The battery swapping mode has been turned on as a way of replenishing energy

Data show that China sold 596,000 new energy vehicles in June. This means that the number of new energy vehicles in China has exceeded 10 million. With the rapid increase in the number of new energy vehicles, it is difficult to meet the expanding energy demand of the market only by charging. In recent years, the battery swapping station business model has begun to attract the attention and exploration of enterprises as a way of replenishing energy.

Upstream and downstream enterprises compete for the battery swapping industry

At the beginning of this year, CATL’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Times Electric Service, released the power exchange service brand EVOGO, as well as a standardized combined power exchange overall solution: its chocolate power exchange block, 1 piece of 200 kilometers of battery life, 2 pieces of 400 kilometers of battery life, 3 pieces of 400 kilometers of battery life. The cruising range is 600 kilometers, which can be selected according to the mileage needs; wireless BMS, battery swapping takes 3 minutes, and the owner does not need to get out of the car.

According to the plan, EVOGO will select 10 cities to start the battery swapping service first. The general manager of Times Electric Service said that its power exchange business is suitable for “80% of the models in the world that have already been launched, and the models developed by the pure electric platform that will be launched in the next three years”. By the end of 2022, Times Electric will complete the operation of 30 and 20 quick-change stations in Fujian and Hefei respectively.

LIVAN, a subsidiary of GEELY, has also officially entered the field of new energy power exchange. “LIVAN is not just a manufacturer of battery-swapped vehicles. We will also make efforts in multiple directions to open up the upstream and downstream industry chains and build a recyclable integrated battery-swapping ecosystem.” The vice president of LIVAN said that from the ecological level, LIVAN will open up Online and offline service channels; from the channel level, quickly promote the construction of power exchange stations and channel layout. It is expected that by the end of 2022, LIVAN ecological partners will complete the construction of more than 200 battery swapping stations; from the product level, relying on self-developed technologies, at least 6 battery swapping vehicles will be launched in the next 3 years to cover all models, bringing battery swapping travel to users new experience.

GACNE, a subsidiary of GAC GROUP, established the first super charging and swapping center in Guangzhou in April this year. According to the plan, GACNE will build over 1,000 super charging and swapping centers in Guangzhou in 2025. Xinjing Tengfei Automobile Sales Service, which is indirectly wholly-owned by BYD, was also established in March this year. Its business scope includes the sales of new energy vehicles and the sales of new energy vehicle battery swapping facilities. BYD’s move is considered by the outside world to be the layout of the new energy vehicle battery swapping project in Chongqing.

New energy vehicle manufacturers represented by NIO and GEELY, power battery manufacturers represented by CATL, which ranks first among the Top 10 power battery companies, energy suppliers represented by State Grid, and third-party power exchange operators represented by GEL-ET and Aulton have all entered the power exchange field. According to incomplete statistics, by 2025, the above-mentioned enterprises plan to build more than 33,000 battery swapping stations, and the battery swapping model may be ushering in the spring of development.

The battery swapping mode has many benefits but also has pain points

The free battery swapping service provided by NIO for individual users reduces the power-up expenses of NIO car owners. In the past two years, while NIO owners have obtained efficient and economical power-up services during long-distance travel, they have felt a more obvious change. As of July 6 this year, NIO has provided users with over 10 million battery swapping services and over 820,000 one-click power-on services. At present, NIO has built a total of 1,011 battery swapping stations (including 256 expressway swap stations) and 1,681 charging stations (9,603 charging piles) in China.

“In the case of convenient power-up, it is more convenient for NIO users to power up than to refuel.” The president of NIO said, including four scenarios of power exchange at power stations, home charging pile charging, drop-in charging and “one-click power-up”, NIO is convenient for power-up. The total power-up ratio has reached 88.8%. By 2025, NIO will build a high-speed power exchange network that fully covers the “nine vertical, nine horizontal and nineteen major urban agglomerations”, bringing users a more convenient intercity travel experience.

“battery swapping is of great value to consumers, OEMs, and city managers.” The general manager of Times Electric Service said that in the short term, with the rapid increase in the number of new energy vehicles, the battery swapping mode and the charging mode will complement each other and jointly support consumers’ energy needs. In the long run, the battery swapping station will become an important infrastructure for the energy internet, and the wide application of overcharging in the future will also be inseparable from the function of the battery swapping station to balance the power grid.

In terms of cost, the separation of vehicle and electricity through the battery swapping mode can make the purchase cost of electric vehicles lower than that of fuel vehicles of the same level, and solve the problems of expensive electric vehicles and low retention rate electricity, effectively reducing the cost of use. In terms of efficiency, the battery swapping time only takes 3 to 5 minutes, which effectively solves the problem of long charging time; in addition, the battery charging time is more flexible, which can better cooperate with grid operation, renewable energy power generation, and play a role in peak regulation. In terms of safety, the battery is centrally managed and maintained by a professional company, which is conducive to the safe use of the battery throughout its life cycle and prolongs the battery life.

However, there are still pain points in the current battery swapping mode. For example, the battery standards and battery swapping station standards of various companies are not uniform, and it is difficult for manufacturers to achieve universal battery swapping, which is likely to cause duplication of construction; based on the separation model of vehicles and electricity, there is no national standard for battery damage determination, compensation and residual value transactions; There is a shortage of land resources for battery swapping stations, etc. “The most important thing is that there is no real power exchange station that can achieve profitability.” Experts pointed out that only by exploring a profitable business model can the marketization of the power exchange model be truly promoted.

Interoperability and sharing help battery swapping services deploy more efficiently

On June 18, CATL’s EVOGO battery swapping service was officially launched in Hefei, Anhui. Therefore, Hefei City has become the first city in the Yangtze River Delta city group to open the EVOGO power exchange service. “Although Hefei is not the first city where the EVOGO battery swapping service is launched, it is of symbolic significance to CATL.” According to industry insiders, the operation of the EVOGO power exchange service in Hefei is the first to adopt the mode of cooperation with local city partners, which helps the power exchange service to be deployed more efficiently.

“Although there has been a certain amount of commercial application exploration in the early stage of the battery swapping model, especially in the field of commercial vehicles, great progress has been made, but large-scale promotion still requires more efforts to participate.” Experts pointed out that at present, it is necessary to speed up the removal of multiple obstacles such as non-uniform standards, promote the establishment of alliances by power exchange companies, accelerate the transition of power exchange vehicles from the B side to the C side, and realize the scale and business model as soon as possible.

The president of Aulton believes that private cars at the C-end have a different condition than operating vehicles, that is, people live in scattered places. To allow them to exchange electricity conveniently, two problems must be solved: firstly, there must be a developed electricity exchange network; Secondly, it’s the battery right. The problem of battery rights ownership is solved, and battery swapping is a very smooth service. “For private high-end cars, NIO has verified the demand for power exchange, including the model, and there is a strong demand for power exchange.”

Industry insiders pointed out, but at present, the entire market is more A-class cars and B-class cars . Therefore, in order to expand the scale of power exchange, it is necessary to strengthen the layout of the power exchange market in the face of this type of consumer group. Experts said that after the business model changes from charging to battery swapping, consumers can be guided to choose to replace the electric car. The car battery is sold to consumers, and in turn, it is leased, and while enjoying the battery swapping service, it also enjoys the benefits. If the pain points of consumers in the whole process of battery swapping are solved through interoperability and sharing, battery swapping will surely prosper rapidly.

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