A while ago, on NIOPowerDay, Weilai announced the plan of the energy supplementation system and the product line of fast charging and battery replacement. In Weilai’s plan, it is very interesting that the third-generation power exchange station to be launched in the future will be implemented in conjunction with the 500kW supercharger station. Using the advantages of the power exchange station layout to rapidly promote overcharge will become the era of overcharge. Is Weilai another unique advantage?
500kW supercharged piles and 800V architecture swap stations will be deployed by the end of the year
On PowerDay, the official data released by NIO shows that as of July 6, NIO has built a total of 1,011 battery swap stations, 1,681 charging stations, and 9,603 charging piles across the country, including 256 high-speed road network swap stations. In fact, the proportion of battery swap stations is still very high among NIO users, with 52.3% of battery swapping, and 24.2% charging at home.
By 2025, NIO plans to build a total of 4,000 battery swap stations around the world and more than 3,000 domestically.
In terms of battery swapping stations, Weilai has an average of 9 batteries per site, and currently has a total of 3,821 100kW/h batteries and 5,140 75kW/h batteries.
Although in terms of speed, battery replacement is faster than the energy replenishment time required by almost all current fast charging technologies, but fast charging is still an important module in Weilai’s energy replenishment system.
NIO released a 500kW ultra-fast charging pile on NIOPowerDay, which can achieve a peak current of 650A. Of course, like other high-power fast charging piles, this charging pile uses a liquid-cooled gun wire, which is compatible with global standards and supports intelligent interaction, various payment method, etc. The most important thing is that the deployment will be realized by the end of this year.
Although NIO currently does not have models that support 500kW charging, many car companies have released 800V electrical platforms, all of which support ultra-fast charging of more than 400kW. For example, the Xiaopeng G9, which is expected to be launched in the third quarter of this year, adopts an 800V architecture and supports up to 480kW fast charging. In addition, domestic and foreign car companies such as GAC Aian, BYD e3.0 platform, Geely Haohan Architecture, Ideal, BAIC Polar Fox, Great Wall, Dongfeng Lantu, Hyundai E-GMP5, Mercedes-Benz EVA, and GM Autoneng have launched 800V high voltage platform, and related models will also be launched in the second half of this year and next year.
The 500kW charging pile that NIO started to deploy at the end of the year, while laying out its own models in advance, can also provide fast charging services for other models on the market at that time, such as Xiaopeng G9 and Jihu Alpha SHI. That is to say, NIO revolves around the power exchange station, and may also operate for the need for ultra-fast charging.
Of course, in order to move towards the 800V high-voltage platform, the battery pack also needs to be drastically innovated. Weilai said that the third-generation power station has a more flexible layout, higher compatibility, and can support more battery types. The 800V high-voltage electrical platform battery pack and supporting power exchange system, which will be opened to the whole industry in the future, are also in progress, but Weilai has not announced the specific release time.
Swap station + supercharge station, 5 years ahead of the layout?
It can be found that the actual power of most of the fast charging piles on the market is only about 100kW, and if you want more charging power, you need to go to the supercharging stations of various brands for charging. For example, the Tesla supercharger station supports up to 250kW fast charging, but due to the high power of this kind of supercharger station, the power design load capacity of many places cannot support the power consumption of the supercharger station. Taking Guangzhou Baiyun Hotel as an example, the power design load of the building is 3120kW. If two 480kW charging piles that Xpeng Motors will launch in the future are installed, then these two charging piles have already consumed one-third of the total load of the entire hotel. One, this is unacceptable to the operator.
To deal with this situation, a charging station with integrated charging and storage has become a feasible solution. First of all, through the energy storage module, the profit of the valley-to-peak electricity price difference can be realized, and in addition, it can provide a buffer for the local power load, that is, the supercharged pile obtains electric energy from the energy storage module, and does not need to go directly through the power grid to cause the safety problem of power overload.
Then the problem comes, if the 800V platform is popularized, to widely distribute supercharging stations, an energy storage system must be attached at the beginning of construction or added later.
However, under this trend, Weilai’s battery swap model, which has been considered to be an “investment black hole”, can cater to supercharged piles to realize a new business model. Taking Weilai’s second-generation power exchange station as an example, one power exchange station is equivalent to an energy storage station with a maximum capacity of 1300kW/h. After the third-generation power exchange station supports 800V platform battery packs, the storage capacity and the number of battery packs will also be higher. . Then these battery packs, which are used as energy storage at a specific time, can provide part of the electric energy for the supercharged piles and reduce the electricity load in the area. That is to say, Weilai can form a charging and replacing system around the power exchange station.
It is worth mentioning that NIO also provided a data. At this stage, more than 80% of the charging capacity of NIO charging piles is used for non-NIO brand models. This figure already feels a bit like a charging operator. Compared with other charging operators or car companies, in the stage of overcharging more than 400kW, NIO has a ready-made energy storage device such as a power exchange station, which is the biggest first-mover advantage, and this advantage is provided by NIO At present, it is determined by almost a dominant power exchange mode.
However, it is still too early to say that the power station + overcharge model will be successful. First of all, the models that support the 800V platform will not be popularized in the future or the penetration rate is still unknown. Given the choice of cost and other factors, the 400V platform may also be the future. It has been the mainstream for a long time, so the actual demand for supercharged piles may not be as high as expected. In addition, with the renewal of urban construction, the power load may also be upgraded, and the supercharging station may not need to invest in expensive energy storage equipment.