Auto-First | Liu Tianming
The continuous heat of the new energy vehicle market has made the new energy vehicle replenishment industry show a diversified development trend. Household charging piles, high-power charging stations, replacement power stations and other forms of energy replenishment work together, especially the power exchange mode that is closer to the refueling of fuel vehicles, and has regained the recognition of new energy automobile enterprises.
On April 27, CATL and AIWAYS Signed a Framework Agreement on cooperation in the EVOGO Power Swap Project, in which the two sides will jointly develop a combined power swap model with AIWAYS U5 as the carrier, and the new car is expected to be listed in the fourth quarter of this year.
At the end of 2021, aiways U5 power-changing models will be listed in the 349th batch of "Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Product Announcements" of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the strategic partner Blue Valley Wisdom has completed the station linkage, and the test and display stations in Gaoping, Shanxi and Langfang, Hebei were completed. At the beginning, aiways automobile's plan for the field of energy replenishment was "C-end charging, B-end power replacement".
The cooperation between AIWAYS and the Ningde era is not only aiways automobile's attempt in the field of power exchange again, but also the second partner of EVOGO in the NINGDE era. In January this year, CATL released the power exchange service brand EVOGO, launching a combination of three products of "power exchange block, quick change station, APP" and overall solution and service for power exchange.
Cataline era power exchange mode mainly relies on the specially developed "chocolate power exchange block", a single battery can provide about 200 kilometers of endurance, can adapt to the world's 80% of the world has been listed and the next 3 years to be listed pure electric platform development models, suitable for A00 class to B class, C class passenger cars and logistics vehicles, consumers can arbitrarily choose one to multiple batteries when changing electricity, flexibly match the needs of different mileage.
The first cooperative product under the EVOGO power exchange brand is the FAW Besturn NAT combination power exchange version. In April, the EVOGO power exchange service was launched in Xiamen, the minimum monthly rent preferential price of the chocolate power exchange block was 399 yuan / block, the rental price will be dynamically adjusted according to the different use conditions of the user, and the service price of the substation is equivalent to the fast charge price.
In the field of new energy vehicle replenishment, the uncertainty of charging piles and the long charging time have been criticized by many consumers. Therefore, shortening the charging time has become the key to solving the problem of energy replenishment, under the promotion of capital and policies, the power exchange mode has returned to the fast lane, and the new energy vehicle power exchange market has shown a situation of separate battles.
At present, the two major players familiar with the field of power exchange are Weilai Automobile and Aodong New Energy. Among them, Aodong New Energy mainly faces the taxi market and the online car market, and its power exchange cooperation with BAIC is well known to the outside world. According to statistics, Aodong New Energy and BAIC have completed the replacement of more than 24,000 electric taxis in Beijing, and built 165 replacement power stations.
Unlike Aodong New Energy, WEILAI's power exchange model is completely aimed at C-end users. Since the power exchange service entered the actual operation in 2018 to the present, NIO has built a total of 900 substations across the country, and the cumulative number of users has changed more than 8 million times, and by 2022, NIO will build more than 1,300 substations.
In fact, under the influence of a number of favorable policies in 2020, many automobile companies have cut into the new energy vehicle replacement track. This year, some car companies have landed projects in the field of power exchange. In January, Ruilan Automobile, jointly established by Geely Automobile and Lifan Technology, is the landing of Geely Automobile in the field of new energy vehicle power exchange. Ruilan Automobile will be based on the GBRC (Global Battery Rapid Change) power exchange platform, Ruilan Automobile will plan to cover cars, SUVs, MPVs, and even logistics vehicles, light trucks, fully meet the needs of different markets such as online car, private car, taxi, logistics vehicle and so on.
Gac Motor Group established GAC Energy Ecological Technology Co., Ltd. with GAC Aegean in March this year, which will implement super fast charging technology and power exchange technology. In April, GAC Aean's first super charging and replacing center was completed, and the Aian super charging and replacing center can not only charge and replenish the A480 super charging pile, but also complete the battery quick replacement in 2.5 minutes. According to the plan, GAC Aeon will launch the first power-swap model in 2023. At the same time, GAC Aeon will set up 220 super charging and replacement centers in Guangzhou this year to achieve 3km radius coverage, and in 2025, it will expand to 1,000 to achieve 1.5km radius coverage.
At present, the new energy vehicle replacement market is in a stage of rapid development, and car companies and power battery companies want to gain a firm foothold in this market, and generally present a situation of fighting for each other. However, with the development of new energy vehicle technology, the advent of CTC (Cell to Chassis, no battery pack) technology may make the power exchange mode silent again.