How battery accidents occur frequently for nearly 300 million electric bicycles on the road safely
"Community properties should provide relevant conditions for electric bicycles. We can compare with electric vehicles. Electric vehicles also have charging problems. The charging piles for electric bicycles are simpler than electric vehicles."
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A few days ago, Beijing Fire reported a fire accident in Tongzhou District, Beijing on September 20.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the tenant brought the lithium battery of the electric bicycle into the house for charging. During the charging process, the battery exploded and caught fire.
In recent years, frequent electric bicycle battery safety accidents have attracted attention.
According to media reports, from September 15 to September 21 this year, the number of complaints about the safety of electric bicycle charging received by the 12345 citizen service hotline in Beijing reached 2,646.
In recent years, electric bicycles have become an important means of transportation for the masses due to their economic and convenient characteristics, and the national social ownership has reached nearly 300 million.
What kind of requirements does this put on car owners, and how should city managers respond?
Number of electric bicycles or ultra-small cars
"The battery of the electric (bicycle) car is left at home. It freezes overnight outside in winter and cannot be driven at all the next day." Xiao Tang, who lives in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, told a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that the weather is now cold. Even though neighbors often express dissatisfaction when taking electric bicycle batteries into the corridor in autumn and winter, he has no better way.
Known as the "New National Standard", the "Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Code" (GB17761-2018) compulsory national standard stipulates that two-wheel electric vehicles can be divided into three categories: electric bicycles, electric mopeds and electric motorcycles.
Electric bicycles are also known as "national standard vehicles", requiring batteries as auxiliary energy sources, and the speed must not exceed 25km/h. They are non-motorized vehicles.
This is also the only non-motorized vehicle among the two-wheeled electric vehicles.
But even if the electric bicycle battery is not charging, there is a risk of deflagration.
On September 22, in a unit on Hongcao Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai, the battery of an electric bicycle placed indoors violently exploded. The deflagration lasted for nearly 4 minutes. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
In June this year, the Ministry of Emergency Management issued the "Regulations on the Fire Safety Management of High-Rise Civil Buildings" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"). The "Regulations" will come into effect on August 1 this year.
The person in charge of the Fire Rescue Bureau of the Emergency Management Department pointed out that due to product quality problems, illegal parking, irregular charging, and poor safety awareness, electric bicycle fires are frequently occurring. Many urban and rural residents are accustomed to bringing electric bicycles into buildings. Some people even park their cars in public areas such as public halls, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits. Once a fire burns, the toxic fumes generated can fill the entire space and passages in a short time. Evacuation of people is difficult, and it is easy to cause casualties.
Since 2009, there have been more than 70 electric bicycle fire accidents that killed more than 3 people across the country, and nearly 400 people died. Among them, the "4.25" fire in Jiuguan Town, Daxing District, Beijing caused 18 deaths in 2011, and Zhejiang Province in 2017. The "9.25" fire in Yuhuan City, Taizhou City caused 11 deaths. In 2018, the "4.24" fire in Yingde City, Qingyuan City, Guangdong Province caused 18 deaths and caused heavy losses to the lives and property of the people.
Non-compliance of electric bicycle charging behavior is an important source of safety problems.
And like Xiao Tang, many electric bicycle owners, with indifferent safety and legal awareness, and limited charging conditions, often secretly take electric bicycle batteries indoors.
Cheng Shidong, director of the Urban Transportation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission's Comprehensive Transportation Research Institute, told China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that although there is no authoritative statistics on the proportion of electric bicycles in urban transportation, the sales and ownership should be higher than that of cars.
"When the travel distance is less than 10 kilometers, the competitiveness of electric bicycles is very strong. From the perspective of time efficiency, it not only surpasses buses, but even surpasses subways and cars." Cheng Shidong said, this is widely recognized by electric bicycles. reason.
"The reason why everyone pushes to charge at home is because outdoor charging is not convenient or the facilities are insufficient." Chen Yanyan, Dean of the School of Urban Transportation, Beijing University of Technology, suggested increasing the supply of charging in public areas such as office buildings and shopping malls.
In the specific implementation process, some property service companies mentioned that the property is not a law enforcement unit, and can only persuade and remind behaviors such as charging electric bicycles upstairs.
Article 37 of the "Regulations" clearly states that it is forbidden to park or charge electric bicycles in public halls, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings.
And encourage the establishment of centralized storage and charging places for electric bicycles in high-rise residential districts.
Recently, some media reported that some communities have adopted methods such as elevator stoppers to block electric bicycles from going upstairs.
It also guides safe charging by installing charging piles and smart carports downstairs.
"China's Two-wheeled Electric Vehicle Intelligentization White Paper 2021" shows that in 2020, the number of two-wheeled electric vehicle industry in the country will be approximately 325 million.
Among them, the number of lead-acid battery vehicles accounted for more than 90%, and the number of lithium battery vehicles accounted for less than 10%.
The "2021-2027 China Power Exchange Service Industry Market Development Model and Strategic Consulting Research Report" predicts that by 2025, the total demand for two-wheeler power exchange cabinets will reach 670,000.
"For city managers, the supply of electric bicycles needs to be considered as a whole, not just from the place of residence." Chen Yanyan said.
Outdoor charging costs become an important factor for car owners to choose
"Community properties should provide relevant conditions for electric bicycles. We can compare with electric vehicles. Electric vehicles also have charging problems. The charging piles for electric bicycles are simpler than electric vehicles." Cheng Shidong suggested that the community should provide electric bicycles. A more convenient charging environment.
On the other hand, even though charging piles are installed in some places, users still say that because these facilities mostly use commercial electricity, the electricity bill is relatively high, and the charge for one hour of charging may cost one yuan.
Take the common 48V24Ah electric bicycle on the market as an example.
The battery has a capacity of 24Ah, a voltage of 48V, a full battery consumes about 1 degree, and a daily charging time of 6-8 hours.
If you use civil electricity to charge, it may cost less than 1 yuan, but charging outside may cost 6-8 yuan.
At present, charging piles in some areas have begun to charge fees based on civil electricity.
Shandong Province’s "Notice on Issues Concerning Electric Bicycle Electricity Price Policy (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" clarified that electric bicycle charging facilities shall implement classified catalog electricity prices according to their location.
The electricity consumption of charging facilities installed in residential communities shall be subject to the combined user electricity price in the category of "residential electricity consumption" (the current standard is 0.555 yuan per kilowatt-hour).
The electricity prices of the charging facilities set up by party and government agencies, enterprises and public institutions, and social public places shall be subject to the category of "industrial, commercial and other electricity" electricity prices.
In addition to charging safety, the modification and over-standard problems of electric bicycles are also one of the hidden safety hazards that cause frequent accidents.
The consequences are not only in residential areas, but also in road traffic.
Chen Yanyan pointed out that the modified electric bicycle may not only cause fires during the charging and discharging process, but also increase the power and speed due to the modification, which will have an impact on traffic safety.
The "New National Standard" stipulates that the transitional period management of electric vehicles exceeding the standard shall be implemented.
The transition period in Beijing will end on October 31 this year.
During the transition period, electric vehicle stores in many places have carried out trade-in and recycling of electric vehicles that exceed the standard.
There are also some areas that subsidize and recycle over-standard electric vehicles, and the price is generally a few hundred yuan.
With the implementation of the "new national standard", many places have made more detailed regulations on the management of electric vehicles.
Shandong, Shenzhen, Shanghai and other places have proposed that it is forbidden to install or modify power devices such as motors and batteries, or replace power devices such as motors and batteries that do not meet national standards.
"If the safety problem is not resolved, on the one hand, the modification of vehicles will lead to disordered traffic, which is technical safety; on the other hand, it will also lead to low overall traffic efficiency." Chen Yanyan bluntly said that in the core area of the city, electric bicycles should not be the mainstay. Mode of transportation.
"Road resources are limited. This intensive and large-capacity transportation method should be encouraged to use road resources more efficiently." In high areas, road resources are relatively less tight. In places where people travel longer distances, electric bicycles can be used as a supplement to travel tools.
"At present, the delivery and use of electric bicycles are subject to corresponding regulations, and vehicles are also subject to strict quality inspection standards. What needs to be strengthened is the implementation level." Chen Yanyan said.
"In the future, the management of electric bicycles may be more refined. For example, like cars, the right of passage management is carried out in different regions and time periods." Chen Yanyan emphasized that privately refitting vehicles is both a traffic problem and a product problem, and relevant departments should jointly enforce the law. .
In the process of vehicle use, refit shops that modify electric bicycles privately should also have regular inspections, and clearly define what is illegal and cooperate with punitive measures.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Li Chenhe, intern Xiao Yue Source: China Youth Daily