Produced | Tiger Sniff Car Group
The author | Master Zi Nan
How to make electric vehicle replenishment as convenient as refueling is one of the ultimate questions facing new energy vehicles. Car companies provide many solutions in this regard, Weilai does power replacement, Tesla and other car companies do supercharging.
Now, power battery manufacturer CATL provides a new solution - combined power exchange. On January 18, Times Electric Service, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL, announced the launch of the power exchange brand EVOGO and the overall solution of combined power exchange.
Ningde era of substation Source: Ningde era
A battery that can be disassembled into three parts can be replaced in 1 minute, at least in terms of energy speed comparable to fuel vehicles. Although it is not possible to control the detailed dose as with refueling, users can also choose to carry 1, 2 or 3 batteries, and there is a certain degree of flexibility.
In the Ningde era plan, all models that are suitable for power exchange will be equipped with the "chocolate battery" of the Ningde era. Compared with the power exchange service of brands such as Weilai Automobile, the solution of the Ningde era has improved the efficiency, economy and flexibility of power exchange.
However, the improvement of the supplementary energy experience requires car companies to sacrifice the right to speak in order to obtain. Like WEILAI's power exchange service, models adapted to cater era power exchange services need to redesign the chassis. In the statement of the Ningde era, the chocolate battery can be adapted to the current 80% pure electric platform models. "Car companies generally spend 6-8 months adjusting the chassis to adapt to our replacement power station," an insider of the Ningde era told Tiger Sniff.
Catalonia has given a market competitive and feasible power exchange program, under which car companies are facing new choices. Choosing to change the power may sell more cars through convenient power exchange services, but it means completely abandoning the right to speak on the power battery parts, and the model is homogeneous with the model that also adopts the Ningde era power exchange scheme on the power battery. Not choosing to change the power means that the model cannot get the energy replenishment service provided by the NINGDE era, which in turn affects the market performance of the model.
For the impact of the power exchange business on car companies, the response of the NINGDE era is: "Car companies have not lost anything, but users have received better services." At present, FAW Besturn's NAT models have adopted the power exchange service of the Ningde era.
Since the power exchange business has not yet landed on a large scale, CATL has not yet disclosed more information. For the prediction of the future development of EVOGO, the reply of the NINGDE era is "let the market make a choice".
A standardized energy replenishment scheme
In the past, due to the lack of speed of charging and replacing infrastructure construction, most car companies chose to fight their own battles in energy replenishment and build their own charging and replacing systems.
One of the impacts of car companies fighting their own battles is that the battery size and standards of different brands and models are not uniform, so it is impossible to build a large-scale and standardized power exchange system.
Therefore, at present, the only companies that choose to change the power supply mode are Olay Automobile, which realizes the unification of battery packs within the brand and the service taxi and other models of Aodong, Botan and other enterprises. Power exchange has never become the mainstream energy replenishment method for new energy vehicles.
However, from the perspective of actual demand, the power exchange model is not without market prospects. Under the premise that the charging speed cannot exceed the refueling speed of the fuel vehicle in a short period of time, the power exchange can make up for the user's shortcomings in the energy replenishment experience.
If you want to fill the market gap in the field of new energy vehicles, you need an enterprise with sufficient technical strength and influence to take the lead and give a power exchange solution that meets the market demand of car companies and market demand to the greatest extent, with high efficiency and controllable cost.
So far, there are not many companies that have the ability to do this, and ningde times is one of them.
The power exchange system of the Ningde era is divided into three parts, a standardized battery, a replacement station that can serve the battery and the client.
Specific parameters of chocolate battery Source: Ningde era
At the heart of the whole system is the chocolate battery. The energy density of the chocolate battery specially created for the power exchange network in the NINGDE era is 160Wh/kg, which is medium to high in the current power battery equipped with new energy vehicles, and can be split into three electric blocks, and the mileage supported by each block is about 200km.
"The power exchange mode of the Ningde era has a great feature, it is very flexible, users can rent electricity on demand, and consumers only need to rent an electric block to commute in the daily city." If you want to travel long distances, you can choose two or three electric blocks, and truly increase or decrease them to achieve freedom of electricity consumption," said Chen Weifeng, general manager of Times Electric Service, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL.
The separable chocolate battery enriches the user's choice of power exchange, which is not available in the power exchange service provided by brands such as Weilai Automobile.
In addition, this battery adopts the wireless BMS (battery management system) technology of the Ningde era, cancels the wiring harness in the original battery, and there is only a high-voltage positive and negative interface outside the entire power exchange block, which further improves the reliability of the plugged and unplugged components to adapt to more models. However, whether the design of splitting the battery pack into three parts will affect the safety and center of gravity of the vehicle still needs to wait for the power to land.
According to the observation of the Ningde times, the daily commuting of new energy vehicle owners in the city will only use 10-20% of the cruising range of the whole vehicle. Therefore, the demand for power exchange in this part of the user does not always need a battery that meets the 600 km endurance. In the use scenario of daily commuting, users can choose to carry a single chocolate battery to meet the needs of use while reducing the rental cost of the battery.
Substation renderings Source: Ningde era
Then there is the matching substation. The substation in the Ningde era can carry 48 electric blocks, the substation is 1C full charge, and a full charge of one block is about 1 hour. According to this calculation, the replacement power station of the Ningde era can serve at least 16 vehicles an hour, which is slightly higher than the 13 vehicles per hour of the second generation of Weilai Automobile.
In order to cope with different climatic environments, ningde times also have different versions of the change station to choose from, which improves the practicality of the substation.
At present, FAW Besturn's NAT models have adopted the power exchange service of the Ningde era. CATL did not disclose the progress of other partners, only said that it would "disclose it in a timely manner".
In the construction of the substation, the Ningde era did not give specific construction goals. It plans to implement the power exchange mode in 10 cities in the first phase, and adjust the strategy according to the market conditions. "We are still rookies in the power exchange area, and we need to learn from our peers," NINGDE times said.
However, Chen Weifeng, general manager of Times Electric Service, the operator of the CATL power exchange business, said that the world's largest power exchange network will be built within 2-3 years.
In addition to the substation and battery specially designed for the power exchange system, CATL has also made a supporting business model for separating vehicle and electricity. The specific design is similar to the model of NIO, and battery rental services have been launched to separate the ownership of batteries from the vehicle. The benefits of this model have been reflected in Weilai - lowering the user's car purchase threshold and then selling more cars.
But this model also brings another drawback - the Ningde era needs to bear the cost of batteries, relying on deferred income such as rent to make up for the cost of batteries invested in the early stage. The cost of the battery in the power exchange system is currently borne by times electric service, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL.
In NIO's battery leasing business, NIO chose to introduce partners to invest in the establishment of a holding subsidiary, NIO, transfer the battery cost that users did not pay for in one lump sum to NIO, and then return the funds at one time by issuing ABS (asset securitization bonds).
CATL did not explicitly state that it would adopt the same scheme as Weilai Automobile, but only said that it would consider opening up relevant channels.
At the press conference on January 18, CATL did not disclose more details. For example, the cost of power exchange, the cost of battery rental, etc. CATL said that the corresponding details will be disclosed after the actual landing of the business.
"Times Electronics service is only from 0 to 0.001, want to do this thing, the development of the entire business will follow the entire industry to go, we do not make any assumptions, are open," Chen Weifeng said.
There is scale to have everything
The idea of CATL is to provide power exchange services for all car companies. Fundamentally, WEILAI Automobile, which only provides power replacement services for its own models, and Olimpus, which mainly provides power exchange services for taxis and other scenarios, are not the main competitors of the Ningde era.
The NINGDE era expects to do such a groundbreaking and ambitious thing, the main enemy is itself - how to promote such a standardized program to as many car companies and models as possible, serving more people.
Scale is the prerequisite for everything. The CATL era needs to convince more partners. At present, only FAW Besturn, which does not have a strong sense of presence in the electric vehicle market, is included in the Power Exchange System of the Ningde Era.
At present, among the leading players in the domestic new energy vehicle market, Tesla has refused to replace the power model, BYD is a competitor in the Ningde era, and Wei comes from the power exchange network, and the possibility of these car companies choosing to access the Ningde era power exchange network is not high.
"Just as some car companies keep their distance from Huawei, car companies are also worried about whether to join the NINGD era power exchange network," an industry observer told Tiger Sniff. The concern of car companies is that if the Ningde era power exchange business is adopted, it means that the chassis research and development of car companies need to take the initiative to adapt to the chocolate battery of the Ningde era.
In addition, the loss of power battery discourse power means that the profit margin and core competitiveness of car companies will be affected, and the cake of insurance, finance and aftermarket services brought by power batteries will be drawn into the bowl of the Ningde era.
"For car companies with bad sales, joining the camp of the Ningde era can mix sales, and for car companies with good sales, joining the Ningde era requires sacrificing product performance."
The model is equipped with 3 chocolate batteries to achieve a range of 600 kilometers, which is an indicator in the middle and upper reaches of the mainstream consumer market, but if the car company wants to take the mileage as the selling point, then the choice of chocolate batteries means the choice of mediocrity.
However, an insider of the Ningde era expressed an optimistic attitude towards the power exchange business: "In the first two years, no one believed that we would cooperate with Tesla, and we did it later."
Whether car companies will eventually choose the power exchange business in the Ningde era depends on how much dividend the power exchange business in the Ningde era can bring to the car companies. In the early days of the power exchange business, CATL needed to prove the superiority of its business and the advantages of cost.
Only when more car companies access the power exchange network in the Ningde era, the cost of their replacement power station will be diluted. On the other hand, users can also have more model selection space in the power exchange system of the Ningde era, and further feedback on the sales of car companies.
In addition, there is also a detail that the replacement and lease prices given to users by the Ningde era need to be reasonable. In the battery rental price of Weilai Automobile, many Weilai users have said that Baas is not affordable. As for the C-end price of the power exchange network, the statement of an insider of the Ningde era is "quite competitive".
The concerns of car companies are the special problems that Ningde era needs to face to change electricity, and these problems Weilai Automobile never needs to consider. However, the problems experienced by Weilai Automobile when changing electricity cannot be avoided in the Ningde era.
The most basic is the problem of the construction cost of the replacement power station, as well as the operational problem. NIO's auto service is only itself, and the NINGD era is facing more partners and more complex and diversified users. The problems that Weilai encountered before were multiplied here in the Ningde era.
How to make the battery in the power exchange system efficiently dispatched, how to make the best use of each battery through battery life cycle management, and how to effectively upgrade the battery to maintain market competitiveness. These are all problems that need to be faced in the Ningde era.
"We used to be a 2B business, to the power exchange is the 2C model, or there is a big difference, it is a huge challenge for us, the power exchange is a heavy asset business, so we will design a model, build a bridge to the capital market and the real market to do a grafting, so that the blood of the capital market is delivered to it," Chen Weifeng said.
As for the long-term development of the power exchange business in the Ningde era, Chen Weifeng did not make a detailed interpretation. "The most efficient market will win if it creates value for society, and many things are not clear now."
All about the battery business, NINGDE era to do
After the release of the power exchange model, the business of CATL has basically completed the overall layout of power batteries from production to scrap recycling, and transformed from an auto parts manufacturer to a new energy solution provider.
As mentioned above, the Ningde era will face the challenges of changing electricity, but do not forget the advantages of the Ningde era itself.
Through the layout of the whole industry chain of power batteries, NINGDE era can obtain the benefits of each link of power batteries. Such a layout makes the cost control of the Ningde era more macroscopic, even if there is a problem in the cost of a certain link of the power battery, the Ningde era can also ensure the final income through the overall control ability and bargaining power. Such an advantage is not available to its competitors BYD and LG Chem.
In addition, relying on the existing power battery life cycle business layout, ningde era should have more imagination space in the business model.
In 2020, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, announced three major strategic development directions for the future of CATL: adhering to the substitution of fixed fossil energy with renewable energy and energy storage as the core, mobile fossil energy substitution with power batteries as the core, and application scenarios with electrification + intelligence as the core.
Now, the Ningde era has smoothly stepped into a new electrification application scenario. Although the road ahead is unknown, the exploration and practice of its business model is traceable.
The author believes that whether the Ningde era can be sought after by capital like PetroChina Sinopec in the oil age and has a high degree of growth depends on the following three points: stabilizing technological progress, obtaining revenue growth, and expanding business boundaries.
The release of the power exchange business is a phased event for the development of the Ningde era. In the end, we can see that the biggest vision of the Ningde era is to become the "standard interface" between each electric unit through energy storage technology, which has the basic technology and application mode of intelligent and distributed management in the future power era.
The CATL era has the opportunity to rise to become an energy giant in this energy revolution. But this requires many prerequisites, continuous technological progress, policy impetus, and the exploration of new business models. These are all afterwords that will take time to answer.
At present, what is more important is that the pattern of the new energy industry has been disrupted again, and the competition of enterprises has become more and more fierce. This is a good thing for consumers, and today they have one more option.
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