(Yicai Global) Aug. 9 -- Leading Chinese electric bicycle makers Aima Tech and Yadea plan to link up with China’s self-developed BeiDou satellite navigation system to improve connectivity and reduce the accident rate.

Aima and Yadea intend to use the BeiDou system in one million e-scooters this year and 10 million next year, they said at an industry forum held yesterday.

BeiDou can not only enhance e-scooters’ functions, it can also monitor when they pass the speed limit, prevent the outfitting of bikes with parts of unlawful specifications, detect problems with the batteries and track them should they be stolen, said Wang Dawei, executive director of Hangzhou Beidou Space-Time Research Institute.

Intelligent connection is an inevitable trend in the moped sector and will create more room for development as it cannot be achieved by one single company, said Mo Xuan, deputy general manager of marketing at Tianjin-based Aima.

An e-scooter platform can also help support insurance companies to tailor their products to e-bikes, form a circular economy, solve the problem of battery recycling and reduce carbon emissions, Wang said. It can provide data to road traffic and moped administrations and help them allocate rights of way and design non-motorized vehicle lanes.

China sells over 30 million e-scooters a year and has nearly 300 million registered e-bikes, according to the China Bicycle Association.

Editor: Kim Taylor