CCTV 315 Gala | Exposes Surging Rental E-Bikes, Names Hellobike and Other Rental E-Bikes Violating New National Standards

On March 15, according to CCTV Finance, it was reported that “the speed can be increased to 40 to 50, 50 to 60 km/h.” The latest national “Electric Bicycle Safety Technical Specification” implemented in 2025 clearly states that the maximum design speed should not exceed 25 km/h, the battery pack label value should not exceed 48 volts, and the motor’s output power should be less than or equal to 400 watts. According to data from the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security, traffic accidents caused by electric bicycles account for about 10% of urban road traffic accidents. One of the main reasons is that electric bicycles illegally bypass speed limits and drive at excessive speeds. In live broadcasts, facing many consumers, e-commerce hosts openly promote their non-compliant, over-standard electric bicycles, and these illegal bikes can be rented freely. A reporter rented a vehicle from an electric bike rental shop and experienced extreme speeding, with a tested speed of up to 80 km/h.

During the investigation, the reporter found that not only do local individual rental shops violate national standards, but some well-known chain brands also have this issue. Hello Bike, a leading brand in the electric bike rental industry, states on its official website that it has established over 5,000 stores in more than 100 cities nationwide. The reporter visited a Hello Bike offline store for investigation. Staff at the store said that their electric bikes can reach speeds of up to 75 km/h.

The reporter contacted the provincial franchise manager, Manager Mi, under the guise of joining. Manager Mi revealed in detail that even before the new national standards were implemented, some electric bike channel distributors had already applied for license plates for a large number of unproduced electric bikes using their certificates of conformity. When customers needed these bikes, they would have the manufacturers produce bikes according to the standards before the new national standards. These newly produced electric bikes naturally became old bikes before the new standards took effect, thus avoiding the “one vehicle, one pool, one charging code” mutual recognition and coordination mechanism introduced by the new standards. This made it easy to remove speed limits. The operation method of “Electric Donkey Brother” is even more direct. Manager Wang from the company clearly told the reporter that they uniformly supply stores with electric motorcycles, but the license plates are actually for electric bikes. These plates are bought directly, with as many as needed, and at low prices. (CCTV Finance)