Walking into the gate of the Jingtang Port District in Tangshan, Hebei Province, a heavy-duty truck charging station covering an area of 1,000 square meters comes into view. At 10 o'clock in the morning, Liu Yanlai, a heavy truck driver, was charging in the station, he skillfully removed the charging gun, inserted the charging plug into the truck battery socket, and began to replenish the truck's energy.
Electric heavy trucks are charging at the charging station The pictures in this article are all taken by The Paper reporter Liu Lu
Liu Yanlai, 42 years old this year, has been driving heavy trucks for more than 10 years, and two years ago he replaced the oil truck with a tram, and he felt a lot about the heavy truck oil to electricity. "In the early years, when I drove a fuel car, the body was noisy and uncomfortable. Now that the train has been changed, the noise has become smaller. It usually takes about 1 hour for the truck to be fully charged, and the driver can still get a break during this time. Liu Yan said that more importantly, there are no exhaust emissions from oil to battery, and the vehicle looks much cleaner.
Electrification is one of the ways to solve the pollution of heavy trucks, and the number of traditional fuel heavy trucks is not high, but it is a large contributor to vehicle exhaust emissions. According to the Ministry of Environment, heavy trucks account for 85% of total vehicle emissions of nitrogen oxides and 65% of particulate matter emissions.
Tangshan is an important industrial town in the northern part of the mainland, and is facing the dual challenges of "pollution reduction and carbon reduction". In October 2021, after Tangshan City became a pilot city for the application of new energy vehicle battery swap mode by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the number of electric heavy trucks in Tangshan has been increasing. Up to now, the number of new energy heavy trucks in Tangshan is 10,816, including 9,589 electric heavy trucks and 1,227 hydrogen energy heavy trucks.
However, the surging news recently found in an interview in Tangshan that because heavy trucks need to be equipped with a large number of batteries, the cost of buying a car is high, which is not economical, and the electric heavy truck plus the battery weight is larger, which will squeeze the number of transported goods. In addition, electric heavy trucks generally have a short cruising range and long charging time, which have become a common obstacle to the promotion of electric heavy trucks.
In an interview, a number of experts suggested that the national level should introduce and improve the traffic policy and free weight policy for electric heavy trucks as soon as possible, establish a green transportation demonstration operation area, speed up the approval of land applications for battery swap stations, and establish a policy system such as green electricity price support for battery swap stations, so as to provide support for the further promotion of electric heavy trucks.
The environmental performance grading policy forces steel enterprises to exchange "oil" for "electricity" for heavy trucks
Hebei Province is a major steel, coal and port province in mainland China, with three port clusters, including Qinhuangdao Port, Tangshan Port and Huanghua Port. Tangshan is located in the heart of Bohai Bay in eastern Hebei Province, with two large ports, Jingtang Port Area and Caofeidian Port Area, with huge capacity demand.
According to the relevant person in charge of Tangshan Port Group Co., Ltd., the cargo throughput of Tangshan Port will rank second in the world in 2023. As a subordinate port area of Tangshan Port, the throughput of Jingtang Port Area and Caofeidian Port Area will exceed 800 million tons in 2023. Among them, the throughput of iron ore in Jingtang Port exceeds 100 million tons, and the throughput of coking coal is 7 million tons to 8 million tons, and it can reach 10 million tons in many cases.
Jingtang Port Area Ore Wharf
The large throughput of iron ore and coking coal is inseparable from Tangshan's industrial layout. At present, there are 23 full-process iron and steel enterprises in Tangshan, and before the promotion of electric heavy trucks, most of the iron and steel enterprises in Tangshan used fuel heavy trucks to transport iron ore and coking coal.
In the impression of He Xuwei, deputy director of the Market Development Center of State Grid Tangshan Power Supply Company, the construction of heavy truck charging facilities in Tangshan will be as early as 2021. "In the second half of 2020, charging builders and operators felt that electric heavy trucks began to move in Tangshan City, but they have not been. Until the spring of 2021, the first charging station was built in the Leting plant of HBIS Tangsteel, and there are about 30 charging piles in the station. After the construction of that station, Tangsteel's business trucks began to be gradually replaced with electric trucks. ”
Liu Hongli, head of the Tianzhu team of Hebei Tianzhu Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tianzhu Iron and Steel Group), told The Paper that before 2021, the Tianzhu team had been dominated by fuel heavy trucks. With the development of the "retreat from the city" work and the special action of "creating B and striving for A to promote leadership", the group gradually replaced the original fuel heavy trucks with electric heavy trucks.
The "relocation from the city" mentioned by Liu Hongli refers to the optimization and integration, relocation and upgrading of 13 iron and steel enterprises around the main urban area launched in Tangshan in recent years. The Paper previously reported that heavy polluting enterprises such as steel and coking within 25 kilometers of Tangshan urban area and surrounding areas contribute 70% of pollutants to the downtown area, and the urban environmental capacity is almost saturated. In order to optimize the layout of the iron and steel industry and promote the layout of heavy chemical enterprises such as iron and steel, these 13 enterprises were relocated to the coastal industrial parks of Tangshan Leting, Fengnan and other places.
Tianzhu Iron and Steel Group is one of the 13 steel companies that have been relocated. After the relocation, Tianzhu Iron and Steel Group is about 15 kilometers away from the port, and due to the influence of ambient temperature, load capacity and supporting infrastructure service guarantee capacity, Tianzhu Iron and Steel Group decided to use electric heavy trucks in the short-term transportation scenario within a radius of 150 kilometers.
Liu Hongli said, "At present, the group has invested more than 70 million yuan to buy 83 electric heavy trucks, which are mainly responsible for the transportation business from the port to the company. Starting from November 2022, the total transportation of electric heavy trucks accounts for about 85% of the total transportation of bulk materials and finished products, and is basically dominated by electric heavy trucks. The remaining 15% is still transported by fuel vehicles because it involves materials from other places and the distance is relatively long. ”
Liu Hongli explained that a heavy truck with a battery capacity of about 350kWh can travel about 120 kilometers when fully charged and heavily loaded. Although the number of kilometers of fuel heavy trucks is higher than that of electric heavy trucks, after the "relocation of the city", relying on the distance advantage, the advantages of using electric heavy trucks are more obvious, compared with fuel heavy trucks, electric heavy trucks can be cheaper by 1.4 yuan per kilometer.
"Retreat and relocation" shortens the distance from iron and steel enterprises to the port and provides a suitable application scenario for electric heavy trucks. The "B and A" has more rigid target requirements for enterprises in terms of emission reduction.
According to the staff of the Tangshan Municipal Department of Ecology and Environment, the classification of environmental performance is an important basis for the implementation of differentiated control. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, all enterprises rated as A-level will take independent emission reduction measures after starting the heavy pollution weather warning, and will not stop production or limit production. However, one of the conditions for rating an A-level enterprise is that the proportion of clean transportation must meet 80%.
Tangshan Municipal Department of Ecology and Environment staff said that iron and steel enterprises are very enthusiastic about "creating A", "in terms of economic benefits, although the price of an electric heavy truck is about 700,000-800,000, the purchase of electric heavy trucks by enterprises is more expensive, than the purchase of fuel vehicles is much more expensive, but if the enterprise is not rated A, it may involve the suspension of production, when the market situation is better, the economic impact of the production limit on the enterprise is relatively large, and the enterprise is not as good as 'creating A'." ”
Multi-party policies work together to promote the rapid promotion and application of electric heavy trucks in Tangshan
Du Wancheng, manager of Tangshan Gangtong New Energy Service Development Co., Ltd. (the construction and maintenance of charging facilities in Jingtang Port), recalled that electric heavy trucks appeared in batches in Jingtang Port in 2022, "At that time, the national policy was guided by new energy and electrification, and at the same time, it was also inseparable from factors such as the maturity of battery technology, the lower cost of batteries, and the purchase of electric heavy trucks with policy supplemental stickers." ”
Environmental requirements are also one of the important factors driving the electrification of heavy-duty trucks. As an important industrial town in the northern part of the mainland, Tangshan is facing the dual challenges of pollution and emission reduction, and the application of electric heavy trucks also bears the heavy responsibility of reducing pollution and carbon emissions. "There is basically no carbon emission from the use of electric cars, which is a great help to reduce carbon emissions. Du Wancheng said, "In 2023, the total annual charging capacity of charging piles in Jingtang Port District will be 31.17 million kWh, serving a total of 280,000 vehicles and reducing carbon emissions by 30,000 tons." In 2022, the total number of charging piles in Jingtang Port will only be 3 million kWh, reducing carbon emissions by 3,000 tons. 2023 is 10 times more than in 2022. ”
"Now there are about 4,000 trucks entering and leaving Jingtang Port every day, and new energy accounts for 65%, and heavy trucks that need to be replenished in and out of the port can be charged here. Du Wancheng explained that the electric heavy trucks entering and leaving the port are not purchased by the port, and the port currently only provides charging pile services and bayonet loading and unloading services. "The cars are either bought by the mills themselves or belong to the outsourced third-party transport fleet, and they are the main body to bear the freight. ”
The Paper learned in an interview that before 2021, the number of new energy heavy trucks in Tangshan was not large, and fuel heavy trucks were still the main force of transportation at that time. The node appeared in October 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched the pilot work of the application of battery swap mode for new energy vehicles, and Tangshan became one of the pilot cities for the heavy truck project, and the number of electric heavy trucks in Tangshan has been rising since then.
According to data provided by the Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, as of the end of October 2023, a total of 4,511 battery-swapped heavy trucks and 130 battery-swapped passenger cars have been promoted and applied in Tangshan. Compared with the more than 100,000 fuel-powered heavy trucks, there is still a lot of room for trams to replace gasoline vehicles.
Electric heavy trucks are swapped at the battery swapping station
In order to accelerate the construction of the new energy system and boost the high-quality development of the economy, Tangshan City has established a new energy system construction headquarters in 2023, and the staff of the Tangshan Ecological Environment Department have been transferred to the new energy heavy truck promotion working group under the headquarters.
Issues such as the economy of electric heavy-duty trucks still need to be solved, and sustainable operation still faces challenges
However, there are still difficulties in the promotion process, among which economy is the most important factor affecting the replacement of oil vehicles by enterprise trams. "Iron and steel enterprises also need to build battery swap stations or charging piles after buying heavy trucks, and the capital cost is relatively high. The investment in a car is about 70-800,000 yuan, and the construction of battery swap stations and charging piles is not only scene construction, but also needs to consider transformers, power capacity and other issues. The staff of the Tangshan Municipal Department of Ecology and Environment said.
In addition to the high cost of capital, electric heavy trucks still have limitations. The staff of the Tangshan Municipal Department of Ecology and Environment pointed out that due to seasonal and other factors, the endurance of lithium batteries in winter will be reduced. An electric heavy-duty truck that can run 200 kilometers in the summer may have a range of 140 kilometers in the winter. "In Tangshan, the main use scenario of electric heavy trucks is between steel enterprises and ports, and the distance is relatively short. There is no problem with short-distance transportation, but long-distance transportation still needs to improve infrastructure support. ”
The weight of the battery itself will squeeze the transportation weight of the cargo, which is also a concern for some fleets or car owners. "The batteries of heavy trucks themselves are relatively heavy, a group of batteries has about 2 tons, but according to the regulations of the transportation department, the total weight of vehicles and goods can not exceed 49 tons, which is equivalent to about 2 tons less cargo. The staff of the Tangshan Municipal Department of Ecology and Environment said.
In view of the current problems of electric heavy trucks, the Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology suggested that vehicle and battery manufacturers should increase battery research and development efforts to increase battery life, promote the lightweight of the body and battery itself to increase the carrying capacity, rely on or integrate other energy infrastructure resources, establish a comprehensive energy supply, and improve the infrastructure guarantee system as soon as possible.
In addition, at present, the national level has not yet clarified the support policies for electric heavy trucks in terms of free weighting, resulting in the lack of superior legal support when formulating relevant preferential policies. The Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology suggested that the national level should introduce and improve the targeted policy on the passage of battery-swapping heavy trucks, free weighting, the establishment of a green transportation demonstration operation area, the acceleration of the examination and approval of land applications for battery swap stations, the filing of battery swap station projects, and the introduction of green channels and green electricity price support for battery swap station electricity consumption at the national level.
In addition, the current battery swap heavy trucks and battery swap facilities are still facing problems such as fighting their own battles, different battery swapping methods, non-universal facilities, and duplicate construction, resulting in a great waste of resources. Although Tangshan has previously issued the "Technical Specifications for Battery Swapping of Electric Heavy Trucks in Tangshan City" to provide macro guidance for the application of battery swapping vehicles and the construction of charging and swapping facilities, there are still many uncertainties in the operation process. The Tangshan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology suggested that the national level should be presided over and a unified battery swap standard and technical specification should be issued as soon as possible on the premise of taking into account the enthusiasm of all parties in R&D and production as much as possible.
It is suggested that the national level should improve the policy system for the promotion of electric heavy trucks and encourage technological innovation
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2022, the sales of commercial vehicles in mainland China will be 3.3 million, and the sales of new energy commercial vehicles will be 338,000, accounting for about 10%, which is much lower than that of passenger cars. Among them, the penetration rate of new energy heavy trucks is less than 4%.
In response to the economic problem of electric heavy trucks, Xie Haiming, director of Shenzhen Xieli New Energy and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Innovation Center, pointed out in an interview with the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) that Shenzhen's highway general cargo container transportation is mainly based on light dumping, and the fuel consumption of traditional oil trucks per 100 kilometers is relatively low, and the difference in energy consumption per unit of oil vehicles and trams cannot balance the increase in costs caused by the electrification of heavy trucks。
At present, Tangshan is the largest city in the application of electric heavy trucks in China, and the goods transported are mainly bulk ores, coal, and steel, and the shippers are mainly steel mills, power plants, and mining plants. Although the sales price of electric heavy trucks is also very high, the overall affordability of the industry is strong, and the cost increase of truck electrification is within an acceptable range compared with the economic losses caused by the shutdown caused by environmental protection standards.
Xie Haiming believes that in order to solve the economy of electric heavy trucks, we should not only focus on one of the links, but consider the whole process, and not to give all the pressure of cost reduction to a role, but all the upstream and downstream roles of the industrial chain must find ways to participate.
He suggested that the cost of the purchase link mainly needs to be involved in the power battery enterprises, because the cost of the power battery still has room to continue to decline, and secondly, the service life of the power battery, capacity density and other aspects also have a lot of room for improvement; The use of links, mainly from two aspects to consider, one is to improve the utilization rate of vehicles, the need for government departments, cargo owners, carriers to work together, so that electric heavy trucks have priority to work, have priority to have the right of way, toll reduction, etc.; The maintenance link needs the government to support the construction of the after-sales maintenance service system, improve the after-sales service capacity of the whole industry, avoid replacing the repair, and increase the cost of after-sales service. In the process of scrapping and recycling, the government needs to come forward to support the construction of the second-hand car trading system and improve the residual value rate of vehicles.
Chen Jianhua, director of the transportation program at Energy Foundation China, said that electric heavy trucks should be used as much as possible to make full use of their cheap electricity prices. Key measures include the need for supply security, which requires policy incentives, such as encouraging shippers to use electric vehicles more for work, and convenient charging and swapping networks. From the perspective of vehicle purchase, after 2027, the fiscal and tax incentive policies for electric heavy trucks should be continued in a differentiated manner. In terms of charging and swapping, certain charging and swapping facilities and subsidy incentive policies can be designed, such as time-of-use electricity price incentive policies, and some preferential electricity prices for renewable energy power generation can be used for electric heavy trucks.
In addition, some non-fiscal and tax incentive policies, such as whether some areas or channels can be demarcated, so that new energy heavy trucks can have priority rights of way in these areas and channels.
"When we were doing local research, we heard from some freight companies that the right-of-way policy was more attractive than the cost policy. In other words, if there is a suitable right of way, they can go for electric heavy trucks. Chen Jianhua said.
Chen Jianhua believes that improving operational efficiency is also conducive to the promotion of new energy heavy trucks, such as improving the turnover rate of operations and reducing empty driving through intelligent management, which is a good way to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.
In addition, because the battery quality of electric heavy trucks is relatively large, can the battery quality be exempted from the load mass to a certain extent?
Finally, he believes that it is also necessary to actively strive for the support of financial forces, and explore the development of financial tools and measures to support users to purchase and use electric heavy trucks under the system of low-carbon finance and green finance.
In response to the impact of low temperature on battery range, Xia Yiwen, project manager of green and zero-carbon transportation, said that the impact of low temperature on the battery is mainly a change in physical properties, rather than permanent damage to chemical properties, so when the temperature rises, the chemical reaction speed inside the battery will naturally recover, and the internal impedance of the battery will be reduced to a normal level, and the battery range will be restored. At present, there are many feasible solutions for this phenomenon, such as the solid-state electrolyte used in solid-state batteries is less sensitive to temperature changes, so in a low-temperature environment, the performance of solid-state batteries will not be significantly reduced;
For the general concern of car owners and carriers about the impact of electric heavy truck batteries, Xie Haiming pointed out that with the existing battery energy density level, the battery weight of lithium iron phosphate battery 100 kWh is about 600kg, and the mainstream electric heavy truck battery configuration degree in the past two years is about 282kwh and 350kwh, and the weight of the battery is about 1.7 tons or 2.1 tons. For the scenario of taking the highway to charge by weight or pay the freight according to the load capacity, the loss of tons caused by the weight of the battery will significantly reduce the transportation revenue.
In Xie Haiming's view, there is no particularly good solution at present, the future needs to be solved from many aspects, one is the technical aspect, electric heavy trucks need to be developed positively, electric drive axle technology, reduce the weight of the body, and to further improve the capacity density of the power battery, but the overall weight reduction is limited. Second, in terms of toll collection, electric heavy trucks should be appropriately reduced. Third, the shipper should appropriately increase the freight rate of ton-kilometers when using electric heavy trucks for carriers.
For example, on December 29, 2021, the Tianjin Municipal Transportation Commission issued a notice to exempt new energy container trucks entering and leaving Tianjin Port.
Xie Haiming pointed out that pure electric heavy trucks are currently mainly used in short- and medium-distance transportation scenarios, and in medium and long-distance transportation scenarios, the future may face the situation that the charging and swapping infrastructure cannot meet the use demand, especially if a large number of pure electric heavy trucks appear on the highway, it will bring huge challenges to the power supply system along the highway.
In the final analysis, promoting zero-emission substitution of heavy trucks depends on technological innovation and progress. Xie Haiming believes that before 2030, it is mainly the large-scale promotion and application of pure electric heavy trucks in short- and medium-distance application scenarios, and can form better solutions in terms of technology, cost, and infrastructure construction. With the innovation and breakthrough of power battery technology and the development of ultra-high-power charging technology, pure electric heavy trucks may also be suitable for more freight scenarios. In addition, vigorously promoting the intelligent management mode of the fleet, promoting the combined transportation of road, rail and water, and improving transportation efficiency are also promising directions to promote zero-emission technology to replace traditional heavy truck technology.
Source: The Paper