An electric scooter at a Wal-Mart in Shenzhen. — Bloomberg
HONG KONG: Chinese riders are souping up their electric scooters, helping to grow one of the most successful corners of battery-powered transportation.
Electric two-wheelers sold by companies like Niu Technologies have proved to be incredibly well-received in China’s megacities by delivery riders and commuters who need to bypass traffic and travel short distances in little time.
Their popularity has endured despite a 2019 move by the government to force manufacturers to cap speeds at 25kph.
Riders and sellers have fought back by hacking software and taking online tutorials that allow them to bypass the controls, enabling some advanced models to hit speeds of 50kph or more.
“Everybody does it,” said Zhao, a 25-year-old rider, who asked not to be identified by his full name since the practice is against government rules.
He asked a salesman to remove the controls before he even rode his new scooter off the lot last summer. “If you don’t do it, you will be the slowest on the road,” he said.
Enthusiasts like Zhao have helped the electric scooter market to boom in China.
Sales have grown from about 20 million in 2015 to 30 million last year, according to BloombergNEF, and the fleet of electric two-wheelers already outnumbers fuel-burning models.
China is expected to account for 97% of all electric two-wheeler sales this year.
No data exists on speed-hacking, but analysts and riders say it happens for the majority of scooters sold.
The practice is especially prevalent for the delivery riders who are the lifeblood of major Chinese cities and need the extra speed to beat delivery time limits set by their platforms, said Siyi Mi, a BNEF analyst.
Tutorials to get around the speed limits can easily be found on social media platforms such as Douyin and Little Red Book, China’s versions of TikTok and Instagram.
Buyers and sellers will explain how to approach retailers about hacking the software, and how to cut a wire under the seat to turn off a government-required alarm that begins sounding when scooters surpass 25kph.
The speed regulation was prompted by public safety concerns, including that delivery riders often swerve back and forth between sidewalks, bike lanes and the road in order to avoid traffic.
Information about enforcement has been limited, but three retailers in Zhejiang were fined 5,000 yuan (around RM3,300) each for offering illegal adjustments, and scooter owners that accepted them were also punished, according to NetEase News.
China’s two-wheeler market will probably plateau in sales this year or next, according to BNEF.
While there will always be a niche among delivery riders, many Chinese are expected to graduate to the comfort of a four-wheeler as the economy continues to grow.
The electric scooter market is expected to shift, with India and South-East Asia becoming the major growth regions.
