Original Title: The Proliferation of Illegal Modifications of Electric Bicycles China Consumers Association Issues Consumer Warnings Source: Beijing Business Daily
Recently, a number of fire and explosion accidents of electric bicycles have caused concern, and have also sounded the alarm for the safety of electric bicycle charging. For this reason, on August 10, the China Consumers Association issued a warning from the National Quality Inspection Center for Light Electric Vehicles and Battery Products, reminding consumers that they must buy from a regular operator, use the original charger to charge properly, and do not illegally modify electric bicycles. , Choose a uniformly configured charging and parking location, etc. Industry insiders told reporters from Beijing Business Daily that there is a shoddy phenomenon in the electric bicycle market, and there is also a situation in which electric bicycles use cars to eliminate batteries. Therefore, practitioners should be more self-disciplined, relevant departments should strengthen supervision, and safety education should be strengthened on the consumer side.
Mixed Lithium Battery
On May 10, an electric bicycle in an elevator in a community in Chengdu, Sichuan Province burst into flames. In just 3 seconds, the flame engulfed the entire elevator room, causing five people in the elevator to burn to varying degrees, including a 5-month-old baby. The fingertips of 8 fingers fell off, forming a permanent disability. Coincidentally, on July 18, an electric bicycle in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province suddenly ignited spontaneously while driving. The father and daughter in the vehicle were swallowed by the fire on the spot. After diagnosis and treatment by the hospital, his father suffered more than 90% burns. In addition to burns, there are more Explosive injury to the lungs; 95% of her daughter’s burns were injured and her condition was extremely critical.
Two accidents have caused great concern, and they are only the tip of the iceberg of electric bicycle fire accidents. According to the information released by the Fire and Rescue Bureau of the Emergency Management Department in July this year, there have been 6462 electric bicycle fire accidents nationwide this year. Electrical failure and spontaneous combustion are the main causes of electric bicycle fires, accounting for 62.1% and 62.1% of the total number of electric bicycle fires. 23.5%; and overcharging, battery cell failure, and electrical circuit short-circuit are the root causes of electrical fires in electric bicycles.
According to the analysis conducted by the National Quality Inspection Center for Light Electric Vehicles and Battery Products, batteries and chargers are important sources of related accidents. Tianjin Skrand Technology Co., Ltd. is a phosphate lithium battery cathode material provider. Li Jigang, the general manager of the company, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, “Electric bicycles used to be lead-acid. Now there are electric bicycles and electric vehicles. Many have begun to use lithium batteries, using conventional lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary material batteries. As far as the battery itself is concerned, it is a high-energy storage body with safety risks, just like gasoline. However, those with standardized qualifications and strict compliance The battery produced by PACK cannot be said to be 100%, but it is relatively safe.”
Li Jigang believes that the main problem lies in the mixed market. He said, “In addition to being lighter and cheaper, lithium-ion bicycles have a longer lifespan. Therefore, many manufacturers have emerged, and they are producing without qualifications. They are mixed and shoddy.”
In addition, some electric bicycle batteries are eliminated from electric vehicles. Li Jigang said, “There are some cascade batteries on the market, that is, batteries that are eliminated from cars and reassembled. However, if the cascades are used, the capacity division and inspection can be done properly. The core problem is still shoddy and flowing into the market.Common peopleThe picture is cheap, and the system matching is not very careful during use, and it is easy to cause fire and explosion problems.”
In this regard, the China Consumers Association reminded that consumers must go to regular sales places or e-commerce operators with good reputation to buy electric bicycles. When purchasing, you should also carefully check whether there is compulsory product certification (CCC certification), whether the relevant component parameters are consistent with the indications on the certificate (such as battery type, capacity, model, etc.), and stay away from the “three no” or non-standard, Exceeding standard electric bicycles.
Fires and explosions are mostly due to illegal modification
Mr. Dong, an electric bicycle user, told the Beijing Business Daily that his electric bicycle uses lead-acid batteries, which are relatively safer than lithium batteries, but they are heavier and bulkier, making it inconvenient to charge and change. “At present, some small electric bicycles use lithium batteries, which are relatively light and can run far. There are also some that are originally lead-acid batteries that use lithium batteries.”
The China Consumers Association has also noticed that there are currently some cases of unauthorized increase in battery capacity or illegal conversion of large and small-capacity lead-acid batteries into small and large-capacity lithium batteries. China Consumers Association reminds you not to illegally modify electric bicycles. If the electric bicycle battery has expired or has quality problems within the validity period and needs to be replaced, try to replace the same battery product to avoid accidents caused by battery mismatch.
“Under normal circumstances, electric bicycles and batteries produced by regular manufacturers meet relevant safety standards, and a large part of deflagration accidents are caused by illegal modification.” China Consumers Association said, “It is easy to damage the safety performance of the electric circuit of the whole vehicle during the modification process. As a result, faults such as overloading and short-circuiting of the vehicle’s electrical circuits will be caused, and the probability of fire accidents will be relatively increased.”
At the same time, the China Consumers Association also reminded that it is best to use the original charger to charge properly. The original charger is compatible with the charging protection function of the battery, but other chargers lack this protection, and the battery may be damaged during the charging process and increase safety risks. When charging, you should also pay attention to avoid overcharging. Excessive charging time will not only affect the battery performance, but also easily cause fire and explosion due to the continuous high temperature and heat of the battery. Therefore, the power supply should be cut off in time after the battery is fully charged.
How to prevent trouble before “burning”
For the safety of electric bicycles, it is far more difficult to supervise and prevent than electric vehicles. This involves both technical and cost issues, as well as practical constraints on the difficulty of law enforcement by relevant departments.
Li Jigang told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, “The battery core of an electric bicycle is different from a mobile phone. A mobile phone is a battery. ), coupled with the protection board (BMS), it is inevitable that some batteries themselves are not ideal and the protection devices are not in place. When using lead-acid to lithium batteries, and chargers are mixed, it is no problem once or twice. BMS and batteries are unavoidable. An exception occurs”.
“Automobiles require relatively high standards. They are installed in accordance with the standard process and with corresponding protection measures. The safety is higher. Moreover, the car has a safety center that can monitor the status of each battery in the background. It is impossible for an electric bicycle to use such a high cost. Go to monitor it. So maybe the battery and BMS are no longer good, but everyone doesn’t know, continue riding, during running or charging, if you say it burns, it burns.” Li Jigang said.
How to prevent trouble before “burning”? Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Energy Policy Research Institute of Xiamen University, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the government should strengthen supervision from the source. “Electric bicycles are relatively cheap, and their sales are scattered. It is difficult for the relevant departments to supervise them. Therefore, the most important thing is to strictly implement the requirements from the source, that is, the manufacturer.”
In addition, Lin Boqiang pointed out that most electric bicycles use lithium batteries. In addition to some of the battery quality may be worse, the user’s charging method and other factors may also affect its safety. Therefore, education should be strengthened on the consumer side, and fixed areas should be opened for charging in the community, and the carts should not be pushed upstairs to prevent danger.
“Practitioners must be self-disciplined, industry associations must formulate standards, relevant administrative methods, and relevant departments must conduct supervision, and strengthen crackdowns on unqualified manufacturers.” Li Jigang also said.
The China Consumers Association stated that manufacturers and distributors must earnestly assume the responsibility of the first person responsible for product quality and safety, and they must continuously improve the safety performance of electric bicycles and actively invest in battery technology innovation to reduce the risk of fire and explosion of electric bicycles, so as to protect consumers. Right to security. At the same time, property service operators are urged to actively build centralized parking places for electric bicycles and intelligent safe charging facilities with functions such as timing charging, automatic power off, and fault alarm, so as to solve the practical problems faced by consumers such as difficulty in charging and parking of electric bicycles.
Beijing Commercial Daily reporter Tao Feng Lu Yinling
Massive information, accurate interpretation, all in Sina Finance APP
Editor in charge: Li Tong
.