The proposed ban on on-board chargers for electric bicycles has attracted attention, and public opinions should be listened to clarify misunderstandings Quick review

On April 25, 2024, the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published the No. 1 amendment to the mandatory national standard "Safety Technical Requirements for Chargers for Electric Bicycles" (draft for comments) to solicit opinions from the public. This one-page modification list has two main contents, one is that the electric bicycle charger is prohibited from using the on-board form, and the other is that the charger is required to increase the code and mark it on the permanent high-temperature resistant signage.

This modification was made in a singular manner and quickly became a hot spot on social networks. Because the first modification of the amendment list is for the scope of application, it is amended to "This document is not applicable to charging facilities such as charging/swapping cabinets, charging piles, and fast charging stations for electric bicycles". Many people believe that users can't charge their own electric bicycles, and can only go to commercial charging piles to charge them, or use the form of battery replacement to replenish energy. Others believe that this is a ban on the use of chargers to charge other devices (such as mobile phones) on e-bikes, arguing that it will prevent manufacturers from making innovations that will bring more convenience to consumers.

In fact, this is all a misunderstanding of the content of the revision. First of all, the national standard to be revised is the "Safety Technical Requirements for Chargers for Electric Bicycles", which naturally stipulates the charger for charging electric bicycles, not the chargers that may be carried on electric bicycles to charge other equipment.

After banning on-board chargers, it is also a misunderstanding that car owners cannot charge their e-bikes by themselves. China's electricity is single-phase 220V alternating current, while the electric bicycle battery is stored in direct current, according to the national standard, its nominal voltage shall not exceed 48V, and the maximum output voltage shall not exceed 60V. To charge the battery, a device is needed to convert between the two, including AC to DC, step-down, and control of the output current and other functions, which is the charger, also called the charging adapter. The same is true for chargers for electrical devices such as computers and mobile phones.

Theoretically, the charger can be made external, the output of the charger is connected to the car to charge the battery, or it can be made into a vehicle, that is, this set of adapters is integrated into the car, pull a 220V AC wire and plug it into the car, you can directly charge the battery.

In fact, it is rare for electric bicycles to use on-board chargers, and the vast majority of electric vehicles use external chargers. Because the new national standard has strict requirements for the weight of electric bicycles, it must not be higher than 55 kg. Traditional chargers are heavier because they have transformers. Under this standard, manufacturers tend to externalize all the equipment that can be externalized to minimize the weight of the vehicle.

Because the vast majority of electric bicycles are external chargers, the current public charging piles for electric bicycles basically have only one socket, and the charger needs to bring his own charger. This means that electric bicycles mainly carry chargers at all times, which is very inconvenient. Therefore, some manufacturers are considering turning chargers into on-board ones. The current new national standard does not prohibit on-board chargers. According to the instructions for the preparation of the modification list in this solicitation of comments, many models with on-board chargers have appeared in the electric bicycles that have recently been submitted for 3C certification.

However, the charger becomes a vehicle-mounted charger, which needs to face a harsh outdoor environment, to withstand frequent vibration, large temperature and humidity changes, and may also condense and frost, etc., and its electrical safety requirements will be greatly improved. This increases the cost of the e-bike. E-bike owners are usually price-sensitive, which leads manufacturers to use common charger components, increasing the chance of failure. Moreover, the car charger should be integrated into the car, which has a small space and limited heat dissipation capacity, which will also increase the risk when charging. In the event of a failure, although the on-board charger can cut off the power supply to the battery according to the requirements of the national standard, the 220V AC mains connected to the on-board charger cannot be cut off, which increases the risk of electric shock and short-circuit fire.

On the other hand, when the charger is in the car, it is difficult to change. The battery of an e-bike is replaceable. If the parameters of the replaced battery do not match the parameters of the on-board charger, especially now that there are many self-assembled batteries on the market, it is easy to cause accidents when charging.

From the perspective of safety, it is reasonable to prohibit electric bicycles from using on-board chargers. The prohibition of car chargers will not affect the usage habits of existing car owners, and it is still possible to use an external charger to connect to a power socket for charging.

In other words, the modification of this standard has no impact on the majority of car owners. For the electric vehicle industry, it will not have much impact, after all, most of the existing models of chargers are external, prohibiting on-board, but also to avoid manufacturers in this area in the future. What may increase the cost is to increase the number of high-temperature resistant signs, but in China, this may be a matter of a few dollars at most.

First of all, when the relevant departments solicited opinions and when the official media reported on the standards, they did not give sufficient explanations, which led to misunderstandings among many people. The revision of this national standard is actually a very professional thing, and the main object of soliciting opinions should be industry insiders. If you want to solicit opinions from the public, you should fully explain the reasons for the changes and the possible impact in a language that the general public can understand.

And the fact that a professional issue has attracted so much attention fully shows that this is a major matter that concerns the people. Electric bicycles have become an important tool for ordinary people to travel. In 2022, there will be 350 million electric bicycles in China, and on average, almost one per household. Therefore, the revision of the relevant standards for electric bicycles is related to thousands of households and almost everyone.

The new national standard for electric bicycles formulated before has some provisions that have been criticized.

Some of these regulations are for safety reasons, such as restrictions on vehicle weight, vehicle speed, and motor power, because if the vehicle is too heavy and the speed is too fast, the vehicle inertia will increase, and the risk factor will increase. These restrictions are actually reasonable, after all, electric bicycles are classified as non-motorized vehicles, and there is still a certain distinction from motorcycles. These reasonable limits should be upheld, but they should also be fully justified by the public.

But there are other limitations, the reasonableness of which is debatable. For example, you can't install mirrors. Of course, the national standard does not explicitly prohibit the installation of rearview mirrors, but there are restrictions on the height of the vehicle, if the rearview mirror is installed, it must be super high. Therefore, electric bicycles that meet the new national standard cannot have rearview mirrors. But with an electric bicycle with a rearview mirror, you really can't see any danger, in fact, with the rearview mirror, the rider can improve safety without looking back. There are also restrictions on the length of seats, perhaps due to the fact that they cannot carry additional people, but the length restrictions also make it much more difficult for manufacturers to introduce more comfortable seats.

Electric bicycles are convenient and fast, and the cost of use is very low, which is very popular with the public. Therefore, any change to the national standard for electric bicycles will cause great concern and become an opportunity for the public to vent their dissatisfaction with the existing national standard. Taking this opportunity, fully listen to the opinions and suggestions of the public, and revise the national standard, so that it can ensure safety at the same time, but also more in line with the actual needs of the public, is the work that the relevant departments should do.

Xin Xiangzhi

Editor-in-charge: Chen Bin