Battery supplier CATL Ningde Times' Times Electric Clothing, recently launched the power exchange service brand EVOGO Lexing power exchange, as well as the combination of power exchange overall solutions, developed a battery called "chocolate power exchange block", a single battery capacity of 26.5kWh, weight energy density of 160Wh/kg, a single battery can provide about 200 km of endurance, can correspond to various sizes of models, equipped with different numbers of replacement blocks to increase endurance, and has only 1 minute to replace the battery, The advantages of rechargeable and replaceable electricity also emphasize that they can be matched with the pure electric platform development models that are 80% of the world's listed and will be listed in the next 3 years. The first model to use EVOGO technology is the FAW Besturn NAT combination power exchange version, EVOGO will choose to start the first power exchange service in 10 cities.
Battery supplier CATL Ningde era, in the overall lithium battery supply chain plays a very important role, and even one of the world's largest electric vehicle battery suppliers, such as Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda, Volvo and other brands have cooperated with CATL, in 2021 is the world's leading electric vehicle supply leader, with a share of up to 29%, with an annual production capacity of 158 GWh, surpassing the electric vehicle battery supply chain share of the 2nd place LG Energy Solution 22.2% with an annual production capacity of 155 GWh.
Following the previous announcement of the launch of the first generation of nano-ion batteries in July 2021, CATL has also recently announced a battery replacement service brand called EVOGO and a "combined power exchange total solution" through its wholly-owned subsidiary Times Electric Service. The overall solution of its combined power exchange is composed of three elements: "chocolate power exchange block", "substation (quick change station)" and "App".
Corresponding to the mileage and usage pattern, the EVOGO brand power exchange service was launched
CATL pointed out that the main launch of power exchange service solutions is to take into account the increase in raw material costs in the past 2 years, even if the scale of battery production is expanding, but the reduction in battery manufacturing costs has not been as significant as in the past. China's electric vehicle market has come to an explosive growth stage, in December 2021 China's new energy vehicle market share has reached 22.6%, in the past many car manufacturers in the world and China a large number of large-capacity batteries to solve the mileage and mileage anxiety of the "pain point", but CATL said that in fact, most of the car owners daily commuting needs to use the amount of electricity, only 10 to 20% of the large battery capacity, but in order to alleviate mileage anxiety, charging anxiety, had to buy large-capacity models, A lot of sunk costs were paid.
In order to solve the three major problems that today's electric vehicle owners have to face, such as "cruising range", "convenience of charging/replenishing electricity", and "car purchase cost threshold". CATL adopts the "separation of vehicle and electricity" thinking that takes into account sharing and service, and separates the battery as a shared asset, so that the battery is no longer a consumable that consumers need to face personally. The "Combined Power Swap Overall Solution" also has three major features, including "one power and multiple vehicles", "on-demand rental electricity", and "rechargeable and replaceable".
"Chocolate for electricity block" into the core, can correspond to "one car multi-electricity"
In the "combined power exchange overall solution", the most important core is the "chocolate power exchange block (Choco SEB)", which is specially developed for the realization of shared power exchange and mass production of batteries, with small and high energy, free combination, minimalist design three characteristics, using the latest CTP (Cell-to-Pack) efficient group technology of the Ningde era, a single piece of "chocolate power exchange block" has a capacity of 26.5kWh, a weight energy density of more than 160Wh/ kg, and a volume energy density of more than 160Wh 325Wh/L, a single battery can provide an endurance of about 200 kilometers. The chocolate changer also uses wireless BMS (Battery Management System) technology, and only the external high-voltage positive and negative interfaces, which greatly improves the reliability of the battery insertion and removal parts.
Moreover, CATL emphasizes that unlike the traditional power exchange mode of NIO Weilai and other manufacturers, EVOGO realizes the characteristics of "one car and multiple electricity", not only consumers can choose one or more batteries at will when changing power, but also flexibly match the needs of different mileages. It can also correspond to the models developed by the pure electric platform that have been listed in 80% of the world and will be listed in the next 3 years, from the metropolitan car with the least electricity consumption (A00 class), to the medium-sized car (B class), the medium and large car (C class car), and even the logistics car, the tram can be combined with the "chocolate exchange block" to correspond to each brand model, open up the corresponding problem between the fixed capacity volume battery and the model in the past, and realize the freedom of choice of the replacement model.
The substation can store 48 chocolate swap blocks, and the single battery can be replaced in just 1 minute
In the EVOGO established substation part (EVOGO is called the substation), which has a small footprint, fast circulation, large capacity, corresponding to various climates and other 4 characteristics, the standard substation will only occupy the size of 3 straight parking spaces, emphasizing a single block to change power for about 1 minute, the substation can store 48 chocolate changing blocks, to ensure that consumers always have a full power block can be replaced, without a long wait. At the same time, EVOGO substation can also provide versions corresponding to the climatic and environmental conditions of different regions, and can design different versions of the substation corresponding to the extreme cold in the north and tropical climates in the south.
Take into account the "on-demand rental electricity" and can be "rechargeable and exchangeable"
As for the EVOGO era of electric service App, it provides people, electric vehicles, power stations, replacement blocks of interconnection and services, consumers can find the power station through the EVOGO App, and freely choose the power exchange program, App also supports one-click power exchange, reduce the power exchange operation process. CATL emphasizes that consumers can "rent electricity on demand" and freely choose the number of rental and replacement blocks according to their own usage scenarios and habits. Through the "on-demand rental of electricity", consumers can commute every day and only need to rent 1 replacement block; if you want to travel long distances, you can choose 2 or 3 replacement blocks, which can be increased or decreased according to demand, emphasizing the realization of electricity freedom.
In addition, as with the electric vehicles of NIO Weilai and other manufacturers, the electric vehicles using the EVOGO system can be "rechargeable and replaceable", not only can be quickly replaced, but also compatible with the use of traditional AC AC slow charging and home charging, or DC DC fast charging pile, consumers can choose to change the power according to the current demand, or charge.
The first EVOGO battery swap service model was FAW Besturn NAT
Chen Weifeng, general manager of Times Electric Service, also announced at the EVOGO power exchange brand presentation that the first batch of EVOGO power exchange service stations will be launched in 10 cities in the near future. The series of products using EVOGO services will also be called the "Little Green Ring Family", and the first commercially available mass-produced electric vehicle using the EVOGO system is a replacement version of the FAW Besturn NAT combination, and more FAW Besturn brand power replacement models will be announced in the future, and more electric vehicle brands will be invited to join.
CATL is aggressively expanding its battery services, but it faces challenges in the battery supply chain
However, although CATL Ningde Era announced the EVOGO power replacement brand with great fanfare, Korean media etnews recently reported that CATL was unstable in supply and demand because of the large increase in the number of car factory customers used, coupled with competitors such as EVE Billion Lithium Energy, CALB AVIC Lithium Battery, BYD Technology also improved, many car manufacturers began to reduce their dependence on CATL Ningde Era, reduce the use of Ningde Era's main LFP lithium iron phosphate battery, and switch to NCM nickel-cobalt-manganese ternary batteries provided by other suppliers. In addition, CATL's main production base is concentrated in China, for overseas brands or Chinese start-up car manufacturers who want to break into the world, if there are suppliers of production bases outside China, they also have certain advantages, and CATL will not be easy in the future if it wants to maintain its leading position.