Focus on the energy replenishment system of new energy vehicles: "charging" and "replacing" each have their own reasons

This year, the country promoted the battery swap pilot, and 11 cities took the lead in launching the battery swap model pilot. At the same time, the first basic general national standard "Electric Vehicle Battery Swapping Safety Requirements" was officially implemented; at the same time, During this year, the battery swapping ecosystem has gradually expanded, with industry giants such as State Grid, State Power Investment Corporation, and Sinopec entering the market one after another. Companies such as Aodong, NIO, and Geely, which had already made plans in the field of battery swapping in the early days, have continued to deepen their efforts. According to the latest data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, as of November 2021, the number of battery swap stations in my country was 1,192, a year-on-year increase of more than 100%.

Compared with the current mainstream charging modes, what is the reason for the rapid development of the battery swap mode? Under the "3060" dual carbon target, what are the main application scenarios of battery swapping in the future? In addition to the current application pilots, how far is this model from large-scale application? At the "2021 Second China International Power Swap Mode Industry Conference" held recently, industry guests and business representatives launched a discussion around the above issues.

The advantages of battery swapping are obvious, and companies are speeding up their layout

When talking about the reasons for the rapid development of the battery swapping model, we must not Not to mention its own unique advantages. At this conference, Zhou Libo, director of the Standardization Management Center of the China Electricity Council (China Electricity Council), made a detailed analysis of the advantages of the battery swap model from five levels: users, car companies, batteries, power grids, the country and society.

First of all, at the user level, the battery swap mode can provide a service as convenient and fast as refueling a fuel vehicle; at the same time, through "battery rental" it can reduce the user's cost Car purchase cost; in addition, it can meet users’ high-frequency power supply needs and improve operational efficiency.

At the automobile enterprise level, battery swapping can reduce the amount of batteries carried and improve the energy efficiency of the vehicle; the separation of vehicle and electricity can reduce the sales costs and battery maintenance of automobile enterprises. costs and improve capital utilization.

At the battery level, through professional charging and maintenance of batteries, the life of power batteries is extended and the economy of electric vehicles is improved; vehicle electricity is separated and provided to users and enterprises bring convenienceAt the same time, it also returns battery assets to their use attributes, which helps promote battery circulation and improve usage efficiency; through centralized management of batteries, echelon utilization, recycling and other operating methods, sustainable profits in a closed-loop replacement state are achieved; compatibility of replacement batteries Sex can also promote the harmonization of standards and technology.

At the grid level, to serve the same number of vehicles, the charging power of the battery swap mode is only 1/4 to 1/2 of the charging mode, which can significantly reduce the impact on the vehicle. Grid load and impact on the grid; power swapping can use off-peak power to charge the power battery to avoid peak charging; at the same time, power swapping can also participate in grid demand response and release excess power to the grid during peak hours of power consumption during the day. Assist the power grid to meet peak load requirements.

From the national and social levels, under the battery swap model, car companies are less dependent on national subsidy policies, which is conducive to the rapid rise of the electric vehicle industry.

Wang Zidong, deputy secretary-general of the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, also pointed out that battery swapping has obvious advantages in terms of recharging time, battery usage, and vehicle purchase costs. It can be done To separate the vehicle and electricity. In addition, under the effective management of the battery without blind spots, the usage rate, service life and battery maintenance will reach a relatively high level. "The battery swapping model not only meets the requirements for promoting innovation in electric vehicle models, but also solves the difficult problems in the popularization of pure electric vehicles. Battery swapping is not perfect, but it can indeed solve some problems that cannot be solved by charging." Wang Zidong said arrive.

It is worth mentioning that based on the advantages of battery swapping and the continued strengthening of policies, in addition to the continuous expansion of the battery swapping ecosystem in 2021, various companies deploying battery swapping will also They have announced their respective power swap development plans.

After sorting out, by 2025, State Grid plans to build more than 1,000 public and commercial power swap stations; State Power Investment plans to invest and hold 4,000 power swap stations; Sinopec plans to build charging and swap stations 5,000; NIO plans to build more than 4,000 power swap stations; Geely plans to operate 5,000 smart power swap stations; Aodong has the most radical goal, planning to build 10,000 power swap stations by 2025. According to CICC's latest forecast, it is expected that the number of new energy vehicle battery swap stations will reach 22,000-26,000 by 2025, which shows the huge development potential of the battery swap market.

Battery swapping is mainly for Bends, heavy trucks have become a new force in battery swapping

Specific to the actual power swap modeApplication scenarios, Chen Quanshi, a professor at Tsinghua University, said that currently it is mainly oriented to the B-side, and the challenge to the C-side is huge. "It is difficult to replace batteries in private vehicles. Different brands and models, different voltage standards, and different batteries are also different. However, the operating vehicles of rental companies, bus companies, and transportation companies on the B-side are all designed in a unified manner."

Wang Zidong also said that it is more appropriate to start the battery swapping model with public sector vehicles, such as fleet vehicles, online ride-hailing, logistics vehicles, buses, and sweepers; after gaining experience, charging piles cannot be installed at home. penetration of private cars.

Regarding this development path, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also clearly pointed out in May 2021 when it issued a notice to launch a pilot application of the battery swap mode of new energy vehicles to encourage the use of public transportation, rentals, urban logistics distribution, Public areas such as ports and mines will take the lead in pilot projects. And at present, public transportation fields such as taxis and online car-hailing have indeed become the main force in the battery swap model.

A set of analytical data provided by Kang Zejun of China Automotive Data Co., Ltd. shows that from the 333rd batch of new car announcements to the 346th batch of new car announcements, there were a total of 16 There are 22 battery-swap model brands from domestic passenger car companies. Among them, except for Weilai Automobile, the battery swap products of other brands are mainly rented.

It is worth noting that in addition to operating vehicles in the public sector, commercial heavy-duty trucks have become a new force in the battery replacement model. Because, driven by the "3060" dual carbon target, heavy trucks, which account for 2/3 of carbon emissions in the transportation field, have become the focus of national adjustments. In addition to developing towards the hydrogen fuel cell path, battery replacement of heavy trucks has also become a major aspect of development. direction.

Data shows that compared with fuel vehicles, every 1,000 new energy heavy trucks can reduce 140,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 12,500 tons of pollutant emissions each year, and reduce energy consumption by 5%-10 %. "Heavy trucks pollute a lot, but electric heavy trucks are very heavy and carry a lot of goods. It is difficult for traditional charging methods to meet their usage requirements. Therefore, heavy trucks are advocated for battery replacement." Wang Zidong said that battery replacement for heavy trucks can quickly replenish power and solve work-related problems. The working time period can be adjusted arbitrarily and can be applied to scenarios such as dedicated line transportation, branch line short-term transfer, in-port transfer, and trunk line transportation.

It is precisely under the stimulation of the "dual carbon" goal that the new energy commercial vehicle market, including heavy trucks, will rebound after four consecutive years of decline in 2021. Data shows that from January to October 2021, the cumulative sales of new energy commercial vehicles were 126,600 units, a year-on-year increase of 55.88%. Specifically, the sales areas of battery-replacement heavy trucks are concentrated in key areas for air pollution prevention and control.The proportion of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, the Fenwei Plain area, and the Yangtze River Delta region accounts for more than 90%. Analysis points out that in 2021, sales of new energy commercial vehicles will exceed 160,000 units.

Liu Xubao, deputy director of the State Power Investment Corporation’s Green Electric Transportation Industry Innovation Center, said that by 2030, the penetration rate of my country’s new energy heavy truck market will exceed 50%, and the market share will exceed 500 Ten thousand vehicles, the investment layout of battery swap stations exceeds 40,000, and the new market size in the next ten years is estimated to exceed 10 trillion yuan.

Battery replacement is not the only mode. Battery standards are still the biggest constraint on battery replacement for private cars

In fact, through the industry After years of exploration, judging from the current practical application results, the battery swap mode is more suitable for commercial vehicles and commercial passenger vehicles. For the private passenger car sector, the industry generally believes that battery standards are the biggest constraint.

As the creator and leader of the global battery swap model, Huang Chunhua, general manager of the Brand and Public Affairs Center of Aodong New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., said frankly: “Battery swapping is the most important thing in the private passenger car market. The biggest challenge is that the standards of battery packs are not uniform. Now each manufacturer is different, with different lengths, widths and heights, and different BMS communication protocols. "For this reason, he called on OEMs to focus on model development rather than batteries. Wrap it up. Accordingly, the battery pack should become a standardized product, a mobile energy source with social attributes, and be operated and managed by a third-party company.

According to Ding Xiaohua, deputy director of the Shanghai New Energy Vehicle Public Data Collection and Monitoring Research Center, in addition to the difficulty in unifying battery standards in the battery swap industry, there is also the problem of scarcity of battery swap station space. "The main domestic gas station operators are holding hydrogen refueling with one hand and battery replacement with the other hand. They are still observing whether to go left or right."

Ding Xiaohua also pointed out that currently in Shanghai For every 100 new energy vehicles in existence, about 55 vehicles travel every month, and about 42% of the traveling vehicles have been charged. In addition, the power charged at public stations accounts for less than 50% of the total charging power. "Our ongoing analysis of 600 public charging stations with the largest charging capacity in Shanghai has also found that their charging rates are also around 10%. The single-charge charging utilization rate of current public charging stations is far from reaching saturation."

As the vanguard of urban promotion of new energy vehicles, the application of Shanghai’s charging supporting infrastructure may be a microcosm of the development of new energy vehicles’ energy replenishment, and this just shows that battery swapping is not the only way. Mode and charging also have their own scenarios and necessities.

Wang Zidong pointed out that battery swapping and charging are not completely opposite. This is a new choice and has considerable social benefits. "When the life of the battery pack is extended and safety is improved, passenger cars with battery swap mode will be widely used in the market. By then, not only B-end cars, but also C-end cars (private cars) will gradually catch up with this Demand. ”

Huang Chunhua said frankly that in the future, new energy vehicle users will have time to charge, but if they don’t have time, they can replace the battery. They can also upgrade the battery through a battery swap station, giving users multiple choices. More convenient use is the focus of industrial development. He also pointed out that behind the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s recent announcement that it will launch urban pilot projects for the full electrification of public sector vehicles in 2022, it must be a combination of charging and battery swapping to jointly promote the full electrification of public sector vehicles. "In the next two to three years, the popularity of battery swapping models will accelerate in subdivided fields such as public transportation and transportation." This may also be one of Aodong's confidence in building 10,000 battery swapping stations in 2025.

According to reports, the number of Aodong stations built in 2021 has doubled compared with the past, and the current total number of power swap stations is more than 500. "Compared to the target of 10,000 seats, the current number may not be worth mentioning, but there is a word called 'accumulation and success'. When Aodong has done all the preparations, it can be copied quickly and form a convergence effect. 2022~ In 2023, Aodong is still in the period of urban development and business layout, but 2024~2025 will definitely be a period of rapid growth and expansion," Huang Chunhua said.

HKUST Intelligent General Manager Wang Shuangfu also said that the battery swap model will have a relatively large-scale application in the next three to five years, and under the "dual carbon" goal, charging/swapping is expected to be Developing towards the integration of light, storage, charging and exchange. “At present, coal power and transportation are the two major sources of carbon emissions in our country. Therefore, it will be a general trend to replace coal power generation with clean energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind power. However, such clean energy sources are unstable, which requires the use of energy storage. At the same time, new energy vehicles are an important way to reduce carbon emissions in transportation, and charging and replacing batteries will follow.” It is not just charging or battery swapping. Both charging and swapping have their own best application scenarios. In subdivisions such as public transportation and transportation, the benefits and development prospects of battery swapping are undoubted. On the private consumption side, There is a lot of room for development in charging or battery swapping if conditions permit. But no matter what method it is, we provide the most suitable energy replenishment method according to the usage scenarios and needs of different users.This is where the entire industry is focusing. We look forward to the early popularization of a rechargeable, replaceable, and upgradeable energy replenishment system with the joint efforts of the entire industry.

　(Original title: Focus on the energy replenishment system of new energy vehicles: "Charging" and "replacement" have their own reasons)