Ontario’s chief coroner’s office suggests regulations for e-bikes, including that riders be licensed
An expert panel’s report was released this week
Earlier this year, Toronto fire chief Jim Jessop called on the federal government to introduce safety regulations that would reduce the threat of e-bike battery fires, calling them the “largest growing fire safety risk in the city.” As of late September, Toronto had seen a reported 591 per cent increase in lithium-ion battery fires since 2020, including a January 2024 incident when an e-bike battery exploded on the subway. This prompted the TTC to ban e-bikes during winter months, as the lithium in e-bikes can react when in contact with salt used to melt snow.
As the government tries to balance road safety with allowing e-bike users to get around, an expert panel led by Ontario’s office of the chief coroner has shared a review of e-bike deaths, the results of which encourage the Ministry of Transportation to create a separate classification for larger, motorcycle-style e-bikes, and to consider requiring users to be licensed with insurance, as e-bike users currently do not require a licence, according to a CBC story.
The review of e-bike deaths in the Ottawa area found that some riders seem to be using e-bikes as “a substitute for a registered, licensed vehicle.” In the reviewed incidents, some of the users’ driver’s licences had been suspended.
The report also suggested that e-bikes be allowed to weigh a maximum of 55 kilograms, down from the 120 kilograms e-bikes can weigh up to, and that speed limits be considered.
“The Ministry of Transportation and Association of Municipalities of Ontario should work together to develop and implement measures to support effective enforcement of a safe speed limit for all e-bikes and low speed e-vehicles,” it said.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
