Unifying battery replacement standards is not impossible

At present, due to the support of the policy, the power exchange mode has gained the upper hand. However, for the battery swap model to be developed, a unified battery standard is a hurdle that must be overcome. It is reported that the relevant departments are considering the formulation of unified standards for battery dimensions, interfaces and protocols. However, some people are pessimistic about this, believing that factors such as the company's different technical routes and low enthusiasm will restrict the unification of battery swapping standards. They cited the country's failure to establish a unified mobile phone battery standard as an example. The author does not agree with this view. Although mobile phones and electric vehicles both rely on electric energy to work and both have batteries, there are many differences and cannot be confused. First of all, the battery capacity and value of the two are very different, and they account for very different proportions of the overall cost. The battery capacity of a mobile phone generally does not exceed 20Wh, which only accounts for 1% to 5% of the cost of the whole machine; while the battery capacity of an electric car is easily tens of kWh, which is thousands of times different from that of a mobile phone battery, and the battery accounts for 20% to 50% of the cost of the whole car , The separation of car and electricity can significantly reduce the cost of car purchase. Second, the cost of battery development is different. Mobile phone battery customization is relatively easy, and the development cost is minimal; while developing a battery pack for a car requires a lot of manpower and material resources, involving the high cost of customization, mold opening and verification of many components, and standardization can save a lot of costs. Third, the impact of fast charging on the power grid is quite different. The charging power of mobile phones is generally only 5W-40W, and the current maximum power of fast charging for cars has reached 250kW. Fourth, there are big differences in usage scenarios and charging convenience. As far as consumers are concerned, mobile phones are often carried with them and are easy to charge, and there are also power banks that can solve the need for supplementary electricity when going out at any time; while the anxiety of driving range and the time consumption of supplementary electricity have always been the pain points of pure electric vehicles, and charging Restricted location and long charging time. Although electric vehicles also have similar power bank models. For example, the fuel range extender used by the ideal car can be described as an on-board power bank, and the electric car represented by Weilai can be described as a large public power bank. However, fuel power generation is not environmentally friendly and has low efficiency. The energy consumption of electric vehicles suitable for emergencies is several times that of ordinary fuel vehicles. Only by changing the electricity can users be provided with an experience equivalent to refueling of fuel vehicles. Fifth, the use intensity, life span and warranty time are different. Mobile phones are frequently used, updated quickly, and have a short average service life. my country’s Three Guarantees Law stipulates that the warranty period of the whole phone and battery is only 1 year; while automobiles are consumer durables with long service life. my country’s policy stipulates that new energy vehicles are powered by lithium The battery warranty shall not be less than 8 years. Sixth, the potential of battery sharing is different. Mobile phones are used frequently and batteries are difficult to share; while private cars are idle for an average of 90% a day, and separation of car and electricity can greatly improve battery utilization. With the development of the new energy automobile industry, electric vehicles account for an increasing proportion of my country's energy structure. Standardized power lithium batteries and power exchange stations can better play the role of energy storage and utilize renewable energy. It can be seen that the significance and feasibility of the standardization of battery replacement for electric vehicles is far from comparable to that of mobile phones. As a matter of fact, the industry has realized the importance of separation of vehicle and electricity and unified power exchange standards. 20 companies including FAW, SAIC, Dongfeng, Weilai and Ningde Times have signed a joint statement aimed at promoting the standardization of power exchange. . Of course, the unification of dimensions, interfaces and protocols for automotive power lithium batteries is a huge and arduous project, but substantial progress has been made recently, and some models of GAC, BAIC and Changan have taken the lead in realizing shared swap stations. What’s even more gratifying is that the National Energy Administration has recently announced a batch of industry standards for battery swaps that NIO and other companies have participated in research and development, including general requirements and related technical requirements for rapid battery replacement of electric vehicles, and chassis for pure electric passenger vehicles. General technical requirements for the exchange system, etc. It is reported that this batch of standards lasted more than 2 years from the establishment of the project to the announcement. This also adds more possibilities for the unification of battery replacement standards in the future. Another key to the large-scale promotion of the battery swap model is to find suitable models for different markets and usage scenarios. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has made it clear that it supports the establishment of pilot projects for the development of separate vehicle-electricity models in various regions, and encourages companies to develop models of battery-swap mode based on usage scenarios. Practice has proved that the existing vehicle battery swap mode is more suitable for operating vehicles such as taxis, but for private cars, the battery battery usage efficiency of the vehicle battery swap mode is low and not economical. In fact, if you want to use the battery efficiently, you can remove the battery when the vehicle is idle and share it with other vehicles. However, at present, special equipment is required to be fixed for battery replacement, and the vehicle with the battery removed cannot be left. For more convenient sharing, the battery pack can be divided into two, leaving a battery with a smaller capacity as the basic configuration. The capacity that is not usually used is shared with another battery, even if the large-capacity battery is removed, the vehicle can still be used normally. For large cars, the driving range that can be supplied by the same standard battery pack is much lower than that of small cars. In this regard, the author suggests that the basic battery pack on board + on-demand rental and sharing of standard extended-range battery packs can be used to provide standard high-capacity basic battery packs for large vehicles. In this way, not only the total driving range of the vehicle is not reduced, but also the cost of buying and using the vehicle can be greatly reduced. The extended-range battery pack can be installed in the car or externally mounted. The former requires a uniform size, while the latter only requires a uniform interface and communication protocol. Before a fundamental breakthrough in battery technology, for the C-end market of pure electric vehicles and some commercial vehicles, the combination of shared extended-range battery and charging is a more suitable solution to the driving range than the replacement of the entire vehicle. Disclaimer: Some pictures and content of articles published on this site are from the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact to delete. Previous post: The gap between the leading power lithium-ion batteries is narrowing, and the competition is intensifying. The core technology is the trump card.