Electric bicycles are parked and charged indiscriminately, why is it difficult to return?

Mondo Cars Updated on 2024-02-27

In the early morning of February 23, a fire broke out in Building 6 of Mingshang Xiyuan, Yuhuatai District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, killing 15 people and injuring 44 others. There are 6 high-rise buildings in the community, each with 34 floors, and 8 or 6 households on each floor, and many residents rely on electric bicycles to travel, which is convenient but also buries potential safety hazards. According to the person in charge of the Nanjing Fire and Rescue Detachment, after preliminary analysis, the fire was caused by the parking of electric bicycles on the ground overhead floor of 6 buildings, and the specific cause is being further investigated.

While lamenting this tragedy, people are also reflecting on the problems of indiscriminate parking of electric bicycles and flying wire charging in the community. Statistics from the National Fire and Rescue Administration show that in 2023, a total of 2 electric bicycle fires will be reported nationwide10,000, an increase of 17 compared to 20224%;Eighty percent of these fires occur while charging, and 90 percent of fatal cases occur in hallways, hallways, and stairwells.

Why is the illegal parking of electric bicycles and the chaos of flying wire charging endless? And how to remediate? The reporter conducted an investigation and interview.

On February 24, the day after the "Nanjing 2.23 fire accident", the reporter of "Rule of Law**" visited many communities near Quanyechang, Chenyang Road and the East Third Ring Road of Beijing in Tianjin and saw that there were many illegal wires and illegal charging of electric bicycles. In addition to low-rise living outdoors, some middle and high-rise buildings also have flying wires hanging down.

On the balcony of the 4th floor of a 6-storey staircase house, a black wire more than 10 meters long stretched out from the window, and hung down to the letter box at the entrance of the building through the anti-theft windows on the third and second floors.

Could it be that only **maker** will pay attention to this issue?! A passing resident complained to reporters, saying that many residents hate this kind of flying wire charging behavior very much, and also know that there are potential safety hazards, but they have repeatedly reported the problem and have never been able to solve it.

According to the statistics of the National Fire and Rescue Administration, a total of 2 electric bicycle fires will be reported nationwide in 202310,000, an increase of 17 compared to 20224%;In 2022, it is up 234%。80% of e-bike fires occur while charging, more than half of them occur during charging at night, and 90% of e-bike homage cases occur in hallways, aisles and stairwells.

The interviewed experts pointed out that in recent years, the number of electric bicycles has increased compared with express delivery, and illegal parking and charging are important reasons. It is recommended to reasonably delineate the parking range and balance the traffic order and the people's demands for convenient parking; Take the first guide method to charge for free or preferential charging in the special electric vehicle parking and charging area; Investigate and deal with flying wire charging and other behaviors in a timely manner; property service companies strengthen corresponding management; Consumers should also choose regular and well-known e-bike brands and accessories to reduce fire hazards.

Parking spaces are scarce and often occupied.

It is difficult to store and charge electric vehicles.

In an old community in Tianjin, the reporter saw that there were also wires hanging out of the wall near the inner road to charge the electric bicycles parked here. And there are three or four such charging electric bicycles on only one road in the community, and there are pedestrians passing by from time to time.

Some of the sockets used for flying cable charging are very old, and some interfaces are even directly tied with adhesive tape. Because of the recent snowfall, many of the exposed plugs have water marks on them, which looks very dangerous.

In addition, some residents will push their e-bikes into the public space on the first floor of the building to charge, and some residents will push their e-bikes upstairs through the elevator to charge them in the corridor.

From February 24th to 26th, the reporter visited Beijing and Tianjin, and interviewed residents in Shandong, Anhui and Shanghai online and found that the illegal parking of electric bicycles was also serious. Unless it is a community that completely separates people and vehicles, most of the buildings in the community have electric bicycles parked in the corridors, and the largest buildings have 11 parking in the hall on the first floor, and there are only a few buildings in some communities where electric bicycles are not parked in the corridors. There is obviously a vacant space next to the unit building in some communities where you can park, but some car owners park their cars at the door of the unit building for convenience, affecting the entry and exit of residents. There are also electric bicycles in the community illegally parked on the fire escape.

The reporter observed that although some electric bicycles were not parked in the corridor, they were parked in the overhead layer of the building (referring to the open space layer with only structural support and no enclosure structure), and there were no fire protection measures.

Enhance the awareness of safe electricity ......Disconnect the power supply in time before going out, do not overload the electricity, and do not fly the electric bicycle to charge. At 15 o'clock on February 24, at the entrance of a small community near Tianjin Railway Station, the reporter saw a "resident safety notice" posted on the bulletin board, and a poster was also posted next to it. However, when he walked into the community, the reporter saw a resident skillfully putting away the power strip that stretched from the inside of the house to the outside of the house to charge the electric bicycle.

Why do you charge an e-bike like this? ”

In the face of the reporter's inquiry, the resident explained that there is no charging station in the community where he lives, and in recent years, he has been charging electric bicycles in this way. The low floor where I live is fine, and the high floor is not good to pull the line, so I can only take the battery down and take it home to charge.

The reporter visited and found that even if there is a place to store and charge cars in the community, some electric bicycles will not return to their places "honestly".

On February 26, in Hedong District, Tianjin, the reporter saw that a carport that can be self-charging was installed in front of each building in a community, but there were still people parking electric bicycles in the corridor.

The carport is too small, there are charging here, there are parking here, there is no way to distinguish, after a few cars can be parked, the carport is full, and the rest of the people should still do what to do. A resident of the community told reporters why.

In a small area of Heping District, Tianjin, the reporter noticed that although there is an underground storage place in the community, it cannot be charged, and there is only one charging cabinet in the whole community, a total of 9 charging boxes, of which 3 are broken.

Ms. Zong, who lives in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province, told reporters that some neighbors illegally parked and charged electric bicycles in the community to "save money".

There are a lot of electric bicycle charging piles outside our community, but compared to the number of electric bicycles owned by residents in small areas, the charging piles are still too few, and some charging piles have always been bad, because there is no special person to take care of them, and there is a risk of theft when charging electric bicycles in charging piles. Ms. Zong said that the most important reason may be that it generally costs three or four yuan to charge at the charging pile, but it may only cost one or two yuan to charge at home. Because e-bikes often have to be charged, you can save a lot of money in the long run.

In addition, the reporter noticed that because there is a special person to manage the parking place of the community fee, there is no random parking, etc., and the situation of the public free carport in the community is not satisfactory. In many communities, the parking shed is occupied by a large amount of debris, which is covered with thick dust. A community doorman told reporters that some tenants couldn't pull away the furniture when they moved out of the community, so they threw the furniture next to the parking shed, and no one cleaned it up for a long time.

Property management is not yet in place.

Lack of safety awareness among residents.

According to the Ministry of Public Security's "Notice on Regulating the Parking and Charging of Electric Vehicles and Strengthening Fire Prevention", for the illegal parking and charging of electric bicycles in residential areas, if there is a property, it will be managed by the property company; If there is no property, it shall be managed by the competent unit, the villagers' committee or the residents' committee. In addition, it is also clearly required that the management party "should stop and organize a clean-up" when it finds problems, and "if it refuses to clean up, it must report to the public security organ, fire department or police station." ”

In the "Regulations on Fire Safety Management of High-rise Civil Buildings" issued by the Ministry of Emergency Management, punishment clauses have been formulated for electric bicycles entering elevators and charging upstairs: parking electric bicycles or charging electric bicycles in the public foyers, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings shall be ordered by the fire and rescue agencies to make corrections, and business units and individuals who refuse to make corrections may be fined up to 10,000 yuan, and non-business units and individuals may be fined up to 1,000 yuan; Various localities have also responded, and regulations have been issued to strictly prohibit electric vehicles from entering the building to park and charge, and strictly prohibit flying wire charging.

Who cares, how to manage, the relevant documents have clear and detailed regulations, why do there still exist a large number of illegal parking of electric bicycles in the community, flying wire charging, etc.? The reporter found some clues during the multi-day on-site investigation.

At 19:30 on February 25, in an apartment near Chenglin Road in Tianjin, the reporter saw a resident pushing an electric bicycle out of the elevator.

In the view of a property manager in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the phenomenon of indiscriminate parking and charging of electric bicycles is difficult to return and difficult to solve in a short period of time. "Many residents are reluctant to charge at the charging pile, first, it is too troublesome, and it takes some distance to walk to the charging pile; Second, we are accustomed to charging at home, many years ago there was no concept of charging piles, everyone charged at home, and the multi-storey elevator room provided convenience for charging at home; The third is to 'save money', the community charging pile is charged per time, in contrast, pushing the electric car to the building to charge, or carrying the battery home to charge is less expensive. ”

Compared with the huge number of electric bicycles, safety accidents may be a small probability event, so some people think that it will not happen to them, but once it does, it is very important and very dangerous. The management of electric bicycles is also very troublesome, some residents pull out the line when charging, and take it back immediately after charging, and we are caught saying a few words verbally, and they will still charge like this next time. It's too tightly managed, it's annoying. The above-mentioned property manager said.

According to Dai Xianfeng, senior partner of Beijing Yingke Law Firm and vice president of the Legal Work Committee of China Communications and Transportation Association, electric bicycles, as a convenient means of travel, have a huge base of users, and the ensuing demand for parking and charging in the community is huge. When planning and construction, some communities did not provide reasonable parking and charging facilities for electric bicycles, nor were they equipped with qualified fire protection facilities, which could not meet the needs of car owners, and also caused dissatisfaction and resistance of car owners.

There are also some community property companies and neighborhood committees that do not have the management in place, do not effectively supervise and discourage the violations of electric bicycles, and do not clean up and rectify the parking places of electric bicycles in a timely manner, resulting in long-term problems. In addition, some electric bicycle owners lack safety awareness and the concept of the rule of law, do not comply with relevant regulations, park electric bicycles indiscriminately, pull wires privately, enter buildings and homes, etc., increasing the risk of fire and traffic accidents. Dai Xianfeng said.

Chen Xiaomei, a lawyer at Beijing Yinghe (Guangzhou) Law Firm, believes that many factors, such as insufficient fire safety education and safety knowledge publicity, insufficient awareness of residents' home electricity safety, imperfect sales standards and channel control mechanisms for electric bicycles, and the problem of "three nos" products and privately modified electric bicycles, are the reasons for the random parking and charging of electric bicycles.

Strengthen supervision and severely punish violations.

Optimize technical incentive guidance.

Is it possible to park e-bikes on the overhead level of a residential building?

Zheng Xiang, a professor at the Law School of Beijing Jiaotong University, said that according to the law, it is forbidden to park or charge electric bicycles in the public foyers, evacuation walkways, stairwells, and safety exits of high-rise civil buildings, and it is not forbidden to park electric bicycles in the overhead layer. And from a practical point of view, one of the design purposes of the overhead layer is to facilitate parking services.

It should be noted that the law stipulates that if the e-bike parking point really needs to be placed in the building, it needs to be separated from the rest of the building by fire protection, and should be equipped with the necessary fire-fighting equipment, and the charging facilities should be full of automatic power-off function. When there is a public foyer, evacuation walkway, stairwell, and safety exit on the overhead floor of the building, it is forbidden to park or charge electric bicycles here, and the place where electric bicycles are stored and charged in a centralized manner should not be set up in the overhead layer of the building. Zheng Xiang said.

If an accident is caused by illegal parking or charging of an electric bicycle, who should be responsible?

Zhao Zhonghua, executive director of the real estate business center of Beijing Yinghe Law Firm, said that in the fire accident of electric bicycles, the owners, users and managers of electric bicycles must compensate for the losses, and the relevant agencies can also impose administrative penalties on those responsible in accordance with regulations. Nowadays, many communities will explicitly prohibit electric bicycles from parking in the corridor for charging, and will also publicize the possible harm caused by electric bicycles parked indoors. Therefore, the owner of the e-bike should foresee the possible harm caused by its storage in the corridor and other indoor buildings, and if he still insists on parking, he may be criminally liable for the consequences of the e-bike fire.

For the property management service company, if the electric bicycle fire** causes damage to other owners or a fire accident occurs due to other reasons, and the property management service company fails to fulfill the corresponding management and reminder obligations, it shall bear the supplementary liability of civil liability. According to the regulations, property service companies should discourage or report the occupation of electric bicycles, blocking the passage and other behaviors that may cause fire safety accidents, otherwise the relevant authorities can impose fines on them. In addition, the community residents' committee has the obligation to timely inspect, strengthen publicity and education, and assist in fighting fires for indoor parking, charging and other potential safety hazards of electric bicycles. Zhao Zhonghua said.

How to rectify the problem of indiscriminate parking and illegal charging of electric bicycles in the community, and reduce and eliminate the occurrence of related accidents? Zheng Xiang said that this is a comprehensive governance problem, first of all, we should reasonably delineate the parking range, balance the traffic order and the people's demand for convenient parking. Specific e-bike parking and charging locations can be installed between high-rise buildings in the community, and corresponding fire-fighting facilities can be equipped.

It can be guided in the form of ** guidance, such as free or discounted charging in the special e-bike parking and charging area. If it is cheaper than charging at home, residents will be more willing to park their cars in a dedicated location. The related costs can be borne by the manufacturers of electric bicycles, and the manufacturers can consider converting the advertising costs into electricity subsidies, or they can rent the space in the specific parking area as advertising space, and subsidize the difference in electricity bills with advertising costs. Zheng Xiang said that appropriate interest incentives can achieve the purpose of standardized management better than blind punishment.

He proposed that it should be noted that in practice, property companies are often nervous, and it is difficult to clean up the electric bicycles parked in the community in a timely manner, so relevant technical means can be considered, such as many sharing bicycles are currently set up with electronic fences, and the car can not be locked if it is not parked in the designated parking space, and similar electronic fence technology can be considered on electric bicycles, and relevant facilities are installed by the production enterprises. Some communities have installed monitoring equipment in the elevator, and once the electric bicycle is found to advance the elevator, the elevator cannot be closed. The use of technical means can save manpower and management costs, and reduce the direct conflict between the property company and the owner.

In addition to external reasons, the hidden dangers of the electric bicycle itself should also be paid attention to. In order to effectively strengthen the safety supervision of the whole chain of electric bicycles and reduce the safety accidents caused by electric bicycles, in 2022, the National Safety Committee issued a notice on the "Key Tasks and Division of Labor Plan for Strengthening the Safety Supervision of the Whole Chain of Electric Bicycles", which requires strengthening the safety and quality of the source link of electric bicycle production. further accelerate the formulation of mandatory national standards for key core components such as lithium-ion batteries and chargers; Research and formulate industrial policies related to electric bicycles and batteries, and increase relevant regulations related to strengthening product quality and safety and improving the safety level of the source.

Chen Xiaomei suggested that consumers should choose formal and well-known electric bicycle brands and accessories to reduce fire hazards; Relevant departments should strengthen the supervision and inspection of the sales of electric bicycles, and severely crack down on unqualified or unknown electric bicycles to prevent them from entering the market.

In Zheng Xiang's view, it is necessary to improve residents' awareness of the rule of law and clarify the consequences of their actions. "On the one hand, it is necessary to vigorously publicize the necessity and importance of residents to standardize parking and charging of electric bicycles, and realize that maintaining fire safety is their legal obligation. On the other hand, it is necessary to strictly enforce the law, strictly punish the behavior of non-standard parking and charging, clarify the law enforcement basis and law enforcement standards, standardize law enforcement behavior, strengthen the training of property service personnel and their related management personnel, etc., and jointly protect the personal and property safety of the people. (Rule of law**).

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