E-bike on fire after accident with car outside SMU, rider taken to hospital

(Video: Stomper Leane)

Aqil Hamzah
The Straits Times
Dec 31, 2022

A 33-year-old man was taken to the hospital after the electric bicycle he was riding got into an accident with a car on Friday evening.

The police said they were alerted to the accident in Bencoolen Street towards Fort Canning Road at about 6.45pm.

Police investigations are ongoing.

In a video seen by The Straits Times, the electric bike is on fire while lying on the road just outside Singapore Management University’s School of Economics.

Meanwhile, smoke is coming out of the door on the driver’s side of the car.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it put out the fire with a water jet and that the electric bike rider was then taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Two cases of personal mobility devices (PMD) catching fire were in the news recently.

On Tuesday, a coroner’s court found that a food delivery rider died in a lift in 2021 when his modified PMD burst into flames.

Meanwhile, a fire in a flat in Woodlands on Dec 19 was caused by a defective battery in a personal mobility aid.

In 2021, there were 32 fires involving PMDs and 23 involving electric bikes.