On the morning of September 23rd, a sudden fire broke out at the electric bicycle parking area in the Shuangyunli community in Xihu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, engulfing the entire residential building in thick smoke. The scene was heart-wrenching.
According to the information from the Hangzhou Fire Department, a fire broke out at 7:29 am on September 23, 2026, at the electric bicycle parking spot in Building 8 of Shuangyunli in Xihu District. The fire was reported to be extinguished around 7:50 am.
Video footage from the scene showed that black smoke rapidly spread upwards along the corridor after the fire started, shrouding the entire high-rise building in black smoke, a sight that was truly distressing.
A Weibo user named “Liu Daojing ssr” suggested that the initial judgment pointed to a thermal runaway of lithium batteries or a circuit malfunction in the electric bicycle parking area, which may have led to the fire and potential explosion.
Preliminary speculation indicates that the fire is highly likely to be related to thermal runaway of lithium batteries caused by aging of electric vehicle batteries and circuit malfunctions.
Some netizens expressed concerns, stating that electric vehicle safety has long been an issue, whether parked at home or in public areas, as they are prone to fire incidents. The rapid filling of the building with smoke indicates a lack of adequate fire compartmentalization and connectivity with the corridors, posing serious risks.
Another netizen pointed out that some electric vehicle batteries are repurposed from power batteries after being phased out and converted into smaller capacity batteries, posing inherent safety challenges. Unless there is a substantial improvement in battery quality and safety standards, the risk of fire incidents cannot be eliminated, regardless of whether the vehicles are parked at home, in corridors, or on designated elevated floors.