Two wheels will do: Traditional bikes, motorcycles and electronic bikes or e-bikes continue to be a favorite mode of transportation in China. (Photo : Getty Image)
Electric-powered bicycles, beginning this week, are banned in 10 major roads in the capital city following new regulations from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, according to The Strait Times.
Some of the places where e-bikes can no longer ply include roads around Tiananmen Square and the extended Chang'an Avenue.
The ban aims to ease traffic and reinforce road safety as the 10 roads specified by BTMB suffer from heavy traffic, often has no bicycle lanes and are considered accident-prone areas.
Statistics from the bureau indicated that in 2015, e-bikes caused the death of 113 people and 31,404 traffic accidents, which resulted in 21,423 injured people.
Same as last year, 114 people died in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, because of events involving e-bikes.
In Shenzhen, electric bikes that failed to meet certain requirements set by the local government have been banned since April 1, according to China News Service.
Quartz reported in 2013 that “an estimated 90 percent of the world’s e-bikes” are sold in the country, and in that year, 200 million units were sold.
The government promotes e-bikes that use lithium batteries and wants them to replace those that run on lead acid batteries, according to Bike Europe.
If lead-acid e-bikes will be phased out, it is probable that 10 million units of lithium batteries will be sold by 2019.
The Chinese Bicycle Association wants that more pedal-assist electric bikes, also called pedelecs, will be manufactured in the country, according to Electric Bike Report.
Qiu Baoxing, the former vice minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that the country needs more electric bikes more than electric cars, according to China Daily.
Qiu also said that the government should take note of the fact that sales of e-bikes in the country are higher than that of electric cars.
Electronics giant Xiaomi invested in iRiding, a startup that will introduce QiCycle R1, a $3,000-dollar “smart bike,” reported Tech in Asia on March 16.
