Since December 1st, China has introduced new, stricter regulations to improve the safety and quality of e-bikes, particularly their batteries. With more than 350 million e-bikes, the country has the world’s largest fleet.

The stricter safety requirements govern battery safety and are intended to prevent illegal modifications that could reduce the risk of fire. The new measure is very drastic, as China has also officially banned the sales of all e-bikes built according to the older national standard.

GB 17761-2024

The new, much stricter rule, known as GB 17761-2024, ensures that every e-bike sold in China from December 1st onward must have a valid CCC certification (China Compulsory Certification) in accordance with this brand-new standard. Older certificates are now invalid, and retailers caught selling non-compliant bikes will face enforcement action from local regulators.

The purpose of tightening the standards is to reduce the risk of accidents and fires, which were a growing problem due to unsafe or modified models.

Stricter standards

Among the most critical changes and tightening of standards are mandatory safety tests, such as a thermal runaway test (ensuring that a single defective cell does not cause the entire battery to catch fire), to reduce the risk of smoke, fire, and explosions.

From now on, there must also be a communication function between the battery and the charger before the charging process begins. Batteries and chargers must now also have a separate 3C certification, which improves quality control on essential components.

Finally, there are also requirements for an alarm system in the event of abnormal temperature, and a limit has been set on the use of non-fire-resistant plastics (e.g., no more than 5.5% of the bicycle’s weight), which improves the construction’s fire resistance.

However, Chinese owners of older e-bike models should not worry immediately. E-bikes that have already been purchased and registered under the old rules will not be forced off the road. But companies are forced to provide repairs and spare parts for at least the next five years. And unregistered ‘old standard’ bikes must already be formally registered; otherwise, they are no longer legal to use.

An example for the EU?

It is remarkable in every way that China, often labeled a country that excels at producing cheap, lower-quality versions of European or American successes, is tightening its e-bike safety standards. This is particularly noteworthy because it imposes stricter production standards and testing requirements on manufacturers than those applicable in the EU and the US.

But in China, which produces around 45.5 million e-bikes annually, fire incidents caused by e-bike batteries are reported daily, especially in urban areas. These mainly involve lithium-ion batteries, which can go into thermal runaway – a chain reaction that causes them to overheat and catch fire.

The most common causes are uncertified or cheap batteries, faulty chargers, or charging in a small, poorly ventilated space or at high temperatures. In addition, many users make illegal modifications to their e-bikes, such as replacing the motor controller or upgrading the battery, to achieve higher speeds. This can lead to battery overloading and overheating, drastically increasing the risk of thermal runaway.

As China is the world’s largest producer and exporter of e-bikes, this strict new standard also has implications beyond the country’s borders. Manufacturers producing for the Chinese market will have to upgrade their production processes and components, especially batteries.

These higher-quality and safety standards are also likely to be reflected in their export models, raising the global safety standard for e-bikes.

According to figures from 2021, China is the second-largest supplier of e-bikes in the European market, after Taiwan. However, the share of Chinese e-bikes in total EU imports remains relatively limited: in 2022, approximately 8% of e-bikes imported into the EU came from China.

The EU has also imposed tariffs on e-bikes and parts from China to prevent them from being ‘dumped’ here at extremely low prices, which would harm European manufacturers.

The EU has the EN 15194 standard for e-bike batteries, but it is less specific about modern hazards, such as battery thermal runaway, than the new Chinese standard. The sector is calling for a supplementary or revised standard that incorporates comparable, stringent safety tests, such as those in China, directly into the e-bike product standard.