China is a major producer and consumer of electric bicycles in the world. By the end of 2023, the number of electric bicycles in society will exceed 350 million.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Emergency Management, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the National Fire and Rescue Bureau, publicly solicited opinions on the latest revised mandatory national standard "Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Specifications" (hereinafter referred to as the "Technical Specifications").

The relevant person in charge of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced that this revision will be conducive to preventing fire accidents, reducing traffic safety hazards, better meeting consumers' daily travel needs, and promoting high-quality development of the industry.

Promoting the standardized development of the industry

He Penglin, deputy director of the Safety Technology Research Center of the China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, said in an interview with the Economic Daily that compared with the current standards, the highlights of this draft for comments are mainly to improve fire safety, ensure riding safety, respond to public demands, prevent illegal modifications, and add active protection.

Specifically, in terms of improving fire retardant performance, this revision has improved the flame retardant requirements and test methods of non-metallic materials used in electric bicycles, and limited the proportion of plastic parts used, thereby reducing fire risks and improving fire safety performance; at the same time, it is required that the whole vehicle coding should adopt high temperature resistant permanent identification, which is convenient for strengthening the whole chain supervision and fire accident tracing investigation and handling.

In terms of better ensuring the riding safety of consumers, the test methods of the rated power and maximum speed of the motor have been optimized, and the maximum design speed can not exceed 25 kilometers per hour from a technical point of view; at the same time, the braking distance requirements have been tightened to reduce the occurrence of collision accidents.

In terms of meeting the daily travel needs of consumers, manufacturers are allowed to decide whether to install pedal riding devices according to the design needs of the vehicle model, which is conducive to saving production costs and providing consumers with more vehicle models. "Taking into account the gradual expansion of consumers' travel radius in recent years and the low energy density of lead-acid batteries, the vehicle weight limit of lead-acid battery models will be relaxed from 55 kilograms to 63 kilograms, which will increase the vehicle's range by about 20 kilometers." He Penglin said.

In terms of preventing illegal modification, the anti-modification requirements are improved from three aspects: battery pack, controller and speed limiter, to ensure mutual recognition and coordination between charger, battery and controller, and vigorously promote "one car, one battery, one charge and one code", leaving no room for illegal modification.

In terms of promoting high-quality development of the industry, the requirements for production equipment and testing capabilities of electric bicycle companies are increased to promote companies to improve quality assurance capabilities and product consistency; vehicles must be equipped with Beidou positioning and dynamic safety monitoring functions to improve product informationization level and safety risk prevention capabilities.

Liu Yunzhu, senior engineer of China Electronics Technology Standardization Institute, said that this revision will help reduce the risk of fire accidents caused by electric bicycles, improve the inherent safety level of Chinese electric bicycle products, reduce traffic accidents caused by speeding, and will also facilitate consumers to use and improve product supply quality.

Improving the inherent safety level

After years of development, electric bicycles have gradually become an important basic means of transportation for consumers' daily short-distance travel. According to statistics, in 2023, there were 738 enterprises above designated size in China's power-assisted bicycle manufacturing industry, including electric bicycles, with an annual output of 42.28 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%, and an average annual growth rate of 11.8% in the past five years.

As the market scale continues to expand, the electric bicycle industry has also exposed some problems. Among them, the most prominent is the repeated fire accidents caused by electric bicycles in recent years, as well as the hidden dangers of traffic safety. According to the National Fire and Rescue Bureau, the number of fires caused by electric bicycles reached 18,000 in 2021 and rapidly increased to 25,000 in 2023, with an average annual growth of about 20%; the proportion of electric bicycle fires in the major fires throughout the year increased from 5.9% in 2021 to 12.7% in 2023, with a rapid increase.

In addition, due to the illegal modification of many vehicles, their technical indicators such as maximum speed, battery voltage, and motor power exceeded the provisions of the current mandatory national standards, becoming an important cause of traffic safety accidents.

In the full-chain rectification action of electric bicycle safety hazards deployed by the State Council, improving the quality and safety standard system is a key task. It is hoped that through the revision of the "Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Specifications", the inherent safety level of electric bicycle products will be improved, the standardized development of the industry will be promoted, and the safety of people's lives and property will be effectively protected.

He Penglin told reporters that in response to the current problems of electric bicycle products, such as insufficient fire retardant performance of non-metallic materials, excessive use of flammable plastic parts, and inconvenience in tracing the source after a fire accident, the new standard has improved the fire retardant requirements of materials, the proportion of plastic parts, the unique coding of the whole vehicle, and the high-temperature resistant permanent identification. The provisions will help prevent electric bicycle fire accidents and conduct full-chain traceability investigations after the accident.

As the saying goes, "nine out of ten accidents are caused by speeding", speeding is the main factor causing traffic accidents. According to the relevant person in charge of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the draft for comments stipulates that the maximum design speed of electric bicycles shall not exceed 25 kilometers per hour, mainly considering that if the speed is too fast, it will directly increase the probability of traffic accidents. Therefore, controlling the speed of electric bicycles within a reasonable range is an important prerequisite for ensuring traffic safety. When purchasing and using electric bicycles, consumers should also strictly abide by relevant standards and regulatory requirements to ensure the legality and safety of electric bicycles, and consciously resist the behavior of increasing the maximum speed through illegal modifications.

In addition, in order to enhance the fire retardant properties of non-metallic materials used in electric bicycles, the possibility of fire accidents caused by materials being ignited by fire sources can be reduced from the source, and the spread speed and intensity of burning of electric bicycle fires can be effectively reduced. This revision makes clear provisions on the flame retardant properties of non-metallic materials such as textiles and foam plastics, and further strictly requires the flame retardant properties of key components such as non-metallic materials, electrical circuits, electrical components and wires that are in direct contact with batteries, so as to improve the fire retardant properties of the entire vehicle.

Enhance market competitiveness

In recent years, the concentration of the electric bicycle industry has continued to increase, and a number of leading backbone enterprises with annual sales exceeding 10 billion yuan have emerged. However, the overall quality assurance capability of the industry is still weak. Many companies lack sufficient R&D investment and design capabilities, and their products are highly homogenized. Some even use inferior raw materials and reduce testing items to reduce production costs, resulting in uneven product quality and low sampling pass rate, which is not in line with people's expectations.

"The new national standard draft for comments strengthens the quality assurance capability and product consistency requirements of production enterprises, which will raise the industry's entry threshold and help change the current situation of "scattered, chaotic and poor" electric bicycle production enterprises of nearly 700 companies. It is conducive to the market concentration on high-quality leading companies and the elimination of backward companies and backward technologies." He Penglin said, "At the same time, it will promote the industry to move towards informatization, intelligence and high-end development, and drive the common development of chargers, new batteries, Beidou positioning and other industrial chains."

Liu Yunzhu analyzed that this revision has increased the requirements for production enterprises' product quality assurance capabilities and product consistency, and clarified the production capacity, inspection and testing and quality control indicators of key processes of electric bicycles. After the implementation of the new standard, it will improve the quality of product supply, promote enterprises to improve the level of production process equipment and improve product quality.

This revision also requires that vehicles must have dynamic safety monitoring functions, which will improve the information level and safety risk prevention capabilities of electric bicycle products, help promote enterprises to increase R&D investment, improve the independent R&D capabilities of key components, reduce product failures caused by quality defects of key components, and promote enterprises to improve production processes and equipment, improve automation and intelligence levels, and enhance market competitiveness.

Will the price of electric bicycles rise under the new standard? A relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the sales price of electric bicycles is determined by a combination of factors such as production costs, logistics costs, channel costs, pricing strategies, and supply and demand relationships. Among them, production costs are one of the important factors affecting product prices, but they cannot directly determine the final price of products. Although the production costs of electric bicycles produced in accordance with the draft for comments will increase to a certain extent due to the upgrade of flame retardant performance of plastic parts, the addition of Beidou and communication modules, etc., the corresponding parts and material costs will also be saved due to the cancellation of pedal power devices and the reduction of plastic parts. Overall, the production cost of electric bicycles will remain basically stable after the implementation of the new standard, and the terminal market price will not fluctuate significantly.

He Penglin suggested that electric bicycle manufacturers should adjust their product design plans as soon as possible, produce models that meet the new standards, and verify them according to the test methods required by the standards to ensure that the design plans are reasonable and the product quality is qualified. Timely improve production processes and equipment, improve automation and intelligence levels, meet the requirements of the standards on corporate quality assurance capabilities and product consistency, and enhance market competitiveness.

"Increase R&D investment, equip with technical equipment and scientific researchers required for the development of common key technologies, especially improve the independent R&D capabilities of key components, reduce product failures caused by quality defects of key components, and enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises." He Penglin said.

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