Electric bicycle fires are frequent, how should they be managed?

Editor's note

On April 28, the Office of the State Council Safety Committee held a video conference to deploy and fully launch the whole chain rectification action of electric bicycle safety hazards. At present, the number of two-wheeled electric bicycles in mainland China has reached 400 million. From food delivery to commuting, from shopping to picking up and dropping off children, electric bicycles have become a means of transportation that many people can't live without. However, it is disturbing that the number of fires caused by e-bikes is increasing year after year. In 2023, the National Fire and Rescue Administration will receive a total of 21,000 e-bike fires. Focusing on these problems, this issue invites comrades from Ningbo, Jilin, Siping, Beijing, Dongcheng, Guangdong, and other places to introduce their explorations in legislative norms, comprehensive management, technological innovation, property management, etc., and invites Professor Wang Lili, director of the Department of Administration and Management, School of Politics and Public Administration, China University of Political Science and Law, to make an analysis from the perspective of social governance.

To ensure the "people's livelihood" with "small incisions", Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province has legislated to regulate the charging behavior of electric bicycles

Author: Lin Hui and Shen Xin, Ningbo Fire and Rescue Detachment, Zhejiang Province

On April 8 this year, the law enforcement officers of the Zonghan Street Emergency Fire Management Institute of Cixi City, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province inspected an electronics factory in the jurisdiction, and found that the evacuation channel on the east side of the first floor of the plant was illegally parked electric bicycles, and was not rectified on the spot, and the law enforcement officers did not implement the main responsibility of the electronics factory, occupied, blocked, closed evacuation channels, and safety exits were fined 5,000 yuan, and the illegal acts of illegal parking of electric bicycles were fined 50 yuan.

This is one of the typical law enforcement cases based on the Ningbo Electric Bicycle Charging Safety Management Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"). The "Provisions" were deliberated and adopted at the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 16th Ningbo Municipal People's Congress in August 2023 and will come into force on January 1, 2024. Up to now, the city has handled 10,885 related administrative penalties, with a total fine of 470,860 yuan.

1. Legislative background

(1) The people call me to meet the practical needs of the people's demand for safe charging. As of the end of March 2023, the number of electric bicycles in Ningbo is 4,364,600. Compared with the huge charging demand, the number of electric bicycle charging places and facilities that are fully equipped with safe charging conditions in various places is small, which cannot meet the actual charging demand. Due to the lack of unified planning and site selection, construction quality and fire safety standards for charging sites and facilities, some of the completed charging sites and facilities objectively do not meet the requirements for safe charging. At the same time, in reality, it is not uncommon to park electric bicycles at will in corridors, indoors, evacuation passages, etc., and to connect wires and sockets to charge electric bicycles privately, and the potential fire safety hazards are greater. The people hope that legislation will be passed as soon as possible to standardize the safety management of electric bicycle charging. The formulation of the "Regulations" is an urgent need to comply with the expectations of the people, protect the "people's livelihood" with "small incisions", and enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness and security.

(2) Accurately solve the problem and strengthen the inevitable requirements of electric bicycle charging safety management. The safety management of electric bicycle charging requires the government and its relevant departments, grassroots organizations, society and individuals to jointly build and govern and work together. The responsibilities of relevant departments in the planning and construction of electric bicycle charging places and facilities have not yet been fully clarified, and the joint efforts need to be further formed. The charging safety management responsibilities, charging behaviors and legal responsibilities of relevant units, owners and users of electric bicycles need to be further clarified and regulated. The formulation of the "Provisions" is to clarify the work responsibilities of governments and departments at all levels, increase management efforts, improve the construction of the public security system, and meet the needs of safe and stable economic and social development.

(3) Good laws and good governance, and strong measures to promote the rule of law management of electric bicycle charging safety. The "Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China", "Zhejiang Provincial Fire Protection Regulations", "Zhejiang Provincial Electric Bicycle Management Regulations", "Ningbo Non-motor Vehicle Management Regulations" and other laws and regulations are relatively principled in regulating the charging safety management of electric bicycles, which need to be further refined and improved through local legislation. In recent years, Ningbo has made useful explorations in promoting the construction of centralized charging places and facilities for electric bicycles to meet the needs of the masses, standardizing the requirements for fire protection equipment of electric bicycle charging facilities, and promoting the application of intelligent supervision to strengthen the safety management of charging behavior. The formulation of the "Provisions" is to concretize the relevant provisions of the upper law, systematically standardize the planning and construction of electric bicycle charging facilities, charging behavior and its supervision and management, and summarize the practical experience that can be replicated and promoted, and improve the legal level of electric bicycle charging safety management in Ningbo.

Second, the main highlights

The "Provisions" have a total of 11 articles, covering prohibited acts, government duties, facility allocation, management responsibilities, legal liabilities, etc.

The owner and user of the electric bicycle are the first responsible persons for charging safety. The regulations first clarify that it "shall fulfill the responsibility for the safety of electric bicycle charging and ensure the safety of charging", and prohibits several types of charging behaviors with prominent safety hazards in reality. The "Regulations" clearly prohibit: charging in the stairwells, evacuation passages, safety exits and other areas that affect the smooth flow of fire escapes, privately pulling wires and sockets for charging in violation of electrical safety requirements, charging with batteries and chargers that do not meet safety requirements such as modification and damage, and other charging behaviors that violate fire safety regulations. Among them, "charging with batteries and chargers that do not meet safety requirements such as modification and damage" is the content proposed for the first time in the "Regulations".

The "Provisions" clearly stipulate the responsibilities of the government: the municipal and district (county, city) people's governments and their relevant departments shall implement relevant safeguard measures for the safe charging of electric bicycles, increase investment in the construction of charging facilities, support social forces to participate in the construction, strengthen publicity and education, and guide citizens to charge safely. The housing and urban-rural development department shall, in conjunction with fire and rescue agencies and other units, formulate specifications for the construction of electric bicycle charging sites in accordance with the principles of safety and convenience and in accordance with relevant national and provincial standards, and guide the construction of charging sites and facilities.

Clarify the responsibilities of enterprises, society and other parties, and the "provisions" also make it clear that the management responsibility of organs, groups, enterprises, institutions and other units, collective dormitories, apartments and other places where residents are more concentrated outside the residential area shall set up charging facilities that meet safety requirements. Electric bicycle leasing enterprises and enterprises that use electric bicycles to engage in express delivery, takeaway and other business activities shall perform the main responsibility for production safety, manage the charging behavior of electric bicycles used for their business operations, and do a good job in the maintenance, maintenance and other safety inspections of electric bicycles and their charging facilities. Enterprises operating and maintaining charging facilities shall strengthen daily safety inspections to ensure that the charging facilities and batteries operated and maintained meet safety requirements, of which the batteries shall also meet the requirements of the factory-approved voltage of electric bicycle batteries.

Taking into account the relative stability of the legislation and the future development trend of charging facilities and the actual needs of enterprises, the "Provisions" clearly encourage the promotion of charging cabinets, battery swapping cabinets and other charging facilities that meet national standards, and encourage electric bicycle manufacturers, charging facilities operation and maintenance enterprises to purchase relevant liability insurance.

Implementation of the situation

(1) Determination of law enforcement entities. Adhere to source management and crack down on unsafe charging behaviors. The "Provisions" clarify four types of prohibited behaviors such as the use of batteries that do not meet safety requirements and charger charging, and provide penalties. Legal responsibility is stipulated for the illegal acts of organs, groups, enterprises, institutions and other units, and residential community management responsibilities that fail to dissuade and stop unsafe charging behaviors or fail to perform reporting obligations in a timely manner. In order to deepen law enforcement cooperation, the "provisions" also make it clear that fire and rescue agencies should establish a digital and whole-process information sharing and law enforcement coordination mechanism in conjunction with public security, emergency management, market supervision, comprehensive administrative law enforcement and other departments, and the town (township) people's government and sub-district office that undertake the administrative punishment right for electric bicycle charging safety violations in accordance with the law shall implement administrative penalties in accordance with the law.

(2) Determination of law enforcement procedures. The punishment of electric bicycles mainly adopts a summary procedure, which is mainly entrusted to the township street.

(3) The social effect is good. The implementation of the "provisions" has achieved good social results: on the one hand, it can better promote enterprises and institutions to implement the main responsibility of fire safety and enhance their fire prevention capabilities; on the other hand, it can improve the fire safety of the society in multiple dimensions, give full play to the subjective initiative of the masses, and perform their respective fire safety responsibilities.

Clearance bottoms out, and the risk of getting off work with full power is reduced, and the safety situation and preventive measures of electric vehicles in Siping City, Jilin Province are studied

Author: Bai Zheng and Song Jiafeng, Emergency Management Bureau of Siping City, Jilin Province

A few days ago, the author conducted field research in Siping City, Jilin Province, analyzed the fire situation and key problems of electric vehicles (referring to electric bicycles and electric motorcycles in the text), and put forward corresponding preventive measures.

1. Analysis of the trend of electric vehicle fire accidents

(1) Judging from the situation in Jilin Province, accidents occur from time to time. Jilin Province is affected by the climate, the number of electric vehicles is not large, but fire accidents caused by electric vehicles also occur from time to time. On May 18, 2021, a fire broke out in a shop specializing in charging electric vehicles in Changchun City, killing two people. On March 19, 2022, a fire broke out when residents of a community in Longtan District, Jilin City, were charging electric vehicle batteries at home, killing three people and injuring three others.

(2) Judging from the recent growth rate, the risk is increasing. According to relevant statistics, in the past two years, the number of electric bicycles registered in the city accounted for about 30% of the total, and the number of electric vehicles has increased significantly. With the popularization and widespread application of electric vehicles, the fire accidents related to them are bound to increase, becoming a major hidden danger in the field of public safety.

Second, the analysis of potential safety hazards of electric vehicles

Through a comprehensive investigation and mapping of the electric vehicle industry in Siping City, the following six safety risks were mainly found.

(1) There are gaps in registration management. Electric vehicles are mainly divided into electric bicycles (two-wheeled bicycles that use on-board batteries as auxiliary energy, have the ability to pedal and ride, and can realize electric assistance and electric drive functions) and electric motorcycles (motorcycles with on-board batteries as the driving device, including mopeds and ordinary motorcycles). At present, electric bicycles are registered and managed by the public security traffic management department, but the base number of electric motorcycles with longer mileage and higher danger is not clear.

(2) There are still blind spots in the implementation of responsibilities. All kinds of temporary battery swap points in Siping City are scattered in residential areas and are very common. As an emerging thing and an emerging industry, these charging and swapping points are not clear enough in terms of industry management responsibilities, and the industry management department has not yet been determined.

(3) There is a gap in the charging facilities. According to the statistics of the Siping City Public Security Traffic Management Department, the city's electric bicycles are more than 12,000 (author's note: this data does not include electric motorcycles, it is expected that the city's electric vehicle stock is 3 to 4 times of this data, only the urban area has a property community electric vehicle ownership of 10,000 units, the specific data is still in further statistics), equipped with 744 charging sites, and uneven distribution, is expected to be able to meet the charging needs of more than 6,000 electric vehicles, most of the electric vehicles need users to solve the charging problem by themselves.

(4) Illegal modifications have been repeatedly prohibited. Some sales companies and modification shops will split the battery and frame of the original vehicle to give users the space to choose the battery independently. In order to pursue speed, battery life and other performance, some users install larger capacity batteries, resulting in reduced battery safety performance, especially lithium batteries, which are more likely to cause fire accidents in the case of high temperature and collision.

(5) Key processes are out of control and out of control. Due to the long charging time of electric vehicles, users are accustomed to charging at night, and the whole process is unattended, resulting in the loss of control of electric vehicles in the charging process, which is easy to cause fire accidents. Some of the emerging centralized battery swap points adopt face recognition to enter the battery swap point to change the battery by themselves, and the battery swap at night is unmanned.

(6) Violations are still frequent. There are violations of laws and regulations such as charging electric vehicles "flying wires" and occupying and blocking evacuation channels and safety exits in the community to varying degrees, especially in stairwells and at the door of the unit.

3. Prevention measures for fire accidents of electric vehicles

In the face of the rigid demand of the masses for travel and the urgent requirements of risk prevention, combined with the risk analysis and judgment of the previous situation, Siping City has thought of ways to "sparse" and made practical moves in "blocking", and comprehensively carried out four special actions in the field of electric vehicles to effectively prevent the occurrence of electric vehicle fire accidents.

(1) Comprehensively carry out the special action of clearing the warehouse and bottoming out. The public security traffic management department continues to increase road control and urge unlicensed electric vehicles to go through registration procedures as soon as possible. Townships, streets and other grass-roots units actively publicize the registration and licensing of electric vehicles, guide car owners to the traffic management department for registration and licensing, and promote the number of electric vehicles.

(2) Comprehensively carry out special actions for the construction of charging facilities. Led by the county (city) district government and led by the housing and urban development department, the construction of charging facilities will be promoted, and large state-owned enterprises will be encouraged to participate in investment and construction, and pilot construction will be selected in urban areas. At present, the pilot construction has been completed in the main urban area, and more than 50 sets of new charging facilities have been built, and the utilization rate of charging facilities is high, and the masses have responded well. Solidly promote the construction of other pilot projects, explore the experience and practices in the construction and maintenance of charging facilities, and promote the construction in the city as soon as possible. Actively promote the "full power off duty", in the city's labor-intensive enterprises and units with a large amount of electric vehicles to promote the construction of electric vehicle charging places and facilities, to facilitate the charging of employee units, full power off work, reduce the risk of charging at home.

(3) Comprehensively carry out special actions to clarify responsibilities and assign responsibilities. In accordance with the principle of "who approves and who is responsible" and similar businesses and similar business formats, the city's safety committee held a special meeting to study the industry supervision responsibilities of compacting centralized charging and swapping sites. Further strengthen and refine the safety supervision and reminder responsibilities of power companies in the process of approval for power connection. Instruct the relevant industry management departments to work with the fire department to promote the addition of smoke detectors, simple sprinklers, video surveillance, fire extinguishers and other physical and technical defense measures in charging and swapping places, and implement the requirements of 24-hour on-duty duty. The market supervision department, together with the public security, emergency management and other departments, will form a joint inspection team to severely crack down on illegal modifications such as replacing high-power batteries, and squeeze the space for illegal modification of electric vehicles to the greatest extent. In accordance with the division of responsibilities, departments such as emergency management, fire protection, and public security have increased the investigation and management of key hidden dangers around the masses, correcting behaviors such as "flying wire" charging, "entering buildings and households", "people and vehicles in the same house", as well as occupying and blocking evacuation channels and safety exits. By focusing on cracking down on three types of violations of laws and regulations, negative warning cases have been formed, and a strong deterrent has been formed in the form of media exposure and personal statements.

(4) Comprehensively carry out special actions for popular science publicity. Publicity departments and property enterprises and grassroots street communities make full use of mainstream media and websites such as radio, television, newspapers and periodicals, new media, as well as outdoor videos, building televisions, and community bulletin boards, high-frequency publication and broadcast of electric vehicle fire prevention fire public service advertisements and electric vehicle safe parking and charging knowledge, popularize the initial fire fighting, escape and self-rescue common sense, enhance residents' awareness of electric vehicle fire and prevention awareness, guide residents to use electric vehicles correctly, and avoid fire accidents.

Passive intervention of stock batteries Incremental battery active safety: Technological innovation exploration of fire and rescue detachment in Dongcheng District, Beijing

Author: Beijing Dongcheng District Fire and Rescue Detachment

Li Haoran Qi Le

As early as 2020, the Beijing Dongcheng District Fire and Rescue Detachment (hereinafter referred to as the detachment) established a "battery safety technology research and development team". Over the past three years, the detachment has cooperated with the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, China Battery Industry Association, Tsinghua University and other units to carry out relevant research, and has successively obtained 3 patents, and the 3 technical solutions proposed have won the "First Prize" and "Best Application Award" of the Capital Emergency Management Innovation Case in 2021 and 2022, as well as the "Dongcheng District Excellent Talent Training Funding Project" in 2023. The main leaders of the Dongcheng District Party Committee and the District Government have investigated the technical achievements for many times, and requested that they be promoted and applied in the "commercial end" and "civilian level".

1. Battery safety supervision + early warning system

(1) Current issues

1. The alarm is "out of control". At present, most battery management systems (i.e., BMS) can collect data such as current and voltage, but cannot be analyzed and processed, and the alarm function is generally realized by setting a certain temperature or voltage limit. The battery from thermal runaway to fire and explosion is a very rapid process, once the alarm is triggered, it means that the battery has been uncontrollable, so the actual effect of the existing alarm function is not large.

2. The charging process is difficult to supervise. At present, the vast majority of electric bicycles in stock do not have their own management systems, and charging equipment companies can only monitor the charging pile data, that is, whether the charging facilities are normal, and cannot obtain real voltage and current data.

3. Electricity service is not in place. From the perspective of residents' personal safety and the existing battery security capabilities, it is necessary to "keep the electric bicycle battery out of the house". There are many related technical products on the market, such as elevator ladder resistance and RFID sensing devices, etc., which have played a certain role, but they are only "interception alarms", and the functions are too single and "tough". It is very necessary to develop and popularize the smart home electricity supervision system, and do a good job of safety tips for battery home charging.

(2) Ideas for tackling key problems

1. Predict the aging degree of the battery by establishing a lithium separation model inside the battery. The detachment, together with the Zhili IOT technology team, realizes the 24-hour visual digital supervision of battery current, voltage, temperature and motion trajectory through accurate safety monitoring to the cell level, and builds an algorithm model of "internal short circuit electrochemical thermal runaway" to achieve the goal of effectively detecting battery risks through the detection of "lithium dendrite precipitation" during battery charging. In the past two years, among the 3,000 batteries put on the market, 12 have issued early warning information, and after rapid charging and discharging tests, 11 of them have caught fire, and another 1 has been damaged by rainwater soaking, which basically realizes the accurate identification of serious faults such as short circuit, lithium separation, and abnormal parameter outliers in the battery.

2. Evaluate the state of health of the battery by reversing the voltage curve at the charging interface. The detachment cooperated with the Battery Safety Laboratory of Tsinghua University, based on the data (power and energy) of the low-frequency charging platform and the order account used by the charging facilities, to establish a rechargeable battery portrait, reconstruct the charging voltage curve, and develop a deep neural network that integrates the degradation mechanism to realize online evaluation of battery health. 2,145 charging interfaces were tested, and the accuracy rate of online evaluation of battery health was more than 98.2%, and 376 fault warnings were given.

3. Determine the type of electrical equipment through feature recognition technology behind the meter. The detachment cooperated with Zhejiang Zhongchen Urban Safety Research Institute to develop intelligent electrical fire monitoring and monitoring air switches. This technology identifies the power consumption of each device by monitoring the voltage, current and other information at the power inlet, and by analyzing the load characteristics under steady state and transient state. When the smart air switch is installed behind the household meter, it can accurately identify dangerous behaviors such as illegal charging and vicious load of electric bicycles, with an accuracy rate of more than 95%. After discovering illegal charging, the system will immediately report to the platform and notify the user, the property company and the relevant departments.

(3) Landing results

1. Express site application. In May 2023, the detachment and the Dongcheng area of Jingdong Logistics took a year to build the "Express Logistics Fire Safety Standard Station" was officially established, relying on the Jingdong Logistics Pilot Business Department, playing the role of "safety station, fire station, service station", focusing on highlighting high safety standards, 35 battery safety monitoring all "on the cloud", 3 groups of charging cabinet charging data real-time online, 2 intelligent air 24-hour scanning indoor electrical appliances to ensure safe operation.

2. Promote the compilation of standards. The detachment, together with the China Battery Industry Association and the Beijing Bicycle and Electric Vehicle Industry Association, is preparing to compile the group standard of "one car, one electricity, one code". The introduction of the standard will strongly promote the construction of an intelligent and safe electric transportation management platform, and provide a basis for "trade-in" and mandatory scrapping of electric bicycles.

2. Irrigation brine fire extinguishing charging cabinet (box)

(1) Current issues

1. Battery fire disaster control. After many experiments, the detachment found that in the event of a fire, the shell of the battery does not immediately burst completely, but continuously sprays flames from the tear opening, and at this time, no matter what kind of agent is used, spraying, covering, etc., it has been washed away without touching the cell. At the same time, with the continuous release of energy, the temperature rises rapidly, resulting in the rapid combustion of surrounding combustibles. Even if the fire is extinguished, lithium can continue to precipitate combustible explosive gases such as hydrogen and methane through chemical reactions in the oxygen-free state, causing re-ignition or even explosion.

2. The charging area is centralized and simple. Most e-bike users will choose to charge at night. This causes a significant increase in the power load in the charging area, especially when the battery is fully charged at 3 to 4 o'clock in the middle of the night, once the control function of the battery, charger and other links fails, there is a high probability of causing a fire. Whether it is a centralized charging area or a closed charging cabinet, most of them cannot control the fire and cool down for a long time, which will eventually lead to the fire of the camp.

(2) Ideas for tackling key problems

1. Research and development of "immersion salt water fire extinguishing multi-grid charging cabinet and single-grid charging box". The principle of this technology is to completely wrap the outer surface of the battery with a fire extinguishing agent, quickly form a new electrolytic solution outside the battery, and guide the stable release of battery energy, so as to achieve the goal of rapid fire control and fire extinguishing. The device has the following advantages: First, it adopts an immersion fire extinguishing system, which quickly floods the battery with salt water to achieve efficient fire extinguishing. Second, it is equipped with a wastewater recycling device, which does not leak electricity, does not overflow, and does not pollute the environment. The third is to strictly construct according to fire engineering standards, ensure the wiring, and leave no safety dead ends. Fourth, smoke exhaust and smoke filter devices are added to prevent the leakage of toxic gases. Fifth, the cabinet is explosion-proof, with an inclination angle design, which buffers the impact of the battery explosion and suppresses the fire in the cell. Sixth, it is equipped with remote monitoring and fire Internet of Things system, which can be quickly linked once the alarm is issued.

2. Design "irrigation type simple fire extinguishing and charging shed". The concept of this design is: in some areas where the fire water source is lacking, the underground embedded water tank or salt water charging cabinet diversion method is adopted to fully cover the charging area with the "dry fire sprinkler system". Every 3 to 5 charging ports are a unit, and each unit is physically isolated by a fire extinguishing board or fire blanket to effectively prevent "fire company camp".

(3) Landing results

1. Bungalow community application. In view of the fact that there are many bungalow alleys, the office of the Hepingli Street Working Committee is equipped with a "single-grid salt water fire extinguishing and charging cabinet" on the outside of the gate of the bungalow residents. The case was awarded the Best Application Award for the 2022 Capital Emergency Management Innovation Case.

2. Promote the compilation of standards. The detachment, in conjunction with the China Academy of Building Research and the Chinese Society of Electrical Engineering, is organizing the compilation of the "Technical Regulations for Fire Prevention in the Charging and Parking Area of Electric Bicycles" group standard, aiming to rate the fire performance of the charging device.

3. "Minute-level" fast-charging battery technology

(1) Current issues

1. "Vehicle-electricity separation" provides a "hotbed" for the inferior battery market. Due to the lack of a temperature control system, in the face of severe cold, heat, sun and rain, electric bicycles can only "resist", which seriously affects the service life of the battery. Theoretically, lithium batteries that can be charged and discharged about 1500 times will be significantly attenuated after 600 times of charging and discharging in real applications, which is the fundamental reason for the "separation of vehicle and electricity". Generally, when the first battery is attenuated, the warranty period of the whole vehicle also expires, and users can only replace the battery by themselves, and the low-cost non-standard battery has a market.

2. Due to the low charging efficiency and limited outdoor space, it cannot meet the convenient electricity needs of residents, resulting in the phenomenon of "flying line" charging and home charging of electric bicycles. Taking Beijing as an example, as of November 2023, a total of 950,000 electric bicycle charging facilities have been built in the city, 3.37 million electric bicycles are in use, and the ratio of vehicle piles is about 1:3.5. According to the author's analysis, there are three reasons: first, the number of electric bicycles is growing rapidly, and the number of new electric bicycles will be 1 million in 2023, and the speed of the gap in charging facilities is greater than the construction speed. Second, charging at night is concentrated, and the long charging time causes the charging facilities to have a low "turnover rate", resulting in a "pile-to-vehicle ratio of 1:3.5" that cannot meet the charging demand. Third, in key areas such as bungalow courtyards, old residential areas, and urban-rural interfaces, it is difficult to select sites for the construction of charging facilities. For safety reasons, the general charging area is far away from home, coupled with the cold winter in Beijing, most batteries enter "low temperature protection", resulting in ineffective outdoor charging and having to be charged indoors.

(2) Ideas for tackling key problems

1. "Fast charging technology" caters to the charging needs. By upgrading the anode material and using the unique mesoporous porosity and high conductivity of the alkene-carbon composite material, the detachment and Jiangsu instantaneous technical team jointly developed a new type of fast-charging battery, which can not only quickly grab lithium ions, effectively eliminate crystallization, but also reduce internal resistance and temperature, which greatly improves the battery life and intrinsic safety level. The 48V26AH battery, which originally took 6 hours to 8 hours to fully charge, can now be fully charged in 15 minutes, and can be charged and discharged more than 1500 times in complex environments. This enables a certain degree of fast charging like refueling a motor vehicle.

2. "Integration of vehicle and electricity" is in line with the development of the times. After comparing the technical development process of mobile phone batteries and tram batteries, the detachment believes that the "vehicle-electricity integration + fast charging" scheme for electric bicycles will become the key to breaking the shackles of current risks and hidden dangers.

(3) Landing results

1. Express industry application. At present, the express tricycles in the Debang Dongcheng area of Beijing are equipped with fast-charging batteries. Compared with the previous "one vehicle with multiple electricity" and "battery swap" schemes, "one vehicle with one battery" not only reduces asset allocation by 50%, but also makes the laying of charging piles and the installation of charging cabinets more flexible in terms of site requirements, which indirectly optimizes the supply chain management cost and efficiency of delivery enterprises' personnel, vehicles and electrical equipment. The project is listed as the 2023 Dongcheng District Excellent Talent Training Funding Project.

2. Promote the construction of "fast charging" facilities. At present, there are 20 fast charging piles in Dongcheng District, which basically meet the needs of "commercial" express tricycles. In the next step, the detachment plans to promote the construction of "gas station-type charging stations", that is, with reference to motor vehicle gas stations, to build "gas stations" managed by special personnel and professional teams to meet civilian needs.

Strengthen the professional management of electric bicycle properties

Author: China Merchants Surplus Industry Operation Co., Ltd

Liu Yulei

As a property management practitioner, the author focuses on a brief analysis from two aspects: vehicle parking and charging planning and property professional terminal management.

1. Analysis of disaster-causing factors

(1) Non-standard parking and charging are the key to burning disasters

Although there is a high incidence of electric bicycle combustion, the harm caused by the burning of a car in isolation is limited, and the serious consequences are often caused by the "fire and camp", which is actually the problem of vehicle parking and charging.

It is mainly manifested in four aspects: first, the vehicle parking and charging area are unreasonable, such as arranged in underground space or crowded places, and the vehicle parking density is large. Second, the fire protection facilities in the vehicle parking and charging areas are insufficient, including the lack or imperfection of emergency facilities such as fire monitoring, alarm, and sprinkler. Third, the protection and alarm technology of charging piles and supporting facilities are backward. Fourth, there are still problems of mismatch and incompatibility between chargers and e-bike batteries in some places.

On the one hand, the use and popularization of electric bicycles have grown rapidly in recent years, and on the other hand, the business model of real estate developers is difficult to ensure that the reasonable supporting areas of electric bicycle parking and charging areas are in place.

(2) Insufficient allocation of community property forces, ineffective performance of duties, and lack of professional service capabilities

1. Insufficient investment in community property resources and lack of basic service guarantees. The property allocation and investment of the property in the community are insufficient, the resource guarantee capacity is lacking, and some areas are resigned to the random parking and charging of electric bicycles.

2. The community property management is backward, the performance of duties is ineffective, and the professional emergency support capacity is insufficient. The comprehensive supporting and management of the property cannot keep up, and the investigation and management of the risks and hidden dangers of electric bicycles are not in-depth, such as daily publicity, education, monitoring, inspection, and inspection frequency is not enough. Some community property management personnel lack relevant professional knowledge and skills, are not professional enough to deal with electric bicycle fires, emergency response is not timely, and lack of effective communication and feedback mechanisms.

(3) The problem of illegal use of electric bicycles by individuals is prominent

Consumer safety awareness is indifferent, illegal modification, overrun use and other problems are widespread, and their use, parking, charging, random operation and dissuasion behavior further contribute to the breeding and spread of electric bicycle fire risks.

2. Countermeasures and suggestions

The safety governance of electric bicycles is a complex social issue, which needs to bring together the forces of all walks of life to treat both the symptoms and the root causes from the establishment of laws and regulations, product quality supervision, production and circulation market supervision, community standardized governance, charging and parking setting planning, consumer safety education, etc., and make overall coordination and joint efforts. From the perspective of property management, the author puts forward the following two suggestions.

(1) Scientific co-ordination and strengthening the planning of vehicle parking, releasing and charging areas

The overall stable and reliable product quality of electric bicycles is the key factor to prevent vehicle combustion, and standardized parking area setting and scientific charging pile management are particularly critical to prevent and control vehicle combustion and expand the consequences.

1. Focus on the future and introduce mandatory development planning documents for parking and charging areas. Electric bicycle parking and charging is difficult to have its historical reasons, the relevant competent departments should summarize the lessons and lessons, based on the actual needs of urban modernization, through legislation, the introduction of mandatory standards, etc., in the old urban transformation, new development of community construction must be planned and designed in advance, leave enough vehicle parking and charging areas and related facilities resources, clear standards, the competent authorities to strengthen supervision, to ensure that the implementation is in place. The development unit that has set up a property management unit should be able to listen to the opinions and suggestions of the property unit in the design and development drawing review stage in a timely manner, and optimize and improve the supporting facilities for electric bicycle parking and charging in a timely manner.

2. Conduct a comprehensive investigation and vigorously promote the clean-up and remediation of existing major hidden dangers with prominent risks.

3. Increase investment and actively promote the upgrading and transformation of conditional vehicle parking and charging areas.

4. Perseverance and strict daily investigation and punishment of illegal parking and charging of electric bicycles.

5. Continue to improve and actively promote the application of intelligent monitoring and alarm systems that prevent electric bicycles from entering the elevator into the house.

(2) Standardize and guide, and enhance the ability of professional property service guarantees

Property is the most direct and grassroots organization for the safety management of electric bicycles in the community, and it is an important link between the government and the public. They deal with the owners every day and know the actual situation of parking and charging electric bicycles, which is indispensable for the daily management and emergency response of electric bicycles in the community.

1. Scientific planning and strengthening of professional resources for community properties. The government and streets, communities and other grass-roots organizations should pay full attention to the important role of property in the management of community electric bicycles, and introduce property units with good reputation, responsibility and strong service standardization ability in the industry through market-oriented operation, complete and strengthen the professional resources of community property, and strengthen the organizational guarantee of work.

2. Consolidate responsibilities and improve the ability of property professional service guarantee. As a community steward, the property should adhere to the combination of prevention and elimination according to the requirements of the local government and the national industry technical standards, and establish a set of normative system documents for the planning and construction of electric bicycle parking and charging areas, fire alarm, video surveillance, inspection and maintenance, publicity and education, emergency linkage, etc., and ensure its effective implementation. It is necessary to take the initiative to put pressure on itself, strengthen the means of civil air defense, technical defense, and physical defense, accept assessment and supervision, and constantly improve the ability of professional and comprehensive support. It is necessary to be good at using typical cases, strengthen publicity and warning education, fully communicate with owners, and actively create favorable conditions to improve the conditions of electric bicycle parking and charging areas. It is necessary to establish a normalized inspection, communication, and feedback mechanism, and provide feedback reports to owners, government authorities, and community development units by classification and grading, so as to help resolve all kinds of risks and hidden dangers.

3. Coordination between government and enterprises, and work together to manage the pain points of community management. Property plays an important role in the safety management process of electric bicycles, which requires close coordination between the government, property management, and property owners. It is recommended that the competent government departments often work with the property to jointly carry out publicity, inspection, drills and other activities, actively reply to the problems reflected by the property, and cheer up and support the daily management of the property. Government departments, real estate development units, property service units, community owner management agencies, etc., should negotiate and coordinate the source of funds for the transformation according to the actual situation, and effectively solve the outstanding problems in the safety management of electric bicycles.

E-bike safety is a "shared responsibility"

Author: Wang Lili, China University of Political Science and Law

With the acceleration of urbanization in the mainland, convenient, economical and environmentally friendly electric bicycles have become the first choice for people's transportation, and they have rapidly grown into the largest number of transportation vehicles in the mainland. According to the data of the China Commercial Industry Research Institute, the current national electric bicycle market has reached 400 million. At the same time, the number of fires caused by e-bikes is increasing year by year. According to data from the National Fire and Rescue Administration, the number of e-bike fires was 18,000 in 2022 and 21,000 in 2023. Behind the cold figures are the lives that can be taken within 90 seconds of a fire, and the long-term pollution of the ecological environment caused by heavy metals infiltrating soil and groundwater after a fire......

The safety of electric bicycles has repeatedly become the center of public opinion. On the evening of May 10, 2021, a community owner in Chengdu caught fire after pushing an electric bicycle into the elevator, causing injuries to 5 people in the elevator, including a 5-month-old baby. After this tragic accident, the "Regulations on Fire Safety Management of High-rise Civil Buildings", which came into effect on August 1, 2021, clearly stipulates that it is forbidden to park or charge electric bicycles in the public foyers, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings, and violators can be fined up to 10,000 yuan. However, survey data from 2022 shows that fires caused by faulty e-bike rechargeable batteries in residential premises still increased by 17.3% year-on-year. The safety of e-bikes is no longer just a matter of personal safety, and its accumulated volume makes public safety hang in the unknowable risk.

From the small incision that electric bicycles are difficult to govern "upstairs", we can get a glimpse of electric bicycle safety is not only a technical and management issue, but also a big issue related to ethics and responsibility: electric bicycle safety is the public interest of everyone's public space, it needs to clarify and strengthen everyone's public safety awareness, and reflect the shared responsibilities of producers, sellers, users and regulators, so as to form a unified governance idea to ensure the continuation of electric bicycle safety and the maintenance of public well-being.

First of all, clarify and strengthen the awareness of public safety priority of electric bicycles, and increase public opinion guidance and publicity.

The public connotation implies an individual's awareness of the possible consequences of his actions to others and of the relationship between himself and others. In public life, individuals are able to know the impact of their actions on others, understand the interests of others, and make behavioral choices. It is a rational choice and a manifestation of public consciousness. The safety of electric bicycles is not only related to personal safety, but also affects the safety of public spaces, the maintenance of social order, and the protection of the ecological environment in all aspects of its production, sales, use and even recycling. Clarifying the public safety positioning of e-bikes helps to clarify the view that e-bike safety belongs only to the user, and also emphasizes that all parties involved in the safety of e-bikes should not endanger the safety and well-being of others or the public, and have a responsibility to ensure that their actions do not pose a potential safety threat to others. For example, when charging, you should avoid behaviors that may cause fire, and illegal modification of the line may lead to fire. Only by clarifying this positioning can the ban on electric bicycles not being allowed to go upstairs be understood and enforced.

The cultivation of public safety priority awareness is a multi-faceted and multi-level long-term process, and it is very important to form a public opinion atmosphere of public safety priority awareness of electric bicycles through continuous, multi-way, community schools and other scopes of education and publicity. In the process of posting eye-catching reminders and posters such as "it only takes 100 seconds for an electric vehicle to catch fire and kill someone", "electric vehicles are prohibited from entering the corridor" and "legal consequences of illegal use of electric vehicles", grid staff will go to the house to publicize, WeChat groups will issue reminders, and publicity and education through various channels such as media, social platforms, and public service advertisements in public places will quietly but gradually erase the luck psychology that believes that accidents will not happen to them. In some places, volunteer persuaders, supervisors, and communities to prevent electric bicycles from entering buildings have begun to appear, which is a manifestation of increased public safety awareness. Next, it is recommended to refer to public opinion to chase and track for a long time after the failure of electric vehicles, and to guide public opinion to continue to pay attention to the accountability of its production chain for electric bicycle brands or manufacturers that have more accidents.

Secondly, implement the traceability and accountability of the whole chain of electric bicycle production, sales, and recycling, and strengthen the supervision of its quality and safety.

The most common spontaneous combustion and fire of electric bicycles are closely related to source problems such as battery quality defects and illegal modifications. According to the report of the Beijing Fire and Rescue Corps, in January 2024, among the 33 causes of e-bike and e-tricycle fires in Beijing, 30 were battery failures, accounting for about 91% of the total. According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, the unqualified rate of electric bicycle batteries in 2022 will be 22%. It can be seen that there is no basic guarantee of quality, no matter how it is emphasized that electric vehicles do not go upstairs, the risk of fire on the road and outdoors also exists. In May 2018, the state issued the "Safety Technical Specifications for Electric Bicycles" (GB17761-2018), which formulated mandatory standards for electric bicycle batteries, and in November 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued Announcement No. 7, adding four new standards related to handlebars, lithium batteries, bus design, electronic control units, etc. However, due to the fact that the price of inferior lithium batteries is only one-half or even one-third of that of compliant lithium batteries, in the current situation of low entry threshold for electric vehicle battery recycling, many intermediate links, difficult traceability management, and a large number of small workshops for electric bicycle production, waste batteries are returned to the market, inferior batteries attract attention with low prices and large capacity, illegal modification and other problems are still endless, and it is difficult to be found and supervised.

In March 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of the Implementation of National Standards for Electric Bicycles", emphasizing strict production management and sales supervision of electric bicycles. In May 2020, the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress reviewed and passed the "Regulations on the Management of Electric Bicycles", and then the management regulations in Hunan, Shandong, Guangdong and other places have also been promulgated. Among them, the practice of Guangdong Province is worth promoting: through the "one thing, one code" code traceability management, the establishment of electric bicycle quality credit traceability system, to achieve the whole chain of quality traceability from production, sales, use and other links and compulsory product certification (referred to as CCC) consistency inspection function. This will effectively ensure the quality of major components such as batteries and effectively prevent illegal modifications. In particular, the system will establish data docking with public security license plate registration, fire rescue prevention and control platforms, collect product certification, production, sales, registration to recycling and other whole-process information, and use the digital platform to achieve multi-department and full-chain collaborative supervision. These measures provide support for efficient supervision and risk prevention from the system and process, and also realize the openness, transparency and responsibility implementation of the safety management of electric bicycles.

Finally, from the perspective of joint participation, the problem of electric bicycles "going upstairs" is solved. In the "3E countermeasure system" for accident prevention, the management system has the most immediate effect compared to safety education and engineering technology. This is also the original intention of the ban on electric bicycles "going upstairs". As early as December 2017, the Ministry of Public Security issued the "Notice on Regulating the Parking and Charging of Electric Vehicles to Strengthen Fire Prevention"; Especially in the vast majority of old communities, in the case of tight parking spaces and more popular use of electric bicycles, the installation of charging piles involves a series of problems such as old community renovation and property management, which further increases the difficulty of community governance. In addition, according to the current laws and regulations, the neighborhood committee or the property does not have the right to punish, for the phenomenon of electric bicycles going upstairs, in addition to posting propaganda slogans, inspections, and issuing notices to dissuade bad behavior, not only has no other way, but also is responsible for mediating the disputes caused by residents.

It can be seen that blindly requiring electric bicycles not to "go upstairs" can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. The public interest cannot be defined without taking into account the private interests of each individual. The public good should be achieved in a virtuous manner by the institution or the law. To solve the problem of electric bicycles "going upstairs", in addition to having to apply modern technology, such as the installation of intelligent charging piles, elevator induction alarms and other means, the fundamental solution is to meet the needs of residents to park and charge downstairs, and set up enough storage convenience, site safety, reasonable charging of electric bicycle parking and charging areas. At present, solving the problem of supply and demand requires the participation of communities, property companies and residents. On the one hand, each performs its own duties, and the neighborhood committee grasps the basic data of electric bicycles in its jurisdiction, and carries out overall planning and construction of parking areas and charging facilities; property management enterprises establish security teams to continuously and effectively carry out hidden danger investigation to prevent electric bicycle fires; residents abide by relevant regulations, supervise each other, and become a community to prevent electric bicycle fires and prevent electric bicycles from entering the building. On the other hand, through community meetings, consultations, etc., residents are encouraged to participate in the decision-making process of e-bike safety management, so that residents can express their needs and concerns and find solutions together. Only when enterprises, car owners, communities, and governments "share" the safety management responsibilities of electric bicycles and build a safety management network with common participation, electric bicycles can not worry about "going upstairs".

Source: China Journal of Emergency Management