The key to the problem is actually the battery. Before the emergence of power battery technology that can really meet the needs of users, how can electric vehicles get out of the development bottleneck? Recently, "changing electricity" seems to be a new choice.
Weilai Power Station has completed 500,000 battery replacements.
A few days ago, the full text of the 2020 government work report was discussed and reviewed by delegates and members, and 89 items were revised before it was officially released. It is worth noting that the content of new infrastructure will expand "building charging piles" to "adding charging piles, changing power stations and other facilities". As an important part of new infrastructure, the power station was written into the government work report for the first time.
More than a month ago, the "Notice on Improving the Financial Subsidy Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles" jointly issued by the four ministries and commissions set the "threshold" for subsidies for new energy passenger cars at less than 300,000 yuan (including 300,000 yuan). At the same time, it also gave a green light to the power exchange mode.
The country is so sure about the separation of vehicles and electricity, and it can basically be concluded that it is because of Weilai. At present, only Weilai is playing personal power exchange business in China. According to Weilai's first-quarter financial report, the company unlocked the latest achievement: since the first NIO Power power station was put into use on May 20, 20 18, 500,000 battery replacements have been completed.
After the implementation of the new subsidy policy, Weilai's ES6 and ES8 will become the only vehicles with new energy subsidies exceeding 300,000 yuan, which is undoubtedly a big plus for enterprises. At present, the cumulative sales volume of Weilai Automobile exceeds 38,900 units.
BAIC New Energy is also the first car company to set foot in the field of power exchange, but it provides public services. Recently, the company cooperated with France Power Changfeng (Sanya) Energy Co., Ltd. to officially launch the layout of Hainan power trading market. It is estimated that four power stations will be built and operated in Sanya by the end of August this year, providing services for 400 network cars. By the end of this year, * * * will jointly promote the marketing of no less than 2,000 Beiqi new energy electric taxis and online car rental in Sanya and Haikou.
As early as 20 16, Geely established a wholly-owned subsidiary named Yidonglihui, and recently registered the trademark "Yidonglihui". 20 19 Liu Jinliang, president of Geely Group and founder of Cao Cao Travel, revealed that Geely will launch a network car that supports power exchange. This may mean that Geely's first battery replacement model will take the lead in setting up experiments in Cao Cao's trip and will be extended to other models in the future.
The benefits brought by changing electricity are obvious: first, changing electricity can realize battery rental mode and effectively reduce the cost of car purchase for users; Secondly, it only takes a few minutes to change the power, which is more convenient than fast charging; In addition, collecting batteries for centralized charging management can avoid peak charging and bring huge burden to the power grid; Moreover, because the battery industry is still in the early stage of development, the life of new energy vehicles and batteries does not match, and the separation of vehicles and electricity can bring great convenience to the circulation of new energy used cars and the recovery of power batteries.
The industry believes that with the introduction of relevant national incentive policies, the power exchange mode is expected to enter a period of rapid development, and it will cooperate with the charging mode to make a big new energy vehicle infrastructure "cake". More importantly, "changing electricity" can solve the problems of slow charging speed, non-upgradeable battery life and low residual value of used cars. Only by knocking down these mountains can electric vehicles compete with fuel vehicles in the post-subsidy era and release greater market potential.
To popularize power exchange, we must first unify the standards.
At present, the mode of power exchange has been applied and popularized in Israel, Canada, Australia, Denmark and other countries, but we have to admit that it is not easy to make power exchange as convenient as refueling.
The fact before us is that the infrastructure of the power station is insufficient. Take Weilai as an example. By March 2020, Weilai has deployed 123 power stations in 5/kloc-0 cities nationwide. In contrast, statistics show that by the end of 20 19, the cumulative number of gas stations in China Petroleum and China Petrochemical alone reached 53,067.
Compared with charging piles, the cost of changing power stations is higher, and a large number of layouts mean high investment. It is difficult to maintain by car companies themselves, and government support is essential. However, at present, the specific policies have not yet been introduced, and it is unknown whether the power station can be subsidized and how to make it up. Moreover, under the trend that the domestic new energy automobile industry is gradually transforming from policy-led to market-oriented, it is impossible for the power exchange model to rely on policy support for a long time, and marketization is still the key to the healthy development of China's new energy automobile industry.
The water drop car APP believes that the biggest obstacle to promoting the power exchange mode and making it conform to the law of market-oriented development is the lack of unified technical standards. At present, the battery size, interface and layout used by different manufacturers are different, and the battery technology itself is constantly changing and upgrading, which brings great challenges to the standardized operation of power exchange.
At present, no matter Weilai or BAIC, their power exchange stations can only serve their own models (not even all products). Judging from their current market holdings, the power exchange model can only maintain a small and beautiful state. Only when the country issues a unified standard to make all new energy vehicles and batteries universal, can the power exchange model have economies of scale and form a sustainable industry.
It is only the first step to incorporate the power exchange mode into the top-level design. The formulation of standards is not only related to technology, but also to the actual interests of new energy vehicle companies and battery manufacturers. A new game is about to begin, and those enterprises that take the lead in layout and testing water will undoubtedly have more right to speak.
Text/Yin
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.