The development of new energy vehicles has encountered a bottleneck, and the charging infrastructure cannot keep up, will Huawei supercharging turn around?
In recent years, new energy vehicles have ushered in explosive growth in the mainland. According to the data, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has exceeded 50% in 2023, and sales continue to rise. The construction of charging infrastructure is seriously lagging behind, and there is an imbalance with the number of new energy vehicles, which has become a bottleneck restricting the further popularization of new energy vehicles. Users complain about "charging anxiety", which affects their willingness to buy.
In April 2023, Huawei launched a new all-liquid-cooled supercharging technology to address the charging challenges encountered in the development of new energy vehicles. This supercharging technology adopts a liquid-cooled design, with a maximum output of up to 600kW, which can achieve an extremely fast charging experience of "one kilometer per second" at the earliest.
Compared with traditional air-cooled charging piles, Huawei's fully liquid-cooled supercharging has multiple advantages. The high power output can meet the high-power fast charging needs of new energy vehicles in the future. Secondly, the use of liquid cooling design makes the charging efficiency higher, the noise is lower, and the service life is longer. The modular design of the fully liquid-cooled supercharging architecture is easy to deploy and maintain.
The fully liquid-cooled supercharging technology represents a new quality of productivity in the field of new energy vehicle charging. To further promote this technology, on April 24, 2024, Huawei Digital Power joined hands with 11 car companies, including BYD, GAC, and Great Wall, as well as a number of charging operators, to establish the Supercharging Alliance.
The goal of the Supercharging Alliance is to create a supercharging network with the ultimate experience and wide coverage for users through the joint construction of an ecological approach, and promote the high-quality development of new energy vehicles and the charging network industry. The alliance hopes to allow users to "buy new energy vehicles with confidence", let car companies "focus on building good cars", let operators "operate efficiently and increase revenue", and at the same time improve the efficiency and safety of urban governance, so that the power grid can "supply and distribute electricity with confidence".
The Supercharging Alliance will also jointly expand overseas markets and promote the Supercharging Standard to become an international standard. At present, the Supercharging Alliance is accelerating the deployment of supercharging sites. By the end of 2024, Huawei plans to deploy more than 100,000 fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging piles in more than 340 cities and major highways across the country, achieving the goal of "high-quality charging where there are roads".
By the end of 2023, Huawei has deployed more than 200 fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging stations in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, covering extreme environments such as high temperatures, severe cold, and high altitudes. In collaboration with OEMs, Huawei will create an integrated ultra-fast charging experience that is compatible with different vehicle models, and build a supercharging ecosystem through protocol docking, cloud-cloud interconnection, and development collaboration.
Huawei's large-scale deployment of supercharging piles aims to provide a seamless charging experience for NEV vehicle owners. By the end of 2024, they aim to cover more than 340 cities and major highways across the country, and deploy more than 100,000 fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging piles. At that time, no matter where you are, you can enjoy convenient and efficient charging services.
By the end of 2023, Huawei has deployed more than 200 fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging stations in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country. These charging stations cover extreme environments such as high temperature, severe cold, and high altitude, which can meet the charging needs of different regions and different climatic conditions.
In close collaboration with OEMs, Huawei will create an all-in-one ultra-fast charging experience that is compatible with different vehicle models. Through protocol docking, cloud-cloud interconnection, development collaboration, etc., we will build a supercharging ecosystem to ensure that all kinds of new energy vehicles can obtain high-quality charging services.
The establishment of the Huawei Supercharging Alliance will bring a new solution to the charging problem of new energy vehicles. With its breakthrough fully liquid-cooled supercharging technology, the alliance is expected to completely turn the tide of new energy vehicle development.
The overcharging technology itself has many advantages. High power output, high efficiency and energy saving, long service life and other characteristics well solve the pain points of traditional charging piles. The ultra-fast charging experience of "one kilometer per second" will greatly improve the user experience and eliminate "charging anxiety".
The Supercharging Alliance integrates upstream and downstream resources to build a complete ecosystem. The members of the alliance include car companies, operators and other links in the industrial chain, which is conducive to efficient collaboration and promotes the unification of technologies and standards.
The establishment of the Supercharging Alliance has also been driven by both policy and market. The new energy vehicle industry is listed as a key national development direction, and consumers also have an urgent demand for high-quality charging services.
The development of the Supercharging Alliance has not been smooth sailing. There are still uncertainties about the spread of technology and the harmonization of standards; The investment in infrastructure construction is huge, and the financial pressure cannot be ignored; It remains to be seen how it competes with other charging modes.
Industry insiders are optimistic about the prospects of the Supercharge Alliance. They believe that with Huawei's technical strength and win-win cooperation among alliance members, supercharging will become a "new engine" for the development of new energy vehicles. Perhaps we can see more innovative applications, such as on-board super-rechargeable batteries, to plug in the wings of new energy vehicles.