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On August 18, a Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission recently jointly issued with the Beijing Municipal Urban Management Commission the "Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Construction of New Energy Vehicle Supercharging Stations in the City" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), which proposed that by the end of 2024, 500 supercharging stations will be built in the city; by the end of 2025, the number will strive to double to 1,000.

The timeliness of charging has gradually become one of the prerequisite factors affecting car purchasing (replacement) decisions. It is urgently necessary to provide consumers with high-quality charging services through technological product innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to create a socialized service network with supercharging technology as the main body, focusing on improving the timeliness of charging, and leading the dual improvement of charging service quality and efficiency. This is of great significance to enhancing the attractiveness of new energy vehicles and effectively supporting the realization of various strategic goals.

Shortened recharging time

As the penetration rate of new energy vehicles increases and the demand for energy replenishment grows, the performance requirements for charging piles are also increasing. It is reported that on the one hand, more and more vehicle and charging pile companies are beginning to deploy super charging equipment; on the other hand, the number of new energy vehicles is constantly increasing, and the layout of charging facilities is becoming more and more perfect, which has laid a good foundation for the accelerated construction of super charging facilities.

"Three or four years ago, the layout of charging piles was not very complete, and you had to look for a pile specifically or queue up to charge. But in the past two years, I can clearly feel that the charging equipment around me is increasing. Recharging can be done in many scenarios, such as near units, shopping malls, and even around children's training institutions. In addition to 'fast charging', there is also 'super charging', which further shortens the charging time." A Beijing car owner of Zeekr 001 told the Beijing Business Daily reporter.

It is reported that "supercharging" refers to charging equipment that is faster than "fast charging". There is no national unified standard definition yet. At present, Shenzhen has clearly defined equipment with a single gun power of 480 kilowatts and above as supercharging. Fast charging generally refers to a charging method that can make the battery reach or approach a fully charged state within 1-2 hours. By the end of 2023, Beijing has built a total of 72 supercharging stations and 597 supercharging piles.

Recently, the first two super charging stations built by the State Grid in Beijing were officially put into operation. Huang Yu, project leader of State Grid (Beijing) New Energy Vehicle Service Co., Ltd., said that the first batch of super charging stations can serve 700 vehicles per day, using a 1,000-volt high-voltage technology platform and liquid-cooled super charging technology. The maximum output power of a single gun can reach 600 kilowatts, which can not only meet the general charging needs of social vehicles, but also meet the rapid charging needs of vehicles with super-fast charging battery technology within 10 minutes.

According to the "Implementation Plan" released this time, Beijing will optimize the construction schedule based on the actual development of each district, traffic intensity, land resources, power supply and other factors, promote the construction of super and fast public charging stations, and take the lead in realizing the layout of super charging networks within the Fifth Ring Road. By the end of 2024, 500 super charging stations will be built in the city. By the end of 2025, 1,000 super charging stations will be built in the city.

In addition, the Implementation Plan also clearly states that we should actively guide open sharing. Public charging facilities that have been built and put into use are encouraged to be open to the public; for newly planned and constructed public charging facilities, in principle, they must be fully open to the public for sharing.

The above-mentioned car owner said that there are many old residential areas in Beijing, and there are relatively few cases of installing home charging piles. Most new energy vehicle owners will choose public charging piles for recharging. This "Implementation Plan" is a great benefit to new energy vehicle owners. "Take my own car as an example. According to ordinary high-power fast charging, it can be charged to 80%-85% in one hour and run about 400 kilometers. But with supercharging, it may be charged to 80%-85% in half an hour, and charging for one hour can provide about 1,000 kilometers of recharging."

The era of supercharging has arrived

The charging problem is considered to be the "last mile" of electric vehicle promotion and is crucial to the popularization of electric vehicles. According to the interpretation of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, new energy vehicle consumers are increasingly looking forward to "charging on the go" services similar to those at gas stations, which are mainly reflected in the "four characteristics", namely reliability, convenience, timeliness, and economy. In particular, the timeliness of charging has gradually become one of the pre-factors affecting the decision to buy (replace) a car. It is urgent to provide consumers with high-quality charging services through the innovation of technical products.

In recent years, the construction of charging piles in China has accelerated. As of December 2022, the total number of charging infrastructure in China reached 5.21 million, a year-on-year increase of 99.1%. According to my country's plan to achieve a 2:1 ratio of cars to charging piles by 2025, it is estimated that the number of charging piles will reach 22.95 million in 2025, an increase of 13.43 million from 2022.

In April this year, Wang Lei, senior vice president and CEO of Star Charging China, said in an interview with the media that the turning point of the supercharging era has arrived. This year, in terms of liquid-cooled supercharging, it will be promoted in 126 cities, and plans to upgrade 10,000 charging stations to super charging stations with liquid-cooled terminals by 2024.

In addition, during the Beijing Charging and Swapping Exhibition on August 15, Teladian released a number of technical products, including the "new liquid-cooled supercharging system based on group management and group control power sharing". Lu Wengang, director of market support at Teladian, said that supercharging will become more and more popular in future models, especially in high-speed service areas, including long-distance travel roads and public parking lots, and will enable fast charging and shortened travel time for public transportation, taxis, online booking and long-distance travel.

It is reported that there are three main types of heat dissipation for charging piles: air cooling, liquid cooling and natural cooling. Liquid cooling is considered by the industry to be the mainstream development of super charging piles in the next few years. For example, Huawei launched a full liquid cooling super charging pile in April last year, with a maximum output power of 600 kilowatts and a maximum current of 600A, claiming that its charging speed can reach "one kilometer per second".

In addition, according to data from the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the supercharging station construction capabilities of China's new car-making forces are also constantly improving. As of June 2024, NIO has built 2,279 supercharging stations and 10,240 supercharging piles across the country, which is similar to the scale of Tesla. Xpeng, Ideal, and Zeekr have 354, 444, and 456 supercharging stations, respectively.

Build a full industry chain ecosystem

According to the Implementation Plan, Beijing will encourage multiple parties to participate in diversified development in the construction of supercharging stations. High-quality enterprises will be selected to cooperate with charging facilities, parking management, property services and other enterprises to accelerate the construction of high-quality supercharging networks. Encourage upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain such as charging pile-related R&D design, production and manufacturing, installation and operation to gather in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to build a full industry chain ecosystem. In accordance with the idea of ​​"government setting up the stage, enterprises voluntarily, and multiple parties participating", explore the establishment of a project construction consortium, give full play to the advantages of different types of enterprises, and effectively improve the efficiency of construction and operation services.

"On the one hand, the increased density of the supercharging network will greatly promote the sales of new energy vehicles; on the other hand, the large-scale electricity demand of new energy vehicles connected to the power grid will also promote the further optimization of the power system. The 'government setting up the stage, enterprises voluntarily, and multiple parties participating' model released by Beijing this time will further promote the gradual maturity of the development of new energy vehicles and their related industrial chains." A relevant person in charge of Teladian said in an interview with a Beijing Business Daily reporter.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Lu Yang Cheng Liang