On the afternoon of January 18, CATL released the overall solution of power exchange service brand EVOGO power exchange and combination power exchange. The entire online launch was only ten minutes long, and the concept of "chocolate" ran through it.
This is the first press conference of Times Electric Service, explained by General Manager Chen Weifeng. Starting from the three main factors of cruising range, convenience of power replenishment and purchase and use cost, combined with sharing and service, vehicle and electricity separation, the "combined power exchange overall solution" is proposed.
01
Chocolate launch without chocolate
The overall solution consists of 3 core components, including three major products:
Chocolate bar changer
Quick change station
App
The main features can be summarized as follows:
The overall battery pack in the current mainstream power exchange mode is split designed, like chocolate, each piece of power can last about 200 kilometers; it can be freely selected according to the mileage demand of 1-3 blocks, which can achieve A00-class to C-class models; and can adapt to 80% of the models developed by the pure electric platform that have been listed and will be listed in the next 3 years.
A single standard station covers an area of approximately 3 parking spaces and can store 48 replacement blocks, each with a replacement time of about 1 minute. The substation can be adjusted according to the climatic conditions in different regions. The connection between people, cars, stations, and blocks is achieved through apps.
At the same time, the first model that supports EVOGO power swapping was also displayed, fawn besturn NAT combination replacement version. Times Electric Service will be the first to select 10 cities to start the power exchange service.
Times Electric Service said that the power exchange service is open to all car companies, and will invite more partners to join to build an energy ecology.
02
Small is just the volume
The modular combination design of chocolate is the biggest highlight of the catalpa era power exchange solution.
In terms of battery technology, the replacement block adopts the latest CTP (Cell To Pack) technology in the Ningde era. With a charge of 26.5 kWh per chocolate changer, a weight energy density of more than 160 Wh/kg, and a volume energy density of more than 325 Wh/L, a single battery can provide an endurance of about 200 km and is suitable for most models developed by pure electric platforms.
According to people familiar with the matter, there is no liquid cooling system inside the power exchange block, and the temperature rise is adjusted directly through the battery cell. Since the battery replacement battery charging is completed in the substation, thermal management is mainly in the charging process of the battery cell temperature control, the temperature control system has been integrated inside the substation.
In order to improve the reliability of the pluggable parts, the replacement block adopts wireless BMS technology for the first time, and the external only high-voltage positive and negative interfaces are required, without the need for a BMS socket. Due to the high requirements of BMS communication, in the traditional power exchange mode, the battery pack has a large number of BMS wiring harnesses, the socket is more complex, and frequent plugging poses a challenge to reliability and durability. Wireless communication technology makes the socket of the chocolate block battery very simple.
03
To change the power, the emphasis is on the word "change"
So, what advantages does the combined swap mode bring compared to existing power swap technologies?
In general, the combined power exchange balances the relationship between the mileage, the convenience of power replenishment and the purchase and use cost, and the main advantages are to adapt to more models, reduce the cost of use and improve the operation efficiency of the replacement station.
First, the combined battery can be better adapted to different sizes of the car. Through the adjustment of the number of chocolate swap blocks, it brings more flexible battery pack size, smaller space restrictions, wider coverage, lower systematic marginal cost, properly solves the space adaptation problem of different models, and realizes the full adaptation from A00 class to C class car series.
At the same time, the combined battery also improves the versatility and utilization of the individual exchange blocks. Compared with the large-size battery packs with uniform specifications in the current mainstream substations, the advantages of flexibility and adaptability are outstanding. The wider range of vehicle adaptations allows more car owners to use EVOGO's battery swap service.
Second, for users, chocolate exchange blocks bring a more economical experience, and the biggest benefit is to save money. The vast majority of electric vehicle owners only use 10%-20% of the total capacity of the battery pack in daily use, but in order to cope with low-frequency long-distance travel, electric vehicle users have to buy a larger capacity battery pack to cope with mileage anxiety and pay a lot of sunk costs.
The form of the combined power exchange block may bring a new car purchase and car experience.
At the car purchase stage, users can choose a small capacity battery pack, such as a model configuration that contains only 1 chocolate exchange block, and its 200 km range is enough for daily transportation. In the purchase process alone, one-third to two-thirds of the battery cost is saved, which greatly reduces the threshold for car purchase.
In the car use stage, users can flexibly choose the number of power exchanges according to the travel purpose. At least one piece, up to three pieces, can achieve about 200-600 km of endurance. The daily transportation is only equipped with 1 piece, which not only reduces the cost of use, but also reduces the quality of the whole vehicle, and relatively reduces the unit power consumption. When you need to travel long distances, you can load 3 blocks fully and switch to 1 piece after the journey, which is very flexible.
In contrast, the current mainstream power exchange mode is an integral power exchange. For example, some companies divide the battery pack into a variety of specifications according to the size of the capacity, but because of the consideration of operational efficiency, assuming that the user needs to temporarily travel long-distance from the usual small capacity battery to a large capacity battery, the initial lease period may be in months, and the flexibility is not good.
Third, it has greatly improved the operational efficiency of the substation. The power exchange mode separates the vehicle electricity, and the "chocolate power exchange block" turns the original battery pack into three, further refining the particle size, which greatly improves the circulation efficiency of the battery.
You should also be able to think of such a scenario, when the user wants to use a large-capacity battery pack, his nearby substation may only have a small capacity of the battery pack, so he must drive to a farther storage of a large-capacity battery pack of the substation. Conversely, if a substation stores a large-capacity battery pack, but there is no customer choice for a long time, it causes the battery pack to be substantially idle and inefficient.
The replacement block with unified specifications and free combination has no such trouble at all. Each standard change station can store 48 power exchange blocks, each exchange block specifications are exactly the same, in the power exchange, there is no need to distinguish between the model and the change block model, can be quickly matched, greatly improving the circulation efficiency of the battery block.
According to the calculation of the replacement time of each power exchange block from 1-1.5 minutes, the battery of the quick change station can be cycled again in about 1 hour. The replaced chocolate power block can be charged at the same time, and the time for a single charge is about 1 hour.
04
The timing of the tour is important
In fact, the current hot replacement power station is not a new concept. From 2006 to the present, the power exchange industry has gone through three stages.
Embryonic stage: 2006-2013
Better Place pioneered the power swap model and in 2007 Hyundai established a fast automatic charge and swap station. However, it eventually went bankrupt in May 2013 due to the fact that the size of the replacement market was too small. In 2006, the State Grid organized a series of electric vehicle charging and replacement facilities research and development and practice work, and in 2010, the State Grid launched the TEU box power exchange technology, but it was not successful.
Integration stage: 2014-2019
In 2015, Tesla abandoned the power exchange model because of the expensive and cumbersome process. In 2014, the State Grid opened the market for charging and replacing facilities to private capital. From 2013 to 2016, the national policy continued to encourage the construction of charging infrastructure for new energy vehicles, but did not involve support for power exchange, and the power exchange model was silent at the policy level.
Outbreak phase: after 2020
The industrial inflection point has arrived, policy-oriented support for the construction of power exchange infrastructure, the prosperity of the new energy automobile industry has continued to improve, and the multi-factor driving power exchange mode of the industrial chain has developed rapidly. The rapid development of power exchange enterprises, the power exchange model has been verified by the market as a feasible solution.
The Ningde era has been tracking the pulse of the era of electricity replacement, waiting for opportunities.
On August 20, 2020, CATL, Nio Motors, Guotai Junan and Hubei Ketou established Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset Co., Ltd., and launched the BaaS (Battery as a Service) battery rental service business on this basis.
On September 9, 2020, 20 units, including China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China FAW Group Co., Ltd., CATL, and Huading Guolian, signed the Joint Statement on Building a "Vehicle-Electricity Separation" Model Ecosystem for New Energy Vehicles.
On December 24, 2021, CATL signed an agreement with the People's Government of Guizhou Province on cooperation in the construction of power exchange networks, which will cooperate in the construction of power exchange network facilities and the promotion of power exchange capacity.
Now, CATL is ready to personally enter, from the behind-the-scenes role of power battery suppliers, to the center of the stage of battery operators. The timing is in place, which can be described as a favorable time and place.
In terms of "Tianshi", the new energy penetration rate of the domestic passenger car market will reach 22% in 2021, and the sales volume of new energy vehicles will exceed 3.5 million, and the new energy market will usher in an outbreak window.
In terms of "geographical advantages", since 2020, the new energy vehicle power exchange model has been supported by many departments such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In May 2020, the substation was written into the Government Work Report for the first time as an important part of the new infrastructure. On October 28, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice deciding to start the pilot work of the application of the new energy vehicle power exchange mode, which was regarded by the industry as a policy signal that the power exchange industry was about to usher in an outbreak.
In terms of "people" and people, there is a sufficient user base, the existing replacement power station has laid a good foundation for cultivating user habits, the experience of power exchange is far beyond the traditional charging pile, and the new energy owner has a high acceptance of the replacement power station.
In addition, the battery cost curve is turning upwards, and the cost advantage of shared power exchange is beginning to stand out. Over the past few years, the cost of batteries has fallen due to technological advances and economies of scale, hedging the cost of resources for increased electricity. However, since 2021, the global new energy vehicle market has entered a new stage of explosive growth, the demand for power batteries has surged, the price of raw material resources for power batteries has risen sharply under the leverage of supply and demand, the cost of batteries has risen significantly, and even the price inversion has occurred in the battery recycling industry.
Cataltime chose to enter at this moment, and it is obvious that the battery assets are under its own system, which is not to be shrewd.
05
Outside of power swapping
As a leader in the field of power batteries, it seems logical that the Ningde era has entered the battery replacement service track.
In the field of domestic power exchange, the more well-known ones are Aodong New Energy and Weilai Automobile. In the cooperation between BAIC and Aodong, the power exchange business is mainly for the taxi and online ride-hailing markets. Weilai relies on its own power replacement models to create a brand-specific power exchange system.
Unlike car companies that rely on their own automobile manufacturing resources, CATL, as a power battery supplier, has more room to play in the entire battery industry chain. In fact, the Ningde era has long been no longer limited to the field of power battery supply. Energy storage business and recycling are also an important part of its industrial layout. Now the launch of the power exchange business will better open up the connection between the three major business sectors and spell out the last piece of the puzzle of the business closed loop.
From a more macroscopic point of view, CATL chose to manage its own battery assets at this node, and there may be a step behind it .e. "power exchange ecological chess".
The CATL era is more likely to become the "Android ecological builder" in the electric era, creating an open power exchange infrastructure platform for automobile manufacturers. Relying on the leading advantages in the field of power batteries to open up the channel of cooperation with car companies, most electric vehicle companies will integrate into a shared ecology through power exchange operations.
This is similar to Google offering an Android system. All android manufacturers use the Android system around the Android ecosystem to maximize the sharing of resources. Mobile phone manufacturers can concentrate on software and hardware optimization, while at the operating system level, they use the Android ecosystem to avoid repeated wheel building. The two sides give full play to their respective comparative advantages to achieve a win-win situation.
The question facing the car companies now is, why should they join the power exchange system of the Ningde era?
The answer in one sentence is "platform dividend".
Although the electric vehicle market is growing rapidly today, scale has always been the biggest problem of the power exchange system. The body design of different vehicles is different, the battery pack structure will be different, and the specific structure exclusivity of the power exchange has established a "reproductive isolation" for the power exchange between different brands.
For car companies, to change the electric light is technically necessary to prepare the following:
Exclusive power exchange structure
Replace the battery pack
Exclusive substation
In addition, it is also necessary to establish a special battery operation system, if you want to implement the separation of vehicle electricity and battery asset companies, the daily battery replacement operation service requires personnel investment, the whole life cycle management of the battery, post-processing and other content also cost a lot of energy.
Its restrictions are numerous, the investment is large, and the length of the system makes many enterprises prohibitive.
But now, the Ningde era as a platform and ecological operation provider to do these things, at this time for car companies, power replacement is no longer a success or failure of the energy route choice, but has become a new business field that can expand product coverage, whether from the comprehensive cost pressure or model planning, the risk to the development of enterprises has dropped significantly.
For example, we can imagine how competitive the price of the car will be after cutting the battery cost and how much impact it can have on sales if the micro-scooter electric vehicles on the market are currently priced at less than 100,000 if they join EVOGO to implement the replacement + separation of vehicles and electricity. But if such an existing platform does not exist, it is obviously impossible to develop a power swap system starting at 0 for an A00-level product line.
In the future development, when the Ningde era power exchange system is mature enough to become the dominant power exchange system in the industry, users who prefer to change power will give priority to purchasing vehicles that support EVOGO, and the power exchange will naturally come with "platform traffic". If car companies want to promote sales on the basis of the original, they can launch a combined replacement model that supports EVOGO, increase market competitiveness, and also bring lower costs of use to consumers, which is a win-win move.
Of course, for companies that aspire to become the Apple of the automotive industry, EVOGO may not be their choice, but the new energy market is after all a rapidly growing massive market, which is large enough to accommodate different types of energy replenishment systems. The final pattern of different systems is not something that can be seen clearly overnight.
At EVOGO, we see a lot of feasibility, in which settings like modular combination power exchange do hit the consumer's demand point, and adapting to the needs of consumers that are difficult to meet is often the beginning of many huge opportunities.
Regardless of the outcome, the Ningde era has entered the power exchange industry, which is undoubtedly good news for consumers.
Author: Pigeon Whistle
Edit: Reinhardt
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