Recently, the ban on Roma power banks in multiple universities in Beijing has attracted widespread attention. Following the recall of over 490000 mobile power banks by Shenzhen Romans Technology Co., Ltd. on June 16th, Anke Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. announced on June 20th that a total of 712964 mobile power banks will be recalled. Why are power banks frequently recalled? What are the problems in the industry? How should consumers choose and use a power bank? The reporter conducted an interview on this matter. The safety issues of mobile power banks should not be underestimated. In the digital age, electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets have become essential for people's work, study, and entertainment. As a guarantee of device endurance, mobile power banks such as power banks are almost essential for human hands, and their safety performance is therefore highly concerned. According to Tianyancha Professional Edition data, China is both the world's largest producer and consumer market for mobile power banks, with an annual shipment volume of around 100 million units since 2020. As of now, there are over 17000 mobile power supply related production enterprises in China. With the increasing popularity of mobile power banks such as power banks, safety accidents have occurred from time to time. On May 31st, China Southern Airlines announced that a passenger's camera battery and power bank were emitting smoke on a flight from Hangzhou to Shenzhen. To ensure safety, the crew immediately returned. On June 17th, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported that a Roman electric power bank carried by a consumer in Zhejiang province exploded, causing the power bank to burn into coke and leaving obvious holes in the floor. How dangerous is spontaneous combustion of power banks? The Xiaoshan District Fire Rescue Brigade in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province conducted an experiment on a power bank catching fire. Firefighters used tools to simulate a short circuit between the positive and negative terminals of a power bank. About 15 seconds later, the power bank began to emit a large amount of smoke, and the temperature quickly soared to over 400 degrees Celsius. In the extreme destructive test, the battery cell began to smoke as soon as it was damaged, and an explosion occurred 5 minutes later, causing the cell shell to fly 10 meters away. In order to strengthen the supervision of mobile power products, since the official implementation of the national standard for mobile power in 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation has continuously conducted national supervision and spot checks on mobile power products. In 2023, out of 99 batches of products produced by 95 enterprises in 9 provinces (cities) that were randomly inspected, 35 batches were found to be unqualified, including 5 batches that failed overcharge testing and had safety risks such as heating and explosion. In 2024, 50 batches of products were randomly sampled from 50 production units in 10 provinces, and it was found that 2 batches of products had unqualified effective output capacity and conversion efficiency at room temperature. The quality of battery cells has become the main reason for the recall. Journalists have found that in this recall involving more than one million Roman and Anke mobile power banks, battery cell problems have become the main reason for the recall. On June 16th, the recall announcement released by Romans stated that due to the incoming materials of some battery cells, a very small number of the recalled mobile power products may experience overheating during use, which may pose a risk of combustion in extreme scenarios and pose a safety hazard. On June 20th, Anke announced in a recall notice that during recent quality and safety inspections, it was found that some batches of industry-specific battery cells from a certain supplier had unauthorized changes in raw materials, which could lead to the failure of diaphragm insulation in a very small number of products after long-term cyclic use, thereby causing safety hazards such as overheating and even combustion. Ma Jianguang, an engineer from the Fifth Institute of Electronics of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told reporters that as the core component of a mobile power source, the battery cell, like a car engine, is the key to energy storage and release. The quality of battery cells directly determines the performance and safety of mobile power supplies. When there are problems with the raw materials of battery cells, such as changes in diaphragm materials, it may lead to a decrease in their insulation performance, which can easily cause short circuits during long-term charging and discharging cycles, leading to dangerous situations such as overheating and combustion. Wang Jianxin, Vice Chairman and Executive Secretary General of the China Battery Industry Association, stated that battery cells are the core components of power banks, and their quality directly affects product safety. Once there are problems with the battery cells, such as internal short circuits, overheating, etc., they can easily cause fires or even explosions. It usually takes several hours or even longer to fully charge a power bank. If you forget to unplug the power and charge it all day, this situation is called overcharging. ”Ma Jianguang told reporters that this requires the battery quality of the power bank to be reliable, so as not to cause safety accidents such as fire and explosion during overcharging. According to him, the quality of battery cells depends on the quality of raw materials, production processes, and quality control. Industry insiders told reporters that there may be loopholes in supply chain management, and the problems exposed by this large-scale recall have industry commonalities, sounding an alarm for the entire industry. The industry widely adopts the OEM model for production, but companies have lax audits of upstream suppliers, especially battery cell manufacturers, resulting in management loopholes. Large scale outsourcing can also lead to insufficient standardization of production processes. For example, Anke immediately terminated its cooperation with the involved suppliers after discovering the problem, indicating that some suppliers lack strict quality control in the production process. In order to reduce costs or for other reasons, they may change raw materials without authorization. This requires the brand to strictly control the sampling of raw materials, production process supervision, and other aspects. Liu Yanlong, former secretary general of the China Chemical and Physical Power Association, told reporters that due to the fact that the cost of battery cells accounts for more than 60% of the total cost of mobile power banks, some manufacturers tend to choose low-priced battery cell suppliers in pursuit of higher profits, which may lead to some battery cell suppliers continuously lowering prices in order to obtain orders and potentially sacrificing product quality. Over time, it will be difficult to ensure the quality level of products in the entire industry. Chen Gongyu, Director of the Department of Economics and Management at Lingnan College, Sun Yat sen University, believes that "supply chain management is crucial in the power bank industry. Brand owners should not only focus on cost and production capacity, but also establish a sound supplier evaluation and management system. From raw material procurement, production and processing to finished product assembly, every link needs to be strictly controlled." According to reporters, China will implement mandatory CCC certification management for mobile power banks from August 1, 2023. The State Administration for Market Regulation has issued a notice requiring that products that have not obtained CCC certification shall not be manufactured, sold, imported, or used in other business activities after August 1, 2024. The reporter checked on the National Certification and Accreditation Information Public Service Platform of the State Administration for Market Regulation and saw that multiple CCC certifications of brands such as Apris, Romans, and Anke have been suspended or revoked, mostly in June. Therefore, Ma Jianguang suggests that consumers immediately check whether the production date and model of the power bank in their hands are within the scope of the recall. If abnormal heating, bulging, and other phenomena are found, they should be stopped immediately. When purchasing a new power bank, try to choose products with good reputation, a complete after-sales guarantee system, strict quality testing, and compliance with the latest safety standards. Priority can be given to products that have resumed certification batches after June this year. In addition, regular power banks will have a reusable label. If the number on the label is "5", it means that their reusable life is 5 years. Exceeding this age may result in abnormalities. On June 26th, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued an emergency notice prohibiting passengers from carrying power banks without 3C markings, unclear 3C markings, recalled models or batches on domestic flights starting from June 28th. The Civil Aviation Administration of China stated that several top brand power bank manufacturers have recently recalled multiple batches of products due to safety risks in their battery cells. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has decided to further implement strict control measures based on current policies. (New Society)