On December 20, the China Charging Alliance Flash Charging Committee, which is jointly composed of Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars, Polestar Technology, Lotus Technology and Lightning Speed, was officially established, which is also China's first charging service platform organization for luxury car brands, which will provide a better and more convenient service experience for users of these four luxury car brands.
In response to the question of why the "alliance" was established, Feng Qingfeng, CEO of Lotus Group, told "Brother Dao Says Car" that the experience of charging car owners is not good, and several car companies want to treat charging as an experience and service, and at the same time, the construction of charging stations alone cannot meet the huge user needs by relying on their own strength. Therefore, I thought of using the form of an alliance to not lack the characteristics of each brand, but also to provide a consistent experience for car owners, which is the original intention.
According to the data, in November 2023, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in luxury cars reached 309%。However, there are still many pain points in the field of energy supplementation, such as dirty and messy charging stations, backward energy replenishment networks of the brand, etc., which are affecting the car experience of luxury new energy vehicle owners. Shen Ziyu, chairman and CEO of Polestar Technology, said that making electric vehicles now is not only about making good products, but also about the charging experience.
According to the plan, the flash charging committee will realize the background data opening in June next year, and the users of the four luxury brands as founding members will be able to charge indiscriminately without using the new app, truly bringing users a high-standard charging service experience. In addition, the Flash Charging Committee will also welcome more luxury brands to join.
Technology is one of the means, and the core purpose is to provide better services
In Feng Qingfeng's view, energy replenishment is a service provided by brands to consumers, and it can also be understood as the rights and interests of consumers, and he believes that more and more brands, especially luxury brands, will normalize this rights and interests in the future. Therefore, the core purpose of the establishment of the China Charging Alliance Flash Charging Committee is to provide users with better charging services.
As for how to provide users with better charging services, technology has become one of the important means. Wang Xiaofei, CEO of Hangzhou Lightning Speed Energy Technology, said that in the future, it will plan and provide a good charging experience for luxury brand users through advanced technical equipment, such as liquid-cooled automatic terminals, according to the user portraits and travel tracks of their respective brands.
It is understood that the "self-developed liquid-cooled supercharging terminal ULTRA" in the Lotus supercharging station supports the industry-leading all-liquid-cooled high-power charging architecture, with a maximum current output of 600A, for extremely fast charging of vehicles. In addition, the flash charging committee will also focus on the user's charging environment experience.
For example, Feng Qingfeng said that the service industry is the same as opening a hotel, and the environment is clean and the guests will feel comfortable. And dirty work such as "wiping tables and benches" is exactly what the flash charging committee needs to prepare. It's worth mentioning that this also shows the importance of technology, and the dirty work of the flash charging committee does not necessarily have to be done manually.
According to reports, Lotus's main technology is automatic charging. In April this year, Lotus released the "flash charging robot", which contains an 8 degrees of freedom intelligent collaboration system and a 9-sensor intelligent perception system, which can completely replace the owner to complete the whole process from picking up the gun, inserting the gun, charging, pulling out the gun, and returning the gun.
Plant a plane tree to attract a phoenix
I think this is a rigid need of various car manufacturers, and we also welcome more and more luxury brands to join the flash charging committee", Feng Qingfeng said that the addition of more brands will only add points to the flash charging committee, and there will be no subtraction, because everyone empowers each other.
In other words, the flash charging committee will also include more member units. In fact, the "strong alliance" in the field of energy supplement has become a major trend in the industry, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have joined forces to build a super charging network, and NIO has signed battery swap agreements with Changan and Geely, which are the best examples. This point has a profound reference significance for luxury brands that are not very large.
Shen Ziyu said that for luxury brands, the volume is not very large, otherwise it cannot be called a luxury brand. In the case of a small amount, it is not realistic to take over the energy supplement network by yourself. Therefore, it is an inevitable trend for luxury brands to work together to charge and replenish energy. According to Feng Qingfeng, the flash charging committee is currently negotiating with other brands, but Feng Qingfeng also stressed that the door to any luxury brand is open, but the standard cannot be lowered.
As long as users have a good experience, I believe that more and more luxury brands will be willing to join the flash charging committee. Feng Qingfeng said that joining the flash charging committee can also maintain the independence of their respective brands.
For the management and construction planning of the flash charging alliance, the first step is not to tear down and rebuild, the second step is to plan separately, and the third is to unify the standards and formulate the charging experience standard and bottom line. In other words, the energy supply network of each luxury brand can be preserved, and it does not affect the rights and interests of consumers, but the standard of charging experience will be improved.
For example, one of the Lotus Eletre owner benefits is that the first owner can enjoy free flash charging for 3 years. For this charging right, Lotus owners can also enjoy other brands of charging piles within the flash charging alliance, and the settlement of fees is done between manufacturers and does not involve consumers.
It is foreseeable that with the establishment and implementation of the Flash Charging Alliance, there is a high probability that there will be a qualitative leap in China's high-end charging service experience standards. It is worth noting that for luxury brands focusing on the global market, this is also a "pilot", Feng Qingfeng said, building a website abroad is much more complicated than building a station in China, first do a good job in China, and then promote it abroad.