In theory, the satisfaction of new energy vehicle owners with the construction of the charging network should be proportional to the reduction of the vehicle-to-pile ratio.
However, from a practical point of view, the vehicle-to-pile ratio is not the only measure to solve the "energy supplement anxiety". The application of new energy vehicles in the "last 1 kilometer" is far more complicated than the 1:1 vehicle-to-pile ratio.
Whether the layout of charging piles is reasonable and whether the operation efficiency can meet the needs of users are the key points that really affect the experience of charging piles.
"Charging for one hour, queuing for hours", every holiday, there are always many electric vehicle owners who encounter the embarrassment of long queues for charging in the high-speed service area.
Although this is only a contradiction of charging needs in a specific period of time, these special experiences, after being rendered by social media, often magnify the anxiety of energy replenishment of new energy vehicles, triggering public opinion to "accelerate the construction of charging piles and reduce the vehicle-to-pile ratio".
The so-called vehicle-to-pile ratio refers to the ratio of the number of new energy vehicles and charging piles.
For a long time, the vehicle-to-pile ratio has been regarded as an important indicator to measure whether the charging demand of new energy vehicles can be met.
The lower the ratio, the more sufficient the supply of charging piles, and the more convenient the charging.
Since the start of my country's new energy vehicle industry, continuously reducing the vehicle-to-pile ratio has become a common pursuit of the industry.
It should be said that before last year, the ratio of vehicle piles in my country was declining year by year.
However, with the surge in sales of new energy vehicles in the past two years, the vehicle pile ratio has begun to increase again.
According to data released by the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, as of the end of August this year, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure nationwide was 4.315 million units, while the number of new energy vehicles was 10.99 million.
This means that the vehicle-to-pile ratio is 2.5:1, far from reaching 1:1, that is, the goal of equipping a new energy vehicle with one charging pile.
This ratio target, which is now widely mentioned, comes from the "Guidelines for the Development of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure" jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other four departments in 2015.
However, in my opinion, this vehicle-to-pile ratio target is calculated based on the technological development at that time. There is no need to worry about it at the moment. What is more important is to strengthen the rational layout of charging piles and improve the efficiency of use.
In theory, the satisfaction of new energy vehicle owners with the construction of the charging network should be proportional to the reduction of the vehicle-to-pile ratio.
However, from a practical point of view, the vehicle-to-pile ratio is not the only measure to solve the "energy supplement anxiety". The application of new energy vehicles in the "last 1 kilometer" is far more complicated than the 1:1 vehicle-to-pile ratio.
For example, in some expressway service areas, some charging piles have already become faulty piles due to varying degrees of damage.
In many cities, some charging piles have no power connection, and some charging piles have problems and cannot contact service providers. Netizens laughed and called "charging equipment".
There are also some charging piles that can be used, but the use efficiency is not high.
According to the "Monitoring Report on Charging Infrastructure in China's Major Cities" in 2021, in 22 of the 25 large cities in the country, the average time utilization rate of a single public charging pile is less than 10%.
There are some objective reasons for this phenomenon.
In the early years, the charging pile industry, which was once the outlet, attracted many companies to staking their business. Although the company built the charging station, it failed to achieve the expected profit target and finally gave up the operation.
In addition, there are also problems of unreasonable layout of charging outlets and inadequate maintenance.
In fact, whether the layout of charging piles is reasonable and whether the operating efficiency can meet the needs of users are the key points that really affect the experience of charging piles.
Different from some commodities, charging piles have both commercial interests and the attributes of public services.
If the layout is unreasonable, it will not only fail to reflect the public attributes of the charging pile, but also cause a waste of resources.
Therefore, in the planning and layout of charging piles, it is necessary for relevant departments to conduct comprehensive analysis in combination with big data technology, and do a good job of "where to build" and "how much to build".
Strengthening the research and development of new charging technologies and improving the digital and intelligent level of charging services are also conducive to improving charging efficiency and optimizing the allocation of charging resources.
At present, major companies are racing to develop ultra-high-power charging technologies, some of which have been industrialized.
If this technology can be applied on a larger scale, on the one hand, it can greatly reduce the demand for the number of charging piles, and the ratio of vehicle piles does not have to reach the so-called 1:1; on the other hand, it can also promote industrial upgrading to better improve users charging experience.
In addition, an effective regulatory system should also be established.
For enterprises, it is not only necessary to establish a maintenance and operation mechanism for daily charging piles, update them on the data platform in time, and provide effective charging pile information for car owners, but also allocate operation and maintenance personnel reasonably. Charging piles increase the inspection frequency, remove some charging piles that have been idle for a long time or are difficult to maintain, reduce unnecessary maintenance costs, and improve operation quality and efficiency.
As far as the regulatory department is concerned, it is necessary to supervise the product quality and actual use of charging piles through irregular inspections, so that the problem of "some people build and no one cares" for charging piles can be effectively solved.
Yang Zhongyang