Changing the orientation of the house to protect a tree, installing photovoltaic equipment on the roof of the farmhouse, setting up sufficient charging piles for new energy vehicles in the parking lot, and exercising on the mountaineering fitness trail on the rural island... In order to help the country achieve carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals at an early date, Xiao Wei, director of the New Energy Vehicle Energy Storage Research Institute of Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, participated in the exploration and planning of rural energy transformation paths, which are several scenarios in China's rural areas in the future.
From new energy vehicle products, energy storage system products innovative technology research and industrialization to new energy vehicles and power system collaborative development research, and then to participate in the national rural energy transformation path planning, Xiao Wei's focus of work every shift stems from his always advanced vision, in order to meet the needs of the industry, through the accumulation of rich technical experience, industrial experience and scientific research team management experience, he is willing to be a pioneer, explore the possibility of establishing a connection between scientific research results and application transformation. Let the scientific research results explode in the application of the huge energy to change society.
Xiao Wei
Development of the first hybrid platform
To this day, Xiao Wei still remembers what the university class teacher said to him: "The state has invested so many resources in Tsinghua, since you are fortunate to come in, you must make good use of these resources, strive to become a high-end talent, and do the best in everything." ”
Along the way, Xiao Wei demanded exactly what he wanted. In the eyes of outsiders, the outstanding performance in school should be a very good job search chip, but after graduating from the master's degree, when many of Xiao Wei's classmates went to work in foreign companies such as Schneider, ABB, and Siemens, he made a different choice - insisting on going to changan automobile group in the mountain city of Chongqing.
Asked the reason, Xiao Wei admitted that he initially considered going abroad, after the TOEFL exam, he did a project with the tutor to cooperate with the automotive department, and began to deal with industrial application technology, he found that the study of automobiles understands the motor expertise is particularly small, it is more difficult to do. "At that time, I felt that combining the knowledge of motors and automobiles should be very interesting and learn something." Chongqing Changan Automobile Group attaches great importance to the improvement of its own strength and technical content, and its investment in the project is not small, which can provide me with a platform and space to really do things. Xiao Wei said.
With the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology project, when Xiao Wei did electric vehicle research in schools, the relevant industries had not yet started in China, and due to participating in some pre-research work, Xiao Wei was full of confidence in the future of electric vehicles. In the 10 years since entering Changan Automobile Group, Xiao Wei has personally witnessed the development and growth of electric vehicles in the mainland.
In the early 21st century, there was a blank space in the research and development of automobiles in China, and the research and development of electric vehicles was even more so. For how to do the domestic R & D system and industrial structure, there was a lot of discussion in the industry at that time, from the technical route, there is support for pure electric, there is support for hybrid, there is support for hydrogen power, and from the perspective of the enterprise to make a choice, will definitely choose a most conducive to market promotion and R & D system construction of the technical route. Changan Automobile has clearly chosen the development direction of hybrid power, and benchmarks the technical path of Toyota, Honda and other leaders in the automotive industry.
In the research and development of the engine, Changan Automobile has cooperated with foreign companies such as Suzuki before, so it has accumulated some foundation, but the research and development of the electrification platform has not accumulated any accumulation, and it needs to start from scratch. At that time, Xiao Wei's team was less than 10 people, taking on this major task that concerned the overall situation, and they began to tackle the problem in an entrepreneurial way.
In small teams, each with their own familiar field, but the foundation is weak, they are still bold to meet various challenges. Fortunately, in the first 3 years of their start-up, they were supported by the leaders of the group company and 5 high-tech research and development projects of the "863 Plan", and the team began to find the most suitable resources at home and abroad to support their research and development, and even the best engineering and technical service companies in Germany came to support them. It took more than 4 years and a team of less than 10 people to make the first hybrid technology platform in China.
However, after the platform is put into application, everyone has no bottom in mind and urgently needs to be further tested. The Beijing Olympic Games and the Shanghai World Expo provided xiao Wei and his team with excellent opportunities, from the Ministry of Science and Technology, the organizing committee of the conference to the two cities, who were very supportive of the application of new technologies. In order to successfully launch 25 electric demonstration vehicles before the Olympic Games, the team worked overtime. After the launch as scheduled, these vehicles have appeared in various situations in actual operation, and in order to solve the problem at any time, in 2008, almost all team members were stationed in Beijing.
"Taxi drivers used to drive oil trucks, for the Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai World Expo, under the company's arrangement to drive electric vehicles, there are problems they will complain." So whether in the pre-preparation or demonstration, we have done a lot of temporary remediation and a lot of communication work. Although the process has many twists and turns, after experiencing these, we have accumulated a lot of valuable experience and lessons, so in the task of promoting 1,000 vehicles in 10 cities in China, we completed the goal ahead of schedule. Xiao Wei said.
Looking back on the experience of developing electric vehicles in Changan Automobile Group, Xiao Wei lamented that both himself and his team have benefited a lot. Declare projects, do acceptance summaries, complete the German technology development system in China, support the domestic supply chain, listen to market feedback, solve problems in the market, Xiao Wei has a clear understanding of all aspects, and has some new thinking. In this process, the team has changed from weak to strong, from less than 10 people to a large team of 400 people. Because they have been well trained in the team, many people have later come to other companies and have become backbone or technical leaders in their respective positions.
The efforts of Xiao Wei and his team in those years have not only built the domestic electric vehicle research team, but also cultivated a number of influential suppliers, which are still active in the Chinese market until now, and even some have entered the supply chain of international car companies. Xiao Wei is particularly proud that his team can make some contributions to the development of the domestic supply chain and the growth of the talent team. He said: "Although there are still deficiencies in some aspects, at present, the domestic supply chain and the local R & D team have surpassed foreign countries in many aspects, especially in the two fields of motors and batteries, basically foreign car companies to enter the Chinese market, will take the initiative to use domestic supply chain products, which is a very remarkable achievement." I dare not say how much our previous work has contributed to this, but I firmly believe that everything that we have done seriously and worked hard to do in the past must have its value and significance. Xiao Wei said.
Group photo of all members of the Institute
Find innovation paths in familiar territory
During the 10 years of working for Changan Automobile Group from 2006 to 2016, Xiao Wei served as a power system expert of Changan New Energy Automobile Company and a new energy R&D manager of Changan Ford Company. As the main researcher, he participated in the "863 Plan" major new energy vehicle projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology of three countries, and developed the first mass-produced hybrid platform with independent intellectual property rights in China. He is responsible for and participates in the research and development of new energy vehicles - Zhixiang hybrid, Benben pure electric, Yidong pure electric and other products, with cumulative sales of more than 50,000 units.
When the research gradually became better, Xiao Wei resigned from Changan Automobile Group. Because the more mature the technology, the more he feels that new energy vehicles can be widely promoted in the domestic market in the future, and product research and development may not be the key. What are the key constraints? He thought about this for a long time.
In the process of finding answers, Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute is stepping up preparations for the settlement in Chengdu. Jointly founded by Tsinghua University and Sichuan Province, the institute is committed to practicing the strategic thinking of "four revolutions and one cooperation" in energy, and actively carrying out cutting-edge research and industrial cultivation of energy Internet.
In order to quickly gather projects and talents, the institute recruited everywhere, and a Tsinghua teacher in charge of preparatory work found Xiao Wei and hoped that he would join in. In the exchange with several leaders of the institute, Xiao Wei said that he has been thinking about the problem for a long time, everyone feels that this problem itself is a good direction to explore, with the original intention of trying to understand the problem, Xiao Wei entered the research institute and served as the director of the new energy vehicle energy storage research institute.
Finding an innovative path in a familiar field, finding his own position in the right direction, and in the years after the institute, Xiao Wei not only continued to look for answers to the problems that had plagued him before, but also found new directions for his future work.
If the use of electric vehicles accounts for a certain proportion, what impact will it have on society and other industries? More than a decade ago, the United States has already begun such pre-research. In 2015, Elon Musk made it clear during a visit to China that his ultimate goal in making electric vehicles was to change the traditional energy industry.
How do electric vehicles connect with the energy industry? At first glance, many people may be confused, but as long as a simple calculation is made, most people should have some understanding. If Beijing's 5 million cars are all electric vehicles, then the electricity retained by these electric vehicles is enough to support all residents in Beijing to continue to use electricity for more than a week in the event of a major power outage. So from this point of view, if electric vehicles can be widely promoted, it will undoubtedly have a strong supporting effect on energy.
Xiao Wei feels that the coordinated development of new energy vehicles and the energy industry in the future will bring a broader space for the development of his work, and he also realizes that finding a good model for the promotion of new energy vehicles and finding a good solution for public support is the basis and key to solving all problems.
The questions that I had been thinking about for a long time finally had an answer, and the research space was further expanded, and Xiao Wei was encouraged by such a harvest. So Xiao Wei, who had previously done new energy vehicle product technology research and development, began to explore how to establish a connection between scientific research results and application transformation, and began to formulate leading innovation and planning programs. Xiao Wei has opened a new journey in a new positioning.
Xiao Wei felt that who can make charging an ordinary thing, who will win the market for new energy vehicles faster. He said: "'Charging anxiety' is a major reason why many people hesitate to buy new energy vehicles. However, according to the number of existing charging piles in the country, 'charging anxiety' should not have existed. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of September 2020, there were 1.42 million charging piles of various types in the country, and the vehicle-to-pile ratio was about 3.1:1. Coupled with the 'zombie charging pile' that was previously exposed, the charging pile is not only not lacking but even has a surplus phenomenon. Therefore, it cannot be simply judged by the number of charging piles, the key lies in the charging efficiency. Most models have a slow charging time of 4 to 8 hours, and even fast charging takes at least 30 to 60 minutes, while ordinary fuel vehicles are only less than 3 minutes. If charging becomes as common as refueling, everyone's anxiety may disappear. ”
But achieving fast charging is not an easy task. Public information shows that the current national charging station fast and slow charging ratio is about 1:1, in addition, for the construction of fast charging piles, especially in old communities and other places, line transformation is a major difficulty, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other pilot cities with policy advantages have also encountered the distribution network capacity is not enough, expansion difficulties lead to the inability to build charging stations, can not install charging piles in the community for car owners. In this way, the contradiction between the increase in charging load and the lack of local capacity in the distribution network during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period will accelerate.
In order to find a solution to the problem, Xiao Wei carried out a series of pre-research work and opened cooperation with enterprises. "The trend of intensifying the contradiction between supply and demand of charging has spread from coastal cities to inland cities in recent years, which is a very urgent matter, so this is also the work I have focused on in the past two or three years." Xiao Wei said.
Of course, in addition to carrying out this work, Xiao Wei has also done some technical reserve work in other aspects, and the digitization of battery operations is one of them.
Talking about this work, Xiao Wei introduced: "In early February 2021, the Arctic air mass continued to affect the north-central United States and gradually extended south to Texas, resulting in a sustained low temperature and cold wave. The sudden low temperature caused more than 4 million users in Texas to cut off water and electricity, and more than 10 people died due to extremely cold weather. Different from conventional power grid accident power outages, this power outage is the Texas power supply department's 'pull-out and power rationing' behavior to ensure the normal operation of the power grid by reducing the load when the Texas power system cannot adapt to the short-term surge in power load under extremely cold weather and the output of the power plant is limited. At the end of 2020, there was an electricity shortage in Zhejiang and Hunan, resulting in many cities taking turns to cut electricity, which not only had an impact on production, but also affected the normal life of citizens. If the public has their own means to ensure the use of electricity, such as: installing solar photovoltaic panels or other energy storage devices at home, or effectively using the remaining electricity of electric vehicles, these together, even if the large power grid is cut off, it can still ensure the basic electricity needs of residents. So the work I do is mainly not on the side of power generation, not to solve the problem of power supply reliability of the large power grid, but from the small direction, from the user power supply side, to find ways to alleviate the problem of local power supply tension. ”
Regarding the progress of relevant work, Xiao Wei revealed that some short-term plans can be completed within two or three years, but long-term plans will take time. Xiao Wei hopes that there will be a faster way to meet some of the more random electricity needs in a timely manner.
Because the goal is clear, and because of the hard work after setting the goal, Xiao Wei's growth has been very rapid. Since his work in Sichuan, he has made great gains, applied for 15 invention patents, published 12 academic papers in journals, participated in the formulation of industry standards such as "Two-way Interaction between Charging and Discharging Electric Vehicles", and obtained 2 software copyrights. As the main researcher, he participated in the national energy Internet demonstration project, successfully applied for the key scientific and technological research and development project "Research on the Power Battery Life Prediction System" in the key scientific and technological research and development project in the high-tech field of Sichuan Province, the "Development and Application of New Energy Vehicle Monitoring service platform" in the key scientific and technological research and development project of Chongqing Municipality, and participated in 2 scientific and technological projects of the State Grid Corporation as the main completer, as well as the "14th Five-Year Plan" charging infrastructure planning project of the state, Sichuan Province and the power grid company.
Xiao Wei led the research and development of innovative technologies such as modular power exchange technology for electric vehicles, echelon utilization technology for decommissioned power batteries, intelligent data acquisition terminals for new energy vehicles, intelligent operation and inspection systems for energy storage power stations, and battery big data analysis software platforms. Among them, the intelligent operation and inspection system of the energy storage power station has been identified, reaching the leading level in China, and has obtained the first version of the Sichuan Provincial Software Product Certification. As the main researcher, Xiao Wei collaborated with a number of units to complete the scientific and technological achievements "Key Technologies, Equipment and Applications of Mobile Energy Storage in Multiple Scenarios of Smart Distribution Network", and won the second prize of the State Grid Jibei Corporation Science and Technology Progress Award and the first prize of the State Grid Economic Research System. Through the research, development and transformation of the above innovative technologies, Xiao Wei has achieved significant economic and social benefits in a series of work.
Xiao Wei said that the achievements are inseparable from the help of the team. Soon after joining the research institute, he presided over the construction of energy storage and power battery laboratories and the team building of electric vehicle charging infrastructure think tanks, and formed a first-class planning, research team and technology transformation team in China.
Among them, the core member Li Lili, is the deputy director of the New Energy Vehicle Energy Storage Research Institute, and is also Xiao Wei's college classmate, who was committed to the planning of charging infrastructure before joining the research institute, and accumulated a lot of experience in this regard. Xiao Wei, partnered with Li Lili, carried out a lot of work to solve the problems existing in charging facilities, promote the application of facilities and predict future development trends.
In addition, other members of the team have also graduated from tsinghua university and other well-known universities, and have accumulated many years of strategic consulting, innovative technology research and industrialization experience in power companies and new energy automobile enterprises. Relying on the transformation of innovative achievements in the field of energy Internet, focusing on large-scale energy storage, new energy vehicles and power system collaborative development research, as well as the application and transformation of key innovative technology achievements, under the leadership of Xiao Wei, the team has made many remarkable achievements in the planning consulting and technical solution formulation of electric vehicle and energy integration, the research and development of the "cloud energy storage" grid side digital software module and the taiwan area control system, and the construction of the FlaBI battery digital platform.
In less than 5 years, although the results achieved by Xiao Wei and the team are good, he has not stopped the pace of continued exploration, and still pays attention to the trend and trend of scientific research, but is more keen to understand the needs and confusion of enterprises. Because he knows that only by making judgments in advance and accumulating accordingly in advance can we smoothly break through the barriers between scientific research and industrialization, meet the various needs of the industry in a timely manner, and let more scientific research results really bloom in the application of their due charm.
In 2021, Xiao Wei led a team to inspect the construction of the Rural Energy Revolution Demonstration Zone in Lankao County
Dreaming of "Zero Carbon Villages in China"
When working at Changan Automobile Group, Xiao Wei focused on product research and development; in the first three years of his work at Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, he preferred to do the application and transformation of results; from 2020, he paid special attention to a series of policies issued by the state, especially in energy.
In September 2020, the mainland announced at the United Nations General Assembly that China's carbon dioxide emissions should peak by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. At the Climate Ambition Summit in December of the same year, the mainland reaffirmed its commitment to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. On March 15, 2021, the Ninth Central Financial and Economic Commission proposed for the first time to build a new power system with new energy as the main body, and it is clear that achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is a broad and profound economic and social systemic change.
The commitment to carbon peaking and carbon neutrality has brought new opportunities for scientific research and industry, and xiao Wei is facing new choices. Is it to engage in scientific research to do product development, design, and transformation of results, or to do the part in the middle of scientific research and transformation? "What's missing in the chain of innovation? The lack of people who know how to conduct scientific research and are willing to spend energy to understand the needs of the industry and connect the needs of the industry with scientific research, so I chose the latter. Xiao Wei said.
The rural revitalization strategy is a major strategy proposed by the Nineteenth National Congress, energy as the strategic material foundation and power base of rural revitalization, will play a role in comprehensively stimulating the vitality of rural development, and the marginal effect and driving role of energy development will greatly stimulate the vitality of rural development and bring new economic growth points. In this context, from the end of 2020, Xiao Wei participated in the formulation of the plan for the consolidation and upgrading of the "14th Five-Year Plan" of the rural power grid.
In order to promote the rural energy production revolution and increase the supply of clean energy; promote the rural energy consumption revolution and expand clean energy consumption; promote the rural energy technology revolution and improve the level of intelligent energy use; promote the rural energy system revolution, and establish an economically sustainable clean energy development and utilization model for rural areas... While understanding the national top-level planning, Xiao Wei is also doing in-depth research in the subdivision field, and is committed to providing theoretical support and practical samples for opening up the last kilometer of rural energy transformation from concept to practice, from concept to landing. Xiao Wei hopes that through his work, he can provide a path that can be replicated for the establishment of an economic, sustainable and clean energy development and utilization model in rural areas.
Like the Qinghua people in the movie "No Questions Asked", Xiao Wei, who is imprinted with the mark of Tsinghua in his heart, also has the sense of mission of the protagonist of the film. With the mission of meeting the needs of the industry and the country, Xiao Wei believes that as long as he obeys the call of his heart, even with his meager strength, a trickle can flow into the sea.