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As we enter the second half of 2024, negative news about electric bicycles continues. Fires, driving in the wrong direction, and high beams not only pose dangers to residents and pedestrians, but also bring many conflicts to society.

Recently, with the successive release of new regulations on electric bicycles by multiple departments, the management of electric bicycles is accelerating its standardization, and the industry is also entering a new period of stock replacement.

Accidents continue, and modified electric bicycles become a safety hazard

In recent years, electric bicycles have rapidly become popular due to their convenience and economic advantages. According to data released by the industry association and the Ministry of Public Security, there are currently 350 million electric bicycles in China, with an average annual output of 35 million, an average price of about 2,000 yuan, and an annual market size of about 70 billion yuan. my country is the largest country in the manufacture and use of electric bicycles.

Before 2019, electric bicycles had been in a "wild growth" stage, and the industry only had one "General Technical Conditions for Electric Bicycles" issued in 1999. Each manufacturer launched products at different prices mainly based on market considerations, which directly led to the existence of a large number of products called electric bicycles, but the actual speed and danger level were no less than motorcycles. These "electric bicycles" that are getting bigger, heavier, and faster are called "over-standard vehicles" by the people.

Starting from April 15, 2019, electric bicycles entered the era of the new national standard. The national standard "Safety Technical Specifications for Electric Bicycles" (GB 17761-2018) led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was released, which stipulates the main technical requirements and corresponding test methods for electric bicycles' vehicle safety, mechanical safety, electrical safety, fire resistance, flame retardancy, radio interference characteristics and instruction manuals.

Image source: Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security

Among these, the weight of electric bicycles should not exceed 55kg, the speed should not exceed 25km/h, and the use of low-voltage batteries should not exceed 48V, which are generally considered to be the most important standards, directly regulating and restricting electric bicycles. If these standards are exceeded, the vehicle needs to be registered according to the motorcycle standard, and the driver needs to apply for a motorcycle license.

However, it takes time to implement the regulations. Over a long period of time, the standardization of the production and sales of electric bicycles has been greatly improved, but there are still certain problems in their use, the most prominent of which is illegal modification.

Fire scene, photo source: Beijing Daily

According to Beijing Daily, on the evening of July 5, 2024, an electric bicycle caught fire in a charging shed in a residential courtyard in Xiluoyuan Street, Fengtai District, Beijing, burning the shed and 13 electric bicycles and 3 motorcycles. According to the Fengtai District Fire Rescue Brigade, the vehicle on fire was owned by a deliveryman, and the battery he used was a high-power battery purchased online that did not match the vehicle. After long-term use and frequent charging, the battery failed and caused the fire.

Unfortunately, accidents like this are not uncommon in recent years. According to statistics from the National Fire and Rescue Bureau, a total of 21,000 electric bicycle fires were reported nationwide in 2023, 18,000 in 2022, and 14,000 in 2021, with the number continuing to rise.

Among these, electrical failure of electric bicycles is the main cause of electric bicycle fires.

Gao Weina, second-level commander of the Fire Supervision Department of the State Fire Rescue Administration, pointed out that electrical failure is the main cause of electric bicycle fire accidents, accounting for as high as 78%, of which battery thermal runaway accounts for 44%.

An in-depth analysis of the reasons shows that the main points are as follows: First, there are problems with the inherent safety of complete vehicles and battery products. The quality of lithium batteries sold on the market is uneven, and there are many "three-no" products; secondly, illegal modification is a prominent phenomenon, which is also an important cause of accidents; finally, the act of charging electric bicycles into buildings and homes can easily lead to serious consequences of mass deaths and injuries.

Lithium battery fires are quite different from ordinary fires. Lithium batteries are energetic substances, and existing fire extinguishing agents, such as dry powder fire extinguishing agents, have little effect on lithium battery fires. Carbon dioxide and heptafluoropropane can only extinguish open flames, but cannot fundamentally suppress the occurrence of fires, and often rekindle. Although the water sprinkler system has a significant cooling and fire extinguishing effect, it consumes a lot of water and takes a long time to extinguish.

According to statistics from the National Fire Rescue Administration, since 2021, a total of 69,700 fires caused by electric bicycles and battery failures in buildings have been reported across the country, resulting in 884 deaths and injuries and direct economic losses of more than 700 million yuan.

There is no doubt that modifying electric bicycles is illegal and will bring great risks to drivers and society. But from another perspective, the mismatch between existing electric bicycles and user expectations is also a reality.

Recently, Li Daokui, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and dean of the Institute of Chinese Economic Thought and Practice at Tsinghua University, spoke on a video platform. He believes that the reason why electric bicycle users modify their electric bicycles is that the supervision has been relatively loose in recent years, and secondly, the national standard for electric bicycles is too far away from the actual needs of the people.

Li Daokui pointed out that the new national standard clearly stipulates that electric vehicles are not allowed to install rearview mirrors, but must be equipped with bicycle-style pedals and have a maximum speed limit of 25km/h. However, since the implementation of these regulations, some manufacturers have not fully complied with them. Some manufacturers meet the standards when they leave the factory, but consumers often choose to remove the pedals and install rearview mirrors on their own after purchasing. This phenomenon makes it difficult to effectively implement the regulations in actual operations.

When it comes to why consumers tend to modify electric bicycles, the core reason is still due to practical needs. Consumers are rational individuals. When they choose to ride bicycles, they will naturally pay attention to safety, so modification measures such as installing rearview mirrors came into being. When talking about the speed limit of electric bicycles, Li Daokui said that his speed when riding a bicycle is more than 25km/h, so riding an electric bicycle at a speed of 25km/h may indeed cause inconvenience to people's daily travel, especially for consumers who need to pick up children or go to work. Such a speed limit may cause problems.

Based on the above situation, Li Daokui believes that the existing speed limit regulations do not meet the actual usage scenarios. He emphasized that consumers are rational and will make corresponding modifications according to their own needs. Therefore, he called on relevant national departments to listen more widely to the opinions of grassroots consumers when formulating relevant standards to ensure that the standards can continue to adapt to and meet the actual needs of consumers.

With the continuous implementation of actions and regulations, the industry is experiencing new changes

In order to strengthen the management of the electric bicycle industry and reduce fire and other safety hazards, multiple departments have recently launched a special campaign. From late May to mid-June, market supervision, public security, fire protection, housing and construction, emergency response and other departments organized a night inspection of electric bicycle safety hazards, focusing on illegal parking, fire safety failures, charging with flying wires in buildings and homes, illegal charging in business premises, and unauthorized modifications.

According to the People's Daily, a total of 298,000 electric bicycles that were illegally parked and charged were persuaded to move away on site, and 689 units and 856 property service companies that committed serious violations were filed and punished in accordance with the law.

National Standards Information Public Service Platform Page

In addition to the special campaign, the country has also taken relevant actions at the level of laws and regulations. On April 7, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology publicly solicited opinions on the revision plan project of the mandatory national standard "Safety Technical Specifications for Electric Bicycles".

At present, the "Technical Specifications for Safety of Electric Bicycles" is still in the drafting process. According to the existing plan project documents, it will regulate requirements and test methods including speed limits, anti-tampering of speed limiters, vehicle safety, mutual recognition of batteries and chargers, mechanical safety, high temperature resistant identification code markings, electrical safety, fire prevention, etc.

Many industry insiders have told Titanium Media APP that this will have a significant impact on the future electric bicycle industry, and the future product form and industry structure may change as a result.

Although it is still in the drafting process, there have been recent rumors that the new national standard for electric bicycles will undergo a number of changes: plastic parts should not be used unless necessary, and the total mass of plastic parts should not exceed 5.5% of the total vehicle mass; electric bicycles and battery packs have mutual recognition and coordination functions, and electric bicycles must be equipped with batteries when leaving the factory; positioning and speed measurement functions will be added; data will support real-time feedback and storage; it will have safety detection functions; batteries, electronic controllers, and speed limiters will be tamper-proof; and on-board chargers should not be used.

"Tianjin Simple Model" electric bicycle, image source: Emma official website

Before this, the electric bicycle industry generally divided electric bicycles into two categories. One type of electric bicycle that uses more plastic parts and is more like a motorcycle is called "Wuxi Xiaobaoche". The other type of electric bicycle that is mainly made of metal and has a lower center of gravity is called "Tianjin Simple Model". Compared with the "Tianjin Simple Model", this new regulation will obviously have a greater impact on the "Wuxi Xiaobaoche" with a higher price.

Yang Hua, executive president of the Shenzhen Electric Bicycle Industry Promotion Association, said that compared with the 2018 version, the 2024 version of the "Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Specifications" has added technical requirements for material flame retardancy, mutual recognition and coordination, positioning functions, safety monitoring, and anti-tampering, which is more guaranteed for the compliance and safety of vehicles.

Yang Hua also expressed concerns about some details of the new regulations. "The weight limit for plastic parts has been increased and the maximum weight of vehicles has not changed to 55 kg, but many vehicles cannot use lead-acid batteries that will not spontaneously combust. I am worried that if market supervision is not in place, more fires will occur."

In addition to the "Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Specifications" that will change the product and the industry, the regulatory level will also make detailed requirements for the industry and important parts of electric bicycles.

On April 30, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and three other departments jointly issued the "Electric Bicycle Industry Standard Conditions" and the "Electric Bicycle Industry Standard Announcement Management Measures". Mainly aimed at enterprises, a number of requirements were put forward for electric bicycle enterprises, including: meeting the key indicator requirements of welding automation rate reaching more than 70%, electric or pneumatic assembly tools reaching 70% of the total workstations of product process design on the assembly line; enterprises need to be equipped with necessary inspection and testing equipment such as chassis dynamometers, and have the ability to test key components such as chargers and batteries, and the original value of the equipment is not less than 1 million yuan.

On May 6, the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China) issued the "Safety Technical Specification for Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Bicycles" (GB 43854-2024), which will come into effect on November 1, 2024. This specification is a mandatory national standard, and after its implementation, lithium-ion batteries for electric bicycles sold domestically must meet its requirements.

Titanium Media APP learned that my country previously had no technical basis for safety and quality supervision of lithium-ion batteries used in electric bicycles. Electric bicycle manufacturers only "sent the whole vehicle for inspection" for batteries. Now the gap in technical basis for relevant safety and quality supervision has been filled.

A relevant person in charge of the State Administration for Market Regulation once said that the State Administration for Market Regulation has included both single cells and battery packs in the scope of CCC certification, requiring that each lithium battery must be marked with a safe use period and a permanent unique code that can withstand high temperatures (950°C for half an hour). This code is like the "identity card" of the battery, which can record key information such as the battery's production batch, production date, and manufacturer.

Wang Jiangping, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the mandatory national standard system for electric bicycles is constantly being improved, especially the introduction of mandatory safety standards for electric bicycle lithium batteries, which is of great significance for standardizing the design, production and sales of key components such as electric bicycles and lithium batteries, and promoting the healthy and orderly development of the electric bicycle industry.

Titanium Media APP believes that the new regulations on electric bicycles will greatly change the current situation: with the increase in supervision, the electric bicycle market will be more standardized, safety and quality will be guaranteed, and market confidence will gradually recover. Some electric bicycles that do not meet the new standards will withdraw from the market, large electric bicycle companies will accelerate technology upgrades and product updates, the industry market competition pattern may change, and concentration may further increase.(This article was first published on Titanium Media APP, author: Wu Honglei, editor: Zhong Yi)