Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Yang Delin
Entering the winter, the "endurance anxiety" of new energy vehicle owners across the country, especially in the northern region, has come again.
Recently, according to CCTV financial reports, the public charging pile near the kindergarten in Shunyi Niulan Town, Beijing, due to free parking, plus about 6 cents cheaper per kilowatt hour from 11 o'clock at night to 7 o'clock in the morning than at the peak of the wave, has become the object of competition for new energy car owners nearby, and even the owner got up at 4 a.m. to grab the pile.
On December 30, Times Finance visited a number of residential areas and shopping malls in Beijing's Chaoyang District and found that behind the "shrinkage" of winter battery life and more frequent charging, the charging places with cheap prices and free parking fees are indeed "difficult to find".
"My car takes more than 1 hour to charge each time, 2 times a day, 1 degree of electricity in the morning 1.07 yuan, charging 1 degree of electricity during the noon peak period is almost 1.7 yuan, so we generally pick the early morning work or charge in the morning, can save 30 yuan, but bad luck to meet the cheap pile is charged, you have to wait for more than 1 hour." If you want to grab a cheap pile, get out of the car smoothly in the morning, either it is full of early morning to go back, or you have to get up early. On December 30, Li Qiang (pseudonym), a Didi driver who drives a new energy vehicle, told Times Finance.
A new energy charging parking space in an underground parking lot in Chaoyang District, Beijing Photo source/Times Finance Photo
However, compared with taxi and online car drivers, the "endurance anxiety" of the average private car owner is not high if he does not go far away in winter. A number of Beijing "office workers" told Times Finance that compared to saving money, they prefer to choose charging stations close to home and close to the company, and these charging places are sometimes not high due to higher costs or parking fees, and there is no phenomenon of "grabbing piles". "The charging pile near my house is enough, and it's even empty."
It is reported that due to the decrease in winter temperature, the activity of the power battery in the low temperature environment declines, the battery capacity is affected, and the mileage of new energy vehicles may be greatly attenuated, so car owners have to increase the frequency of charging to ensure travel. However, if the cost is too high and the parking fee is added, the cost challenge is not small for the owner of the operation. In order to save money, many car owners have shown their magic in grabbing "cheap piles", and some people even brave the cold wind and heavy snow in the late night and early morning to "find piles" to charge.
According to the aforementioned Didi driver Li Qiang told Times Finance, many car owners who run the operation are the same as him, in order to save charging fees will get up early or in the early morning to charge, "We drive to support the family, we can definitely save a little, generally at least 2 times a day to charge, a month can be cheaper than 1,000 blocks, quite worthwhile." And like my nearby cheap charging pile is good, some of the home near the no charging pile, they in order to get out of the car in the morning, there are more than 5 o'clock to grab the cheap charging pile. ”
"In fact, like the construction of charging piles in Beijing began very early, charging piles in many places have not been used, and the problem of charging difficulties may be more related to the peak price." On December 31, Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview with Times Finance.
It is understood that the current electricity price in Beijing will have different prices according to the different time of electricity consumption. Among them, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. is the trough period of electricity prices, while 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. are the peak period of electricity prices. Not only that, the brand and location of the charging pile are different, which will also lead to the difference in the charging cost of the car owner. Taking a star charging pile in the Changying area of Chaoyang District of Beijing as an example, the cost of charging 1 degree point during the trough period is 1.07 yuan, the peak period is 1.82 yuan, and the other periods are 1.33 yuan; while the trough price of a state grid charging pile in the Beiyuan area of Chaoyang District, Beijing is 1.24 yuan, the peak period is 1.66 yuan, and the other periods are 1.45 yuan.
According to times finance and economics on December 30, at different times to visit a number of districts in Beijing Chaoyang District, shopping malls public charging places found that if you choose to charge in the peak period of charging more expensive, the utilization rate of charging piles is not high, and there is no phenomenon that queues cannot grab piles.
A ground parking lot in Chaoyang District, Beijing Photo source/Times Finance Photo
In the underground parking lot of a shopping mall in Beijing's Chaoyang District, Times Finance saw that the underground parking lot was equipped with 15 charging piles, each with 2 "charging guns", but at 2 p.m., 30 "charging guns" only 5 cars were charging, and the utilization rate was less than 20%. A new energy owner who is charging told Times Finance that charging during this period is the most expensive, one degree of electricity is 2.07 yuan, only 1.08 yuan in the morning, and parking is also billed at 5 yuan per hour, so now there are fewer cars to charge, "If I am not in a hurry, I will generally charge near my home after 11 pm." ”
Times Finance visited the ground parking lot of the nearby business district at about 7 p.m. on the same day, and found that the use rate of charging piles in the ground parking lot during this period exceeded 60%, and 20 of the 30 charging guns showed that they were in use. According to a taxi driver who is using a charging pile, "Charging 1 kWh here in the morning is less than 1 yuan, and it will cost 1.3 yuan from 10 o'clock to 3 pm, and there is no parking fee in this place, so there are many people charging, and sometimes they have to queue up during peak periods." And like my car, it is written that it can run 300 kilometers, but now it is only about 150 kilometers in winter, and it has to be charged twice a day, which is definitely a little cheaper. ”
It is worth noting that if you want to replenish the energy of the car, in addition to finding a charging pile to charge, replacing the power is also a choice. But for operating car owners, compared to charging, changing power is faster, but the cost is also higher.
On December 30, according to Zhao Hai (pseudonym), a taxi driver in Beijing, he told Times Finance that he had to change 2 batteries every day, and there was a replacement power station specially provided for taxi drivers, although it saved charging time, but the cost would be more expensive than charging itself. "The batteries that are replaced are not fully charged, less than 95% of the power, and they are not charged more." Now I basically pay 0.35 yuan per kilometer, and the electricity bill is more than 100 yuan a day. ”
In the industry's view, although there is a certain exaggeration component in the current charging difficulties of new energy vehicles, with the continuous growth of new energy vehicle ownership, how to alleviate the anxiety of car owners and solve problems including endurance, charging costs, and reasonable distribution of charging facilities is imminent.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in the first three quarters of 2021, the number of new energy vehicles in China reached 6.78 million; from January to November this year, the sales of new energy vehicles were 2.99 million. However, according to the statistics of the China Charging Technology and Facilities Alliance, as of November 2021, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure in the country is 2.385 million units, an increase of 55% year-on-year; from January to November this year, the national charging infrastructure increase is 704,000 units.
In addition to the need to strengthen the laying of infrastructure such as charging piles, it is also very important to rationally layout and site selection to solve the problem of uneven distribution of charging piles.
Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the Automobile Circulation Association, told Times Finance that at present, in cities like Beijing, the number of charging piles is actually quite large, but the average utilization rate of charging piles is uneven as a whole, which shows that the layout of charging piles in the city is not scientific and reasonable enough. "Like the peak period of electricity prices at noon, there are even cases where no one is charging in some places such as shopping malls." In the morning and evening, during the trough of electricity prices, the community has the phenomenon of grabbing piles. He believes that in the future, more charging piles will be set up in large shopping malls, communities and other places where the flow of people is concentrated, but the pricing must be coordinated by many parties to find a more suitable solution.
In addition, the problem of inconsistent charging standards also plagues many new energy vehicle owners. It is reported that the current charging pile is mainly divided into two types: DC charging pile and AC charging pile. DC charging pile commonly known as "fast charge", the use of high voltage, charging power, fast charging, but high cost; AC charging pile commonly known as "slow charge", the use of conventional voltage, charging power is small, charging slow, but the cost is low.
In the industry's view, improving the output power of charging equipment is one of the important measures to improve the charging speed of automobiles, how to promote high-power high-voltage fast charging technology in the future, reduce the charging waiting time, and unify the interface to improve adaptability, which requires the joint efforts of all sectors of society.
The parking position of a public charging pile in a residential area of Chaoyang District, Beijing has only one new energy vehicle charging Image source/Times Finance Photo
In addition, problems such as the inability of charging piles to be used and the occupation of parking spaces by fuel vehicles have also brought "charging anxiety" to new energy vehicle owners to a certain extent. On December 31, in the process of visiting public charging places for new energy vehicles, Time Finance found that many new energy charging parking spaces were posted with the sign of "charging special parking spaces, no parking", but there are still some fuel vehicles parked on charging spaces. At the same time, Times Finance also saw that the charging plug of some charging piles fell off the charging pile and could not be used.
Some insiders told Times Finance that at present, in addition to the development and layout speed of charging piles, it still needs to be further improved, and improving the management and maintenance level of charging piles is also a top priority. "Relevant departments can issue some quantitative rules and measures, or use corresponding technical means to strengthen supervision and management in this regard, and encourage service providers to do their best to provide high-quality operation and maintenance services."
"At present, with the continuous improvement of the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, problems such as insufficient number of charging piles, uneven distribution, and inadequate maintenance are becoming increasingly prominent, bringing charging anxiety to many new energy car owners." In the future, by continuously accelerating the rational layout of charging piles, promoting high-power high-voltage fast charging technology, and strengthening the operation and service of charging piles and reasonable electricity prices, it is believed that it will promote the healthy and orderly development of the entire new energy vehicle market. The industry insider said.