The battery swap mode is fast and convenient, as convenient as going to a gas station to refuel.

BAIC New Energy has had a "headache" in the battery swap mode.

The long-dormant battery swapping mode for pure electric vehicles has been put on the agenda again. In the past three months, many departments have mentioned supporting "vehicle and battery separation" and the construction of charging and swapping facilities; on the last day of July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology inspected battery swapping companies and convened relevant companies for discussions. The market was moved by this, and the "power swap model" became a new favorite of capital. Reporters from all media have noticed that BAIC New Energy, NIO, Chehejia, etc. all have relevant arrangements for the "vehicle-electricity separation" battery swap model, but it has not yet achieved large-scale effects. Compared with battery swapping and charging, what are the advantages and development difficulties?

Is the “power swap” model a new trend?

The "power exchange model" is now focused on by the capital market, originating from the repeated "roll call" of relevant policies. On July 31, the Equipment Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology inspected the flagship power swap station of Spacetime Electric in Hangzhou, and convened companies that apply the power swap model such as BAIC, Spacetime Electric, NIO, and Bertan Technology, relevant companies and industry organizations such as State Grid, China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, and car companies such as Chery to jointly discuss substantive content involving future vehicle and electricity separation regulations and the trend of unified battery standards. NIO CEO Li Bin himself strongly supports the battery swap model. He said that whether renting a tram or replacing the battery will not affect the subsidy received. When selling products, the battery and the car are integrated. "Charging and battery swapping are not mutually exclusive, but they can give users more choices." All media reporters noticed that Luo Junjie, deputy director of the Equipment Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the seminar that comprehensively, there are many advantages of battery swapping, which is conducive to the cascade utilization of batteries and vehicles, and can effectively improve the overall economic benefits of the entire society.

In early June this year, "Promoting the Update and Upgrade of Key Consumer Products and Smooth Resource Recycling Implementation"The "Plan (2019-2020)" proposes to develop new energy vehicle products with separate consumption models of vehicles and electricity, and continue to support the construction of "charging and swapping" facilities. Domestically, Beijing, Hangzhou, etc. have taken the lead in “taking action after hearing the news”. For example, in July, Beijing issued one of the technical conditions for vehicle incentives for taxis to be upgraded to pure electric vehicles: in principle, the driving range of the vehicle should not be less than 300 kilometers, and it should have compatible charging and swapping technology, with the main focus being rapid battery replacement. The combination of these policies has promoted the active actions of relevant companies in the development of the battery swap model.

The battery swapping mode was once defeated by the charging mode

The battery swapping mode is not a new thing, that is, "separating the car from electricity". When the car is returned to the car, the electricity is returned to the electricity. When the electricity is used up, just go to the battery swapping station to replace a full battery; even if the battery of a pure electric vehicle expires due to serious wear and tear, it will not affect the residual value assessment of the entire vehicle.

However, currently, the new energy vehicle market is dominated by the charging mode, and even Weilai and others only regard the battery swapping mode as an "optional". Although the battery swap mode is fast and convenient and can be as efficient as going to a gas station to refuel, it has not become mainstream after four or five years of development. Domestic car companies that have persisted in the field of battery swapping so far include BAIC New Energy, Lifan, Chehejia, NIO and other car companies. Among them, BAIC New Energy is currently the most active company in this field. Figures recently released by BAIC New Energy show that it has built a total of 148 charging and swapping stations across the country, ranking first in the world in number. In addition, the first battery swap station of Spacetime Electric inspected by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology research team was built in 2014 and has accumulated hundreds of millions of kilometers of actual battery swap mileage across the country. But in general, there are still only a few car companies that have successfully deployed the battery swap model.

All media reporters noticed that the battery swap station inspected by the Equipment Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology mainly serves online ride-hailing, which is also the operating direction of the current battery swap model. For example, BAIC New Energy's swappable battery models rolled out across the country are mainly targeted at the taxi market.

According to Chen Feng, chairman of Spacetime Electric, the battery swap model was first implemented on a large scale in the fields of taxis and online ride-hailing because it can provide an energy replenishment method similar to that of fuel vehicles, which can be replaced and left, which directly addresses the core pain points of operating vehicles waiting for charging and affecting operating time.

The reason why the battery swapping model can return to the spotlight is related to the market situation, which has changed from time to time. In the second half of 2019, new energy vehicles said goodbye to huge subsidies, and their low-price advantage was no longer there. The new energy vehicle market in the "post-subsidy era" is also intensifying the reshuffle. Reducing costs and increasing efficiency is a top priority for new energy vehicle companies. From a cost perspective, if a pure electric vehicle chooses "vehicle-battery separation", it changes the battery usage model, and the power battery, which accounts for nearly half of the vehicle cost, can be eliminated from the car purchase cost, which means that consumers purchase pure electric vehicles with replaceable batteries, which are more cost-effective.

Calculating the accounts

As we all know, the most expensive part of a pure electric car is the battery. Li Yixiu, deputy general manager of Beijing New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd. and general manager of the marketing company, said that about 50% of the cost of electric vehicles comes from batteries; after an electric vehicle is used for 3 to 5 years, the value of its use is 20% to 30% as the battery wears out; even if the vehicle is finally sold, the repurchase value of the battery is only about 10%. That is to say, the actual value of the battery used by users is only about 30%, and 70% of the battery cost is wasted.

Cost, battery standards, safety, etc. must all be considered

When reporters from all media interviewed a battery swap station in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, they asked questions such as: whether the battery is firmly installed, whether the battery swap process will affect vehicle performance, and how much the battery swap costs.Calculation and other questions. But following the interview, these concerns were answered and will not affect the use of the vehicle.

On the other hand, the three biggest problems facing the current promotion of the battery swap model are: unified battery standards, the battery swap technology level of car companies, and the most critical promotion and operating cost issues. If a battery swap station wants to implement large-scale battery swap services for private cars, unification of battery specifications is key.

All media reporters have noticed that due to different suppliers, the battery specifications and standards of different pure electric vehicles are different; even within manufacturers, the batteries of different models are different, and the battery specifications of car companies are even more different. How a small-scale battery swapping station can match the supply of different power batteries is a huge challenge.

In this regard, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s answer at the seminar was: the process of promoting the battery replacement model needs to be cautious, and the unified power battery standards should be left to the market to make decisions.

Building a power swap station, like a gas station, requires land. If you want to build a power swap station in a city where land is at a premium, the land cost is high. It also requires more than one million yuan to invest in dedicated facilities. The most expensive thing is the battery cost. Generally, the power batteries stored in a power swap station must be more than 1.5 times that of the battery swap vehicle. If a battery swapping station receives 300 new energy vehicles per day, it needs to reserve 450 sets of power batteries, and the battery cost is 31.5 million yuan.

In addition, there are labor, maintenance and other costs. That is to say, the basic operating cost of a battery swap station requires more than 10 million yuan.

Many private car owners may not be able to accept a car without a "heart" for the time being. Generally speaking, when vehicles are currently traveling in cities, a single charge at a charging station can meet daily household use for about a week. Therefore, the battery swap mode is currently suitable for release in the public domain.

Since this year, many battery combustion and explosion incidents have also made everyone pay attention to battery charging safety. In the battery swap mode, if the battery catches fire and causes the vehicle to spontaneously ignite, how to determine the responsibility is also a troublesome matter.

At the same time, for battery swapping stations, so many power batteries are charged in one place, which also brings great management risks and has very strict technical requirements.