How to bring an electric scooter from Beijing to Tianjin?

[marvinfreericks]

Hello everybody!

 

I hope you're all doing well despite the current Covid-19 Pandemic. Does anybody of you know of ways to bring an electric scooter from Beijing to Tianjin? I am currently still based in Beijing and own an electric scooter there that has this orange Beijing "license plate". Within the next few months, however, I plan to move to Tianjin and hence I am thinking about how I can bring my scooter.

 

Do you think it is possible to ship it somehow? If so, do you think the price for this would be reasonable? Or would it be better and cheaper to just buy a new scooter in Tianjin (without the battery) and to take my old battery to Tianjin myself?

 

If I were to bring the scooter to Tianjin, I would probably need to get a new, local Tianjin license plate for the scooter, right? If anybody of you has experience of bringing a scooter into another city or of getting a new license plate, I would really appreciate your help and recommendations.

 

Thank you so much in advance! And I hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Best wishes,

 

Marvin

 

 

[NinjaTurtle]

Hi Marvin,

 

I knew a fellow who changed jobs and moved to a new city. He hired a local truck driver to transport all of his stuff. He had an e-bike, and the best way to move all of his stuff and his e-bike was to hire a truck (and truck driver). Besides a truck, you might hire one of those small green ' vans' that I have seen all over China.

 

[marvinfreericks]

@NinjaTurtle Thank you very much for your reply! I guess such a truck or van can be ordered through some of the Chinese SuperApps. Do you by any chance know if your friend had to get a new license plate or register anything in order to use the e-bike in the new city?

[Tomsima]

I did exactly this a few years ago when we moved from Guangxi back to Hubei, we found a 物流公司 who just stuck the bike in a minivan and drove it across for us for a few hundred, you shouldn't have a problem finding someone if you call your local depot up

[marvinfreericks]

@Tomsima Cool, I will try to do the same! Thanks for the tip!

[NinjaTurtle]

Martin,

 

I agree with Tomsina. I would not use an app. (I do not think the kind of driver you are looking for uses an app.) There should be plenty of drivers in your area you can hire. Just find a friend or someone at your workplace who can be your go-between in finding a driver. (There are plenty of ‘black taxis’ in my area, so finding a ‘black SUV’ or ‘black truck’ should be easy.) The Chinese people in my Foreign Teachers Office do these kinds of things all the time (except contact ‘black taxis’.)

 

Sorry, I don’t know about licensing an e-bike. If you have a school or place of work in your new location, they should be able to help you with this. (My university in China facilitates this for all the foreign teachers.)

 

[marvinfreericks]

@NinjaTurtle Thank you for your reply!  Very interesting, I guess I will try to reach out to some of my Chinese classmates then to see if they know any drivers in Beijing. Hope you have a great weekend!

[NinjaTurtle]

Hey Marvin, just make sure you let your Chinese friend do all the negotiating. (Once the driver sees you are a foreigner, the price will jump, unless your Chinese friend does the negotiating.) Find out how much a reasonable price is. (I have no idea if 200 RMB is a reasonable price.) And make sure you ride along when your stuff is hauled.

 

 

[xinoxanu]

Will this "orange Beijing plate" work in Tianjin?

 

Be aware that each city in China has it own regulations when it comes to vehicles and they were extended to electric bikes/trikes about 2-3 years ago. I can't really speak for those two cities but, in Chengdu, when the yellow/red plates stopped being legal you had to register your bike with the local transit department and get a corresponding license plate. The max. speed, weight and battery type of the bike also have to conform to a standard to be authorised on the road, although many bikes end up being tuned up once bureaucracy has been dealt with.

 

It doesn't happen as much now, but during the transition to the new "legality" I saw more than one policeman throwing a bean bag towards a speeding motorist that refused to get their bike impounded. Not a great way to go. 

[marvinfreericks]

@NinjaTurtle Sorry, just saw your reply now!  Thanks for the recommendation! Yes, I will do exactly that and ask my Chinese friend to negotiate the price for me beforehand.

[marvinfreericks]

@xinoxanu Thanks for your sharing! And sorry for late reply, I just saw the your message now  Wow very interesting, I didn't expect Chengdu to have such tight regulations in place. When I bought my ebike in Beijing, it just came with a license plate right away and I didn't have to register it at any office, at least as far as I know. I guess I will have to ask some friends that have been living in Tianjin for a longer time than me in order to find out about the local ebike regulations