When it comes to "changing electricity", most people's first reaction may be Weilai Automobile, and a small number of friends who pay special attention to the field of new energy can also "flash" the names of BAIC and Aodong New Energy in their minds. Indeed, in China, the combination of Weilai, BAIC + Aodong New Energy and Lifan Motors, which adopted the "sub-box power exchange" model earlier, can be regarded as the earliest enterprises that introduced power exchange technology into the passenger car market. But in addition to these well-known enterprises, in fact, there is a "latent force" that has also been deeply cultivating the field of power exchange for a long time, but it is not obvious that the mountains are not dewy, until the "great power" is not known to the world. And unlike many companies outside the circle involved in the field of new energy vehicles, the "new" forces lurking in the relatively more specialized field of power exchange, in fact, many are leaders in related industries. They also have their own understanding and solutions for power exchange modes.
2020: Supportive policies, financial subsidies, and industry standards have been introduced
In China, one or two enterprises that master the latest technology and the latest ideas can promote the birth of an industry; but if an industry wants to become bigger and stronger, it is impossible without the policy support of the state. Therefore, 2020, which is frequently favorable policies, is an absolutely crucial year for the power exchange industry.
On April 23, 2020, the Ministry of Finance and other four ministries and commissions jointly issued a new policy for new energy subsidies, the new policy stipulates that new energy vehicles with a starting price of more than 300,000 yuan will no longer enjoy subsidies, but the exception of power exchange mode vehicles, the introduction of this policy not only gives substantial support to the power exchange industry, but also is equivalent to releasing a signal to the outside world: that is, as the two "technical schools" of energy replenishment, the importance of the power exchange mode is no less than that of the charging mode.
The new energy subsidy policy introduced in 2020 is a major positive for Weilai, which supports the power exchange model and sells its models at more than 300,000 yuan.
On July 23, Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the press conference of the State Council New Office that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will continue to vigorously promote the construction of charging and replacing infrastructure, encourage enterprises to develop power replacement models, and will also support Beijing, Hainan and other places to carry out pilot promotion. The statement of the senior management of the relevant government departments has undoubtedly given a shot in the heart for the power exchange industry.
The state's policy support for the power exchange model has also encouraged more leading enterprises in related industries to enter the market. (Source: Huaxi Securities)
On August 12 of the same year, the GB/T "Safety Requirements for Electric Vehicle Power Replacement" drafted by BAIC BJEV, NIO, China Automotive Technology and Research Center and other units passed the review and became the first national standard (recommended standard) for power exchange. According to the standard, by analyzing the differences in different technical solutions, the actual operation scenarios of the vehicle and the operation data, the requirements stipulate a minimum number of 5000 (snap-on) and 1500 (bolted) respectively to ensure the safety of the user during the design life of the vehicle (the standard was officially released on April 30, 2021, and has been implemented on November 1, 2021).
GB/T "Electric Vehicle Replacement Safety Requirements" was officially released in April 2021, becoming the first national standard (recommended standard) for power replacement, which clearly stipulates the minimum number of battery replacements.
On September 9, 2020, 20 units, including The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China FAW Group Co., Ltd., Ningde Times, and Huading Guolian, signed the Joint Statement on Building a "Vehicle-Electricity Separation" Model Ecosystem for New Energy Vehicles, marking the formal establishment of the Vehicle-Electricity Separation Ecosystem.
Under the support and guidance of national policies, the power exchange industry has ushered in the best opportunity for rapid development from 2020, not only the upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain that were originally in the industry have begun to operate at a high speed, but also the leading enterprises in some related industries have also begun to accelerate the layout of the power exchange field.
Geely: Accumulated experience in internal ecology Launched a highly compatible power exchange platform
Geely into the power exchange "new force" is actually not strict, as one of the above-mentioned "electric vehicle replacement safety requirements" one of the main drafting units of Geely, as early as 2017, the development prospects of the power exchange model are still unclear, it has begun to develop power exchange technology, during which more than 1,000 staff participated in research and development, involving a scale of billions of yuan in capital investment, and also obtained more than a thousand patents related to power exchange.
In 2019, Geely renamed a new energy technology enterprise it invested in and established as "Easy Easy New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.", and registered the trademark "Easy Easy To Change Electricity" in June 2020 six months later. Coupled with the fact that In 2019, Liu Jinliang, president of Geely Technology and founder of Cao Cao Travel, revealed that Geely will launch an online car that can support the power exchange mode, and at that time, it was widely speculated that Easy Change would first implement the power exchange mode in Geely's travel brands such as Cao Cao Special Car.
The power exchange models launched by Maple Leaf Automobile were first put into Operation Vehicles by Cao Cao Chu, a travel brand under Geely' travel brand.
Sure enough, in 2020, Maple Leaf Motors, a member company under the Maas three-dimensional travel ecosystem of Geely Technology Group, launched an MPV model that supports the power exchange mode - Maple Leaf 80V (based on Geely Jiaji's transformation), and Maple Leaf 80V was soon put into the daily operation of Cao Cao Travel. The creation of this series of internal ecosystems of "self-produced power exchange models and self-owned travel brand operation" also provides a solid data foundation and confidence for Geely to insist on investing in the power exchange business after that.
Maple Leaf 80V is the first power-changing model created on the basis of Geely Jiaji combined with the GBRC model architecture platform.
The operation of Maple Leaf 80V in Cao Cao Travel can be regarded as Geely's "internal experimental project", and further actions are needed to really introduce the power exchange mode to the market.
In 2020, Geely and Chongqing Liangjiang New Area jointly held shares and reorganized Lifan shares, and used Lifan's energy production energy to produce maple leaf 80V in that year. Small partners familiar with Lifan may have the impression that Lifan is one of the earliest car companies in China to launch a power exchange model. As early as November 2016, Chongqing Lifan's first "Peak Shifting Energy Centralized Energy Station" (substation) was opened in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, at which time it was possible to complete the power replacement for a Lifan 330EV in about 2 minutes.
Lifan, which was restructured by Geely's capital injection, was the first car company to adopt the sub-box power exchange model, and the battery of its power exchange model Lifan 330EV was distributed under the front hatch and under the rear seats.
However, it is worth mentioning that Lifan adopts a sub-box power exchange mode, that is, the power battery of its model is not a whole battery pack, but is distributed under the front hatch and under the rear seats in two areas with a total of 8 small battery packs, according to the size of the vehicle and the use of needs, the number of small battery packs can also be adjusted.
Back to Geely, in the year that Geely restructured Lifan, Geely has launched the Global Battery Rapid Change (ABBRC), which is a platform architecture based on the overall chassis power exchange mode (Lifan's sub-box power exchange does not seem to be adopted). It includes a power exchange technology platform, a model architecture platform and a big data operation platform. GBRC's model architecture platform compatibility is very high, can create a wheelbase of 2700-3100mm in a variety of categories of models, including cars, SUVs, MPVs and even pickup trucks, light goods, etc., the above-mentioned Maple Leaf 80V is also based on the GIRC architecture based on Jiaji transformation.
The Maple Leaf 60S is the first sedan under the GBRC model architecture platform, which can achieve a 60-second fast power change.
The replacement power station built based on GBRC is also very distinctive, and its single station can accommodate 27-39 battery packs, far exceeding the capacity of 13 battery packs in the second generation of Weilai. Moreover, the substation is also equipped with a liquid cooling temperature control system, which can ensure the safety of battery charging, storage and charging stability in bad weather.
Geely has built a larger replacement station than other brands, and more battery packs can be stored.
Entering 2022, Geely first launched a support power replacement model after maple leaf 80V - maple leaf 60S, which is also Geely's first power replacement car. The model can achieve 60 seconds of fast power change, from its 2700mm wheelbase point of view, Maple Leaf 60S is also the lower limit of gbRC power exchange platform architecture can support; after that, Geely Automobile and Lifan Technology jointly established the power exchange travel joint venture - Chongqing Ruilan Automobile was officially established. Geely's planning for the power exchange model can be said to be both grand and thoughtful: by 2025, Geely will build more than 5,000 intelligent substations around the world, covering more than 100 core cities and meeting the power exchange needs of 1 million vehicles.
Ningde era: chocolate for electric block is sweet?
On the 18th of this month, the battery industry giant Ningde Times released the power exchange brand EVOGO Lexing power exchange, officially announcing its entry into the power exchange market. This operation also made many people realize that the ambition of "Ning Wang" is not limited to the battery field. But in fact, the layout of the Ningde era power exchange industry has been traced since 2019.
CATL released the power exchange brand - EVOGO Lexing Power Exchange, officially announcing its entry into the power exchange market.
In 2019, CATL joined hands with Ant Financial and Hello Travel to invest 1 billion yuan to establish a joint venture company to enter the two-wheeled electric vehicle replacement market. A year later, the NINGDE era introduced the power exchange model into the field of commercial vehicles, and joined hands with Futian Zhilan New Energy to launch a heavy truck and a light truck. The accumulated experience in the two-wheeled electric vehicle market and the commercial vehicle market has also given the Ningde era enough confidence, so it is natural to enter the passenger car replacement market.
As early as 2019, CATL joined hands with Ant Financial and Haro Chuxing to enter the two-wheeled electric vehicle replacement market.
In 2020, NINGDE Times and Futian Zhilan New Energy jointly launched the replacement heavy truck and light truck.
The "combined power exchange overall solution" proposed by EVOGO includes three parts: the power exchange block, the quick change station, and the App, which is more innovative, and the focus of the whole solution is the "chocolate battery block" technology. The concept of lifan's early sub-box power exchange is the same, the "chocolate battery block" proposed by EVOGO is also to "round up the entire battery pack to zero", but the difference with the sub-box power exchange is that the chocolate battery block is not scattered on the different installation positions of the vehicle, but is still installed in a whole on the vehicle chassis, but when the power is replaced, it can only be replaced by one-third or two-thirds according to the specific electricity consumption.
Chocolate battery blocks are the core technology of EVOGO's "Combined Power Swap Total Solution" that supports one-third or two-thirds of battery swaps.
According to CATL, it can be adapted to 80% of the models developed on the pure electric platform that have been listed in the world and will be listed in the next three years, covering passenger cars and logistics vehicles from A00 to C.
CATL claims that the chocolate exchange block can be adapted to 80% of the world's models that have been listed and will be launched in the next 3 years based on pure electric platforms.
Chocolate battery blocks are also compatible with passenger cars and logistics vehicles from Class A00 to Class C.
And based on the chocolate exchange block supporting the express station, compared to Weilai, BAIC new energy and the above-mentioned Geely's substation, with a small footprint, high circulation, large capacity, full climate operation of the four characteristics, it is understood that EVOGO's express station covers an area of only about three parking spaces, not to mention and Geely's area close to the small 4S store of the substation compared to, even compared with baic, Niolai's substation is also a lot smaller, which undoubtedly makes it more advantageous in the future promotion, After all, a smaller footprint can save a lot of land use costs and construction costs.
In addition, although the EVOGO express change station is small in size, it can store 48 power exchange blocks, and if the vehicles that come to change the power are partially replaced, then the passenger flow it can undertake is quite considerable.
Despite its small footprint, EVOGO's substations can store up to 48 swap blocks.
At present, the first model of EVOGO's power exchange solution has been "famous and flowery", and the NAT combination power exchange version jointly launched with FAW Besturn is a pure electric compact MPV for the online ride-hailing market. EVOGO will also select 10 cities to launch the first batch of battery swap services and release more brands of battery swap models.
In order to promote EVOGO's "combined power exchange overall solution" as soon as possible, CATL also released the recruitment article "Welcome to become an EVOGO City Partner" through the public account of its power exchange brand "Times Electric Service". There are two ways to work together for partners who are willing to join the project. One is to cooperate with "Times Electric Service" to operate the replacement power station in the joint venture or franchise model; the other is to provide power station replacement and battery rental services for partners who are willing to invest in the formation of a power exchange operation fleet. I have to say that the model created by chocolate power exchange block + quick change station + partner is really a pioneering move, at least in the power exchange industry.
Editor's comments: With the national policy east wind, as soon as possible into the game to seize the opportunity, and even become the industry standard setter, in this is still in the "blue ocean" of the new industry to achieve rich corporate benefits, follow the country's new energy strategy to ultimately benefit the people, which is undoubtedly a dream for any enterprise interested in entering the power exchange industry. As far as consumers are concerned, they are also happy to see powerful enterprises enter the game with new technologies and new concepts, so that advanced technologies can land faster, prompting the power exchange industry to mature as soon as possible, and then improving the experience of pure electric vehicles.