With the continuous development of production technology, as well as its own excellent convenience, e-bikes are becoming the first choice for short trips in every household. According to the data, the number of electric bicycles in China has reached 350 million, and in 2023, enterprises above designated size will produce a total of 42.28 million electric bicycles.
However, it is worth noting that although the electric bicycle itself has a large enough base, it still belongs to a "young" species, and with the popularity of the product, there have been many safety accidents and social controversies in recent years. The design, manufacturing, and use specifications of the electric bicycle itself have a large room for improvement.
Repeated refit fires
According to Shangguan News, on the morning of May 8, the Shanghai traffic police conducted a routine inspection on the road, and several electric bicycles that were stopped within a few minutes were all found to be using batteries suspected of exceeding the standard, and some people even had 5 batteries in a car.
In the battery box, 5 batteries with red and black shells are connected by wires to form a 60-volt battery pack, which significantly exceeds the 48-volt voltage standard required by the new national standard for electric bicycles. According to the on-site footage, these additional battery packs are poorly packaged and have no relevant flame retardant measures, and there are obvious safety hazards when the batteries are used and charged.
In fact, with the popularity of electric bicycles in recent years, illegal modifications are a lingering haze. As early as 2022, the CCTV 315 party exposed the problem of overspeeding modification of electric bicycles, including Xinri, Golden Arrow, Tailing, Luyuan, Maverick and other brands, and the new national standard electric bicycles sold can be unlocked through decoders and other means to realize the cracking of the new national standard 25km/h speed limit.
In a series of unannounced visits, enterprises can use third-party hardware to crack the speed limit, in order to be able to hide from the world when the traffic police inspect, many stores selling electric bicycles also put forward the operation of "changing the speed without changing the meter", that is, the speed can reach 30~40km/h, but the displayed speed stays at 25km/h.
According to data released by the Beijing traffic management department, as of June 15, 2023, electric bicycle fatalities in Beijing have accounted for 29% of the city's traffic fatalities. Road traffic problems caused by behaviors such as speeding, wrong-way driving, and running red lights on electric bicycles have become a potential safety hazard on the road that cannot be ignored.
Liu Min, a practitioner in the electric bicycle industry, told Titanium Media App that today's new national standard electric bicycles are generally designed and manufactured in accordance with the 25km/h requirements of the new national standard, and the tires, brakes, and body strength of the vehicle will not have too much margin, and it is a very dangerous behavior to unlock the speed limit by yourself.
In addition to the vehicle driving safety problems caused by illegal modification, the fire hazards caused by the illegal modification of batteries for electric bicycles are also increasing.
On the morning of December 29, 2023, an electric bicycle fire broke out in a residential community in Fengtai District, Beijing, and the fire department investigated and found that the fire was caused by two tenants who brought electric bicycle batteries home to charge them, for which both were sentenced to 10 days of administrative detention.
After the incident, fire investigators investigated the cause of the fire and found that the fire was located on the computer desk in the living room, and the remains of the e-bike battery were found. The victim admitted that the battery of the e-bike that caught fire belonged to a roommate who shared a room, and the two of them carried the battery to their home on the fourth floor to charge it the night before the incident. A short circuit occurred in the battery that had been charged overnight in the morning, causing a fire.
According to the data, in 2022, the national fire and rescue team received more than 18,000 reports of electric bicycle fires, an increase of 23.4% over 2021, and more than 3,242 fires caused by battery failure in residential places were reported, an increase of 17.3% over 2021.
The game between safety & efficiency
Specific to the problem in the field of electric bicycles, it is normal for riders to pursue a higher number of orders and for people to go out to travel faster, but the premise is not to endanger the safety of themselves and pedestrians on the road.
In January 2024, the topic "takeaway platform plans a large number of retrograde food delivery routes for riders" rushed to the hot search. According to Shangguan News, a rider on the Meituan platform called "12345" and complained that the food delivery route planned by the platform for him included a wrong-way route. Compared with regular routes that follow traffic rules, the route planned by Meituan's built-in navigation that includes wrong-way traffic is shortened by 1.2 kilometers. According to the riders, "The delivery time allocated to each order is usually stuck tightly, and it is not overtime to follow the planned route of the platform." ”
Deng Yong, a senior technical expert in the navigation industry, believes that "this is obviously not a technical problem", and navigation software can technically do not plan a retrograde route. The reason why the takeaway platform plans a retrograde route is related to its "scheduling algorithm".
Deng Yong said that food delivery platforms usually have algorithm providers for route planning and distance calculation, and will develop algorithms according to the platform's operating logic. Being able to map out a retrograde route shows that compliance with regulations is clearly not a top priority in the algorithm.
According to the rider who complained about it, he has given feedback to the platform more than 20 times. Platforms are required to plan reasonable routes and configure sufficient delivery time. The platform's customer service has given him different responses, and sometimes the customer service will emphasize that the route provided by the platform is not a navigation route for cycling; Sometimes the customer service promises that "the platform will take steps to optimize it". reflected a lot, and the platform simply transferred him a delivery fee of 2 yuan per order in the name of "distance subsidy", which was regarded as "sending him away". In this regard, the rider believes that the platform should be "acquiescing" to the phenomenon of planning a retrograde route.
It is worth mentioning that on the rider's pick-up and delivery map interface, the Meituan platform deliberately marked "route non-navigation planning" and reminded riders to "abide by traffic rules", but this does not seem to be an exemption clause that can keep the platform out of the matter.
Zhang Yifan, a lawyer at Beijing Huicheng (Chengdu) Law Firm, has said that for the relationship between navigation users and navigation software platforms, the current main reference is to the "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" and the "Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law".
Whether the takeaway platform does not bear the main responsibility if it indicates "non-navigation planning" when providing a route diagram. Zhang Yifan said that if the takeaway platform restricts the route of the rider and mandates the rider to follow the route it plans, if there is a traffic accident due to the wrong planned route, the takeaway platform should bear part of the liability for compensation.
For electric bicycle users, in addition to the pressure of life, the lack of understanding of the risks of electric bicycle batteries, the imperfection of surrounding facilities and cost problems are also the reasons why many people are lucky.
Compared with traditional lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries have the advantages of light weight, high energy density, long cycle life, and no memory effect, so they are considered more suitable for the new national standard electric bicycle.
But at the same time, lithium-ion batteries also have the problems of high cost and poor safety performance. Among them, the poor safety performance means that there is a possibility of fire in the use of lithium-ion batteries.
There are two main causes of lithium-ion battery fires, one is overcharge, and the other is a short circuit due to heat. When overcharged, the excessive release of lithium from the positive electrode will change the structure of the positive electrode, too much lithium will be inserted into the negative electrode, causing precipitation, and the electrolyte will decompose into a large amount of gas if the voltage is too high, thus causing a fire; At high temperatures, the temperature burns out the separator inside the battery, and the electrolyte subsequently breaks down into gas, resulting in excessive internal pressure and subsequent fire.
Although regular lithium-ion batteries are often equipped with an anti-overcharge design, there is always the possibility of inferior products or functional failures. In addition, users may increase the risk of fire habits when using electric vehicles in their daily lives, such as charging at night when sleeping, and taking the battery indoors to charge, which is not a problem in the eyes of many electric bicycle users, but it really threatens the safety of life and property.
In addition, in the large market environment of intensified involution, high-priced electric bicycle products may still have buffer space, but for electric bicycles of about 2000 yuan, it is necessary to be cheap and long-lasting and lightweight lithium battery, and the result can only be to sacrifice safety. Haiyang, a practitioner in the electric bicycle industry, told Titanium Media APP that for some cheap battery suppliers, the use of waste power batteries eliminated on electric vehicles is simply a routine operation.
In addition to the lack of awareness of the risks of e-bike batteries, the cost of use is also the reason why many e-bike users are blind to the risks.
According to the actual measurement, a 48V26Ah electric bicycle battery that meets the new national standard requires about 1.2 kWh of electricity, and the corresponding price is about 0.5-1 yuan based on the electricity price in Beijing. It should be said that even for users who use e-bikes every day, the cost of taking the battery home to charge it is not high.
But the actual situation is that some communities will charge parking fees for electric bicycles in the designated charging area, ranging from 1 yuan to 2 yuan for a single time, counting the charging fee, the cost of each use may reach about 3 yuan, compared with the charging cost of only a few cents to take home, it has directly increased several times.
Considering that some communities do not have enough charging piles, or the charging piles are far away, it is equivalent to increasing the cost of using electric bicycles. In addition, worrying about the theft of batteries and chargers may lead to e-bike users being more willing to take the battery home to charge, which in turn will lead to an increase in the probability of dangerous accidents.
Wang Gang, an electric bicycle user, told Titanium Media APP that he was very aware of the risks of electric bicycle batteries, so he took the battery to his home to charge it. However, due to the lack of convenient electric bicycle charging piles in the community, they can only be charged in the company's park. Wang Gang said that if there are affordable and sufficient electric bicycle charging piles in the community, he is of course willing to charge electric bicycles in his own community, but unfortunately there is none.
For modern society, there is a certain game relationship between safety and efficiency. The pursuit of absolute security can only give up efficiency, but if the pursuit of efficiency is not in line with safety, some people will inevitably have to pay the price for some people. They may be ordinary people riding bicycles on the road, or they may be residents of the same neighborhood as the riders, and if they have done nothing wrong, they may face a catastrophe at any time, paying a high price for the interests of commercial companies or the luck of others based on inconvenience.
Strengthen the standardization of the whole process and attack governance in many aspects
As a new type of thing, the popularity of electric bicycles has only been completed in the last decade, and naturally requires a certain degree of tolerance, but this is by no means a reason to let it grow wildly.
After entering the spring of 2024, a number of departments have successively issued regulations and specifications on electric bicycles, and made corresponding requirements for the illegal modification of electric bicycles, indoor charging, and platform planning for retrograde food delivery routes.
On April 30, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Fire and Rescue Administration recently issued the "Standard Conditions for the Electric Bicycle Industry" and the "Measures for the Management of the Standard Announcement of the Electric Bicycle Industry".
According to Xinhua News Agency, in response to the relevant requirements of the above documents, the relevant person in charge of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the mainland is a major producer and consumer of electric bicycles in the world, and the current domestic social ownership of electric bicycles has reached 350 million, and electric bicycles have become an important means of transportation for the people to travel short distances.
At the same time, the electric bicycle industry is also facing problems such as low industrial concentration, weak enterprise innovation and research and development capabilities, and insufficient quality assurance capabilities, and needs to further improve the quality and level of development.
The above-mentioned documents standardize the quality of vehicles and key components from multiple perspectives.
The first is to put forward relevant requirements from the main production equipment and production lines, such as cutting, welding, assembly and other important processes need to be equipped with production lines and equipment that match the production capacity of the whole vehicle, and meet the key index requirements such as the welding automation rate reaching more than 70%, and the electric or pneumatic assembly tools reaching 70% of the total product process design station on the assembly line.
The second is to put forward relevant requirements from the aspects of testing equipment and testing capabilities, such as enterprises need to be equipped with necessary inspection and testing equipment such as chassis dynamometers, and have the testing capabilities of key components such as chargers and batteries, and the original value of the equipment is not less than 1 million yuan.
The third is to strengthen the leading role of standards in product quality assurance, requiring that key components such as electric bicycles and chargers, lithium-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries, motors, controllers, and wire harnesses should comply with relevant national or industry standards. Fourth, from the strengthening of the internal management system of the enterprise to put forward the relevant requirements, such as the enterprise should set up a quality management department, with a commissioner in accordance with the work system to implement the relevant quality work arrangements.
The above-mentioned documents make it clear that the electric bicycle batteries produced or purchased by enterprises should be coded and identified in accordance with the standards to promote the traceability management of battery information; Enterprises should implement the extended producer responsibility system, and provide old battery replacement and recycling services through self-construction, entrustment, cooperation, etc.; Strengthen the publicity of the standardized recycling of waste lithium-ion batteries, and guide consumers to standardize the safe transfer of waste lithium batteries; Encourage the safety monitoring and management of the whole life cycle of electric bicycles and batteries.
At the end of April, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Justice released the "Shenzhen Electric Bicycle Management Regulations (Draft for Comments)". In view of the problem of illegal installation and modification of electric bicycles, sales stores and other units and individuals are required not to carry out illegal modifications for electric bicycles that do not meet the national mandatory standards. For the installation of canopies and other installations that seriously threaten the safety of pedestrians, it is clear that the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Traffic Management Department will order corrections and impose a fine of 500 yuan.
In view of the responsibilities of enterprises in livelihood industries such as postal services, express delivery, and instant delivery, it is clearly stipulated that enterprises shall optimize and improve the platform algorithm to ensure a reasonable delivery time for the problem of drivers speeding and running red lights due to unreasonable delivery assessment mechanisms. At the same time, enterprises are required to strengthen the safety education of riders and vehicle parking, charging and battery swapping, and use technical means to prompt, intervene and manage traffic violations such as speeding, running red lights, driving into prohibited and restricted areas, and fatigue driving.
In response to the charging problem, it is clear that the construction of charging and swapping facilities in urban villages, old residential areas, commercial, office, medical institutions and other areas, as well as the compliance transformation of existing facilities, will be strengthened. Consolidate the responsibilities of property service providers, require property service providers to strengthen fire safety management, and discourage and stop parking and charging behaviors that violate regulations, as well as "prohibit carrying electric bicycles and their batteries into the elevator car." Encourage elevators to install electric bicycles and batteries to enter the monitoring and early warning system".
In Shanghai, new regulations for electric bicycles have also been introduced recently. On May 14, the "Decision of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress on Amending the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Safety Management of Non-motor Vehicles" was voted and passed on May 10, 2024, and will come into force on June 1, 2024.
It is clarified that the municipal and district people's governments shall increase investment in the construction of non-motor vehicle parking places and charging facilities in completed residential quarters, guide and regulate the carrying, placement and charging of batteries by the masses, and strengthen the comprehensive management of illegal charging behaviors. Sets up legal liability for the act of privately pulling wires and sockets to charge e-bikes and their batteries; The prohibition of illegal parking and charging in the indoor area of residential buildings and the prohibition of carrying electric bicycles or their batteries into the elevator car have been added, and the corresponding legal responsibilities have been set. It is clarified that those who engage in the business activities of assembling, retrofitting or modifying non-motor vehicles or selling non-motorized vehicles that are assembled, retrofitted or modified shall be provided with corresponding legal liabilities.
On the whole, the above documents will further standardize the production management behavior of enterprises, implement the responsibilities of relevant departments, and promote the safe use of electric bicycles and the healthy development of the industry. Liu Min, a practitioner in the electric bicycle industry, told Titanium Media APP that with the further standardization of the industry, the competitive environment of the electric bicycle industry is expected to improve, and the concentration of the industry may be further improved. (This article was first published on the Titanium Media APP, author|Wu Honglei, editor|Zhong Yi, Liu Min and Wang Gang are pseudonyms in the article)