E-bike safety checks in city

SHANGHAI has launched targeted safety inspections of e-bikes in residential areas, according to a notice issued at the weekend.

The notice is in response to a fire in a residential building in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on Friday which led to 15 deaths. The fire started on a level where e-bikes were parked, according to media reports.

A similar accident happened in Beijing on Sunday, when a parking shed for ebikes caught fire after what was considered an electric battery failure.

The city’s inspections will be in operation until March 31, the Shanghai Property

Management Affairs Center announced on Saturday, while sporadic fires were still reported in the city.

According to the notice, property managers should carry out daily inspections of fire extinguishers, emergency passages, evacuation channels, safety exits, and security cameras in parking areas while prohibiting the occupation of shared aisles, stairwells, safety exits, and other public areas.

No one is allowed to live in garages and there should also be no unauthorized wires, no flammable, explosive, toxic, or hazardous goods in the garage, and no unauthorized occupation of public underground spaces. The frequency of patrol inspections should also be increased.

“Property managers of residential areas should strictly fulfill their daily self-inspection duties,” said Xu Jianfu, director of the center.

As of 2022, China’s e-bike ownership had reached 350 million. One in every four Chinese has an e-bike, according to the China Bicycle Association. By last year, about 12,500 residential districts had been equipped with charging facilities, according to housing authorities.

The popularity of e-bikes and frequent accidents pose new challenges to the safety of residential neighborhoods in Shanghai.