The phenomenon of fuel vehicles occupying charging parking spaces still exists. Nandu reporter Liang Luozhe photographed
Next to the electric vehicle charging station in the Mianyang service area is the ordinary parking space.
When charging, it is not uncommon for people to sit in the car.
Located in the Guangni Nitrogen Service Area of Tianhe, Guangzhou, public charging piles coexist with car enterprise replacement power stations.
The Spring Festival self-driving crowd continues to grow, driving electric vehicles home and traveling has become the choice of more and more people. However, the situation of peak travel on holidays and the imbalance between supply and demand of charging piles in the service area is still widespread. The picture of car owners scrambling for charging piles during the National Day holiday is still fresh in people's minds.
By the end of 2021, a total of 463 expressway service areas have been built in Guangdong, with a total of 1140 charging piles, and the continuous improvement of charging pile density will be more "adapted" to the travel of electric vehicles.
Nandu reporters went to the grassroots level in the New Year, visited the current highway service area, understood the use of charging piles, and combined with the development of the industry, made suggestions for electric vehicle travel.
New energy vehicle travel has become the norm
"It's either looking for a pile, it's on its way." When it comes to charging on the highway, many electric vehicle owners are worried, and during the National Day Golden Week last year, they staged a "famous scene" of grabbing charging piles in the service area and almost beating up.
For electric vehicle highway travel, peak traffic jam is not the most desperate, more desperate is to see the vehicle is out of power and there is no place to charge, even if you find a charging pile, the long queue time greatly restricts travel.
With the continuous growth of the Spring Festival self-driving crowd, coupled with the fact that new energy vehicle travel has become the norm, the Guangdong high-speed service area has seen a difficult phenomenon of charging piles during the Spring Festival and National Day holidays in recent years. Some car owners complained that if they want to charge on holidays, a car should be charged for at least half an hour, and there are often two or three cars in front of them.
According to the Department of Transport of Guangdong Province, during the Spring Festival, the overall traffic flow of highways will rise by about 6%, especially on the 23rd day of the Waxing Moon (January 25), the 24th (January 26th), the fifth day of the New Year (February 5th), and the sixth day of the First Year (February 6). During peak travel hours, some sections of the road with relatively busy traffic may have traffic congestion and tight charging piles.
The two-year surge has increased by more than 10 times, but there is still an imbalance between supply and demand
Nandu reporter learned that by the end of 2021, Guangdong has built a total of 1140 charging piles in the expressway service area, charging parking spaces are 2280, which is 13 times that of the beginning of 2019, these data are only the national standard charging piles, not including some car companies specially funded to cooperate with the road section of the charging pile. Even if the charging piles in the Guangdong high-speed service area are now greatly improved compared with 2019, there is still an imbalance in demand in actual use.
Liu Li, deputy director of the Highway Operation and Management Department of the Department of Transportation of Guangdong Province, recently publicly told the media that the current shortage of charging piles during the peak holiday period is mainly due to the "imbalance between the two demands". First of all, the demand for different periods is unbalanced, and the demand for charging piles is usually low, but holidays need to queue, "Secondly, the demand in different regions is unbalanced." The demand in the Pearl River Delta region is high, and the demand for provincial passages and cross-city sections to Guangxi, Jiangxi and Hunan is relatively high. The demand for eastern Guangdong, western Guangdong and northern Guangdong, the provincial passage to Fujian and remote mountainous roads is relatively low. ”
To this end, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation plans to achieve interconnection and interoperability, so that charging piles can be "checked". At present, all the expressway service areas in Guangdong can be found on navigation platforms such as Guangdong Yichong and Shunyi Charging, but a unified data platform has not yet been established to count the information of all charging piles. According to the plan, this year to establish a unified intelligent information system, at least to the traffic system charging pile information into all the inclusion.
Field research
A
The number of non-holiday charging piles is sufficient, and the utilization rate is more than 50%.
Before and after the start of the Spring Festival, Nandu reporters visited some highway service areas in the province to observe the number, location, guidance and parking convenience of charging piles. Taking the charging piles in some service areas of Shanzhan Expressway and Guanghe Expressway as an example, there is still a phenomenon of few charging piles, and there are still charging parking spaces in individual service areas where fuel vehicles occupy parking.
Nandu reporters continuously entered 6 service areas on the Shanzhan Expressway (towards Guangzhou), and found that the charging pile configuration in the service area was mostly 4, and the utilization rate during the visit was basically more than half. On non-holidays, charging piles allow car owners to charge calmly. The reporter saw in the Waxi service area that in the electric vehicle charging area of the service area, only one empty space was left in the 4 pile positions, and two Geely Emgrand EVs and a GAC Aion S were being replenished.
A car owner who was sitting in the cab waiting said it usually takes an hour for his vehicle to be fully charged. He admitted that charging is still convenient on non-holidays, but in the long holiday, this calm will no longer exist. Among the 4 charging spaces in the Shiba service area, a Xiaopeng P7 and BYD e5 are charging, and among the 4 charging spaces in the Yangcun service area, a Tesla Model X and a High-He-He HiPhi X have already taken the lead. Although brands such as Xiaopeng and Tesla have self-built charging piles, they also need to rely on public piles of national standards in highway travel.
In the service area of the urban expressway, the utilization rate of charging piles is higher, such as the Guangzhou Ring Expressway's Guangni Gas Service Area, 4 charging parking spaces are often in a "full" state, in addition to private cars, such as freight lala and other operating vehicles, will also be replenished here.
There are also owners who have been charged in other service areas and told Nandu reporters that although the number of charging piles in some service areas is much larger, some of them are in a faulty state, and the maintenance of charging equipment is not at ease. Mr. Feng, an electric vehicle owner in Guangzhou, said that last year's National Day holiday, he drove to Shanwei in Guangzhou, "the traffic flow in the service area can be described as 'horrible', plus many charging piles can not be used normally, I directly dismissed the idea of charging on the highway." In the end, Mr. Feng got off the highway and overcharged a brand in Huizhou to replenish the vehicle.
Most car owners who have tried long-distance travel of electric vehicles have said that the number of highway charging piles on weekdays is generally sufficient, and there are generally vacancies, and they will not wait until the power is almost exhausted before charging, as long as they are planned. However, the use of charging piles on holidays has soared, and car owners sometimes have to "dry and wait". To this end, it is also a good way to leave the highway for a while and use other charging piles near the high-speed port.
B
Fuel vehicle occupancy is still common, and the layout of charging piles is not clear
During the visit of the Nandu reporter, another major problem found was that it was more common for fuel vehicles to occupy charging spaces. When the reporter arrived at the Sino-Singapore service area, he saw that the 4 parking spaces of the electric vehicle charging station were vacant, but under the eye-catching sign of the "charging parking space", there were several fuel vehicles parked on the scene. Although it was not a peak charging at that time, it may also affect vehicles that need to be charged later.
In addition, because most charging parking spaces have been built in recent years, the layout of charging piles and the diversion of other vehicles in the service area have also become an important "learning", and the convenient use of charging piles is also directly related to their location.
In some of the service area charging stations visited by the reporter, there are some that are almost mixed with ordinary parking spaces. In the cotton ocean service area, the location of the electric vehicle charging station is almost "squeezed" in an area with ordinary parking spaces, if in the peak of long holiday travel, the traffic flow in the service area increases significantly, how to ensure that the parking and traffic of charging vehicles and ordinary vehicles are not affected, is a challenge.
In contrast, the charging piles in some service areas are far away from public parking spaces and the surrounding area is relatively open. Such a layout design can make the electric vehicle space not easily occupied by fuel vehicles, and at the same time, during the peak travel period, it is conducive to the diversion of vehicles. In more extreme cases, in the event of an accident such as a fire while the electric vehicle is charging, it is also conducive to minimizing the impact.
As an electric vehicle owner, after entering the service area, the first time you face the problem of finding a pile. The internal roads in the highway service area are usually one-way driving, and whether the guidelines in the service area are clear or not also directly affect the convenience of the owner's charging.
When the Nandu reporter entered the Waxi service area, he saw that there was a separate "charging pile" guidance sign at the entrance, and it was not difficult to find that the charging parking space was in the corner behind the gas station. However, at the entrance of the Shiba service area, there is no clear guidance, and after the vehicle enters the service area, if it takes the wrong lane, the difficulty of finding the charging pile increases. In the Shaqi service area of Guanghe Expressway, there is no clear "charging" sign at the entrance, and in the Sino-Singapore service area, although the entrance does not provide a separate "charging pile" guide, from a comprehensive service guidance board, it can be seen that there is a charging service in the service area.
Among the several service areas visited by the Nandu reporter this time, the Yangcun service area is the fastest and most convenient to find the charging pile, not only has clear guidance at the entrance, but also the charging pile is closest to the entrance.
The charging layout of the service area in the urban area is also very different, and the charging pile in the guangnito service area is not only conspicuous, but also close to the entrance of the service area, far from the gas station and the parking area, which is very convenient for electric vehicles. However, in the northbound direction of the Huocun service area of the Ring Expressway, the traffic flow is very large, but the charging pile has not yet been built.
Some car owners believe that when the fuel volume of fuel vehicles is low, they can still run tens of kilometers or even a hundred kilometers to find a gas station, and the possibility of "lying down" on the road is close to zero, but whether the layout of the charging pile on the highway is clear and clear, whether the charging pile has a fault, it directly affects the planning of the long-distance travel of electric vehicles, missing the charging pile and the fault of the charging pile will make the anxiety double.
Travel tips
1 Open area to find a charging station
In addition to the electric vehicle charging stations in individual service areas located near public parking spaces, many service area charging piles are far away from ordinary parking spaces. If you "drill" into the public parking area to find it when the traffic flow is large on holidays, it is most likely to be blocked.
Since most of the lanes in the service area are one-way streets, once you find that you have taken the wrong road, it is a bit troublesome to reverse out. Therefore, after entering the service area, it is necessary to pay careful attention to the charging station signs, bypass the public parking space area, and look for charging stations in the open area.
In addition, when the charging pile in the service area is tight, the owner can also make full use of the charging pile near the entrance and exit of the highway to briefly leave the highway and replenish the energy.
2 Plan the charging node
During peak travel periods, the traffic flow in the service area will increase sharply, and it is common for charging piles to temporarily fail to meet the demand. Some car owners' charging needs are not very urgent, as soon as they see the vehicles queuing at the entrance of the service area, they simply continue to move forward and wait until the next service area to recharge. However, due to the different distances of the service area, and even some are still closed or unopened, this situation will be more common on some highways that have just opened to traffic.
Therefore, when the owner travels, he should pay special attention to the layout of the service area along the road, plan the charging node according to the endurance, make good use of various charging APPS, and avoid the rush to find a pile when the power is running out.
3 Do not leave the car in the car while charging
At present, most of the various charging stations will remind people not to stay in the car when charging. But in fact, when the reporter visited the charging stations in multiple service areas, it was common to see the driver waiting in the car.
Industry insiders pointed out that the reason why "people stay in the car when charging electric vehicles" is that they are worried that electric vehicles will be evacuated in time in case of sudden fire accidents when charging, and the evacuation of personnel will not be timely, which will easily lead to tragedies. After all, in case of an accident in the power battery, the process from smoke to fire is very fast, and it will be accompanied by dangers such as explosion and deflagration. When charging at any charging station, drivers and passengers should get off the bus.
Response
Guangdong Province covers 57 service areas with charging facilities
In order to further cope with the electric vehicle travel of the Spring Festival, before January 15 this year, Guangdong Province covered 57 service areas with construction conditions but not yet built charging facilities in the province.
According to the "Layout Plan of Expressway Service Areas in Guangdong Province" previously issued, by 2025, Guangdong Province will achieve 100% coverage of charging facilities in the province's operating highway service areas. In fact, as early as 2020, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation has included the construction of charging piles as one of the ten practical things for the people's livelihood of the Department of Transportation, requiring the goal of full coverage of trunk highway charging facilities by the end of 2020.
Liu Li introduced that in response to electric vehicle travel, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation on the one hand accelerated the construction progress, achieved full coverage of charging facilities, and promoted the solution of the problem of insufficient charging piles in the busy sections of the Pearl River Delta region. On the other hand, we will promote technological updates to further improve the charging efficiency of charging piles and shorten charging time.
Car companies set up supercharging and substations to enhance the density of charging infrastructure
The intervention of enterprises is also an important part of increasing the density of charging networks. At the beginning of the Spring Festival, Xiaopeng Automobile introduced to the Nandu reporter that it has landed charging services in 337 cities across the country, in order to enhance the charging experience during the Spring Festival, it will carry out offline related services at 6 super charging stations at the southern end of the high-traffic Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway.
The "battle of replenishment" of high-speed travel has quietly unfolded in car companies, and many of the nearly 800 substations in Weilai are currently located in the highway service area. The second generation of Weilai replacement power station only takes about 4 minutes to complete the power exchange, which greatly improves the energy replenishment speed compared to charging. Ningde Times, a power battery company, also announced the launch of a power replacement brand on January 18, which will provide power replacement services for models that support power exchange in the future.
Compared with the earlier layout of the supercharge station and the destination charging station tesla, a large number of charging pile layouts are concentrated in the main highway entrance and exit periphery, convenient for long-distance travel vehicles to replenish energy, supercharge station is usually also equipped with a rest area.
According to the latest data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, by the end of 2021, the number of charging infrastructure in the country will be 2.617 million units, an increase of more than 70% year-on-year, and the density of charging infrastructure is still growing at a high speed.
Writing/Photography: Nandu reporter Liang Luozhe Zhong Jianting