The electricity-changing mode is to replace the batteries of new energy vehicles to meet the vehicle owners' endurance needs, and it is a mode of separating the vehicles from the batteries to supplement energy. Different from the charging mode of the charging pile, the charging mode can greatly save the charging time of the owner. In terms of safety, changing electricity has certain advantages over charging. In addition, the power exchange mode can also effectively alleviate the load of the power grid.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Public Security, by the end of June 2022, the number of new energy vehicles in China had reached 10.01 million. It is estimated that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the number of new energy vehicles in China will exceed 20 million. With the gradual increase of the number of new energy vehicles, it is difficult to meet the energy supplement demand of the new energy vehicle market only by means of charging, and the electricity exchange mode will become a new track for energy supplement of new energy vehicles.

At present, what is the development situation of the new energy vehicle electricity exchange mode in China? Can speeding up the construction of electricity exchange system effectively alleviate the problem of unbalanced charging of new energy vehicles? The Science and Technology Daily reporter interviewed a number of experts.

The electricity changing mode is in the 'budding' 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 vehicle owner's endurance demand, and it is a mode of separating the vehicle from the battery to supplement energy.

At present, there are two main technical routes of power exchange: one is the whole package power exchange, that is, the battery pack at the bottom of the car is replaced as a whole, and the standards of battery packs of different models are different; The other is to change the power by box, that is, to design a standardized and detachable power battery box, and to arrange different numbers of power battery boxes at the bottom of the vehicle according to the needs of different models. When changing the power, you only need to change the power battery box.

In recent years, as a new way to supplement energy for new energy vehicles, the electricity exchange mode has not only attracted the attention of the industry, but also received strong support from the national policy.

In 2020, the 'Government Work Report' explicitly included the power station replacement in the category of new infrastructure projects in China. In October of the same year, the General Office of the State Council issued the 'Development Plan for Printing and Distributing New Energy Automobile Industry (2021-2035)', which explicitly encouraged the popularization and application of the electricity exchange mode. In 2021, 'Government Work Report' once again proposed to increase parking lots, charging piles, power stations and other facilities, and speed up the construction of power battery recycling system. 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 popularization and application of the charging and replacing mode, strengthen the technical innovation and standard support of charging and replacing, optimize and upgrade the shared charging and replacing service, and improve the safety, reliability and economy of the charging and replacing mode.

According to the Research Report of China's New Energy Vehicle Switching Market released by iResearch, by the end of 2021, about 1,406 new energy vehicle switching stations had been built in China, a year-on-year increase of 1.5 times. It is estimated that the total number of domestic switching stations will exceed 30,000 by 2025. The electricity changing mode is at the stage of 'budding'.

'The current power change mode has just started, and there is still a lot of room for development in the future.' Tong Zongqi, director of the Information Department of China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, pointed out. With the introduction of a series of policies, industries and enterprises pay more attention to the electricity exchange mode, and the development potential of the electricity exchange market is huge.

Changing mode is faster and safer than charging mode.

Different from the charging mode of the charging pile, the charging mode can greatly save the charging time of the owner. If a charging pile is used, it will take half an hour at the earliest to fully charge the car, while it only takes a few minutes to change the electricity. 'Short charging time is the most prominent advantage of the power change mode, and fast charging can make the use of new energy vehicles more convenient and flexible, that is, batteries with different capacities can be selected according to the driving distance.' Liu Yongdong, deputy secretary-general of China Electricity Council, told the Science and Technology Daily reporter that the electricity changing mode can save more time and cost, and avoid the troubles caused by long-term charging, thus solving the mileage anxiety of new energy vehicles to some extent.

In terms of safety, changing electricity has certain advantages over charging. In the process of using new energy vehicles, there will often be overcharge and overdischarge, which will cause damage to the power battery, and then lead to the attenuation of the battery capacity. 'The power station will conduct centralized professional charge and discharge management on the battery, which is safer than the personal charging method.' Liu Yongdong pointed out.

In addition, the power exchange mode can also effectively alleviate the load of the power grid. With the further increase of new energy vehicles, a large number of new energy

At the same time, car charging will pose a great threat to the urban power grid, while changing power stations can make use of their own advantages to effectively reduce the load brought by centralized charging to the power grid.

In addition to the above advantages, the electricity exchange mode also solves the embarrassing situation of 'no piles available' faced by private car users. In the first-tier cities where the fixed parking space resources and land resources are scarce, the owners of new energy vehicles will encounter the problem that they can't install charging piles or don't have their own fixed charging piles available to a certain extent. At this time, the electricity exchange mode can effectively solve the charging problem as an auxiliary energy supplement mode.

To realize large-scale application, we have to go through these hurdles.

Although the power exchange mode has various advantages, in terms of economic investment, the investment in power exchange station construction and battery cost are far higher than those in charging pile construction, which makes its commercial operation face many challenges.

It is understood that the construction cost of changing power stations is equivalent to about three times that of charging stations, and its fixed construction cost is the same as that of charging stations, requiring land resources, charging facilities, charging (replacing) tram spaces, etc. However, unlike charging stations, changing power stations also need to purchase revolving batteries, power changing equipment, battery testing equipment, etc., and also need additional conditions such as special warehouses for storing batteries.

Moreover, in order to realize the large-scale application of power exchange, the standards of vehicle batteries also need to be unified. This unification will lead to the increase of battery cost. In addition, the biggest challenge faced by the power exchange 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 private cars. If the battery standard is unified, the differentiation of cars may be reduced, which will affect consumers' purchase. This is also the reason why it is difficult to unify the battery standard. 'And the' one thousand cars' of commercial vehicles is the normal state, so power change can be promoted in the field of commercial vehicles first.' Liu Yongdong said.

'Power change in the field of private cars is mainly aimed at users who are insensitive to price and have high time requirements.' Tong Zongqi pointed out that at present, only some private car owners will choose the power change mode, and most of them are mainly charged by charging piles.

The coordinated development of charging and power exchange is the future trend.

Although the electricity exchange market has entered an explosive growth period, but faced with many pain points, such as inconsistent battery standardization and high construction cost of power exchange stations, how should it develop next?

At present, there are many types of new energy vehicles in China, but the standardization of power battery packs is very low, which seriously restricts the large-scale development and application of power exchange mode. It is necessary for the state to give policy support in standardization and formulate relevant standards in conjunction with the industry, so as to unify the capacity, energy, voltage, material, size, installation position and interface standards of power batteries. This process requires the active cooperation of upstream and downstream enterprises in the relevant industrial chain, such as battery manufacturers, car companies, power exchange operators, etc., to effectively promote the standardization of batteries, and to ensure their safety in the process of power exchange and long-term use of batteries.

It is also very important to increase the investment in power station replacement. For example, we can implement partial subsidy policy, improve the conditions of power station construction, and promote the construction of integrated energy storage and power battery testing station. 'Because there are many competent departments involved in the construction of power stations, the coordination among multiple departments is particularly important.' Tong Zongqi pointed out that the sustainable development of the electricity exchange mode requires the cooperation of various forces and common promotion. In addition, attention should also be paid to the site selection of the power exchange station. The core location logic is to facilitate the daily energy demand of users and improve the convenience of car owners. Reasonable site selection will not only help to popularize the power exchange mode, but also help the power exchange station to maintain the commercial operation mode.

It is worth mentioning that, according to different usage scenarios, choosing and configuring different charging and changing modes for new energy vehicles is the best solution to the problem of energy supplement. At present, the charging of new energy vehicles is still facing many challenges. The charging pile's 'uneven heat and cold', the difficulty of charging in peak hours, and the existence of 'zombie piles' in some areas have become the pain points of new energy vehicles' energy replenishment. Only relying on electricity exchange can not solve the problem of energy supplement of new energy vehicles once and for all. Liu Yongdong pointed out that only relying on electricity exchange is not the most effective way to completely solve the 'charging anxiety'. The coordinated development of charging and electricity exchange, with charging mode as the main mode in the household field and electricity exchange mode as the main mode in the commercial field, may be the general trend in the future.