A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL e-bike charging cabinet was installed at a residential complex in Nanyuan Subdistrict in Futian District on Monday to prevent fires caused by overcharged batteries, sznews.com reported.

The charging cabinet will cut off power once e-bike batteries are fully charged to prevent an explosion, which often happen if the batteries are overcharged.

To use the charging cabinet, a person only has to take the battery off their e-bike and open the cabinet by scanning the QR code to pay with their phone before placing the battery inside.

“The bikes and the batteries remain separate while charging, disconnected from any wires, and there are 24-hour surveillance cameras to monitor the charging process, which greatly reduces the risk of explosions and fires,” said Li Changlong, a fire-prevention police officer at Nanyuan Police Station.

Li said that the cabinet also secures the batteries for e-bike owners, because batteries are easy to steal if left outside.

Han Weiran, a project manager with a security service company in Futian, said that power will be automatically cut off if temperature inside the cabinet gets up to 60 degrees Celsius, and each box is equipped with an independent fire distinguisher.

The Futian public security subbureau is going to work with all of the police stations in Futian to install such smart charging cabinets, starting with 450 cabinets before the end of this year.

A fire that happened recently inside a rental apartment at another residential compound in Futian District was caused by an overcharged e-bike battery. The fire was put out shortly after the incident and no one was injured.

According to relevant regulations, the two tenants living in the apartment were detained for 15 days. The landlord was also fined 18,300 yuan (US$2,857) and banned from renting his apartment for three months. The property management company of the apartment was fined 10,000 yuan.

To prevent a similar case from happening again, the property management company said it would install a charging cabinet soon, along with instituting a set of rules that require residents and security guards to stop e-bike riders from bringing their electric bikes inside the buildings to charge.

(Zhang Qian)