E-bikes

Are e-bikes safe?

They are reasonably safe for most riders, but slightly riskier per mile than an ordinary bike. Germany is the best place to measure this, because it counts pedelec deaths separately and its 2023 national travel survey measured how far people ride them. Police recorded 195 pedelec riders killed in 2024, against about 12.4 billion km ridden a year. That works out at about 16 deaths per billion km, or 2.5 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per 100 miles. A typical 7 km ride carries about a tenth of a micromort.

The main catch is who rides them. In 2025, 67% of the 217 pedelec riders killed in Germany were 65 or older. Older bodies break more easily in a fall, and e-bikes have brought many older people back to cycling. The second catch is in the US, where emergency visits for e-bike injuries have climbed steeply as sales and faster throttle bikes have spread.

How e-bikes compare with ordinary bikes and other ways to travel

Mode	Deaths per billion km	MicromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per 100 miles	Source
Car occupant (Britain, 2024)	1.0	0.16	DfT
Ordinary bicycle (Germany, 2024)	about 8 to 9	about 1.4	Destatis, MiD 2023
Pedelec (Germany, 2024)	about 16	about 2.5	Destatis, MiD 2023
Bicycle (Britain, 2024)	about 14	2.3	DfT

How we got the German rows: MiD 2023 found Germans ride pedelecs about 34 million km a day and conventional bikes about 81 million km. We divided 2024 deaths (195 on pedelecs, about 250 on other bikes) by those annual distances. Pedelec use is still growing, so 2024 deaths over 2023 distance may overstate the rate a little. Per-mile figures for the US are not available, because nobody counts e-bike miles there.

The raw comparison flatters ordinary bikes. Pedelec riders in Germany are older on average, and the Dutch statistics office makes the same point: cyclist deaths rose in 2025 mainly because more older people are cycling, not because they ride more recklessly. The Netherlands counted 281 cyclists killed in 2025, at least 41% of them on e-bikes.

Why US e-bike injuries are rising

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that emergency departments treated 59,200 e-bike injuries in 2024, against an average of about 6,300 a year in 2017–2021. An independent analysis of the same NEISS hospital sample by ERideHero, a review site, put 2025 at about 103,000 visits, up 71% in a year. CPSC has not yet published its own 2025 figure. The analysis also found 17.6% of 2025 patients admitted or kept for observation, more than for e-scooter (15.1%) or ordinary bike injuries (14.1%).

CPSC knows of 310 e-bike deaths from 2017 to 2024, rising from none in 2017 to 97 in 2024, and it says counts for recent years are still incomplete. Collisions with cars caused 170 of them. Loss of control into kerbs, posts and other fixed objects caused 61. Thirteen pedestrians were killed after being struck by e-bikes.

In CPSC's follow-up of 2024 injuries, 40% of riders wore a helmet, 15% were going 20 mph or faster, and 38% were carrying something while riding. A quarter of the crashes happened on slopes.

Battery fires, a separate risk

Lithium-ion batteries add a danger that has nothing to do with riding. CPSC linked 19 US e-bike deaths to battery fires in 2017–2024, including 7 involving homemade battery packs or repair shops. New York City had the worst of it: the FDNY counted 18 deaths from lithium-ion battery fires in 2023, from 268 fires. After the city required certified batteries, cracked down on unsafe shops and offered battery trade-ins, deaths fell to 6 in 2024 and 1 in 2025, even though the number of fires barely changed in 2024.

Most of this risk is preventable. Cheap uncertified batteries, mismatched chargers and damaged packs cause most fires.

Who should be careful

Older riders, new riders and anyone on a fast throttle bike carry the most risk. E-bikes accelerate faster and weigh more than ordinary bikes, so a rider used to a light bike may misjudge braking, corners or getting off at a stop. In Germany, crashes between pedelecs and pedestrians produced 16 seriously injured people per 100 injury crashes in 2025, against 14 for ordinary bikes.

How to ride an e-bike more safely

1. Wear a helmet. On a speed pedelec (45 km/h), use one certified for that speed.
2. Practise first in a quiet place, especially if you have not cycled for years. Start on a low assist level.
3. Brake earlier than you think. The extra weight lengthens stopping distance.
4. Expect drivers to misjudge your speed at junctions and when they pull out or turn across you.
5. Choose quieter routes over fast rural roads, and use lights day and night.
6. Keep both hands free. Use a bag or rack, not a hand, for shopping.
7. Buy certified batteries and chargers (UL 2849 in the US, EN 15194 in Europe), never charge a damaged battery, and charge away from your only exit, ideally while you are at home and awake.

How we scored it

Fatality risk (75) sits in the 1–5 micromortMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary band per 100 miles, a little below cycling on German data. Injury risk (52) is the weak point, with rising and more serious hospital visits in the US. Controllability (62) reflects helmets, speed and battery choices, though cars cause most deaths. Rescue and environment (85) is good on most routes. That gives 68 overall, about the same as e-scooters (67).

Our confidence is medium. The German rate rests on a travel survey and on deaths from a later year, and the 2025 US injury count comes from an independent analysis of federal data rather than from CPSC itself.