Written by Zhuang Ji? Editor｜Zhou Changxian
“This year is the 20th year. I have been doing battery replacement for 20 years, and I have been able to do it in 20 seconds.”
On November 20, at the global launch ceremony of "Aodong New Energy? 20 Seconds Extremely Fast Power Swapping", Zhang Jianping, co-chairman of Aodong New Energy, was filled with emotion.
Today, as the pioneer and leader of the new energy vehicle battery swap model, Aodong is currently the world’s largest commercial battery swap service platform, having obtained more than 1,000 battery swap patents and the world’s first The battery swap equipment has CE certification, and has cooperated with many mainstream car companies to realize a multi-model shared battery swap platform.
There is a set of data to prove it: 12 years of battery swap operation experience, covering 20 cities, investing in and building 300 battery swap stations; the service capacity of a single station is 500-1,000 vehicles; the maximum battery swap mileage of a single vehicle exceeds 900,000 kilometers; the battery swap service capacity is more than 50,000 vehicles; the cumulative number of battery swaps exceeds 7 million times, and the cumulative battery swap mileage exceeds 1 billion kilometers; so far, the battery swap vehicles have burned zero.
At the press conference, Aodong also demonstrated the latest generation 4.0 battery swap station. In just 20 seconds, an electric vehicle completed the battery swap process.
According to Zhang Jianping, the 4.0 battery swap station has four major highlights, namely: first-class sharing, cooperation with multiple mainstream car companies, multi-model shared battery swap platform; extremely fast, extremely fast battery replacement in 20 seconds , the world’s fastest battery swapping station; safe, fiber optic multi-point temperature measurement, intelligent full monitoring, battery life cycle safety management; friendly, nationwide network, smart payment, enjoy battery swapping, healthy and happy.
In addition, Aodong officially released the company's 2025 strategic plan and corporate vision: covering 100 cities across the country, operating 5,000 battery swap stations, and battery swap service capabilities reaching 2 million vehicles.
Zhang Jianping said that Aodong New Energy will focus on the battery swap model and build a battery swap model including core technology research and development, battery swap network platform operation, urban distributed energy storage, and battery life cycle management. Electricity business ecology.
After the press conference, Zhang Jianping accepted an interview with the media. In order to facilitate reading, we have streamlined and edited some of the content without affecting the original meaning.
1
Q: Two policies have been issued this year, one is to encourage the construction of charging facilities, and the other is the State Council’s 15-year plan for new energy vehicles. What impact do these two important documents have on the battery replacement industry? ?
Zhang: This is good news for us. I have been doing battery replacement for 20 years, and spring is here.
The current policy is definitely beneficial to battery exchange. It is to?b now, and it must be to?c in the future. Why? The proportion of private parking spaces in China is too low, which is the biggest reason that truly restricts the development of electric vehicles. Why still engage in hydrogen energy? The reason is that I am afraid that the electric car will not start. We believe that China's (electric vehicles) overtaking in corners is replacing electricity. With electricity exchange, the supply problem of these energy sources will be completely solved.
We have been doing battery replacement for 20 years. Although we are relatively stupid, we have truly seen that it actually brings great value to society. The power swap station will serve as the country’s backup power source in the future, which is a very good thing. If any city has an emergency power supply, a lot of money needs to be spent every year to sign agreements with some power consumers. Our energy storage station can also give us certain subsidies.
Now multiple car companies and multiple models have confirmed cooperation with us. Volkswagen has already sent its cars to our factory, and they are also going to make a battery-swap version of the car, and the Germans don’t dare to fall behind. You said if this road is not a sunny road, why does it go in?
Q: Why do private cars need to have their batteries replaced?
Zhang: When we discussed with some German experts, they also believed that batteries must be used as social resources, not as personal resources. The storage battery can be recharged or discharged. It has a cycle number and a calendar period. If you use these two well, the value created will be far more than the current value.
If private cars are equipped with batteries with such a long range, calendar cycles and cycle times are wasted.
Because a private car only lasts one cycle, it is impossible to run 800,000 to 900,000 kilometers. After buying a car and driving it for 10 years, you only use 1/10 of the battery. So much energy in a battery is wasted. Is it a waste of national resources?
If To?C's cars are replaced with electricity, it takes a short time, has a calendar cycle, and has a number of cycles, which is very beneficial to the country.
II
Q: What is the cooperation model between Aodong and host manufacturers?
Zhang: First of all, accept our battery swap model. We provide boxes, and the OEM assembles the batteries and installs them on the car. Finally, when they arrive at the battery swap station, we buy back the batteries. We do operations, and OEMs sell cars.
The battery pack does not have core technology. The real technology is the later management technology. We made a container and filled it with different batteries. The container can be unified. In other words, we have unified this bottle. It can contain your water or other people’s water. We will help you change it and that’s it.
Q: Who produces the water? If the owner of a Mercedes-Benz car wants to replace it with a BYD battery, the owner will not be happy.
Zhang: When you enter a gas station, add 92 and add 92. Add 95 because you are willing to spend money. The principle is exactly the same. The battery boxes I have here are unified and contain three types of batteries. Which one you are willing to install is a matter of price. Because we have adopted tram separation, you only have the right to rent the battery, it is not yours.
Q: There are many cases of spontaneous combustion of electric vehicle batteries. Whose problem is it if spontaneous combustion occurs?
Zhang: There is zero combustion in Aodong batteries and power stations, and there has been no spontaneous combustion. Why? The battery replacement station is a physical examination station and a battery testing center that will help you replace it and test it every 4 hours. It caught fire, burning on my station, and I took it off and moved it quickly outside the station. There was no fire in the car because the battery can be easily removed. If there is any problem, call the police immediately.
Q: Will there be confusion in battery replacement at the battery replacement station?
Zhang: Aodong has a series of battery operation methods such as APP means, technical means, and big data. As of today, we have 10,000 vehicles running around, and none of them have broken down. You can see the Guangzhou Automobile and BAIC Automotive Stations immediately. This is the first practical case.
Q: How to weigh the interests with some OEMs?
Zhang: First of all, the new energy market is so big, you shouldn’t try to take it all. Second, every OEM has its own wisdom. Musk would not be where he is today without wisdom. Whether Tesla will replace its battery depends on its future, but it will undoubtedly die in the United States. The United States has a large land and few people, and there is no battery replacement market. China is just the opposite.
Aodong is a platform for sharing and is open to the society. No matter who comes, I welcome them. The OEM will take the initiative to change the car model after seeing our box. When you are first, you cooperate with the OEM to modify the car; when your scale reaches a certain level, you become the OEM and ask me to modify the car. This is the advantage of being first.
Q: Will the Olympic Movement develop standardized content?
Zhang: We may soon formulate a group standard with 10 OEMs, because the state requires us to first make a group standard, then a corporate standard, and then a national standard, step by step. This year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has entrusted the China Electricity Council (China Electricity Council) to draft standards for battery swapping facilities for electric vehicles, and we are the main standard drafting company.
Three
Q: Will the cost of the 4.0 battery replacement station increase?
Zhang: From the original 5 minutes to the current 20 seconds, the station cost has not increased much. The most important thing is that the number and turnover speed of batteries have increased. It turns out that our battery rotates 14 times a day, and in the future it can rotate 20 times a day.
Q: One obstacle that will be encountered when building a battery replacement station is the problem of land in big cities. How to solve it?
Zhang: We were very tired when we built the first station. Now that we have built more than 100 stations in Beijing, it seems to be very easy. Once the market opens up, many people will come to cooperate with you. It turns out that we couldn't knock on the door of Sinopec and PetroChina, but now they are looking for us instead.
Q: How many electric vehicles do you think a station must have before Aodong can break through the revenue balance?
Zhang: If I build a website and have 100 cars, I will make money, or even more than 60 cars. I will break even in 3 to 4 years, and then I will make a profit. The cost is still higher in big cities because land prices and electricity prices are relatively high.
Q: At what pace will Aodong lay out the battery replacement station network?
Zhang: The network you mentioned has something to do with cities. For example, in Shanghai, in the original battery replacement station 3.0 era, 100 stations would be built for 10,000 vehicles, but now only 30 stations need to be built, or slightly more. The site density is 5 kilometers in radius, and will reach a density of 3 kilometers in the future. This is our goal, and this layout is very reasonable.
Our main focus now is on Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In the future, Shanghai may be like Beijing and develop a little ahead of schedule, because it has a large population and a large area, unlike second- and third-tier cities where everything can be done in one station.
Four
Q: How many third-party battery exchange companies are there now?
Zhang: There should be about 10 third-party battery exchange companies, but there are only 2 or 3 companies that really have core technology, not more than 4 companies.
Q: Battery swapping is now a hot topic. Other capital is coming in. Is it likely to be copied?
Zhang: The most critical core technologies for battery replacement are positioning, locking, and connection. Obviously Aodong's technology is more mature. We are not afraid of challenges now, and we will compete with others in the future.
Q: Weilai is also doing battery swapping and wants to be a third party. What do you think are its challenges? Is it a standard issue? Or is it an operational issue?
Zhang: It is Apple and we are Android. It speaks for itself. If it all makes high-end cars, it is possible that everyone will also make a car for NIO to provide services. But for to?b's car, it will definitely choose something high-quality and low-priced, definitely not something high-end. How much does your taxi cost? One car costs 80,000 yuan, and a Weilai one costs 400,000 yuan. It spends 1/3 of its money on services and 2/3 on other things. To?b’s car, if I take out another 1/3, I will have no money. But NIO’s cars will not become operating vehicles.
Q: As Aodong has more and more channels and its assets become heavier and heavier, will the speed of financing become faster?
Zhang: It will definitely get faster and faster, and we will have new big moves soon. Now it is our bottleneck area. There are not many stations and not many cars. After the mass production of the models we cooperate with the OEM next year, the number of battery swap stations will be very large, reaching 600 stations. Next year, 2 to 3 models will be mass-produced every quarter, and different battery-swap models will be launched every quarter.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.