Source: Understand the notes
Not long ago, CCTV reported such a news: Beijing winter new energy public charging pile is "tight", the owner of the car in order to charge the car at four o'clock in the morning to get up "grab the pile". The topic once again pokes at the hidden pain of new energy vehicle owners, especially users in the northern region.
Indeed, due to the attenuation of the power battery at low temperature, coupled with the large power consumption of the open heating air, the number of new energy vehicles charged frequently in winter. The supply and demand of public charging piles in some northern cities is tight, and new energy vehicle owners are also heartbroken in order to charge the car.
According to the statistics of the China Automobile Association, the number of new energy vehicles in China in the first three quarters of 2021 reached 6.78 million, while the total number of charging facilities nationwide was 2.385 million units; in the first eleven months, the sales of new energy vehicles were close to 3 million units. However, the increase in domestic charging facilities is only 704,000, and the growth rate of charging infrastructure is far from catching up with the sales growth of new energy vehicles.
What's more, the increase in the frequency of charging new energy vehicles in winter, coupled with the uneven distribution of charging pile areas, makes the problem of charging difficulties in some northern cities worse. In order for the "electric daddy" not to "lose power", many car owners can be described as painstaking, and behind the difficulty of new energy charging, a series of strange business opportunities have been derived.
EV CAR
Private car owners "make up" tacit understanding
"After about 15 minutes of charging, the friend who wants to charge it shouts."
At 8 p.m., Mr. Zhang, who lives in Tianjin's Hongqiao District, was charging at a new energy charging station near his home. When the charging progress showed that it was almost complete, he opened his mobile phone and sent a message in a group of car friends, asking if any car owners who needed to charge came to "make up".
He told the understanding of the notes that this group was spontaneously established by car owners who often charged at the same charging station, mainly to "share" the "intelligence" of the idle charging pile in the charging station, so that the owners with charging needs can occupy the pile in time.
"Now the daily temperature hovers around 0 degrees, and the car's daily battery life has lost 40%." Mr. Zhang admitted that the pure electric vehicle he uses for daily commuting is a second-hand car purchased two years ago, and the current range is only about 200 kilometers.
In winter, the vehicle endurance loss plus the opening of the warm air, the endurance is often only 120 kilometers. Therefore, Mr. Zhang, who commutes more than 60 kilometers a day, has to charge and replenish the car every day, "I knew that charging in winter would be so troublesome, and I didn't buy pure electric vehicles at that time." ”
However, with the increase in pure electric taxis, online ride-hailing vehicles and logistics vehicles in the city, the frequency of charging in winter has risen, making charging pile stations that are still surplus in the summer very scarce. Private cars are mainly charged, and they must "fight wits and courage" with commercial vehicles such as online car-hailing and taxi.
"If you go to charge more than eight o'clock at night, the charging station is full of online ride-hailing cars." Mr. Zhang explained that if private car owners do not use the group "interconnection" charging pile occupation situation and make up for it in time, it will be difficult to find an idle charging pile "just right".
So, can new energy with a longer battery life, especially the new pure electric vehicle, avoid the tired situation of frequent charging in the low temperature environment in the north?
Maybe not. Mr. Zhang told him to understand the notes, some of the owners of the group have a pure electric endurance of 400 kilometers, plus the daily travel commuting distance is also shorter, only charged once a week, which is more worry-free than his car.
"But as long as you go to charge, no matter when, you will encounter a situation similar to grabbing a pile." Some pure electric vehicle owners in the group have even joined several similar charging groups, covering a number of areas that can be reached and commonly used charging stations.
Mr. Zhang stressed that in order to charge the car and avoid affecting the next day's commute, he had to stare at the owner group every night, and once there was a car owner to vacate the seat, he would get dressed and run outside the house. Although this is very tiring, it is much better than the previous situation of going out in the middle of the night to find piles and braving the cold wind to wait for charging.
"Of course, even so, there are still a few days a month when you can't charge up and you have to take a bus to work." He admitted that although this "magic trick" helps car owners solve the problem of charging difficulties, it also has limitations, "If the charging station management is standardized and strict, and there are empty piles to let the car enter, we will have no rut." ”
In order to solve the pain points of short winter battery life and difficult charging of new energy, car owners have gradually begun to learn to "huddle group heating", solve the problem of charging through a witty way, reduce the discount of new energy winter endurance, and the negative impact on daily commuting and holiday travel.
Is there a business opportunity behind the "Shift shift"?
Although the use of charging groups to "exchange" charging information helps some car owners to "occupy the pile" in time to charge, but as the saying goes, "it is better to ask for others than to seek oneself", and some car owners are also "throwing thousands of dollars" in order to grab the charging position in the community.
"Last winter's short endurance and difficulty in charging are all in sight, and I don't want to experience it again this year." Li Hang (pseudonym), who lives in the north district of Qingdao City, experienced the experience of driving in the dark at three or four o'clock in the morning to find charging piles last winter. So in November this year, before the first snow fell in Qingdao, he decided to buy a second-hand fuel car.
The requirements for this car are simple – cheap and dynamic. Li Hang told him to understand the notes that he spent nearly 10,000 yuan to buy a second-hand car in order to occupy his own electric car.
"There are slow charging piles in my neighborhood, and it is the least time-consuming to work all night until the next day." However, the new energy slow charging pile in the community often allows fuel vehicles to occupy, even if there are electric vehicles charging in the parking space, it is not realistic to charge the owner after slow charging.
So, he used the cheap used car he bought to occupy a parking space with public slow charging piles. Every day when I go home, I drive the fuel car away and drive the new energy vehicle into the charging parking space to charge it overnight. Travel the next day and repeat the action in reverse.
"Compared with going out in the middle of the night to find an electric pile, it is not a big deal to spend 450 yuan more per month to pay parking fees." Since the use of second-hand fuel vehicles to occupy the pile, Li Hang can charge the pure electric vehicle almost every day, "Now there are other residents in the community, learn me this way to buy second-hand fuel vehicles to occupy the slow charging position." ”
Nowadays, every weekday morning, he can always see several owners driving fuel vehicles in front of the public charging piles in the residential parking lot, replacing the new energy vehicles that have been slowly charged overnight. Sometimes after a "shift", it will also cause traffic jams inside the parking lot.
The similar "piling" method has also spawned new business opportunities. A colleague of his revealed that since the beginning of winter, the owners of the community he is in often have people send "advertisements": paid charging piles, once successfully charged 3 to 5 yuan per time, you can even "monthly service".
"In fact, the so-called paid pile, the practice is similar to buying a fuel car to occupy the pile, some people use a private car to occupy the charging position first, and then paid to the owner of the car with charging needs, earning some pocket money every month." Li Hang said helplessly that the paid stakes were a bunch of retired owners with spare time. Although colleagues have reflected similar phenomena to the property, there are still car owners who are doing this kind of paid "pile occupation" as of now.
They obviously base the joy of accumulating wealth on the pain of new energy vehicle owners in the community.
It can be seen that for the owners of new energy vehicles in the north, whether they can smoothly charge the car in winter determines whether they can travel normally and commute normally. In order to charge, the owner even spares no cost, and even derives the relevant "wealth collection routine" behind it.