The battery swap mode is to replace the battery of the new energy vehicle to meet the car owner's battery life needs.
Different from the charging pile charging mode, the battery swapping mode can greatly save the owner's energy replenishment time.
In terms of safety, battery swapping has certain advantages over charging.
In addition, the power swap mode can also effectively relieve the grid load.
◎Intern reporter Yang Sichen
According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, as of the end of June 2022, the number of new energy vehicles in my country has reached 10.01 million.
According to estimates, by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", the number of new energy vehicles in my country will exceed 20 million.
With the gradual increase in the number of new energy vehicles, it is difficult to meet the energy replenishment needs of the new energy vehicle market only by means of charging.
At present, what is the development situation of my country's new energy vehicle battery swap mode?
Can accelerating the construction of the battery swap system effectively alleviate the problem of unbalanced charging of new energy vehicles?
Science and Technology Daily reporters interviewed a number of experts.
The battery swap mode is in the "early appearance" stage
Different from the previous vehicle charging mode, the battery replacement mode is to replace the battery of the new energy vehicle to meet the owner's battery life needs.
At present, the technical route of battery swapping is mainly divided into two types: one is the whole-package battery replacement, that is, the battery pack at the bottom of the car is replaced as a whole, and the battery packs of different models have different standards; , Detachable power battery box, and according to the needs of different models, different numbers of power battery boxes are arranged at the bottom of the vehicle, and only the power battery box needs to be replaced when changing power.
In recent years, the battery swap mode, as a new energy supplement method for new energy vehicles, has not only attracted the attention of the industry, but also received strong support from national policies.
The 2020 "Government Work Report" clearly includes swapping stations into the scope of my country's new infrastructure projects.
In October of the same year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "About Printing and Distributing the New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)", which clearly encouraged the promotion and application of the battery swap model.
The "Government Work Report" in 2021 once again proposed that facilities such as parking lots, charging piles, and swap stations should be added, and the construction of a power battery recycling system should be accelerated.
In January this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Further Improving the Service Guarantee Capability of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure", further proposing to speed up the promotion and application of the battery replacement mode, strengthen the innovation and standard support of charging and replacement technology, and optimize and improve Shared power exchange services to improve the safety, reliability and economy of the power exchange mode.
According to the "Research Report on China's New Energy Vehicle Swap Market" released by iResearch, by the end of 2021, China has built about 1,406 new energy vehicle swap stations, an increase of 1.5 times year-on-year. It is estimated that by 2025, the total number of domestic swap stations will exceed 30,000 seats.
The battery swapping mode is in the "budding stage".
"The current battery swap model has just started, and there is still a lot of room for development in the future." Tong Zongqi, director of the Information Department of the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, pointed out.
The introduction of a series of policies has made the industry and enterprises pay more attention to the power exchange model, and the development potential of the power exchange market is huge.
Swap mode is faster and safer than charging mode
Different from the charging pile charging mode, the battery swapping mode can greatly save the owner's energy replenishment time.
If you use a charging pile, it takes as little as half an hour to fully charge the car, and it only takes a few minutes to change the battery.
"Short energy replenishment time is the most prominent advantage of the battery swap mode, and fast replenishment can make the use of new energy vehicles more convenient and flexible, that is, batteries of different capacities can be selected according to the driving distance." Vice President of China Electricity Council Secretary-General Liu Yongdong told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that the battery replacement mode can save more time and cost, avoid the troubles caused by long-term charging, and thus solve the mileage anxiety of new energy vehicles to a certain extent.
In terms of safety, battery swapping has certain advantages over charging.
New energy vehicles are often overcharged and overdischarged during use, which will cause damage to the power battery and lead to the attenuation of the battery capacity.
"The battery swap station will carry out centralized professional charging and discharging management of the battery, which is safer than personal charging." Liu Yongdong pointed out.
In addition, the power swap mode can also effectively relieve the grid load.
With the further increase of new energy vehicles, a large number of new energy
Simultaneous charging of cars will pose a huge threat to the urban power grid, and the power station can take advantage of its own advantages to effectively reduce the load brought by centralized charging to the power grid.
In addition to the above advantages, the battery swap mode also solves the embarrassing situation of "no piles available" faced by private car users.
In first-tier cities where fixed parking space resources and land resources are scarce, new energy vehicle owners will encounter the problem of being unable to install charging piles or having no fixed charging piles of their own to a certain extent. It can effectively solve the charging problem.
If you want to achieve large-scale applications, you have to overcome these "hurdles"
Although the power exchange mode has various advantages, in terms of economic investment, the construction investment of power exchange stations and the cost of batteries are much higher than the construction of charging piles, which makes its commercial operation face many challenges.
It is understood that the construction cost of the battery swap station is about three times that of the charging station. Its fixed construction cost is the same as that of the charging station. It requires land resources, charging facilities, and charging (changing) electric parking spaces. However, it is different from the charging station. The power station also needs to purchase revolving batteries, power exchange equipment, battery testing equipment, etc., as well as additional conditions such as a special warehouse for storing batteries.
Not only that, in order to realize the large-scale application of battery replacement, the vehicle battery standard also needs to be unified.
This unification leads to higher battery costs.
In addition, the biggest challenge facing the battery swap mode is that the standardization of batteries is difficult to achieve.
Liu Yongdong believes that brand, model and performance are the first factors that consumers need to consider when purchasing a private car. If the battery standards are unified, the differentiation of cars may be reduced, affecting consumers' purchases, which is also the reason why it is difficult to unify battery standards.
"And commercial vehicles' 'one thousand vehicles' is the norm, so battery swaps can be promoted in the commercial vehicle field first." Liu Yongdong said.
"Power swapping in the private car field is mainly aimed at users who are not sensitive to price and have high time requirements." Tong Zongqi pointed out that at present, only some private car owners will choose the power swap mode, and most of them are still charging with charging piles.
The coordinated development of charging and battery swapping may be a future trend
Although the battery swap market has entered a period of explosive growth, in the face of many pain points such as inconsistent battery standardization and high construction costs of battery swap stations, how should it develop next?
At present, there are many types of new energy vehicles in my country, and the standardization of power battery packs is very low, which seriously restricts the large-scale development and application of battery swapping models. Capacity, energy, voltage, material, size, installation location, and interface standards are unified.
This process requires the active cooperation of upstream and downstream enterprises in the relevant industrial chain such as battery manufacturers, car companies, and battery replacement operators to effectively promote the standardization of batteries and ensure their safety during battery replacement and long-term use of batteries.
It is also crucial to increase the investment in swapping stations.
For example, some subsidy policies can be implemented, the conditions for the construction of swap stations can be improved, and the construction of an integrated station for energy storage and power battery testing can be promoted.
"Since there are many competent departments involved in the construction of the power exchange station, the coordination and cooperation between multiple departments is particularly important." Tong Zongqi pointed out that the sustainable development of the power exchange mode requires the cooperation and promotion of multiple forces.
In addition, attention should also be paid to the site selection of the swapping station.
The core site selection logic is to facilitate the daily energy replenishment needs of users and improve the convenience of car owners.
Reasonable site selection not only contributes to the promotion of the power exchange mode, but also helps the power exchange station maintain a commercial operation mode.
It is worth mentioning that, according to different usage scenarios, choosing and configuring different charging and battery swapping methods for new energy vehicles is the optimal solution to the problem of energy supplementation.
At present, the charging of new energy vehicles still faces many challenges. The "uneven hot and cold" of charging piles, the difficulty of charging during peak hours, and the existence of "zombie piles" in some areas have become pain points for new energy vehicles to replenish energy.
Just relying on battery swaps cannot solve the energy replenishment problem of new energy vehicles once and for all.
Liu Yongdong pointed out that just relying on battery replacement is not the most effective way to completely solve "charging anxiety".
The coordinated development of charging and battery swapping, which is dominated by the charging mode in the household sector and the battery swap mode in the commercial sector, may be the general trend in the future.