According to data released by the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, from January to December 2023, the increase in charging infrastructure was 3.386 million units, and the sales of new energy vehicles were 9.495 million units. The incremental ratio of pile vehicles is 1:2.8, and the construction of charging infrastructure basically meets the rapid development and configuration needs of new energy vehicles. In other words, the charging pile industry, like the new energy vehicle industry, has become a track that can no longer be "rolled". However, a company in Panyu has discovered its own blue ocean market in such a red ocean market. How do they do it?
All localities have stepped up the layout of overcharging equipment, and there are no more than 3 domestic suppliers
According to the different charging speeds of electric vehicles, charging piles are divided into three types: slow charging, fast charging, and overcharging. Among them, overcharging generally refers to equipment that can achieve high-power charging of more than 350kW. Electric vehicles equipped with 800V high-voltage architecture and battery charging rate of 4C can be charged in 5 minutes at the fastest time, with a range of 300 kilometers, and it generally only takes about 10~15 minutes to fully charge, which greatly alleviates the pain point of long energy replenishment time for electric vehicles. In contrast, most of the public charging piles on the market are ordinary fast charging piles, and it takes at least 1~1.5 hours for an electric vehicle to be fully charged.
The reporter learned that in the construction plan of "super charging capital" proposed by Guangzhou, it is clearly supported to use super high-power fast charging technology, and by 2025, 1,000 super charging and swapping centers will be built in the city. The "Shenzhen Special Plan for New Energy Vehicle Supercharging Facilities (2023-2025)" released by Shenzhen last year also sounded the clarion call for the construction of a "supercharging city". According to the plan, no less than 300 public supercharging stations will be built by the first half of 2024. Hainan has launched a "supercharging island" construction plan, proposing to build more than 400 supercharging stations by 2025, and many provinces and cities such as Shandong, Jilin, Hunan and Chongqing have also introduced policies to encourage the development of supercharging infrastructure.
In the face of the trend of new electric vehicles generally adopting 800V high-voltage charging platforms, charging pile operators such as Telai Dian are also accelerating the deployment of supercharging networks across the country. At present, Telai has deployed more than 600 supercharging piles in more than 50 cities across the country.
"The requirements for cables and tips are very high in overcharging equipment. Although everyone knows that this is still a blue ocean market, only 2-3 domestic suppliers can use relevant technologies to supply maturely. Zhang Shouchun, general manager of Guangzhou Zhichong New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhichong New Energy"), told reporters: "Of course, we are one of them. ”
Zhichong New Energy is headquartered in Fengbang Zhichuang Industrial Community, Nancun Town
Zhichong new energy products exhibition hall
Lighter and thinner, better experience There is a lot of things inside the supercharging cable and the supercharging gun
Headquartered in Fengbang Zhichuang Industrial Community, Nancun Town, Zhichong New Energy has focused on the field of new energy auto parts and new energy precision structural parts since its establishment, and is a business covering the research and development, production and production of new energy vehicle portable charging guns, double-ended charging guns for piles, new energy vehicle AC and DC cables, charging gun holders, automotive high-voltage wiring harnesses and other products. It is a national high-tech enterprise in all aspects of sales and service, with 55 patents authorized, and was recognized as a provincial-level specialized, special and new small and medium-sized enterprise in 2023 by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology at the end of last year.
Zhichong new energy engineers are doing experiments in the R&D experimental center
In the R&D experimental center of Zhichong New Energy, Hou Gong, the director of cable R&D, is discussing with the R&D team how to further optimize the internal cooling circulation system of the supercharging cable and the gun head. "The overcharging pile will generate a current of 400-500A during the working process, and the heat dissipation of the cable will become a big problem. Therefore, the overcharging cable must overcome the difficulty of heat dissipation. We designed two liquid-cooled inlet and outlet pipes in the cable, and by injecting coolant, the heat is removed by flowing through the pipes. After the liquid flows through the heat sink rod inside, it cools down and continues to circulate. The interior of the accompanying supercharger also needed to be redesigned to accommodate the liquid-cooled inlet and outlet pipes, so that a complete cooling cycle was formed to continuously dissipate heat from the cables and charging tips. Hou Gong told reporters.
The supercharging cable (two from left) and fast charging cable developed by Zhichong New Energy
The 24 mm overcharging cable (left) is significantly thinner and lighter than the 40 mm fast charging cable (right).
Hou Gong specially brought two cables for the reporter to hold in his hand to feel. One of them is noticeably thicker and heavier. "The thick one is the cable used by the mainstream fast charging piles on the market. This fast charging cable has a wire diameter of 40 mm. The 1-meter cable weighs about 2.8 kilograms. Male drivers now feel heavier when they go to fast charging stations to pick up fast charging guns, let alone women. Hou Gong picked up another cable: "This is the supercharging cable we developed, with two specifications of 24 mm and 27 mm, and a 1-meter cable weighs about 1.4 kilograms." Compared with fast charging cables, it is thinner and twice as lightweight, giving users a better experience when using it. Smaller wire sizes and lighter weight are achieved while more than doubling the amount of current that can be passed, allowing the car to be refueled faster. Thanks to our years of technology accumulation in interdisciplinary fields such as electronics, communications, and intelligent control, as well as the industry's leading manufacturing process for cables and charging gun heads, our research and development has finally borne fruit. ”
Move from "new" to "new" to "new" to empower the high-quality development of the industry and localities
At present, Zhichong New Energy has established long-term cooperative relations with BYD, GAC Aion, Wenjie, Xiaopeng, BMW and other new energy head car companies, as well as major operators of charging stations such as Star Charging and Special Call. The products have passed the certification of China CCC, CQC certification, EU 10 certification, and the certification of VDE in Germany, UL in the United States, PSE in Japan, BS in the United Kingdom, KFI in South Korea, Australia and other countries and regions, and the product quality is recognized by customers at home and abroad. In 2023, the annual sales will be 230 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 80%.
Busy Zhichong new energy production line
At around 3 p.m., several flatbed trucks drove to the gate of Zhichong New Energy's finished product warehouse, ready to transport away a batch of finished charging guns that had been packed. "Since the Spring Festival, our production line has been running at high capacity, and now we can roll off the assembly line with about 8,000 charging cables every day. Zhang Shouchun, general manager of Zhichong New Energy, walked into the finished product warehouse with reporters. Here, workers in every position such as counting, packing, and carrying are busy. "Our shipments have been in the top three positions in the industry in the province. But we still have a lot of room for improvement. The supercharging track with high technical content, high product creation profitability, few competitors and fast market growth is the direction of our efforts in the future. We will continue to provide stable and reliable charging infrastructure for supercharging sites around the world. ”
During the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, "new quality productivity" has become a hot word of national concern. In sharp contrast to the traditional productive forces, the new quality productivity is dominated by innovation and has the characteristics of high technology, high efficiency and high quality. As a strategic emerging industry, the new energy industry is one of the important carriers for the development of new quality productivity. Zhang Shouchun told reporters that Zhichong has increased the construction of R&D talent echelon in recent years, closely followed the pace of the new energy market, and effectively drove enterprises to "new" through technological innovation, standardization promotion and intelligent development.
Zhang Shouchun said: "Zhichong anchors the new energy track, actively integrates into the relevant industrial chain, continues to deepen the R&D and manufacturing of new energy vehicle charging infrastructure, promotes 'high quality' with 'new quality', and strives to contribute to the construction of a trillion-level 'smart car city' in Guangzhou and a 'smart manufacturing innovation city' in Panyu District." ”
Text/photo: Panyu financial media reporter Liang Yiming