author
Zhang Zhidong
A game between "binding" and "unbinding".
Responsible editor 丨 Cui Liwen
Edit 丨 Chic
"It can be adapted to models developed by 80% of the world's pure electric platforms that are already on the market and will be launched in the next three years."
Yesterday afternoon, at the press conference of the CATL power exchange brand EVOGO, Chen Weifeng, general manager of its subsidiary Times Electric Service, said so firmly when introducing the "chocolate exchange block" specially developed by CATL for shared power exchange.
Between the words, it was as if the "King of Ning", who had once been circling among the major car companies and was still at ease, had returned.
EVOGO, Chinese name Lexing Battery Swap, is a power exchange brand just launched in the Ningde era. Of course, its main business is still to change electricity, but in terms of "strategic position", it can also be regarded as a new attempt made by the Ningde era to solve its own "crack" problem.
First of all, as far as the Ningde era is concerned about the control of the entire power battery industry chain, on the one hand, it can release the accumulated production capacity through the "power exchange mode", and then open up a new incremental market; on the other hand, the end of the Ningde era is conducive to the unification of power battery standards, so that it can further promote the recycling of battery raw materials, and the "urgent need" of battery raw material supply can be solved at a critical juncture.
Secondly, the power exchange model has formed a relatively mature set of businesses under the impetus of Enterprises such as Weilai and Aodong New Energy. The Ningde era at this time into the power exchange market, to a large extent, can "stand on the shoulders of giants", with their own power battery enterprise identity, at the beginning of the power battery design unified standards, as disclosed at this conference, "chocolate power exchange block" can be combined to change electricity, small and versatile.
Finally, and most importantly, in the context of major car companies trying to get rid of the Ningde era, the Ningde era is also thinking about how to bind deeper with car companies, so the "Lexing power exchange" that appears at this time is the new idea of breaking the situation that the Ningde era thinks of - through the popularization of the power exchange mode, indirectly involved in the research and development and design of vehicles, and then in another way, bind car companies.
But the question that needs to be faced now is, where is the competitiveness of EVOGO in the Ningde era? Can the road to electricity replacement really work?
01
EVOGO, vent or new pit?
Times Electric Service, founded on August 20, 2021 with a registered capital of 200 million yuan, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL. The EVOGO (Lexing Power Exchange) launched this time is operated with the Era Electric Service as the main body.
According to the introduction, the outstanding feature of EVOGO is the "combination of power exchange". In short, it can provide a combination of "power exchange block, quick change station, APP" three major products together to replace the overall solution.
Among them, the "chocolate power exchange block" is a mass-produced battery specially developed in the Ningde era to achieve shared power exchange, using the latest CTP technology of the Ningde era, the weight energy density is more than 160Wh/kg, the volume energy density is more than 325Wh/L, and a single battery can provide about 200 kilometers of endurance, which belongs to a kind of ternary material battery.
In terms of function, the "chocolate exchange block" can be adapted to 80% of the pure electric platform developed models that have been listed in the world and will be listed in the next three years, and can also be applied to electric models with different wheelbases from A00 class to B class and C class passenger cars and logistics vehicles, which has a certain degree of "universality".
In addition, the "chocolate exchange block" also adopts wireless BMS technology, and there is only a high-voltage positive and negative interface on the outside, which greatly improves the reliability of the plugged and unplugged components. And with the composability of the power exchange block, consumers can arbitrarily select one or more batteries when changing power, and flexibly match to achieve the needs of different mileage.
In fact, in addition to the "chocolate exchange block" with various characteristics, the quick change station and APP used with it are also remarkable.
As the core supporting facility of the power exchange mode, the degree of mechanization of the quick change station often has certain requirements, coupled with the choice of the settled location, the size of the occupied space has become one of the influencing factors of whether the scale can be achieved.
Each standard change station in the Ningde era only needs three parking spaces to achieve the storage of 48 replacement blocks; as for the replacement of a single power block, it takes 1 minute, so if consumers want to achieve 600km endurance, a total of 3 power exchange blocks need to be replaced, waiting for about 3 minutes, the efficiency is not low.
Secondly, it is the setting of the relevant power exchange APP, which assumes the role of a link between different modules and consumers, and provides interconnection and services for people, vehicles, stations, and blocks. However, whether the Ningde era can truly use the APP to realize the convenience of the power exchange mode still needs to be tested in the actual situation.
What's more, in addition to related technologies, if the Ningde era wants to enter the power exchange market, it also needs to go through the test of the industry.
02
Changing electricity cannot be achieved overnight
The ideal is very full, the reality is very bone. Even in the Ningde era of "standing on the shoulders of giants", the entry into the power exchange market at this time is not all an advantage. To put it simply, the newly entered Ningde era needs to face a triple test.
The first is the problem of how to gain more recognition from car companies.
According to Chen Weifeng, general manager of Times Electric Service, EVOGO "Little Green Ring Family" already has a 001 member - FAW Besturn NAT combination power exchange version. However, as far as the entire new energy automobile industry is concerned, the addition of only one model is to establish a sufficiently complete power exchange network, which is tantamount to a drop in the bucket.
Moreover, the realization of the power exchange mode is basically equivalent to the design of "vehicle and electricity separation". Therefore, in the current automobile market, how many car companies have made up their minds to choose the power exchange mode at the beginning of the car design?
Weilai may be the one who has always been determined, even after experiencing the "darkest moment", it has not abandoned the layout of the power exchange network. But at this moment, why should it give up the power exchange model that it has been operating for many years and go back to choose a new brand launched in the Ningde era?
Second, on the issue of the unity and standardity of the power battery.
It is no exaggeration to say that as far as power batteries are concerned, most car companies are still in a state of fragmentation, no uniformity and standards. For example, driving a Tesla car, from the Weilai replacement power station, the replacement of blade batteries, which is itself very magical.
4680 cylindrical battery, BYD's blade battery, Hive Energy's "short blade", AVIC lithium battery's One-stop...
The packaging methods of power batteries are different, and the corresponding battery chassis will also be designed "according to the needs of the car". In the context of the relatively closed car companies themselves, the promotion of the power exchange model can be imagined.
As for the solution provided by the Ningde era - "chocolate for power block", it is not denied that this is a feasible solution, but it must also be admitted that it is difficult to solve the pursuit of "uniqueness" by car companies and let the whole vehicle adapt to the battery pack.
Third, on the investment and construction of infrastructure, that is, the construction cost and scale of the replacement power station.
At present, the power exchange force is basically two dominant, one is the familiar Weilai Automobile, and the other is the third-party enterprise Aodong New Energy, and both are backed by the same big tree - Sinopec. It is precisely because of this that these two companies have been able to expand the replacement power station on a large scale.
According to relevant data, by the end of 2021, NIO has a total of 733 substations across the country, including 61 in Shanghai and 46 in Beijing. In such a contrast, as a latecomer, the Ningde era does not have the advantage of first-mover and scale, not to mention the competition with Enterprises such as Weilai and Aodong New Energy, which have been deeply involved in the power exchange business for many years, and compete in the field.
03
"Solidification" breeds new changes
The author likes to use the word "curing" to describe the current power battery market, the reason is that the domestic power battery market share has basically been divided, and the top companies are basically determined.
But there is also no doubt that with the advent of a new era, the power battery market that was once "cured" has also bred new changes.
The occurrence of "anxiety in the Ningde era", "cracks in the trillion empire", "innovation in the era of breaking through the defense of Ningde", etc., in the final analysis, is fueled by market forces.
From the perspective of car companies, getting rid of the curse of big factories, putting eggs in multiple baskets, and mastering the technical initiative are all things that car companies hope to do. From the perspective of power battery companies, expanding more production capacity, stable cooperation with car companies, and obtaining more market share are also things that some power battery companies are eager to do.
In fact, there are people who are eager to untie, and there are people who want to be tied deeper. And this cyclical situation will continue for a long time.
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