Earn 20 yuan by putting electricity once, put it 6 times a month, and you don't have to spend money to drive this month. When new energy vehicles can earn their own electricity bills, will you consider buying them? The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of New Energy Vehicle Industry in Jiangsu Province" mentions that the construction of "optical storage, charging and discharging" multi-functional integrated stations is encouraged. This is also a green and low-carbon solution for Musk's all-round energy supply of Supercharger, Solar Roof and Megapack, which has become a reality in Nantong. Recently, Nantong's first multi-functional super charging station integrating "optical storage, charging, discharge and inspection" has been put into operation. Different from Musk's vision, Nantong has introduced 4 V2G charging piles that support charging and discharging in this super charging station for the first time. If the owner reasonably plans the charging time, the new energy vehicle can realize its own "earning electricity bills".
Photovoltaic panels form a rain shelter, and when the weather is nice, one-third of the electricity comes from the sun
The charging station is located in the Guanyinshan Science and Technology Pioneer Park, Chongchuan District, Nantong, and is invested and constructed by Nantong Jiaotong Smart Charging Network Company. Recently, a reporter from Modern Express came to the park and saw that the charging station was set in the center of the parking lot, with obvious functional distinctions, and several new energy vehicles were being charged. There are 14 DC fast charging piles, 10 AC slow charging piles, 2 high-power liquid-cooled supercharging piles and 4 V2G charging piles in the charging station.
"Now many of the latest new energy vehicles support 800V charging, this high-power liquid-cooled supercharging pile has a maximum voltage of less than 1000V and a maximum current of up to 600A, which fully meets the super charging needs of new energy vehicles, can be charged in 5 minutes, and has a range of more than 300 kilometers. Gu Xin, deputy general manager of Nantong Jiaotong Smart Charging Network Company, told a reporter from Modern Express. The slow charging pile is the same 7 kilowatt AC pile as the home, and the new energy vehicle owners who work in the park can directly park their cars here to charge when they go to work, and go home fully charged after work. The Modern Express reporter saw on the special call App that the prices of slow charging and fast charging here are the same, both of which are 1.03 yuan per kilowatt-hour.
Unlike other charging stations, this one uses photovoltaic panels as a canopy. While sheltering the owner from the wind and rain, it can also use photovoltaic power generation to charge new energy vehicles. The Modern Express reporter saw on the display screen of the charging station that as of 2 p.m. that day, the charging station had charged 737 kilowatt-hours of electricity for new energy vehicles, of which 219 kilowatt-hours of electricity came from photovoltaic power generation, and the remaining electricity came from the power grid. "Charging stations currently charge about 1,500 kilowatt-hours a day, about one-fifth of which comes from photovoltaics. Gu Xin said that as summer approaches, the number of sunny weather and sunshine hours increases, and there is room for further improvement in photovoltaic power generation. "We have calculated that under good conditions, the proportion of photovoltaic power generation in summer can reach one-third. Gu Xin said.
Using solar energy to charge new energy vehicles and achieve true zero-carbon travel is also what Musk yearns for. Previously, he said on social media that Tesla is installing solar panels and batteries on some Superchargers. In 2021, Tesla laid out integrated supercharging stations in Shanghai and Lhasa, which generate electricity through a solar rooftop system and store the power in Powerwall batteries, which can eventually be used for daily charging of some pure electric vehicles. Solar charging panels, Powerwall energy storage batteries and charging facilities form a microgrid to complete the sustainable use of sunlight as a clean energy source. At the same time, Tesla is promoting the Megapack to store clean energy for ready use. This technology is also available at this charging station in Nantong. The Modern Express reporter saw at the scene that several huge energy storage devices were deployed next to the charging station. When the power from the photovoltaic panels is not consumed, it is stored in an energy storage device for use when the light is insufficient.
The discharge price is higher than the home charging price, and the "electricity bill freedom" can be achieved by reasonably planning the charging time.
The biggest feature of this charging station is that it has introduced V2G charging and discharging charging piles for the first time in Nantong. V2G stands for Vehicle-to-Grid, also known as bidirectional inverter charging technology. New energy vehicles can be regarded as "mobile charging treasures" because they are equipped with huge batteries. As a movable energy storage device, new energy vehicle owners can charge during the peak hours of electricity consumption and reverse discharge the power grid during peak hours, so as to achieve the peak shaving effect of peak shaving and valley filling.
The Modern Express reporter saw on the special call App that when the new energy vehicle is plugged into the V2G charging and discharging charging pile, two options of charging and discharging will be displayed below for users to choose. The charging is 1.03 yuan per kilowatt-hour and the discharge is 0.6 yuan per kilowatt-hour.
"Now there are new energy vehicles that support external discharge function. In addition to supplying power while camping, external discharge can also use V2G charging and discharging charging piles to resell the electric energy to charging stations. Wang Lizhi, the operator of Nantong Jiaotong Smart Charging Network Company, gave the reporter an account. At present, Nantong's personal household charging piles implement the "peak and valley time-of-use" electricity price, of which, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. is the "peak electricity price", per kilowatt-hour of electricity is 0.5783 yuan, 11 p.m. to 1 p.m., 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next morning is the "valley electricity price", per kilowatt-hour of electricity is 0.3783 yuan. At the charging station, the V2G charging and discharging charging pile is used to supply power to the charging station, and each kilowatt-hour is 0.6 yuan. If the battery capacity of a new energy vehicle is 100 degrees, under the condition that the vehicle guarantees a minimum of 20 degrees of electricity operation and ideal charging and discharging, it can earn nearly 20 yuan by charging 80 degrees at valley time and selling it to charging stations. And charging 80 degrees at peak hours and selling it to a charging station can also earn nearly 2 yuan.
"At present, the discharge function of this set of V2G charging and discharging charging piles is still in the testing stage, and the proceeds of the discharge will be returned to the user's account in the form of an e-wallet for users to use when charging. Wang Lizhi said that at present, V2G charging and discharging charging piles are still based on DC fast charging piles, and if citizens want to use new energy vehicles to "earn electricity bills", they have to drive to the charging station, which is still some distance from the "free charging and discharging can be realized on the home AC slow charging pile" that the citizens imagine.
The usage scenarios continue to be updated, and there will be 10 charging stations in Nantong in the future to achieve "multi-station integration"
The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of New Energy Vehicle Industry in Jiangsu Province" issued by Jiangsu Province mentions that the construction of charging and swapping infrastructure should be promoted, with the goal of building a charging and swapping network system with the integration and interaction of "vehicle-pile-network", and the layout of charging and swapping infrastructure should be moderately advanced. Among them, the construction of multi-functional integrated stations of "optical storage, charging and discharging" will be encouraged, and the pilot of interactive (V2G) between new energy vehicles and multiple energy consumption scenarios, including power grids, will be promoted.
In Nantong, Nantong Jiaotou Smart Charging Network Company has turned this newly put into use super charging station into a model. "This charging station is a large-scale charging station, which is mainly used by workers working in the park, online car-hailing, taxis, and logistics vehicles to charge. We have also deployed a medium-sized charging station with 12 charging piles in the Shanghai Vegetable Market to provide fast charging services for logistics vehicles in the market. Gu Xin introduced that not only that, but the company also participated in the "unified construction and service" of the renovation of charging piles in old communities in Nantong City, and deployed small charging stations and charging piles for old communities. In addition, the company also plans to participate in the construction of new energy bus charging stations in the city to help green and low-carbon travel.
The Modern Express reporter learned from the Nantong Municipal Transportation Bureau that in 2023, 55,000 new energy vehicles will be promoted and applied in Nantong, and the number of new energy vehicles will reach 134,000. By the end of December 2023, the total number of charging terminals in the city has reached 85,500, with a vehicle-to-pile ratio of 1.56:1, and more than 6,200 public charging terminals of various types have been built in the city. In order to reasonably plan the layout of charging and swapping infrastructure, the Nantong Municipal Transportation Bureau issued the "Nantong New Energy Vehicle Charging and Swapping Infrastructure Layout Plan", aiming to basically form an integrated public charging service network in the central urban area of Nantong by 2025, and gradually build a public charging facility service network with a service radius of no more than 1.5 kilometers and a minimum of 0.9 kilometers. Among them, it is planned that by 2025, there will be about 2,900 special charging piles and about 15,000 public charging piles in the central urban area of Nantong.
In order to explore and innovate to create characteristic highlights, in January, the Nantong Municipal Transportation Bureau issued the "Implementation Opinions on Steadily Promoting the Efficient Interaction between New Energy Vehicles and Power Grid Energy (2023-2025)", planning in advance the infrastructure layout of "vehicle-network interaction", and planning to build 10 V2G charging and discharging stations by 2025, which will integrate photovoltaic stations, energy storage stations, and electric vehicle charging and discharging stations to achieve "multi-station integration".
In addition, in view of the current situation that there are many types of charging apps on the market and cumbersome charging steps, Nantong is integrating and developing a municipal-level intelligent charging comprehensive management platform integrating "Nantong Intelligent Charging Supervision Platform", "Nantong Intelligent Charging Operation and Management Platform" and "Nantong Intelligent Charging App" to promote the development of urban charging service ecosystem. In the future, citizens only need to use one App to realize convenient and intelligent services such as quick query, site navigation, and queuing prediction time at charging and swapping service stations in the city, further improving the experience of new energy vehicles.
Modern Express/Hyundai+ reporter Hua Yu