E-bikes are seen at an event held by the Shenzhen E-bike Industry Promotion Association for the replacement of illegal e-bikes that failed the standards in Bao'an District on Monday. Courtesy of the interviewees

The Shenzhen E-bike Industry Promotion Association will launch an action citywide next week to encourage citizens to replace the illegal e-bikes that failed the standards by offering subsidies ranging from 200 yuan (US$29.6) to 800 yuan.

The replacements, to be held at more than 370 e-bike sales outlets across the city next week, have been piloted at eight subdistricts including Huaqiangbei, Huangbei, Yuehai and Shatoujiao. E-bike owners can apply for license plates for their new e-bikes.

The standards for e-bikes eligible for registration are: they must have a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour, weigh less than 55 kilograms and their motor power must be under 400 watts.

Starting from August, e-bikes that fail the new national standards, which have been in effect since April 2019, will not be allowed on the roads in Shenzhen. Since the new standards took effect, the city has provided over two years’ transitional period to phase out illegal e-bikes and introduced its registration and licensing measures to regulate e-bike use. Retailers and manufacturers are not allowed to sell and refit illegal e-bikes.

Shenzhen is crowded with e-bikes, which are convenient for short trips. However, these are also major sources of traffic accidents in the city. Data from the association showed that there are around 3.5 million e-bikes in the city, and many are illegal.

According to the association’s replacement plan, the e-bikers can choose to scrap their illegal ones or replace them with new ones through the subsides jointly offered by the sellers, manufacturers and recycling companies based on the motor powers of the old e-bikes.

Last week, Shenzhen traffic police started issuing licenses for e-bikes that meet national safety standards and have been registered at 95 service stations of Shenzhen Postal Service across the city. E-bike owners can also pick up their license plates and install them by themselves through the postal service.

Between Aug. 1 and Monday, police issued a total of 17,000 license plates to qualified e-bikes, according to data released by municipal traffic police bureau yesterday.

Lu Yangyang, chief of the bureau's vehicles management section for key industries, reminded e-bike owners to make reservations via the traffic police WeChat account in advance before they have license plates installed at the service stations.