are a product safety problem, solved by certification. Crashes are a road safety problem, solved by speed limits, licensing and enforcement. Queensland’s law does mostly the second; the NSW regime does the first. Only one of them stops a charger igniting at 3am.
What NSW actually requires
The mechanism matters here, because it is unusual for consumer electronics. NSW did not write a new e-bike act. It declared e-micromobility vehicles, their lithium-ion batteries and their chargers to be declared electrical articles under the Gas and Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act — the same pre-market approval machinery that already applies to things like power boards. That is why the obligation lands on testing and marking rather than on advertising claims.
| 1 February 2025 — the products | Only e-micromobility vehicles, batteries and chargers complying with the prescribed safety standards may be sold or supplied in NSW. |
|---|---|
| February 2025 — the information standard | A separate, nation-first information standard requires suppliers to give buyers product safety information, fire safety and emergency procedures, electrical safety and charging warnings, storage and end-of-life advice, and guidance on road rules. Penalties for breach began 1 August 2025, at up to $5,500 each. |
| 1 August 2025 — the certificate | Products must be tested by an accredited test laboratory and hold a certificate of approval issued by NSW Fair Trading or a Recognised External Approval Scheme before sale. |
| 1 February 2026 — the mark | The vehicle, the battery and the charger must each be marked before sale. Each component needs its own certificate and its own approval mark, displayed legibly and permanently on the product itself — not on the box — and shown on every website listing the vehicle. |
| The hire exemption | Devices bought before 1 February 2026 and used exclusively for hire, lease or rent are exempt from the testing, certification and marking requirements — a concession to share-scheme and rental operators with existing fleets. |
| The penalty | Up to $825,000 for breaching the product safety standards. NSW Fair Trading began with education-focused compliance activity from 24 February 2025 before moving to enforcement. |
Which standards sit behind the mark
“Certified” is meaningless without knowing certified to what. NSW prescribes specific international and Australian standards by product type, and they are not interchangeable — a battery certificate does not cover the bike, and a bike certificate does not cover the charger.
| E-bikes up to 500 W | AS 15194:2016, EN 15194:2017+A1:2023 or UL 2849:2022. |
|---|---|
| E-bikes above 500 W | UL 2849:2022 only — the European standard tops out below this class. |
| E-bike batteries | EN 50604-1:2016+A1:2021, IEC 62133-2:2017, or UL 2271:2023 (the 2018 edition remains acceptable until 1 February 2027). |
| E-scooters, e-skateboards, self-balancing scooters | AS/NZS 60335.2.114:2023, EN 17128:2020, or UL 2272:2024 (the 2016 edition remains acceptable until 1 February 2027). |
| Their batteries | AS/NZS 60335.2.114:2023 or UL 2271:2023 (2018 edition until 1 February 2027). |
| Chargers | AS/NZS 61558 and AS/NZS 60335.2.29 — the ordinary Australian power supply standards, which is the point: the charger is a mains appliance and was frequently the weakest link. |
What these standards test for is abuse, not normal use. UL 2271 and IEC 62133-2 subject cells and packs to overcharge, short circuit, crush, drop, thermal shock and water ingress, and require the pack to fail without propagating. EN 15194 additionally covers the electrical and functional safety of the bicycle as a system, including the 250 W continuous rated power and 25 km/h cut-out that define a pedal-assisted cycle in Europe and, increasingly, here.
The practical effect is that a compliant pack has to have a battery management system that actually works, cell-level protection, and a charger that will not push it past its limits — the three things missing from the cheap replacement batteries and universal chargers that show up repeatedly in fire investigations.
Queensland took the road-law route
Queensland’s inquiry into e-mobility safety reported on 4 March 2026 with 28 recommendations, one of which was to press for mandatory national safety standards for lithium-ion batteries in e-mobility devices. The Bill that followed passed on 4 June 2026, and it is a different instrument to the NSW one.
| What a legal e-bike is | An electrically power-assisted cycle must comply with the prescribed EPAC standard, EN 15194:2017+A1: pedal assistance only, motor assistance cutting out at 25 km/h, maximum continuous rated power 250 W. |
|---|---|
| Enforcement | Police gained powers to seize — and in defined circumstances destroy — devices that do not meet the standard. Rider offences such as no helmet, carrying a passenger or riding where prohibited attract fines around $518. |
| Licensing and age | From 31 August 2026, minimum age and licensing requirements apply, with exemptions being developed for disability and for supervised younger riders. |
| Compliance labelling | Deferred to 28 February 2027, giving existing owners and the trade time to sort out documentation. |
| The grandfathering problem | The Bill references the +A1:2023 amendment, which was only published in August 2023. Trade submissions argued that most e-bikes legitimately sold in Australia before mid-2025 were certified to the unamended EN 15194:2017, and that the standard itself is not intended to apply retrospectively to bikes built before publication. The Department of Transport and Main Roads has been tasked with an exemption framework for devices that cannot fully meet EN 15194 but stay inside the 250 W and 25 km/h envelope. |
Read the two states side by side and the gap is obvious. NSW controls what may be sold. Queensland controls what may be ridden. Neither controls what may be imported into a private letterbox.
Victoria, and the national gap
Energy Safe Victoria published a consultation paper in August 2025 proposing to declare e-transport devices and their rechargeable lithium-ion batteries ‘controlled electrical equipment’ under the Electricity Safety Act 1998 — effectively the NSW approach, requiring certification to safety standards and a visible certificate number before supply. Consultation closed on 13 October 2025 with 208 survey responses and 22 written submissions, and a summary was published in January 2026. Energy Safe’s stated position since is that it is weighing the feedback and watching national developments before deciding whether regulatory change is warranted. As at this snapshot, no Victorian commencement date has been announced.
That is the whole problem in one paragraph. A device that cannot lawfully be sold in Sydney can be sold two hours down the Hume, and either way it can be ordered from an offshore marketplace and delivered to any address in the country. Victorian and NSW transport ministers have jointly written to the Commonwealth seeking national action, and the Queensland committee recommended the same.
The Commonwealth has now started. On 19 June 2026, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb told the National Consumer Congress that e-micromobility would be a 2026–27 product safety priority, and the priorities were formally launched on 30 June 2026. The Government has allocated $6.6 million over three years from 2026–27 to the ACCC and Treasury to develop nationally consistent standards covering three things: speed and power limits, battery safety, and consumer information.
Three years is the number to sit with. Money for standards development in 2026–27 through 2028–29 is not a mandatory standard in 2026. Until one exists, the ACCC’s live power is what it always was — recalls, safety warning notices and enforcement against unsafe goods after the fact.
What this means if you are buying
The mark is genuinely useful, and it is the first time an Australian buyer has had a simple physical thing to look for. But it is worth being precise about what it proves.
- It proves a model was tested, not that your unit is safe. Certification is type approval against a standard. It says a representative sample survived abuse testing. It says nothing about the pack you dropped down a flight of stairs last winter.
- Three marks, not one. Bike, battery, charger. A certified bike sold with an uncertified replacement battery is the exact failure mode the rules exist to prevent, and the replacement-battery aftermarket is where the risk concentrates.
- It is on the product, not the packaging. NSW requires the mark to be legible and permanent on the article itself, and displayed on the web listing. A claim of compliance in a marketplace description, with nothing on the frame, is not the same thing.
- Interstate and overseas purchases sit outside it. The NSW obligation binds supply in NSW. It does not follow a parcel from an overseas seller to your door.
- Owning an unmarked device is not an offence in NSW. The regime regulates sale and supply. If you already own an uncertified e-bike, nothing in the NSW rules requires you to bin it — which is precisely why the charging advice below still matters more than the paperwork.
What to actually do about it
| Look for the mark, on all three items | Vehicle, battery, charger. Check the frame and the pack, not the box or the listing text. NSW Fair Trading publishes a list of certified products; if a seller cannot tell you the certificate holder, treat that as the answer. |
|---|---|
| Never buy an unbranded replacement battery | The pack is the hazard and the aftermarket is where compliance goes to die. A replacement battery needs its own certification to EN 50604-1, IEC 62133-2 or UL 2271. If it is half the price of the manufacturer’s, there is a reason. |
| Use the charger that came with it | FRNSW is blunt about this: just because the plug fits does not mean it is compatible. Chargers are certified against AS/NZS 61558 and AS/NZS 60335.2.29 for a reason. |
| Do not charge while asleep or out | FRNSW advice is to avoid charging while you are asleep or away from home, and to disconnect once fully charged. Almost every catastrophic residential case in the reporting involves an unattended charge. |
| Never charge in an exit path | Not in the hallway, not against the front door, not at the bottom of the stairs. A pack in runaway blocks the only way out within seconds. This single habit is worth more than every certificate in this article. |
| Treat damage and swelling as terminal | A dropped, crushed, water-damaged or visibly swollen pack is not a maintenance item. Stop using it, stop charging it, and dispose of it through a battery recycling drop-off — never in a kerbside bin, where it becomes a truck fire. |
| If you sell or rent these things, check your state | NSW obligations are live and carry $825,000 penalties. Queensland’s EPAC definition is in force with labelling from 28 February 2027. Victoria may follow. Trading nationally means complying with the strictest, not the nearest. |
The bottom line
E-micromobility is the rare consumer technology where the regulation is more interesting than the product. The bikes have been good for years. What changed in 2026 is that one Australian state finished building a pre-market approval system for them — lab testing, certificates, permanent marks, real penalties — and put the charger and the battery inside it rather than treating them as accessories.
That is the correct design. The failures that killed people were not exotic; they were cheap packs, mismatched chargers and overnight charges in hallways. Two of those three are now addressable at the point of sale in NSW, and the third never will be.
What is not yet correct is the map. A national market is being regulated by one state’s electrical safety act, another state’s road rules, a third state’s pending decision, and a Commonwealth standards process with three years of funding and no standard. Until that resolves, the mark on the frame is the best signal available to a buyer — and the outlet you plug into at midnight is still the part that decides the outcome.
Sources
Facts, figures and dates above are drawn from these primary and reputable sources, captured 10 August 2026:
- NSW Government — Nation-leading safety and information standards for lithium-ion battery products now in effect: the staged commencement, the $825,000 and $5,500 penalties, the education-first compliance approach from 24 February 2025, the FRNSW e-micromobility fire counts of 23 (2022), 67 (2023), 93 (2024) and 10 (early 2025) totalling 193, and the quotes from Minister Anoulack Chanthivong, Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann and FRNSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell.
- NSW Government — New safety standards for lithium-ion batteries in e-mobility devices: the declared electrical article mechanism, the 1 February 2025 / 1 August 2025 / 1 February 2026 sequence, the requirement for a separate certificate and mark on each of vehicle, battery and charger, the mark being permanent and on the product, the website display obligation, the list of certified products, and the pre-1 February 2026 hire exemption.
- Certification Body Australia — Updated NSW Fair Trading certification requirements for e-micromobility devices and batteries: the prescribed test standards by product class (AS 15194:2016, EN 15194:2017+A1:2023 and UL 2849:2022 for e-bikes; UL 2849 alone above 500 W; EN 50604-1, IEC 62133-2:2017 and UL 2271 for e-bike batteries; AS/NZS 60335.2.114:2023, EN 17128:2020 and UL 2272 for scooters and skateboards; AS/NZS 61558 and AS/NZS 60335.2.29 for chargers) and the older-edition transition dates of 1 February 2027.
- NSW Fair Trading — Statement of Regulatory Intent: e-micromobility vehicles: the accredited-laboratory testing and Recognised External Approval Scheme pathway, and the scope of the information standard.
- ACCC — “Making it count”, National Consumer Congress (Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb, 19 June 2026): five deaths nationally from battery fires linked to e-bikes or scooters, the Queensland 2025 figures of 14 fatalities and a 23 per cent rise in emergency presentations, the St Vincent’s Hospital observation, and the $6.6 million over three years from 2026–27 to the ACCC and Treasury for nationally consistent standards on speed and power limits, battery safety and consumer information.
- Clayton Utz — ACCC launches 2026/27 product safety priorities (30 June 2026): e-micromobility as one of four priorities, and the intention to align mandatory standards with current international and voluntary Australian standards.
- Queensland Parliament — Transport and Other Legislation (Managing E-mobility Use and Protecting Our Communities) Amendment Bill 2026, explanatory notes: the EPAC definition tied to the prescribed EN 15194 standard and the police seizure powers.
- Bicycle Queensland — Queensland’s new e-mobility laws explained: pedal assistance only, 25 km/h assistance cut-out, 250 W maximum continuous rated power, the $518 rider fines, licensing and minimum age from 31 August 2026, and compliance labelling from 28 February 2027.
- Queensland Parliament — Inquiry into e-mobility safety and use in Queensland (tabled 4 March 2026): the 28 recommendations, including mandatory national safety standards for lithium-ion batteries in e-mobility devices.
- Energy Safe Victoria — Electrical safety requirements for e-transport devices and the consultation announcement: the proposal to declare e-transport devices and their batteries controlled electrical equipment under the Electricity Safety Act 1998, the 13 October 2025 close, the 208 survey responses and 22 written submissions, and the position that Energy Safe is still considering feedback and monitoring national action.
- Fire and Rescue NSW — Lithium-ion batteries: shop, charge and recycle safely and Battery and charging safety: only use approved chargers (“just because the plug fits” does not mean compatible), do not charge while asleep or away from home, disconnect when charged, and never charge in exits or escape paths.
- International Fire and Safety Journal — Lithium-ion battery fires increase in NSW: the broader FRNSW counts of 165 (2022), 272 (2023) and 323 (2024) lithium-ion battery fires, the rate of 5.7 a week, and e-mobility devices as the leading source.