Electric bike will ride back to the era?

After three years, the four ministries reiterated their efforts to rectify the electric bicycle industry. The introduction of the old standard 12 years ago has led to controversy. Most electric bicycles have been labelled “exceeding”. Is it self-correcting according to the old standard or is it illegal operation until the standard revision? The entire electric bicycle industry faces life and death choices.

Recalling the old standard 12 years ago, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the four ministries and commissions of the State Administration of Quality Supervision jointly issued the "Circular on Strengthening the Management of Electric Bicycles", requesting the rectification of the current electric bicycle industry, and eliminating the use of "excessive time" within the time limit. "The car has attracted widespread attention from electric bicycle companies, consumers and related industries.

The so-called "excessive standards" are actually based on the "General Technical Conditions for Electric Bicycles" formulated by the National Standards Committee in 1999. This industry standard document, known as the national standard for electric bicycles, sets the pass line for electric bicycles to a speed of no more than 20 kilometers per hour and a vehicle mass (weight) of no more than 40 kilograms. According to regulations, all vehicles that fail to meet this standard are vehicles that exceed the standard. Production, sales, and access are prohibited, and illegal companies will be punished by suspension of business rectification, cancellation of production license qualifications, and cancellation of business licenses.

In the ensuing period, this technical standard has not been strictly enforced, and the state and society have paid limited attention to the development of the electric bicycle industry. Until October 2009, “Electric Moses New National Standard” was brewed and introduced, and its technical indicators were seamlessly linked to electric bicycles. Starting from “20 kilometers and 40 kilograms”, the products belonging to bicycles were allocated to the scope of motorcycles. As soon as the news came out, it caused great concern in the electric bicycle industry. Many people believe that once the new standard is implemented, more than 90% of electric bicycle owners must pass a series of procedures such as driving licenses, licensing, and buying insurance to ride on the road. This will be a fatal blow to the electric bicycle industry. In response to the controversy and industry appeals of the entire society, the relevant authorities urgently called off the “new national standard for electric vehicles and motorcycles”, and the electric bicycle-related associations decided to expedite the revision of the national standard in their own industries.

However, the "crisis" of the electric bicycle industry has not been resolved. In the notice of rectification issued by the four ministries and commissions, the "20-kilometer and 40-kilogram" standard was explicitly requested. "The electric bicycle that is currently in use in the hands of the common people, the public security, industrial informatization, industry and commerce, quality supervision departments, With the principle of smooth transition, people should be encouraged to take the initiative to replace and scrap through trade-in trades, discounted purchases, and scrapped subsidies.” The “Notice” also requires all local governments to set a transition period for excessive electric bicycles and to eliminate vehicles that exceed the standard deadline.

Although the "Notice" has been issued so far, no substantive rectification measures have yet been introduced, but the Shenzhen Traffic Management Department has implemented the "Power Elimination Order" since the day before, stipulating that except for some streets, electric bicycles in other areas will be banned, and those who violate the regulations will be prohibited. Yuan fine. Some people in the industry believe that Shenzhen’s first “ban on electricity” means that the government has begun to use realism. “The re-raisement of the national standard will not be as insignificant as it was in 2009, so the industry will certainly face a real reshuffle.”

Frequent problems need to be urgently upgraded. In fact, with the rapid development of the domestic electric vehicle industry, industry problems have become increasingly prominent in recent years. Data show that in 2010, a total of 81.598 million bicycles were produced in the country, an increase of 7.3% year-on-year; and electric bicycles were 29.543 million. , a year-on-year increase of 24.7%. Some experts said that the growth rate of the electric bicycle industry far exceeds that of bicycles, and that in the coming development, more and more people will also swallow the bicycle consumer market. In addition, the motorcycle market is inevitably threatened by electric bicycles, but Electric bicycles have not yet fully emerged from the track of low-quality development and expansion. There are still many development problems that are unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable.

Xing Jiyu, director of the Tianjin Bicycle Industry Productivity Promotion Center, said that many electric bicycle companies have blindly expanded their production capacity. Take Tianjin as an example. In 2010, the production and sales of electric bicycles soared to 13.43 million units, a net increase of 5.15 million over 2009. Vehicles, an increase of 62%. “The momentum of this expansion is a manifestation of the competition in the electric vehicle industry across the country in this competition, but it is difficult to continue to develop with the expansion of production capacity.” Previously held in North China in 2011 At the International Bicycle Electric Vehicles Exhibition, the reporter also found that most of the various electric bicycles exhibited by more than 500 companies from home and abroad are very similar in appearance and performance. Xing Jiyun disclosed that due to the homogenization of electric vehicle products flooding the market, as the company's production capacity continues to expand, the amount of market launches has gradually increased, leading to increased market competition and triggering price wars. In order to survive, companies can only sacrifice the quality of their products and the reputation of the brand, and develop a large number of low-quality products and plunged into the price war vortex.

In fact, the competitive pattern of low quality and homogenization of electric bicycles has seriously hampered the sustainable development of the industry and the improvement of the technological level. Data shows that in 2010, the domestic electric vehicle export volume was only 580,000 units, and tens of millions of huge production capacity can only rely on a single domestic market. A large number of electric vehicle products simply cannot go abroad.

In addition, Hu Gang, vice president of Jiangsu Xinri Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., also said in an interview with this reporter that the requirements of electric bicycle companies for land, factories, etc. are not strict, so the investment is not too large, millions or even several One hundred thousand can have a production line, its main competitiveness lies in marketing and market, so it also leads to a large number of SMEs in the industry, development disorder.

From a safety point of view, electric bicycles have often become road killers in recent years. Huang Xiaodong, deputy director of the National Electric Bicycle Quality Inspection Center, revealed earlier during a media interview that in 2009 alone, the number of deaths caused by electric vehicle accidents reached more than 3,600, an increase of about 6 times compared to 2004, and the use of motorized lanes for electric bicycles, Red light and other phenomena are serious. In the long run, the classification and management of the electric bicycle industry in China is a general trend.

The rectification initiative has attracted all parties' controversy. Since the industry unanimously believes that the realization of industrial upgrading and the introduction of a unified standard is an imminent issue, why did the four ministries and commissions join forces to regulate the industry?

The words of Ni Jie, Chairman of Luyuan Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., pointed out the troubles of the company: “In 1999, the annual output of electric bicycles in the country was only 50,000 vehicles, and the technology was not yet mature. Now we continue to implement the standards of that time. From a speed or weight point of view, it must have failed to keep up with the development of the industry."

“Electric bicycles in our store are almost 35 kilometers per hour.” The staff of a branded electric bicycle sales shop in the half-way shop in Tongzhou District told reporters that the top speed of an electric bicycle that looks like a bicycle is about 35 kilometers per hour, and the motorcycle looks like The average speed of electric bicycles is more than 35 kilometers per hour, and some can reach 80 kilometers per hour. "Different speeds can meet the needs of different customers, but almost no one buys electric bicycles that are under 20 kilometers per hour. We don't have such electric bicycles in our stores," the source said. Another brand of electric bicycle manufacturers even used "speed up to 35 km/h" as the selling point in advertisements, which is far from the speed limit of 20 km/h in the national standard.

Judging from the current situation, excessive production of manufacturers has become the norm, and speed competition has become the main means of competition in the enterprise market. Therefore, most of the products currently sold on the market and consumed by consumers are super vehicles.

Another practitioner pointed out to reporters that, from a technical point of view, the upper limit of the speed of an electric bicycle is designed to be 20 kilometers per hour, and when the speed reaches the upper limit of braking, the voltage will be reduced to a speed of only 16 kilometers per hour. If you consider the brakes and starting, the average speed of the entire journey is likely to be only 12 kilometers per hour. In his opinion, the speed of urbanization has accelerated in recent years, and consumers' distance to work has been increasing. In the whole country, no matter the city or the rural area, the road condition has also been greatly improved compared with 12 years ago. The purpose of cleaning up the standards is not only to improve the driving efficiency. If you limit the speed of 20 kilometers, it will be tantamount to riding a bicycle. The weight of an electric bike is usually mainly from the following parts: battery 20 kg, motor 7 kg, frame 15 kg. In addition to the above basic equipment, the installation of pedals, baskets, etc. has not been exceeded.

Zhou Heliang, deputy chairman of the Asian Electric Vehicle Association and executive member of the Asia-Pacific Electric Vehicle, also admitted that the standards that the four ministries are required to implement are already out of date. Such a one-size-fits-all standard is not conducive to the development of the entire industry.

Electric bicycles have reached the crossroads in controversy, and companies generally reflect the choices they face at the crossroads. Is it possible to rectify the old standard as soon as possible to avoid increasing the output to become a waste, or continue to work on it, and wait for the standard revision?

An insider told the reporter that for the production companies, if the strict implementation of the 1999 standard, the company's existing production line may face overwhelming doom, the reconstruction of production lines in line with "standard" products will become the top priority; and when the electric The function of bicycles will be greatly reduced, and sales will also be affected. The shrinking market space will be the face of the entire industry. In particular, many SMEs may be eliminated in this round of changes.

Hu Gang emphasized that the short-term negative effects of the re-implementation of the national standard are mainly that July, August and September are peak sales seasons for electric bicycles and account for 40% of the annual sales volume. Many large orders are signed at this stage. At this time, the implementation of the order, making many consumers wait and see attitude, postponed the purchase plan, so that the company sales decline.

In addition, some downstream industries are also unable to escape the fate of shocks, and the “what to do” of the express delivery industry that uses electric bicycles as the main means of transportation has become a topic of widespread concern recently. "If I don't use electric bicycles, I really don't think there are other better ways to distribute them." The person in charge of the express delivery industry expressed to the media without anxiety. Jingdong Mall Chairman and CEO Liu Qiang Dong also expressed through Weibo that restrictions on electric bikes have caused the company’s operating costs to soar by 40%.

Therefore, many electric bike manufacturers call on the country to introduce new standards as soon as possible so that they can directly produce according to the new standards. In this regard, Zhou Heliang believes that there is no direct relationship between body weight and safety, so it is not necessary to make very clear requirements on the weight of the vehicle body. For speed limits, it should be divided into three different restrictions according to different areas of use, Beijing, The maximum speed of a large city like Shanghai can be 20 kilometers, 30 kilometers in small and medium-sized cities, and 40 kilometers in suburbs.

Hu Gang stated that he hopes that domestic standards can be aligned with the United States. At the same time, he also stated that he hopes to improve the access standards of electric bicycles and implement them according to the standards of electric motorcycles to ensure the overall strength of the companies in the industry. According to the provisions of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, enterprises that obtain motorcycle licenses must meet the total project investment of no less than 200 million yuan, fixed asset investment no less than 80 million yuan, investment in research and development equipment no less than 20 million yuan, registered capital no less than 80 million yuan.

While the electric bicycle industry has no idea where to go, EMS, SF Express, and other courier companies are planning to purchase small vans instead of electric bicycles in response to restrictions on electric bicycles, but they also reluctantly stated that small vans are not only less convenient than electric bicycles. Faster and more expensive.