EE recalls Power Bars due to overheating and explosions

EE is recalling thousands of its Power Bar portable chargers after a fault was detected in some that can cause them to overheat and even explode.

The mobile operator has sent a text message to customers who signed up for a Power Bar to say they were recalling the free chargers. Last week, a medical student in Aberdeen posted an image to Twitter of burns to her hand saying it was caused by an exploding Power Bar.

The firm has now announced a recall of some of the chargers, and a message on the firm's website said: "EE has identified a very small number of incidents where Power Bars have overheated, all of which relate to batch E1-06 (written as Model:E1-06 on the side of the device), and could pose a fire safety risk.

"We're therefore recalling batch E1-06 and request that customers stop using them and return their device to a local EE store at their earliest convenience."

The mobile operator added that no other batch numbers had been affected and that they intended to replace those recalled "once we've completed our investigations".

EE announced the Power Bar scheme in April, which gave customers the chance to claim the free portable charger, and swap them at EE stores for fully charged ones should theirs run out while away from a power supply. About 1.5 million had been made available, as the scheme was met with huge demand.

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