On the morning of July 9, 2020, China Clean Transportation Partnership (CCTP) and Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation, BestEV Project team held an online salon seminar ---- Discussion on the Prospects of Battery-Swapping Mode in Public and Private Sectors. More than 20 experts, scholars and practitioners from 17 institutes participated in this meeting to discuss the issues and development of the electric vehicle battery-swapping mode.
Background
CCTP Online Salon
With the steady advance in new energy vehicles (NEVs), the advantages and disadvantages of charging mode are gradually revealed. For example, compared with the promotion of passenger vehicles and electric bus, new energy taxi lags behind relatively for the constraints of endurance mileage, numbers of charging pile and service time. Therefore, the “Development Plan of New Energy Automobile Industry (2021-2035)” (draft for comments) clearly pointed out that in terms of the form of energy supply, “slow charging should be taken as the primary consideration, fast charging as the support, and encourage the application of battery-swapping mode.”
Battery-swapping mode, as one of the exploration modes for the development of NEVs, has been widely used in Beijing, Xiamen and other pilot cities, which has attracted widespread attention. Meanwhile, the national plan for accelerating the construction of new infrastructure treats the construction of supporting infrastructure for NEVs as one of the priorities, that is, there will be more opportunities to build charging and battery-swapping stations.
Based on the current situation, there are still many areas worth discussing about the electric vehicle battery-swapping mode. Does the swapping mode and the charging mode conflict? Can it be dual-track parallel and develope simultaneously? Compared with the charging mode, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the battery-swaping mode? From the perspective of pilot cities, How is the development of electric vehicle battery-swapping mode in private and public mobility? What is the status of policy support for electric vehicle switching mode? What challenges do car companies, switching stations, buses and taxi drivers face?
Discussion
The salon was introduced by Dr. Feng An, Executive Director of the CCTP and Executive Director of the iCET. Ms. Wenwen Wang, host of this salon and Senior Manager of the Clean Transportation Program at iCET, pointed out that in the promotion of NEV, the battery-swapping mode once dominated the market in the early stages, however the charging mode now becomes the main player in the commercialization stage of EVs. With the acceleration of new infrastructure and the mention of "battery-swapping" in government documents, it is a good opportunity to discuss the challenges and prospects of battery-swapping mode in various fields in the context of the overall trend of electrification.
The meeting was led by Dr Cheng Li, Researcher from the China Academy of Science, Mr. Yonghe Huang, Chief Expert of China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd. (CATARC), Director of China Automotive Strategy and Policy Studies Center, and Mr. Yi Lu, Vice General Manager of Beijing Aulton Investment Co., Ltd.. Dr Li discussed the current status and development of the battery-swapping mode in the public sector, especially the application of the battery-swapping taxis. Mr. Yonghe Huang introduced the key issues facing the battery-swapping mode and provided suggestions, Mr. Yi Lu discussed the battery-swapping mode to empower the new energy vehicle industry from the perspective of the enterprise.
In the roundtable discussion, Ms. Wenwen Wang showed the results of the “Battery-Swapping Mode Acceptance Survey” initiated by the BestEV project to the public and the survey results of the “Prospects for the Development of EV Battery-Swapping Modes” filled by the present experts. Ms. Yuchi Liu, Battery-swapping Business Director and Senior Product Manager of NIO Inc., Mr. Rui Zhou, Marketing Planning Manager of Yiyi New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Mr. Xiao Yan,Chef Scientist and Founder of Shanghai Makesens Technology Co., Ltd., Mr. Jie Yang, Project Manager of Data Research Department of Shanghai Electric Vehicle Public Data Collection, Monitoring and Research Center. Mr. Liang Nie,President of Hangzhou First Technology Engineering Co., Ltd., and Mr. Yuanchun Liu, Section Chief of Regulation and Certification Department of BAIC BJEV Co., Ltd.., discussed the promotion and application, development status and existing problems of the mode respectively.
Mr. Huiming Gong, Director of CCTP Executive Committee and Director of Energy Foundation Transportation Program, concluded this meeting. The speech put forward the problems that should be considered in the future development of the battery-swapping mode, encouraged experts and scholars to actively participate in the research on battery-swapping mode, and interact with industry practitioners to communicate more about the problems faced in the actual operation, and finally put forward the hope for better development of the battery-swapping mode in the future.
