Electric Scooters Penalized for Illegally Removing Speed Limits Called Out by 315, Hellobike Apologizes: Launched Special Investigation

After being named by CCTV’s “315” Evening Gala for illegal speed limit removal on electric bicycles, Hello Bike issued an apology statement that same evening.

Hello Bike stated that in response to the issues reported by CCTV’s “315” Gala, the company has immediately launched a special investigation. It said that Hello Bike’s rental business operates on a platform model, providing information matching services for users. The platform has never directly operated offline stores; vehicles at platform stores are purchased and operated by participating merchants themselves.

Hello Bike also stated that the platform has never authorized any offline stores to directly use the Hello brand for related rental services. The company reserves the right to further pursue legal responsibility for the actions of these stores.

Hello Bike said that it continuously reminds merchants through the merchant app, conducts spot checks at stores, and requires merchants to ensure that rented vehicles comply with current national laws, regulations, and standards. Vehicles are not to be illegally modified, and merchants are regularly asked to self-inspect and rectify their vehicles. “The CCTV ‘315’ Gala report indicates that there are gaps in our review mechanisms or management,” it added.

According to CCTV’s “315” report, there is widespread illegal speed limit removal in the electric bicycle rental industry. Some individual stores’ vehicles have been tested to reach speeds of up to 80 km/h. Brands like Hello Bike and E-Donkey have also frequently experienced speeding issues, with Hello Bike vehicles reaching speeds of up to 75 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’s marked voltage should not exceed 48 volts, and the motor’s output power should be less than or equal to 400 watts. Data from the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security shows that traffic accidents caused by electric bicycles account for about 10% of urban road traffic accidents. One of the main reasons is illegal speed limit removal and speeding.

According to a business development manager at Hello Bike, before the new national standards were implemented, some electric bicycle channel merchants used certificates for a large number of unproduced bicycles to apply for license plates in advance. When customers needed these vehicles, they would have the manufacturers produce the bikes according to standards prior to the new regulations. These newly produced bicycles became “old bikes” before the new standards took effect, allowing them to bypass the “one vehicle, one pool, one charge code” mutual recognition system in the new standards and remove speed limits.

Official information shows that Hello Bike Rental was established in February 2023 and now has over 5,000 stores across more than 100 cities nationwide.

Hello Bike Rental is one of Hello’s seven major businesses. Founded in September 2016, Hello started with shared bicycles. Currently, Hello mainly provides mobility services and emerging local services, and is also involved in the Robotaxi sector.

These include two-wheeled shared services (Hello Bike, Hello E-Assist) and four-wheeled mobility services (Hello Rideshare, Hello Taxi); emerging local services such as Hello Electric Bike Rental, the joint venture with Ant Group and CATL called Xiaoha Battery Swap, the car rental platform Hello Car Rental, and the independent brand “Street Cat” providing smart solutions for urban stray cat management. In the Robotaxi sector, Hello’s subsidiary ZaoFu Technology mainly focuses on L4 autonomous driving technology development, safety applications, and commercialization. To date, Hello has accumulated over 800 million registered users.