Is it possible to change the battery mode of pure electric vehicles?

As a new emerging industry in the automotive market, electric vehicles have been controversial since its inception, and its most criticized is the short cruising range, difficult charging and insufficient power.

As early as several years ago, the domestic debate on the charging mode or the power-changing mode of electric vehicles began, and formed a power exchange mode camp led by State Grid and Zhongtai Automobile, and China Southern Power Grid, China Putian New Energy and BYD's dominant charging mode camp, the final power-changing mode was introduced into the “cold palace” with the introduction of the “Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2012-2020)” issued by the State Council in 2012, and the charging-based The development direction of electric vehicles.

Since then, the development of national electric vehicles has always maintained the development direction of charging. The State Grid is also under pressure. In the past year, it launched the “Beijing-Shanghai” activity of electric vehicles, leading BAIC New Energy, BYD Company and BYD-Daimler Company. The fleet of pure electric vehicles set up by four car companies, such as Dongfeng Nissan Company, spanned 6 provinces and lasted 4 days with a journey of 1262 kilometers.

Charging piles are used throughout the activity, indicating that the national grid has shifted from a power-exchange mode strategy to a charging mode, which means that the national grid and vehicle manufacturers have turned into cooperative relationships. However, the debate on charging mode and power-changing mode has never stopped. On August 9, Lifan invested more than 30 million Yuan in the first electric vehicle power station in Chongqing. It is expected that the citizens of Chongqing will only take 3 minutes at the end of October. The completion of the electric vehicle's power-changing service, which once caused the national grid to suffer setbacks, and Better Place's bankruptcy mode of reversal, has revived. So, what is the charm of the power-changing model that many companies can dump? Why is it difficult to implement it in the Chinese market?

The advantage of changing the power is beyond doubt

The operation of the power-changing mode can solve a series of problems such as short cruising range, difficult charging and high cost of electric vehicles. All of this is also based on the business model behind the power-exchange mode: battery rental, rapid replacement; high industrial concentration, technology, capital, the service concentrates on promoting the development of the electric vehicle industry; establishing a huge use network for end users.

The first is that the driving range and the promotion of the power-changing mode will promote the development of battery technology, and the battery capacity will be rapidly improved. Secondly, the charging time, the power-exchange mode may quickly replace the electric vehicle with a fully-charged battery. Currently, the existing charging pile generally adopts an AC charging mode with a rated power of 7 kW or less. The so-called fast charging is undoubtedly a great damage to the battery. .

There may be someone here to sing the opposite, what if the battery is replaced by a cottage? As we all know, the essence of electric vehicle technology is on the battery, and the implementation of the power-changing mode is to separate the industry from the technology. In the future, the battery specifications and standards will be unified without any commercial competition.

Some people have such concerns because battery technology is now owned by various car companies, and the level is uneven. Therefore, when the power exchange mode is implemented, the battery industry is more concentrated, and the cost of car purchase will also be reduced. In addition, the cost of the electric power charging mode will be more inclined to consumers.

Although the power is changed, there is a long way to go.

The reason why the power-exchange mode has been neglected is that the industrial revolution brought about by the power-exchange mode is bound to bring benefits to the major electric vehicle manufacturers. Secondly, the implementation of the power-exchange mode requires a series of standards and measures. And support from relevant departments.

First of all, the battery of electric vehicles is the core part, accounting for 50% of the total cost of the car. The car companies naturally refuse to let go of the control of the battery, and the changes in battery specifications brought about by the implementation of the power exchange mode will force the car companies to Production R&D is upgraded, and the location and specifications of the major car companies for the battery are determined according to their own products. If the changes are made, it is totally inconsistent with their interests.

Secondly, the unified centralized charging of a large number of batteries does not meet the interests of the power grid. When the power-exchange mode is really implemented, it is also the time when electric vehicles are more popular. The resulting large demand for electricity is not a small pressure on the power grid. In this industry transformation, it is necessary to upgrade its own system. It is also necessary to bear the pressure brought about by the huge demand for electricity. I think the loss-making business of the power grid will never do it. This is also one of the reasons for the national grid to change the view and support the charging mode. And when the national grid supports the power-changing mode, it may just want to further control the battery technology.

In this regard, Binggang Wang, a professor-level senior engineer at the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, also admitted that the problem of the power-exchange mode is mainly in the following three aspects: the cost of changing the power station is too high; the technical standards of electric vehicles vary from company to company, and the battery standards vary widely; Companies are generally reluctant to share technical standards.

Due to the cost problem, the Tesla power-changing model went to Israel's Better Place to declare bankruptcy due to the break of the capital chain. The failure of many car companies in the power-exchange mode indicates that the implementation of the power-changing mode cannot be separated from the production capacity of the whole vehicle. The support of the car enterprise with battery core technology is also inseparable from the support of the power grid system. However, a huge off-grid electric energy application system created by electric vehicles will inevitably have a certain impact on the traditional electric vehicle industry.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.