【Smart Car Pie】 With the advent of the outlet period of the new energy automobile industry, major new car-making forces have rushed to launch many models, but the power battery replenishment problem of electric vehicles has not been effectively solved. As we all know, as a "big guy" in the energy field, CATL occupies a place in the global market with excellent research and development and manufacturing capabilities in the field of power and energy storage batteries, and has also become the first lithium-ion power battery manufacturer to enter the supply chain of top international car companies.
Ningde era
Founded in 2011, CATL is a very "young" enterprise, but it has reached cooperation with large factories such as BMW Group, Yutong, SAIC Motor, and Guangzhou Automobile Group. As of 2020, according to RNE Research statistics, the use of power battery systems in the Ningde era has won the first place in the world for four consecutive years, and it has also participated in the construction of China's largest power grid-side lithium battery energy storage power station. Although the NINGDE era has only been established for less than 11 years, its achievements are amazing and it has made great contributions to the field of new energy.
On January 18, CATL released the overall solution of the power exchange service brand EVOGO and the combination of power exchange, officially entered the field of power exchange, and announced that EVOGO will select the first batch of ten cities to start the power exchange service in the future, and release more brands of power exchange models. It can be seen that the Ningde era is full of confidence in this, what is the reason for its entry into the power exchange, and what new things will the joining of energy giants bring to the energy industry? And listen to the wisdom car sent for everyone to talk in detail.
What is the difference between fast charging and power swapping
At present, the endurance of some new energy vehicles can reach 1000+km, and the energy replenishment scheme is roughly divided into two types: fast charging and power exchange. Let's first talk about the fast charging scheme, taking the international manufacturer Tesla as an example, the maximum charging power of tesla V3 super charging pile can reach 250kW, and some Tesla models can supplement the cruising range of about 250km in 15 minutes of charging in the peak power state. Of course, fast charging also has certain shortcomings, most of the current electric vehicles use lithium batteries, fast charging is easy to make lithium elements overactive, so that the electrolyte precipitates, resulting in bulges, causing certain damage to the battery, thereby reducing the service life of the battery.
Tesla charging pile
The advantage of the power exchange scheme is that the power exchange time is similar to the refueling time of the fuel vehicle, and due to the direct replacement of the on-board battery, it is more conducive to the maintenance and extended life of the battery; at the same time, the replaced battery can choose to charge during low peak hours to reduce charging costs. Although the power exchange seems to be very beautiful, but there are also certain shortcomings, not only the rapid plugging of the high current plug-in is expensive, and in the process of being bumped, it is easy to cause uneven discharge, there are safety hazards, before there have been automatic combustion of the replacement car due to battery leakage, damage and other reasons.
NINGDE era power exchange brand EVOGO
Although both schemes have shortcomings, at present, only the power exchange scheme has a refueling speed comparable to the refueling speed, and the advantages are still very obvious in this fast-paced era. On January 18, Times Electric Service, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL, held its first press conference online to release EVOGO, a brand of power exchange services. It is reported that EVOGO supports a multi-vehicle, on-demand rental of electricity, rechargeable and replaceable, and is not limited to the form of power exchange, but also with the existing home charging, fast charging together constitute a full-scenario energy replenishment method.
EVOGO's "chocolate exchange block" adopts the latest CTP technology of the Ningde era, with a weight energy density of more than 160Wh/kg and a volume energy density of more than 325Wh/L, a single battery can provide an endurance of about 200 kilometers, and can adapt to the pure electric platform developed by 80% of the world's 80% that have been listed and will be listed in the next 3 years. In addition, the "chocolate changer block" adopts wireless BMS technology, and only has a high-voltage positive and negative interface on the outside, which greatly improves the reliability of the plugged and unplugged components.
EVOGO's express station has four characteristics: fast area, large capacity and all-climate. Each standard station only needs three parking spaces, a single block to change power for about 1 minute, the station can store 48 power exchange blocks, to ensure that users always have a full power block can be replaced, no need to wait for a long time. Compared with the traditional power exchange mode, EVOGO has realized two "one electricity and multiple vehicles" full adaptation scenarios, and the substation can adapt to various brand models that use "chocolate power exchange blocks" to solve the problem of battery and model adaptation. In addition, users can "rent electricity on demand" and freely choose the number of rental replacement blocks.
What are the advantages of EVOGO over other power exchange brands?
Before the Ningde era entered the game, there were many car companies that had been groping in the field of power replacement for a long time, many of which had successful cases, and Weilai, a new car-making force, was one of them. As of January 21, the total number of power exchange stations in NIO nationwide reached 800, and the cumulative number of power exchange services provided exceeded 6.2 million times. I have to say that Weilai can be regarded as a more successful example in the field of power exchange, compared with the Ningde era of power exchange services, what are the advantages?
NIO swapped power station
Although Weilai's replacement power station covers many cities, it only serves its own car owners, and the objects are limited, and it cannot take into account all brand models, such as Tesla's V3 charging pile, although the charging speed is fast, only Tesla car owners can use it, full of limitations. In contrast, EVOGO's "chocolate swap block" can be adapted to major brand models, and there will be no embarrassment that car owners of different brands cannot use it when they see the replacement station.
Compatibility is one thing, and the time cost of changing the power is another. Previously, Weilai car owners said that although the power exchange time is only 3-5 minutes, the waiting time occasionally takes more than 1 hour, and it seems that it is not convenient to charge. In contrast, EVOGO, due to the fast circulation and large capacity of the change station, and the power exchange time is only about 1 minute, which greatly reduces the waiting time of the owner and optimizes the power exchange experience. At the same time, due to the small area, the EVOGO substation covers only 3 parking spaces, which can be laid on a large scale, which is expected to be as common as charging piles.
What impact will EVOGO have on new energy vehicles?
At present, many new energy car owners have serious mileage anxiety and energy replenishment anxiety, and tend to buy large-power models, but only use 10%-20% of the electricity in the use scenario, paying a lot of sunk costs. EVOGO gives the owner the maximum freedom to change the power, each piece of "chocolate power exchange block" can provide about 200 kilometers of endurance, the owner can choose to rent the right number of batteries according to their own needs, so that it can be increased or decreased, and various car use scenarios are guaranteed.
Based on the characteristics of "chocolate power exchange block", in the future, many car owners can reduce the scruples of energy replenishment in the purchase of cars, so that the choice is more diverse, and there is no need to stare at long-lasting models. Since the user is no longer limited to high-endurance models, then car companies can appropriately reduce the power battery capacity, increase the configuration in other aspects, or reduce the price. Many young people who have just graduated have a particularly strong desire to buy cars, and once the price of new energy vehicles is reduced, it will stimulate the desire of young people to buy, and the increase in sales is the driving force for car companies to build good cars, thus making the new energy automobile industry more prosperous.
In addition, as a new energy giant, CATL realizes the closed loop of the whole life cycle value chain of batteries from research and development, manufacturing, use and recycling, promotes the intensive and efficient use of social resources, and accelerates the popularization of electrification.
summary
In general, the Ningde era can be said to have done more harm than good, although other power exchange manufacturers have one more competitor, but in the end it is the consumer who benefits. With the layout of the EVOGO replacement power station, electric vehicle refueling is more convenient, which promotes many hesitant users to "endure pain" to buy cars, which greatly promotes sales. At the same time, the development and growth of EVOGO will also bring some sense of crisis to other car companies, and then launch a more convenient energy supplementation program, so that the field of energy replenishment can bloom.