In recent years, because of the continuous occurrence of fires caused by electric bicycles, the "problem of electric bicycles 'going upstairs'" has become the focus of social attention.
In order to prevent fire hazards, the Regulations on Fire Safety Management of High-rise Civil Buildings issued on August 1, 2021 clearly prohibit parking or charging electric bicycles in the public foyers, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings. Although the harm caused by illegal charging and parking of electric bicycles is shocking, there are always people who choose to ignore the safety hazards for their own convenience.
There were 3 fires caused by electric bicycles in Shanghai in a week, but there are still people who "take risks"
Recently, there were 3 fires in Shanghai due to electric bicycles in a week, and all the offenders were detained.
The reporter learned from the community involved that as early as 3 years ago, in order to solve the problem of difficult charging of electric bicycles, the community added a row of charging facilities under each building. But after the reconstruction, there are still many residents who still bring the battery to their homes for charging for various reasons.
In order to prevent residents from parking electric bicycles in the corridor, a "ladder control system" is installed in the elevator, and once a resident pushes an electric bicycle on the elevator, the elevator will stop running.
Although there is "technology empowerment", it still can't stop individual residents from "taking risks", and some residents deliberately use umbrellas to cover the camera when entering the elevator to avoid being accurately identified by the camera to push the electric bicycle in their hands.
The failure rate of electric bicycle chargers has been high in recent years
The mainland is the world's largest country in the production and use of electric bicycles, with 1 electric bicycle for every 4 people.
At the same time, the number of fire accidents caused by e-bike fires has been increasing year after year. According to the statistics of the National Fire and Rescue Administration, a total of 21,000 electric bicycle fires will be reported nationwide in 2023, an increase of 17.4% compared with 2022. It goes without saying that there are huge safety risks associated with the "upstairs" charging of electric bicycles.
The reporter learned that in recent years, 80% of the fire accidents in various places occurred when they were overcharged or charged overnight. In addition to consumers' unauthorized modification and improper charging, many fire and explosion accidents are actually caused by the unqualified quality of the electric bicycle battery itself.
In addition to the unqualified quality of the battery itself, behind many electric bicycle fires, there is another accessory that threatens safety, that is, the electric bicycle charger. The reporter noticed that the failure rate of electric bicycle chargers, which is related to safety, has been very high in recent years.
Ye Zhentao, Technical Director of the National Light Electric Vehicle and Battery Product Quality Inspection Center: In 2018, a national recommended standard was set in order to improve the quality of chargers, but now more and more companies have avoided this standard. The main reason is that this standard has relatively high requirements, including overcharge protection, over-temperature protection, and the limitation of heat generation.
Because it is not mandatory, many companies selectively ignore this standard. At the same time, more than half of the enterprises are small, and their technical strength and market positioning determine the low-cost characteristics of their products.
Some of the charger circuit boards seen by the reporter have simple structure, relatively few and small components, no temperature control devices, and a lack of overcharge and over-temperature protection of the computing chip design, and the cost is calculated, and the factory price is not even 20 yuan. Generally speaking, the electric bicycle charger will be replaced in about 3 years, and a considerable number of consumers will not buy the charger that comes with the whole vehicle when they buy the charger again, but buy it from the electric bicycle sales store, maintenance shop, or e-commerce platform for convenience or affordability.
The quality of e-bike-related accessories is uneven, which determines that the behavior of e-bikes "going upstairs" is more risky and harmful.
Why is the electric bicycle "going upstairs" repeatedly banned?
Although there are great safety hazards in the "upstairs" of electric bicycles, the phenomenon of "going upstairs" of electric bicycles is still repeatedly prohibited. The reporter's investigation found that there are many reasons that lead to the "upstairs" of electric bicycles.
- There are no electric bicycle parking sheds and charging piles in the community, and residents have nowhere to park or charge;
- In the process of installing electric bicycle parking sheds and charging piles in the community, the installation was hindered due to the opposition of some residents;
- There are parking sheds and charging piles in the community, but residents are reluctant to use them due to the high parking fees and charging costs.
There are indeed many difficulties in the governance process, but in order to protect the bottom line of the safety of people's lives and property, it is urgent for multiple departments to work together to solve the problem.
Making it easy and reassuring for residents to charge their e-bikes is the key
Electric bicycle charging is a rigid need for residents, and how to make it convenient and reassuring for residents to charge is the key to solving the problem.
Sunshine International Area A, Qingyuan District, Baoding City, combined with the actual situation of the community and various concerns of residents, expanded the carport area, increased the number of charging piles, strengthened maintenance and management investment, and clearly marked the charging price that residents are concerned about. At the same time, use scientific and technological means to discourage electric vehicles from entering the elevator. Through some convenience and guidance measures, it not only fully meets the parking and charging needs of more than 2,500 households in the community, but also basically eliminates the problem of electric bicycles "going upstairs".
The safety problems brought about by the "upstairs" of electric bicycles involve thousands of households.
In order to eliminate the potential safety hazards caused by this, on April 14, Hebei Province issued the "Work Plan for Preventing Electric Bicycles from "Entering Buildings and Households", which clearly proposed: April 16 to April 30, 2024 is the stage of dissuasion and exploration, May 1 to November 30 is the stage of governance promotion, and after December 1 is the stage of long-term management. This work will be carried out throughout the province of Hebei to fundamentally control the problem of electric bicycles "entering the building and entering the house".
The State Administration for Market Regulation will also launch a special rectification of production safety in the field of market supervision this week, requiring local market supervision departments to carry out in-depth rectification of the whole chain of potential safety hazards of electric bicycles, improve the standard system, strengthen certification management, standardize charging costs, strengthen the quality control of production enterprises, and comprehensively improve the safety level of all aspects of electric bicycles.
The problem of "going upstairs" of electric bicycles should be multi-pronged.
First of all, it is expected that the mandatory standards for lithium batteries that have been approved can be introduced as soon as possible, so that those enterprises that leave quality and safety behind have no loopholes to drill.
Secondly, consumers should also strictly abide by the use of electric bicycles, do not modify in violation of regulations, do not charge "upstairs", and regularly test the battery.
In addition, the community should also improve the hardware facilities, take the increase in the storage location of electric bicycles, set up charging anti-theft facilities, and charge reasonable fees in accordance with the law to leave electric bicycles outside the building.
In short, only by working together can we fundamentally control the stubborn disease of electric bicycles "going upstairs" and hold the line of defense for safety.
CCTV news client