New national standards on e-bikes to be out soon

Yao also pointed out the underlying reasons why some local governments and traffic police bureau are not active in assisting the development of these new environmentally vehicles, although accidents caused by the e-bikes are substantially lower than automobiles because some administrators consider the e-bikes industry does not bring them many benefits.

Electric bikes on the mainland are still under the same classification as bicycles and riders do not need to get licenses or buy insurance for their vehicles, which, however, is mandatory for motorcycles.

Du Jianping, president of Yadea Technology Group, said the electric vehicle industry, which was developed completely on self-reliance without any assistance, should receive government support especially when the products are favored by local residents on the mainland.

"At least, accidents related to electric bikes de facto reflect management problems from certain government departments, which should not be attributed to the manufacturers that produce the vehicles with solid quality," said Du.

But in reality, a majority of electric vehicles on the roads are now being operated as e-bikes but perform like a motorcycle, which is the reason why some departments on the mainland are not really fond of the vehicle, according to Alex Yeung, a Hong Kong-based analyst from Kim Eng Securities.

The Shenzhen traffic police bureau said earlier that over 80 percent of the e-bikes in the city do not comply with the current national standard - which run up to 40 km/h or even 50 km/h and exceeds the cap of 20 km/h in the national standards.

"The electric bikes market in China is tremendously huge, especially in the second and third-tier cities. The safety of riding vehicles are deemed to be enhanced to meet the requirements of the traffic police bureau, which is also good for the whole sector's outlook in the country," Yeung told China Daily in a telephone interview.

litao@chinadailyhk.com