Someused power batteries from new energy vehiclesenter the market for electric bicycles after disassembly and refurbishmentelectric bicycle market, and such batteries are commonly known in the industry as disassembly batteries orstair-step batteries.

Among all electric bicycle fires, about 33% of the vehicles that caught fire were due to illegal battery modifications. Among the batteries involved in modified-vehicle fires, about 80% of the cells came from used power batteries from new energy vehicles.

Article 22 of China’s “Interim Measures for the Administration of Recycling and Utilization of Used Power Batteries of New Energy Vehicles” clearly stipulates that used power batteries from new energy vehicles are prohibited from being directly or indirectly processed and used for electric bicycles.

In January 2024, Shanghai Huijian Regenerative Energy Co., Ltd. was recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a fifth batch of enterprises meeting the requirements of the “Industry Code Conditions for the Comprehensive Utilization of Used Power Batteries of New Energy Vehicles.” However, according to national laws and regulations, the used power batteries that the company reuses are explicitly prohibited from being used in electric bicycles. Yet the person in charge of this plant said that the used cells dismantled from new energy vehicles were mostly refurbished into batteries for electric bicycles. What they do is a violation-based buy-and-sell.

There are also companies on the market that only sell the cells dismantled from used power batteries of new energy vehicles to the market. These companies know that these cell products are strictly prohibited as raw materials for electric bicycle batteries, yet they still secretly produce and make huge profits.Shenzhen Zhongtou New Energy Co., Ltd. sells dismantled cells from electric vehicles, and the person in charge, Mr. Zhang, told reporters that their dismantled cells can be used on two-wheeled and three-wheeled electric vehicles.

Mr. Zhang from the company frankly said that doing this business and avoiding supervision is the top priority. Therefore, their warehouse and dismantling plant are not in the same place, and even different cell products are shipped from different warehouses.

Following Mr. Zhang, the reporter drove around the town, taking mountain roads and leaving the urban area. After driving for more than 20 kilometers, they arrived at the dismantling plant built in the mountains. To avoid supervision, the perimeter of the dismantling plant was deliberately covered with tents. Inside, it was a completely different scene: the ground was neatly stacked with a large number of used power batteries from new energy vehicles, and workers were performing layer-by-layer dismantling of the batteries. The plant was filled with the sounds of electric cutters and lathes. In this way, after undergoing a series of processes such as dismantling, separating, removing adhesive, and packaging, the used power batteries from new energy vehicles eventually became raw materials for ultra-standard lithium batteries for electric bicycles and entered the market.