Written by / Tu Yanping
Editor/ Zhang Nan
Design / Shi Yuchao
At the beginning of 2022, the tepid power exchange track welcomed a heavyweight player - Ning Wang.
On January 18, Times Electric Service held its first press conference online to release the overall solution of EVOGO electric exchange and combination power exchange, which is the brand of power exchange service.
Established in August 2021, Times Electric Service is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL. It announced that it will launch the first EVOGO power exchange service in 10 cities, and the first cooperative model is the FAW Besturn NAT combination power exchange version.
Swap mode is nothing new. The Israeli company Better Place, founded in 2007, was the originator of the power swap model, but unfortunately it was not born at the right time and declared bankruptcy in 2013. In China, Aodong, Hangzhou Botan, Weilai and other enterprises are the few firm promoters of the power exchange model.
At present, the power exchange mode is still a non-mainstream energy replenishment mode relative to the charging mode. According to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIP), by the end of 2021, there will be a total of 74,700 charging stations in the top 10 provinces of the national charging station, while the number of replacement power stations in the top 10 provinces of the national replacement power station will be 1298.
Times Electric Service said that its power exchange business is suitable for "80% of the models developed by the pure electric platform that have been listed in the world and will be listed in the next three years", and "hope that in the future, after two or three years, it can build the world's largest charging service network".
Fledgling, but ambitious.
Through times electrical services, CATL has completed the closed loop of the whole life cycle value chain from research and development, manufacturing, use and recycling, and has taken steps to C business. The power exchange business may open the second curve of enterprise growth in the Ningde era.
Undertake the mission of the power exchange industry
"Does the battery only have a large power and customization of this kind of technical route?" "Is there a better idea to solve the three problems of mileage, convenience of power replenishment and purchase and use cost at the same time?"
This is the question thrown by Chen Weifeng, general manager of Times Electric Service, at the press conference. The answer he gave is that from the perspective of sharing and service, in the mode of separation of vehicle and electricity, the battery is separated as a shared asset, so that the battery is no longer a personal consumer product.
As a result, Times Electric Service launched a combined power exchange overall solution composed of three major products: "power exchange block, quick change station and APP".
"Chocolate power exchange block" is specially developed for the realization of shared power exchange and mass production of batteries, using ningde era of ternary batteries and the latest CTP technology, weight energy density of more than 160Wh / kg, volume energy density of more than 325Wh / L, a single battery can provide about 200 kilometers of endurance.
The Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicle Replacement stipulates the minimum number of power changes of 5000 times (snap-on type) and 1500 times (bolt type). "Chocolate power exchange block" adopts the wireless BMS technology independently developed by CATL, and only has a high-voltage positive and negative interface on the outside, which improves the reliability of plugged and unplugged components.
The quick change station occupies a small area, each standard station only needs three parking spaces, a single block is exchanged for about 1 minute, and 48 power exchange blocks can be stored in the station.
Different from the traditional power exchange mode, EVOGO realizes two "one power and multiple vehicles" full adaptation scenarios. The "Chocolate Bar" can be applied to passenger cars from A00 to B and C and logistics vehicles. The substation can be adapted to various brand models that use "chocolate power exchange blocks", which breaks through the barriers to the adaptation of batteries and models.
Consumers can "rent electricity on demand" and choose to rent one or more batteries according to their own usage scenarios and habits. For example, daily commuting in the city, renting an electric block, you can run 200 kilometers; choosing two or three electric blocks, you can support 400 kilometers or 600 kilometers of endurance, to solve the needs of long-distance travel.
At the same time, the EVOGO combined power exchange solution can be charged and exchangeable, and together with the existing home charge and fast charge, it constitutes a full-scenario energy replenishment method.
For car companies, at least one benefit of changing electricity is visible. If you use the power exchange mode, the battery does not have to do customized research and development, and this time and cost can be saved.
EVOGO's first cooperative model FAW Besturn NAT combination electric version is an online ride-hailing car, and the plan of Times Electric Service is to start with online ride-hailing cars first and then spread to private cars. In the future, EVOGO plans to select ten cities to start the first power exchange service, and will release more brands of power exchange models. At present, the first batch of substations have been put into Xiamen.
As a power battery company to do power exchange services, the Ningde era is the first one.
"The core thing about the power exchange business is that this battery can be universalized between various models, just like today's AAA battery and AAA battery." Chen Weifeng said.
To achieve the standardization of batteries, no one can do better than the companies that make batteries. The "chocolate power exchange block" solves the problem of battery standardization in the power exchange mode, so how can it be adapted to the models developed by 80% of the pure electric platform?
He explained that the original charging version of the car, the battery occupies a space, in this space to add a conversion bracket, chocolate standard battery as long as it can be put in, you can through the customization of the bracket, to achieve the generalization of the battery.
"Why does this battery look tiny?" It is to be able to adapt to various models. Chen Weifeng said, "As long as there is enough space, it is under development, or it has completed development, there are opportunities, nothing more than adding a version." ”
The specifications and size of the battery replacement battery are unified, so that it can be adapted to most of the power exchange models, and is accepted by car companies - the Ningde era has undertaken the mission of the entire power exchange industry.
Do platform-based power exchange service enterprises
Standardizing the technology of batteries is the first step, and what is more difficult is operation. The power exchange business is an asset-heavy operation, which is why the current power exchange enterprises have not been able to achieve large-scale expansion.
Better Place until bankruptcy only has one core customer of Renault, and Weilai's identity as a car company determines that its power exchange service is more difficult to promote to friends.
At the beginning of its establishment in 2000, Aodong New Energy began to explore power exchange technology, and it was not until 2016 that it fully launched the large-scale commercial power exchange layout, and currently cooperates with 14 mainstream car companies to develop more than 24 power exchange models.
Founded in 2014, Botan Technology has cooperated with 7 OEMs to develop more than 10 models, covering passenger cars and commercial vehicles, and promoting more than 30,000 new energy vehicles in sub-boxes and power-changing versions.
From the development of the above two third-party power exchange companies, it can be seen that it is difficult for the power exchange business to scale rapidly. Can the Ningde era break this deadlock?
The goal of Times Electric Service is to be a platform-based power exchange service enterprise, "hoping that after two or three years, it can build a world's largest service network." Such a positioning, in the past, no power exchange company dared to put forward.
"Because power exchange is a heavy asset business, we design a model, build a bridge, and graft the capital market with the real economy." In this way, the capital market can send its blood into it, one is to support the real economy, including manufacturing, and the other can promote consumption. Chen Weifeng said that the times electrical service must first build a "bridge".
More specific business operation methods, Chen Weifeng did not disclose too much, but it is certain that the Ningde era will also introduce battery asset managers - battery banks. At present, its battery bank is planning, "in the case of a small scale in the early stage, we will operate it ourselves for a period of time."
As early as August 2020, Nezha Automobile had revealed that it would cooperate with several battery factories such as CATL and Huading Guolian to launch a vehicle-to-electricity separation model, tentatively named "Battery Bank".
Taking Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset Co., Ltd. as an example, it is held by Weilai Holdings as the majority shareholder, and other shareholders include Ningde Times, Hubei Science and Technology Investment and financial companies. In the future, the battery bank in the Ningde era will most likely introduce local investment institutions, financial companies or car companies and other partners.
Choosing to become a platform-based power exchange service enterprise, this road determines that a large number of partners need to be introduced in the future to revitalize various resources. And such a large-scale, the status of the leading power battery boss in the Ningde era can also be matched.
The biggest challenge may be that the Ningde era used to do 2B business, and power exchange was 2C business. "The most important thing about the whole battery exchange service is the user's experience, frankly speaking, we are also a rookie and a novice in the service field, and we hope to learn from various predecessors in the industry for a period of time to improve the user's service experience skills." Chen Weifeng said.
The time has come
The same track, different points in time to cut in, the results may be very different, the choice of time points often already determine whether you will become a martyr or a pioneer.
Chen Weifeng said, "We have been pre-researching for many years internally in the research and development of power exchange", and now we cut in because "from the two sides of market supply and demand, we feel that this time point has arrived".
In 2020-2021, the mainland new energy automobile industry has entered a stage of accelerated development, and users have not had much mileage anxiety, compared with charging anxiety. Some users have bought new energy vehicles, but the community does not have the conditions to install home charging piles. Charging takes a long time and it is common to need to queue up. If the power exchange mode can be rolled out, it can indeed solve some of the charging pain points, and by the way, it can also bring about consumption increments.
EVCIP data shows that as of the end of December 2021, the number of substations of several major domestic power exchange operators has 789 in Weilai, 402 in Aodong, and 107 in Hangzhou Botan.
Although the number of substations is not much, whether it is from the perspective of consumer acceptance or from the perspective of acceptance of car companies, the power exchange service has a certain foundation. At this time, entering the power exchange market, the Ningde era can be said to be standing on the shoulders of the forerunners.
Another condition is that the policy is also ready.
In October 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of pilot cities for the application of new energy vehicle power exchange models, including 8 cities with comprehensive applications (Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Sanya, Chongqing, Changchun, Hefei, Jinan), and 3 special categories for heavy trucks (Yibin, Tangshan, Baotou). The overall promotion goal of the pilot is to promote 100,000+ vehicles and 1,000+ power stations.
From November 1, 2021, the first basic general national standard formulated by the Chinese automotive industry in the field of power exchange, the "Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicle Power Exchange", was implemented; on December 22, the group standard of the "Construction Code for Electric Passenger Car Sharing And Replacement Power Station" was released.
The power exchange track gradually became lively. At present, state grid, China Southern Power Grid, Sinopec, China Power Investment, GCL Group, Star Charging and other enterprises have been in the layout of the power exchange business, BAIC, GAC, SAIC, FAW, Changan, Weilai, Geely and other car companies have replaced the power model.
After the catheter era released the replacement brand, Shen Fei, vice president of WEILAI, forwarded the news and left a paragraph: "Virtue is not alone, there will be neighbors... Vehicle-to-electricity separation, battery rental, rechargeable and replaceable, this strategy we have almost independently adhered to for 6 years, recently not only got more attention and recognition, but also the same passers-by, Sinopec, Ningde era, have joined in, very good. ”
Indeed, the power-changing track is far from crowded, and more fellow travelers are needed now.