CCTV News:In recent years, many four-wheeled vehicles have appeared around us unconsciously, which look like cars and are one size smaller than cars, and the words "old scooter" are often marked in the prominent position of the car body. Sometimes these cars run parallel to motor vehicles, and sometimes they drive on sidewalks and bicycle lanes, and they walk freely through the streets and alleys of the city.
△ At an intersection in Beijing, four-wheeled vehicles repeatedly violated regulations.
So what exactly is this four-wheeled vehicle? Why can you drive on the road so willfully?
The mystery of the life experience of "old scooter"
During the visit, the reporter found that there are still many places to distribute this kind of car in Beijing. This kind of car is actually a low-speed four-wheel electric vehicle. It first came into the public eye as an "old scooter" around 2012, and the "old scooter" evolved from an electric wheelchair with a speed basically controlled below 10 kilometers per hour and belonging to medical devices.
△ "Old scooter" evolved from electric wheelchair.
Around 2012, after continuous modification, the "old scooter" has been very close to ordinary motor vehicles, powered by electric energy, and the maximum speed can reach about 40 kilometers per hour.
In the past few days, the reporter visited a number of dealers and found that the sales of this kind of car in recent years are quite amazing. According to a first-class dealer of a certain brand, he sold 1,600 cars a year. When it was hot, he had to queue up to buy a car and sell one, but his sales were not the most.
According to rough statistics, in Beijing, there are at least ten primary dealers of a certain brand of electric vehicles with an annual sales volume of over 1,000 units, and there are several secondary distributors under each primary dealer; In addition to a few big brands of low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles, there are a large number of brand-name cars flooding the market. In recent years, low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles are growing at a high speed with an annual growth rate of tens of thousands in Beijing. The reason why it is still sold in the name of "old scooter" is that manufacturers and distributors have their own purposes.
You can drive without a license? The treatment of scooter is very "special"
Why can the so-called "old scooter" be sold so hot? The reporter consulted a number of dealers as buyers in Beijing, and all told reporters without exception: you can drive on the road without a license or a driver’s license! So is this the case? The reporter interviewed several car owners at random, and most car owners have not encountered inspection. A car owner who asked not to be named told reporters that if you want to buy a motor vehicle in Beijing, you must participate in the lottery, but you can’t shake it after several years, and finally you have no choice but to choose a low-speed four-wheel electric vehicle. In addition to not having to shake the license plate, car owners told reporters that the low cost of car use is also a major reason why they choose this kind of vehicle. First of all, the price of about 30,000 to 40,000 is close to the people. Secondly, the cost of running a hundred kilometers with full electricity is seven or eight yuan.
According to the Road Traffic Safety Law and relevant regulations of Beijing, this kind of vehicle is recognized as a motor vehicle in Beijing. In the past two years, the traffic control department of Beijing has also strictly investigated the illegal behavior of such vehicles on the road, but in fact, except for the core sections such as Chang’ an Street, such vehicles are still popular in the city.
In addition, in order to attract consumers, some dealers have also launched preferential activities to buy cars and send insurance. So what kind of insurance is this gift? China implements the compulsory motor vehicle third-party liability insurance system, in order to ensure the liability of the insured motor vehicle to compensate the victims for personal injury and property losses caused by road traffic accidents. The so-called third party liability insurance given by the dealer is not motor vehicle insurance, but actually a personal accident insurance, and once an accident occurs, the amount of compensation is very limited.
There are no national standards for industries with different policies in different places.
The reporter contacted a number of electric vehicle dealers in Beijing and conducted a test drive on a variety of low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles. It was found that the top speed of these electric vehicles can generally reach about 40 kilometers per hour. At present, the management standards for low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles are not uniform in different places. For example, in Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Sichuan and other places, such low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles can be licensed and can drive on the road, but in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, such vehicles are prohibited from illegally driving on the road.
In China, domestic automobiles are certified by Announcement of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products and China Compulsory Certification, that is, 3C certification. The public security traffic control department will take the Announcement of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Products regularly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as the basis for the registration of such vehicles. But at present, no low-speed four-wheel electric vehicle has passed these two certifications, that is to say, the country has not recognized it as a motor vehicle.
On the one hand, the speed of low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles far exceeds the national standard that the speed of "old scooter" is less than 10 kilometers per hour. On the other hand, low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles do not belong to the category of motor vehicles in theory. This means that the low-speed four-wheel electric vehicle is currently in the gray area between the "old scooter" and the motor vehicle.
The cottage Lamborghini only sells for 29 thousand
The reporter found through investigation that at present, most of these low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles on the market are produced in Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei and other places. Among them, Shandong Province, as the "birthplace" of low-speed electric vehicles, ranks first in the country in terms of industrial scale. According to the data released by Shandong Automobile Industry Association, the output of low-speed electric vehicles in Shandong Province reached 347,000 in 2015, and the market of low-speed electric vehicles in Shandong Province maintained rapid growth for four consecutive years from 2012 to 2015, with a year-on-year increase. What about the production and sales there?
Wucheng County, Dezhou City, located at the junction of Shandong and Hebei provinces, is famous for its automobile parts production. In recent years, Wucheng County has rapidly developed into the largest low-speed four-wheel electric vehicle manufacturing base in Shandong and even the whole country. On the grounds of talking about agency, the reporter contacted a manufacturer located in the old town of Wucheng County. From the county seat, less than 20 kilometers away, there are no fewer than 20 large and small electric vehicle manufacturers. Some manufacturers just sell cars in a facade room in front, and then set up a shed at the back to start making cars.
Subsequently, the reporter came to the factory contacted in advance. As soon as he entered the factory, he saw a forklift truck being busy loading and delivering goods. Two workers in the workshop were installing an electric car that looked like a Ford Carnival. In order to show their strength, the sales manager also showed reporters a new model they are developing, which looks like Lamborghini and costs only 29 thousand.
This low-speed electric car, which looks like a sports car, is a new product being developed by the manufacturer. The sales manager told the reporter that the car is currently in the debugging stage, and they can mass-produce it at any time if there is an order. For these manufacturers of low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles, batteries and other parts are ready-made, and the biggest research and development cost is the appearance of the vehicle.
The production of "old scooter" is made of unqualified iron.
In the workshops of many manufacturers visited by the reporter, there are all kinds of models such as Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ford Carnival, etc., and the car bodies made of iron sheets occupy the mainstream of the market. According to the reporter’s visual inspection, the thickness of these iron sheets used to wrap the car bodies is no more than 2 mm, and no safety test has been done.
The sales manager told the reporter that with the strength of their factory, it is not a problem to produce 20 cars a day. If the order quantity is large, they can also produce together with several small factories around them to ensure timely delivery. On the business license displayed by the manufacturer, the reporter found that this manufacturer does not have the relevant qualifications to produce four-wheeled electric vehicles. The reporter searched the registration data of dozens of electric vehicle enterprises in Wucheng County, including local first-class manufacturers such as Dexing, Weikerui and Xinaoyu, and found that the production and business scope of these automobile enterprises is only off-highway tourism sightseeing bus or indoor sightseeing bus, and does not include the R&D and production license of four-wheel electric vehicles. That is to say, these automobile enterprises all produce low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles with the qualification of producing sightseeing bus, and this phenomenon is also common in other parts of the country.
How to solve the chaos of the old scooter?
On July 29th this year, Shandong Province issued an urgent investigation notice for low-speed electric vehicles, and investigation teams composed of departments such as letter, quality inspection, public security, industry and commerce went to all parts of Shandong Province to investigate the production and sales of low-speed electric vehicles, so as to provide a basis for formulating management opinions on low-speed electric vehicles in Shandong Province in the next step. And where should the low-speed four-wheel electric vehicle go next?
Professor Shi Jing from Tsinghua University Transportation Research Institute said that relevant departments should make more efforts in management instead of simply banning it. He believes that to solve the management problem of low-speed four-wheel electric vehicles, one is to solve its safety problem, that is, to reduce the speed, and the other is to solve the order problem, which can be managed according to the motor vehicle number plate.
In addition, the reporter learned from the National Standards Committee that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had submitted the national standard project "Technical Conditions for Four-wheel Low-speed Electric Passenger Cars" at the beginning of this year. In April this year, the National Standards Committee also solicited opinions on the project for the society and is currently organizing and handling the opinions received. In the next step, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the National Standards Committee will steadily promote the formulation of national standards, hoping to introduce relevant management regulations as soon as possible, so that the elderly scooter will no longer drive at will and reduce potential safety hazards.