Electric bikes are fast, convenient and everywhere here in China.
Yet behind the convenience lies a hidden risk. fires, accidents and illegal modifications.
Starting September 1, 2025, a new national safety standard for e-bikes comes into force.
What is that new standard and what will it tell us about urban safety and what difference will it make to all of those who ride?
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
My name is Steve, and I thank you very much for being with us today.
For today's show, I'm joined by Niu Honglin and Yuxia.
First on the program. Electric bikes, prized for their speed and convenience, have become ubiquitous across China's urban landscapes.
When I say they are everywhere, I mean they are absolutely everywhere.
Yet behind this everyday convenience lies a growing and often overlooked risk, an alarming rise in fires, traffic accidents, and dangerous illegal modifications.
In response, a new national safety standard for e-bikes is set to come into force on September 1, 2025. aiming to address these critical safety issues through stricter manufacturing and usage controls.
The regulation clarifies updated safety requirements.
It also highlights the government's focused effort to enhance urban safety and prevent public risk through targeted technical and operational measures.
We're going to learn all about it today.
Nyong Lin and Yushin, good afternoon to you both.
Yuxin, we'll start with you. A little background on the e-bikes here in the country.
I mean, they're everywhere all the time.
So many people use them. They are a part of daily life for a large percentage of the population.
When we say e-bikes in China, mostly we talk about these bikes in the form of A little bit like the motorcycles, actually.
And so sometimes we call them electronic motorcycles.
Yeah, e-scooter, e-bike. I think they might go for some different names depending on where in the world we're talking about.
Yeah. They're the little two-wheeled vehicles that, yeah, about half the size of a bigger motorcycle, maybe.
Yeah, so it is... Now, it's everywhere.
When you were saying it's everywhere, it's literally everywhere.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is saying that there are currently about 380 million e-bikes on the roads.
That's roughly one for every four people in the country. a massive scale hardly seen in other countries.
Yeah, right. How does that compare to cars?
The numbers, I wonder. Yeah, actually, it's almost the same as the number of cars, to be honest.
Ministry of Public Security released the data in 2024. the number of motor vehicles nationwide reached 453 million.
Right, yeah. And including 353 million automobiles.
So the numbers for cars and e-scooters is nearly the same.
Yeah. And that's proof. uh that everybody not everybody but a large percentage as i said uses these for Short trips around crowded cities, trips to work and home, trips to the grocery store if you need to do that.
Just whatever you need to do in your daily life.
Your little errands are a run. on an e-scooter.
And, of course, the food delivery riders.
Oh, that is a majority of it. I was going to say, maybe that's a lot of the $350 million.
All right, so let's get into it then. So why now is there a need for a new standard for these e-bikes?
Reason and background for this kind of new specification is actually started from Like in July 2024, China saw over 1,400 e-bike fire accidents.
So that is one of the biggest... reasons that we need to all of these new standards and conscious on these kind of things and what's striking is that many didn't even happen while people were riding just when the bike was just sitting there Yeah.
So one thing is battery failures, about two-thirds. of these cases were caused by what experts call thermal runaway, basically when a battery overheats and spirals out of control.
Here in China, e-bikes have a long history, to be honest.
They were there long before the standards and long before, I think around 2009.
Around 2009, the two wheeled electric vehicles are already widespread here in China, yet they predominantly use lead acid batteries.
Lead acid, yeah. Yes, lead acid batteries, and are limited by energy density, so they cannot go that fast.
And after 2009 till around 2018, we see the development of this industry of people using e-bikes quite a lot.
But yet at that time, there were no, a lot of standards about the production, regulation, the way to produce these e-bikes and how to run them on the road when you're using them, when you're riding them.
And that is why in 2018, the first national standard was introduced here in China.
And they talked about the maximum speed limit to around 20, not around, exactly 25 kilometers.
We'll explain a bit later about this specific number and limitation.
And the maximum vehicle weight was supposed to be 55 kilograms. because if it's not that heavy then when you're on the ground when the speed is not that fast the kind of casualty or hurt or damage the vehicle can do to either pedestrian or riders is limited. so there's that and also uh there was a requirement for pedals so on these electric because I think it's partly because they want to separate the e-bikes with e-motors or just motorcycles.
So that there was the requirement of a pedal on the e-bike and also the rated voltage limit was below 48 V.
So that was the 2018 standard. And for this one, this new standard, more criterias, more let's say articles were introduced to regulate, further regulate the production as well as use of e-bikes here in the country.
Yeah, and safety is the name of the game here, right?
And we're going to get specifically to what those are in a sec.
Yushin, you mentioned a term a minute ago about the cause of the fire's thermal runaway.
I didn't know what that was. So that's where a part of the battery heats up really quickly.
And then when that chemical breaks down within the battery, the heat there triggers another heat releasing chemical reaction inside the battery cells.
And then it's just like a cyclical thing.
It just one reaction creates more heat, which creates more heat, which creates more heat.
And then it gets to the point where the cell ruptures and it ignites.
And this can happen in seconds. And that's why these bikes, just when they're sitting there.
They can spontaneously combust. They can just catch on fire alone.
Wiring plays a part, too, though, right?
It's not just about the battery. Yeah, so when we're mentioning all of these, let's say, thermal runaways, that kind of thing, that is why mostly or actually every. complex or community complexes are requiring all of the citizens or the drivers to park your electric e-bikes outside of your building in open area in any case of fire hazard is right and then That is when a lot of people then use these faulty wiring to charge their e-bikes when they don't want to charge it in that specific or designated charging stations so inside the they're called communities here inside the apartment complex areas There are designated stations for people to charge their electric scooters.
There should be. Mm-hmm. And then when you are not using these kind of things, they use that kind of plugs and wiring to put it out of their windows.
And then it could be really, really dangerous when it's something like rainy days or windy days, that kind of thing.
So that is kind of... about 31% of fires came from these kind of vehicle wiring issues.
Oh, I see. Hsuan was talking about the previous situation where people... would like to charge their electric bikes using the electricity from their house because during non-peak hours, price of each unit of electricity would be lower comparing to the designated post.
But I think that situation was also addressed And in Chinese, we call it flying cables because it flies out of your window and to your electric mobile or electric But that is a huge problem because if you charge it, right near the building, or if you charge it in the building, we see that tests show if an e-bike catches fire on the ground floor, and smoke and heat can reach the second floor in just 79 seconds.
And within 10 minutes, the stairs can become completely blocked, And that shows how dangerous these kind of activities are.
And that is why we are forbidding these kind of activities.
I mean, this kind of activity, it just looks like a bad idea.
A cable coming out of someone's window plugged into a motorcycle is probably a recipe for disaster.
All right, so that's kind of what's been going on with these accidents.
So let's get to the new standards specifically.
What exactly are they changing here? For the part of fire resistance standards, So there are stricter flame retardant requirements for all non-metal parts.
So like parts that connect battery circuits, wiring, and seat materials.
One example is that plastic parts cannot exceed 5.5% of total vehicle mass.
Yeah. So that they can't catch on fire. That reminds me of like subway cars or subway stations.
Yeah. yeah subway stations also like they are not using a lot of plastic or in subway stations there are like clear standards that you need to prevent the incidence of fire accidents.
Non-flammable materials, and that's what we're talking about here.
Okay, so plastic parts can't be higher than 5.5% of the total vehicle mass, okay?
And besides that, there's also the anti-tampering regulation.
The modification. modification meaning that you cannot illegally modify your bike to make it faster to use third-party batteries which was a major source of these accidents using these not up to standard batteries so that your e-bike can go faster is definitely dangerous.
And they're introducing something in Chinese.
They're calling it a digital handshake. It's the kind of agreement the battery is having with the electric.
It's very technical, but the idea is that if the battery is not made by the electric bike factories, yet are made by some third-party companies, they cannot be charged. so that it won't run it won't operate yes so this would definitely make sure that the uh standards of these e batteries are getting better and better yeah a lot of people what they like to do is when they get a motorcycle or when they get a scooter they like to take it to the shop And they like to upgrade, if you will, much like you would do in a video game.
But this is really dangerous because, well, you mentioned the word limiter, right?
So if you modify the limiter in an e-scooter or in a motorcycle, then the bike is capable of more power and more speed.
Right. Which is what some people want. But that's not allowed.
You're not allowed to do that. And the danger with that is that when you.
Modify the limiter, then you push the battery beyond its design capabilities.
It generates a lot more heat, and that can lead to that term that you used before, the thermal runaway.
Yeah, and that is when we talk about to the speed limits.
Yeah, you mentioned before it was 25 kilometers per hour, right?
Yeah, and this kind of standard has been there for years, actually.
The previous standard has already limited the speed to at 25 kilometers per hour.
Quick question. Sorry to interrupt. So the speed limit on the street is 25 kilometers per hour, but that's also the limit the of the scooter itself right the scooter itself the limit of the scooter itself is 25 kilometers but if you are riding the scooter on the non-motor lane instead of on the lane with the cars the limit is supposed to be 15 kilometers per hour.
Okay, and what Nyonglin means by that, and I should have mentioned this in the beginning, is that The roads here in Beijing, I'm not sure about other cities here in China, the e-scooters don't travel on the road with the cars and the trucks and the big motorcycles. they travel on the bicycle lanes, right?
Yeah, that is relatively a gray area, depending on different cities and different local regulations.
But the idea is that because we know that motorcycles, for example, motorbikes are not traveling within certain areas in Beijing, but they can travel on other continents. cities and also outside of the designated area, and they are traveling with the cars.
Understood. Yes, and for the e-bikes, So when the e-bikes are traveling with pedestrian, well, not with pedestrian, with bikes, they are not supposed to surpass the 15 kilometers per hour limit.
So in that case, that would make the e-scooters capable of exceeding the speed limit, where in other situations, the bike wouldn't be capable of exceeding the speed limit.
Okay. So that's going to be a change then, a maximum design speed of 25 kilometers per hour and absolutely no more.
What else then do we need to know from these new rules?
One thing that really caught my attention is that beta positioning, that kind of GPS modules or chips, are encouraged to install or required to install in all of these newly made e-bikes.
So logistics and rental e-bikes must have these kind of Beto GPS modules, which can alert users of battery overheating, abnormal voltage or current, or theft in real time which is really cool you know it can be some of the really expensive features in the e-bikes nowadays.
But now, in the future, all of the e-bikes should have being equipped with these kind of things.
Theft in real time. But e-bike theft isn't really, it's not really a thing, right?
It's not like you don't see it that commonly.
Not that common. But it's a funny anecdote.
When we were on our business trip in Xizang, we get to ride on some shared e-bikes.
And let's understand the logic behind this limitation, speed limitation.
The idea is that you're not supposed to surpass 25.
And if you are on 25, you are warned. But since the people on the e-bikes, the weight of the people and also the cargo you carry with you is differentiated it is allowed the e-bikes are allowed to surpass 25 kilometers per hour limit a little bit so that you can reach that limit if you're carrying heavy stuff That's the idea.
But that means you can surpass the limit just a little bit.
But when you are on that speed, the e-bike would, well, at least the one that I was riding, would alarm you, would tell you that you are already at a very fast speed. should slow down a bit and the alarming would not go off if you do not slow down.
So you have to listen to it. That's why you're all of the beeps on the road.
Yeah, so you cannot. Oh, that's what that is.
Yeah, right. I was like, what is that? That's not a horn.
I couldn't figure out. It's not for you.
It's for the writers. It's the machine telling the rider, slow down.
Yeah, so when you pass that limit, it's really... a problem and everyone or everything would be reminding you to slow down a bit.
Interesting. All right, so what kind of impact is this going to have?
I mean, I think obviously there's going to be an impact on businesses, right, and manufacturers because they're the ones making these new bikes.
Yeah, some of these shops and manufacturers would wonder, right?
Wow. Now we have a new standard. All of the new bikes should follow the new standard.
What about the things in stock. So there's going to be a transition period until August 31st, 2055.
Companies may produce under old and new standard and after September 1st, all production must follow the new standard and sells.
Grace period. All old standard vehicles may be sold until November the 30th, 2025.
September, October, November. Yeah. Three months grace period.
So therefore... That's the time for the businesses to get rid of their existing stock, the machines that were built before this new regulation.
And to be fair, probably... The majority of the machines in the shops would be before these new regulations.
Yeah. Okay. So that's how the businesses are going to be dealt with.
It'll make things a little easier on them, giving them that grace period.
And don't get us wrong. The old bikes, they are still up to standard e-bikes.
It's just that relatively speaking, they're easier to modify, which is no longer or it has been.
Well, it has been suggested not to modify these e-bikes for a really long time.
So the old bikes can still run on the street for several years. still use it you can still use it yeah yeah nobody's going to kick you off the streets for for having one um Okay, so that's the business side of things a little bit.
What about from the manufacturing point of view?
Because now they have to meet the stricter requirements.
So I guess they're looking at... maybe not completely, but at least some different components.
Yeah. which means they may redesign the e-bikes to meet some of the stricter requirements on, let's say, speed or weight or power and safety features. and that may involve upgrading components, retrofitting production lines, and also increase the R&D and compliance costs in the short term.
Yeah, you're talking about things like when you say upgrading components, we're probably talking about things like batteries.
Motors, maybe the brake system might need to be a little bit different as well.
And at the same time, we see testing agencies and third party certifiers must revise protocols, acquire new testing equipment. seek updated acceleration aligned with the standard and that is because nowadays when testing these different types of e-bikes well the reason that this can be achieved it the 25 limit can be achieved is that they are upgrading the kind of testing protocols of the new e-bikes making sure that they cannot reserve a little bit of their capacity when they are taking the test, and release all the capacity when they're on the road.
So these would also happen to the third party test steers, making sure that they can test the bike before they put the bike to the authority to test.
It's a part of the game. Part of the process.
Are these bikes going to be more expensive?
I would think maybe at least a little bit, right?
Yes, but that is why a lot of these policies are encouraging consumers to use that trading programs to like use your old e-bikes to trade it in and then buy a new one.
And then you can get some subsidies. So the trade-in program applies to the e-scooters as well.
Turn your old bike in, get a discount. I guess the discount does... differs depending on the value of your bike.
If you have a super old one, it's not going to be worth as much as one as you bought two years ago, obviously.
Right. But still, on average, any idea?
Maybe you don't know. I'm curious, though.
Do you know roughly the amount of discounts people can get?
Actually... First of all, according to the status of your old e-bikes, you can get like 200 yuan to 500 yuan off of them. the money that you can get that you can deduct.
Right. And that is just, the money that you actually, more like you sold your old e-bikes, right?
And then you get the subsidy part. according to the one that you are going to buy.
So subsidies, most regions offered a fixed subsidy rate from 300 yuan to 500 yuan.
So for vehicles under 2000 yuan, which means you buy a new e-bike that's under 2000 yuan, the subsidy is about 300 yuan.
For those above 3,000 yuan, that subsidy can be up to 500 yuan.
That's pretty good. So in total, it's more of like...
700 to 1,000 yuan, which sometimes can be half of your price.
Yeah. Absolutely. The reason I ask, because we have the total amounts in 2024, that old-for-new e-bike program, They launched it with more than 600 million yuan.
That's about $82 million in subsidies that were handed out.
So that's a lot of money in total. I was just curious how much it was for the individuals.
But it is. It's significant enough to encourage riders to upgrade their bike, I think.
Make the change, yes. And after that, we also want to talk a little bit about the registration and after sales service.
We see stricter registration rules, which means business must provide accurate documentation and ensure vehicles are properly classified.
And the after sales service is also important because we already mentioned that the batteries, the third party batteries are no longer that. unless they're really up to standard and everything and can go to the identification process, the digital handshake.
And well, if that is not the case for most of the third party battery producers, We see after sales service will increasingly focus on maintaining compliance and may evolve into a key process. that ensure the long-term implementation of the specifications and also the long-term satisfaction of consumers who purchase these new e-buyers.
What do consumers need to look out for then?
What types of things should they be aware of when making a purchase?
That is when you need to find out some of the certificates of these e-bikes from the manufacturers or from the shops, right?
For example? the triple c certificate you will see that little mark with three c's on it uh electric bicycle sold from factories should be certified and marked with this which means China compulsory certification released since 2001.
Oh, that's been around for a long time. Yeah, of course.
And that means the quality can be guaranteed.
And also check... the Product Certificate of Confirmity when purchasing consumers can verify whether the product model, vehicle identification code, and other parameters on the certificate match. the actual bike you can actually search some of these information on the official website and to check the numbers of your e-bike, is it accurate or sync with each other?
So just going back to the point before, so if customers bought an e-bike before these new specifications came out there's literally no problem at all right they don't need to do anything No, not really.
We see that Chen Jiandong, head of Zhejiang Bicycle and Electric Cycle Association, said...
If your previously purchased e-bike meets the old standard and already has a license plate, you are good to go.
No one's going to force you off the road.
And once we see these kind of new regulations, we want to take a little look at the majority of the users or we tend to think about the food delivery guys because they, well, on the road, you see a lot of those people working in that profession using e-bikes and people have the discussion about they sometimes would run a little bit faster They run with the bicycles and they sometimes would cause problems or would make people think, oh, they are really fast.
Am I? safe on the road. And after the regulation, we would see these kind of risks, these kind of situations decrease substantially.
But one might also ask if they cannot surpass the well, if they cannot go as fast as they would, will it affect their way of bringing bread on the table? it decreased the order that they can deliver every day.
Yeah. And so, I think here we need to first make a choice between efficiency and safety.
And it's always, always safety. And another thing I was thinking about is that if everyone is in line with the new regulations, definitely it would make the competitive situation in the industry a little bit better and healthier.
So I think e-bikes is not just about the e-bike industry.
It might would increase the health development of the food delivery industry as well.
I don't know. Do you think that'll make a huge difference?
I mean, you're right in the fact that These riders, these food delivery riders, they're incentivized to deliver quickly.
Sure. Right? I mean, I think it impacts how much money they make, how many orders they can get in one day.
Right. There's a reason why they want to go faster and faster.
But I don't know if this will make that much of a difference or not.
Maybe you're right. Maybe it will. Because in theory, the last time that they spent for one deliver, they can get more orders, right?
But the thing is that I was thinking maybe it is the mass on the road. some of these processes oh that's true too and then when we have these new like standards and when everybody's pace is slower maybe it can get smoother and sometimes even faster and also safer more orderly streets can be Yeah, we can wait an extra five minutes, right, for our meals at home if it means that the streets are a lot safer for everyone.
All right, so that's the update. Then what can we expect from the future in terms of safety in these e-bikes?
I mean, I guess... safer, more orderly streets is the first thing we can look for.
Yes, and also for kids, for the elder generation walking on the street, it can definitely be safer.
And it can be also cleaner and greener transportation mix because when we are able to choose better e-bikes, Well, that would decrease the rate of using taxis and private cars and We can also see an integration with public transit, meaning that you can ride your e-bike to, I don't know, a subway station.
And park it outside. Park it outside. So many people do that.
It's safer, for sure. And definitely possible ripple effects on other mobility modes would also happen.
And Roundtable is here to see. Yeah. 350 million.
That was the number, right? We might see that number go even higher.
I don't have one, but I've been... getting a little itchy.
My wallet's been getting a little itchy with thinking, oh, do I need... Because I used to ride a motorcycle.
I had a Japanese street bike. It was really fast and I almost died on that thing.
So I sold it and I thought I'm never going to do it again.
But these e-scooters are much cuter and smaller and slower and safer.
So I'm thinking. Maybe maybe maybe.
