From December 19th to 21st, 2023, the "2023 China Automobile Charging and Swapping Ecological Conference" jointly sponsored by the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, the Charging and Swapping Branch of the China Association and the People's ** of Fuyang District, Hangzhou was held in Hangzhou. With the theme of "Meeting New Challenges and Comprehensively Promoting the High-quality Development of Charging and Swapping Infrastructure", this conference set up "1+1+6+N" meetings and releases, that is, 1 closed-door meeting + 1 conference forum + 6 theme forums + N blockbuster releases, the meeting focused on "charging and swapping infrastructure construction", "charging piles to the countryside", "high-quality charging services", "battery swap mode", "overseas exports", "vehicle network interaction" and other aspects of in-depth exchanges, and discussed the countermeasures to build a high-quality industrial development pattern. Methods and paths.
Among them, on the afternoon of December 20, the "Theme Forum III: Discussion on the Application of Electric Vehicle Battery Swap Mode" was heldShao Changhong, deputy chief engineer of Beiqi Foton Automotive Engineering Research InstituteGave a wonderful speech. The following is a transcript of the live speech:
First of all, thank you for this opportunity, talking about the development trend of battery swap technology, I would like to review with you the development of commercial vehicle battery swap technology in recent years and some of my personal thoughts.
The needs of users are the driving force for technological development, starting from the application scenarios of commercial vehicle replacement vehiclesHeavy trucksThe main features of the application of battery swapping are:High environmental protection requirements, sufficient supply, high frequency, short transportation distance, good road conditions, and low speedand other scenarios.
There is a lot of pressure on environmental protectionVehicles for urban constructionIt is easy to obtain the right of way by using new energy heavy-duty commercial vehicles, the operation frequency is high, and the pure electric version of heavy-duty commercial vehicles can meet the needs of vehiclesSand and gravel mixer trucks, construction site vehicles, muck removal vehicles.
Mineral transportation with sufficient supply and short transportation distance is mainly to:Off-mine towing vehiclesIt is very suitable for the application of battery-swapping heavy commercial vehicles, mainly used in mines, washing and dressing plants, power plants and shipping plants.
Have you noticed that these scenes are some?Regional or closed scenesThere are even some battery swap stations that only serve dozens of vehicles or hundreds of vehicles in a certain scenario, battery swap infrastructureIt's hard to get it public, the waste of input and resources is large. How to achieve greater breakthroughs in long-distance in the future is worth thinking about, and it requires the joint efforts of all experts and colleagues here. I would like to share my personal thoughts and opinions:
a) It is necessary to speed up the construction of highway battery swap infrastructure
Without a perfect battery swap network, battery swap models can't go far, especially for battery-swapping heavy commercial vehicles. However, at present, in the high-speed service area, the distribution network capacity must not meet the use of high-power charging and battery replacement equipment. For this short-term high-power mutant load, how to deal with the distribution network side;How to make good use of the wind and solar resources in the expressway service area and its own battery resources to reduce the impact on the distribution network.
b) Compatibility and interchangeability of battery swapping infrastructure
The battery swap station of the expressway must be compatible with the battery swap models or battery systems of most manufacturers, otherwise the cost of battery swap will be very high, resulting in the battery swap mode being unable to operate. Later, I will talk about the compatibility and interchangeability of battery swap vehicles, battery systems, and battery swap stations, which will not be detailed here.
In 2023, there will already be enterprises to carry out pilot operations on a certain expressway, but if there is no big breakthrough in these two points, the new energy vehicles for long-distance transportation in the future will still not be battery-swapping vehicles.
Next, I would like to talk about the development trend and process of replacing electric vehicles from the policy orientation and battery replacement products. In the early stage of the development of electric vehicles, the State Grid proposed"Battery swapping is the mainstay, plug-in charging is supplemented, centralized charging, and unified distribution".This is based on the fact that the charging infrastructure is not perfect. The development of electrification of passenger vehicles has led to the construction of charging infrastructure, forming a charging-oriented situationIn June 2019, it was proposed to promote new energy vehicle battery leasing and other vehicle-electricity separation consumption methods, and encourage enterprises to develop new energy vehicle products that combine charging and battery swappingIn April 2020, the Notice on Adjusting and Improving the Subsidy Policy for New Energy Vehicles clearly supports the development of new business models such as "separation of vehicles and electricity".In 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Energy Administration (NEA) launched a pilot project on the application of battery swap mode for new energy vehicles, and launched 13 pilot cities for new energy vehicles, including 3 cities with heavy truck characteristics. The battery swap industry has also gradually upgraded from the rack-type battery swap system in 2019 to a closed battery swap system with a high degree of automation, forming three types of commercial vehicle battery swap stations represented by top swap stations, lateral swap stations, and bottom swap stations. Foton Motor will also launch a bottom-swapped heavy-duty commercial vehicle in 2023, and it will receive orders for 100 units when it is launched.
From the perspective of guiding positioning, the guiding mechanism of the battery replacement base of each manufacturer is different and incompatible with each other, resulting in no way to share the battery.
From the point of view of the locking mechanism, the locking forms that can be seen in the market include deadbolts, grappling hooks, hooks and bottom replacement bolt locking. Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. The locking mechanism is different, and it cannot be locked when changing to other models, can the vehicle move?
The sharing of battery-swapping batteries needs to be realized"Separation of vehicle and electricity".。Whether it is from the connection of hardware or the interaction of data information, it is necessary to standardize the entire industry in order to achieve the real "separation of vehicle and electricity", otherwise, the rapid replenishment of batteries can only be realized in regional scenarios.
Based on the current situation and development needs of the industry, the state also promotes the implementation of standard systems such as battery swap vehicles and battery swap stations, and standardizes and unifies the electrical interface, cooling interface and communication interaction protocol from the battery swap electrical interface, battery swap mechanism, cooling interface and communication interaction protocol to promote the interchangeability of the battery swap system.
Finally, in view of the development of the battery swap system mentioned earlier, I would like to talk about my viewsIn the development process of the entire battery swap system, the battery pack must be the core to realize the interchangeability between the vehicle, the battery and the station, so as to make the industry bigger, otherwise, it will be limited to a certain area and a certain type of application.
fromHardwareThe mechanical interface and cooling interface of the battery system and the vehicle connection, including the installation and fixing form of the vehicle and the vehicle;In terms of information interaction, it is necessary to establish a unified interaction logic and protocol. It's not just the communication between the vehicle and the battery system, but also the communication between the vehicle and the station.
fromSecurity perspectiveThe safety of the vehicle and the battery system should be ensured from the dimensions of the battery swapping mechanism, the management of the battery swapping battery pack, the safety design of the vehicle, and the replacement and use process.
In addition, it reduces the operating costs of the battery swap industry. The cost of battery swapping infrastructure is high, the reusability is poor, and the cost of battery storage is high. It is suggested that the battery swap station should be combined with energy storage power stations, wind and solar resources to reduce operating costs, improve the degree of automation, and reduce personnel service costs.
That's all I have to share, thank you!
Note: This article is based on on-site shorthand and has not been reviewed by guest speakers).