At NIO Power Day on July 6, NIO announced the construction plan for future power swap stations, and also revealed that it will release information about 500kW ultra-fast charging, 800V high-voltage platform and third-generation power swap stations. So, Can the combination of these three completely solve battery life anxiety? How should we view the relationship between these three?
The source of anxiety about the range of pure electric vehicles is not actually the range of a single full charge, but essentially the speed of energy replenishment, that is, the speed at which a car is charged. At present, our country has problems such as insufficient number of charging stations and low power of charging piles, which in turn leads to queues for charging during peak periods. What's more, people queue for three hours and one hour to charge at high-speed service areas on holidays, and fight for the charging piles. , in order to improve user experience, various car companies are also working hard to build charging stations and increase charging speed.
The 500kW charging pile announced by Weilai is definitely the current ceiling level of the industry as a whole in terms of power. In comparison, the closest one is GAC Aian’s 480kW charging pile. The construction of high-power charging piles requires solving the problems of grid capacity, vehicle There are three aspects of issues: terminal reception and user use.
The first thing to feel the pressure of increasing charging power is the power grid system. Comparing the most common 60Kw charging piles of the State Grid, one 500Kw charging pile is worth eight. If the same power station builds the same piles The quantity requires the power grid capacity to be 8 times that of the past. The total power of normal household electricity consumption is basically around 10kW. The required capacity of one charging pile is approximately equivalent to 50 households, which is the power capacity of one residential building.
So the location of supercharging piles will be subject to the capacity of the power grid, and the laying range is relatively more restricted than charging piles with lower power. Regarding this issue, NIO has an intelligent site selection system that relies on spatial big data. To make reasonable use of the power grid capacity, 500Kw charging piles will be implemented following the power swap station. The power of the power swap station is 630kW and There are two specifications of 1250kW. When the battery charging station charges the battery, it will realize peak shaving and valley filling according to the frequency of battery swapping in different periods, that is, try to charge when the electricity price is low. Therefore, the electric capacity can be scheduled with the charging pile, and even the power station can be discharged. To make up for the power demand of charging piles, and to solve the problem of electric capacity through reasonable dispatch.
Another problem with high-power supercharging piles is user experience. Pure electric car owners should have experienced the heavy charging guns at public charging piles. Even in winter, the cables will be frozen hard, making it very difficult to pick up, which is very difficult for women with weak strength. Unfriendly. In order to balance this problem, in addition to making breakthroughs in materials, we need to increase the voltage, reduce the current (relatively lower), and make the cable thinner. In the picture of the 500Kw charging pile released by NIO, we can see that the cable is very thin.At the same time, it uses a liquid-cooled charging cable, referring to Tesla's V3 supercharging. The use experience will definitely be much better than ordinary public charging piles, allowing you to draw the charging cable gracefully and calmly.
We talked about making the cable thinner, reducing the current, and increasing the charging power by increasing the voltage. The officially announced charging current is 650A, so the charging voltage is about 769V< /span>, this requires the cooperation of the car end, so Weilai also announced the matching 800V high-voltage flat panel In Taiwan, the car companies that have announced 800V high-voltage platforms include Porsche, GAC Aian and Xpeng. Only two companies, Porsche and GAC Aian, have actually achieved mass production and installation. High-power charging piles and 800V The high-voltage platform is simultaneously promoted, and walking on two legs will bring a revolutionary charging experience to users, and is also a major trend in future research and development by car companies.
Power swapping is a major feature of NIO. NIO announced that it will be completed in 20259 vertically 9 horizontally 19 A high-speed power swap network in a city agglomeration basically covers us In the central and eastern regions of the country, the third-generation power swap station is also on the agenda. The currently officially announced third-generation power station is a system supporting the 800V high-voltage platform. We can look forward to more information. For example, will battery replacement be faster, will the battery capacity be larger, etc. With fast charging, high-voltage platforms, and battery swapping, NIO seems to want to completely solve the problem of battery life anxiety in one go. It directly covers charging, vehicle terminals, and battery swapping. It currently provides a complete service system, and NIO is the only company to offer a complete set of solutions.
In addition, NIO also mentioned that the 800V high-voltage platform and supporting power swap system will be open to the entire industry. Will the exclusive services for NIO car owners become shared? We might as well take a wild guess.
The high-voltage platform and battery swap system are open to the industry, and only pure electric vehicle companies use them. Will NIO play the role of a supplier and provide a complete set of solutions? The new energy market is subject to the problem of energy replenishment speed. Post-service services are very important. This is also the reason why many manufacturers build their own power piles and power stations. If NIO’s solution is introduced, it is equivalent to integrating into NIO’s huge charging and swapping service system and enjoying the benefits. , just need to pay. For NIO, the participation of these car companies can naturally share the R&D and construction costs. The better the experience, more and more brands will join, which will naturally bring funds and profits to promote construction, forming a virtuous cycle. .
Nio’s rapid progress in promoting the construction of battery swap stations in the past two years has begun to bear fruit. In the future, if more and more car companies join in, it will evolve into a competition for land resources and power capacity in core areas. The so-called first come, first served. Obviously NIO has an innate advantage in this regard. You don’t want to do it when others do it, but you have money and technology when you want to do it. But without the land and power capacity, this will fall into a very Awkward situation.
The wave of electrification is unstoppable. In the new era, the focus on products in the past has gradually shifted to a focus on both products and services. Of course, NIO still has a long way to go if it wants to realize the above wishes. From the early direction , layout point of view, NIO users currently have a good experience, at least this path is correct now. If there is more new news in the future, we will share it in time. If you have different opinions, you are welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion.