The battery replacement can be completed within 90 seconds. Editor’s note: This article is from ”
future car Daily “(micro-channel public number ID: auto-time), Author: Wu Xiaoyu.
Source: Maple Leaf Automobile Official
Author ｜Wu Xiaoyu
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Geely has accelerated its pace in the field of intelligent power exchange.
On October 18, Geely Technology Group and Jinan Municipal Government signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation framework agreement, officially landing the first power exchange demonstration station. This is the second demonstration power station that Geely Technology Group launched in Chongqing on September 16th.
Wang Zhihai, the main person in charge of power swap technology at Geely Technology, told Future Auto Daily (ID: auto-time) that the power swap station that landed in Jinan adopts a dual warehouse design, covering an area of about 126 square meters, with 39 built-in charging bays. The power exchange can be completed within 90 seconds within the station, and the daily power exchange service at a single station can reach nearly 1,000 times. At the same time, the wheelbase range of suitable models is 2700mm-3100mm, and cars, SUVs, MPVs and other models can all use the swap station.
Following a field visit by Future Automobile Daily, it was discovered that Geely Technology Group’s battery swapping technology has mainly undergone five steps, namely, intelligent navigation-automatic license plate recognition-the vehicle enters the swap station for battery swap-the self-check of the battery swapped vehicle- -Drive out the settlement order for the swap station.
Specifically, the user can navigate the Maple Leaf 80V new energy vehicle to the nearest switch station through the mobile app; the smart system of the switch station will automatically recognize the license plate and enter the battery swap station; then, the vehicle will conduct a self-check. Check whether the high voltage circuit of the battery pack has been disconnected.
After the battery replacement preparations are completed, enter the battery replacement process: After the vehicle is automatically adjusted to the horizontal center position, the four lifting arms lift the vehicle, and the battery replacement robot starts the battery replacement action. At this time, one robot enters under the vehicle from one side, unlocks the battery pack, and removes the battery that has lost power. The other robot moves the fully charged battery under the vehicle from the other side, lifts the battery and locks it, and the vehicle is fully seated. After powering up, conduct self-check and drive out of the swap station to settle the order. The battery change can be completed within 90 seconds. The driver does not need to get off the car and wait for the whole battery change process.
Photo by Future Car Daily
The battery replacement mode is positive for the air outlet. Since the beginning of this year, the development of “power swapping” of new energy vehicles has been included in the government work report for the first time, which is a key area in new infrastructure projects. On October 9th, the State Council executive meeting passed the “New Energy Automobile Industry Development Plan”, proposing to strengthen the construction of infrastructure such as charging and swapping and hydrogenation, encouraging the application of swapping models, and fostering new growth points for green development.
According to Xu Zhihao, CEO of Geely Technology Group, the battery swap mode can effectively break the bottleneck of new energy development and solve the anxiety of rechargeable new energy vehicles’ cruising range, high car purchase cost and low residual value rate that plague users of new energy vehicles. The problem can promote the new energy automobile industry to further mature.
But on the other hand, the main obstacle to the promotion of the battery swap model to private users is the lack of national uniform standards. In this regard, Wang Zhihai said, “We hope to build an open battery swapping architecture. By opening the three platforms of Geely Technology Group’s battery swapping technology architecture platform, battery swapping model architecture platform, and big data operation management platform, it will provide all cooperation in the industry. Partner services to promote the structural upgrade of industry battery swap technology, models, and battery swap operation service network, and promote the establishment and unification of battery swap mode standards.”
In addition, the power swap mode cannot open up the entire industry only by relying on the layout of power swap stations, and the corresponding models and batteries are required to be matched. According to Wang Zhihai, “Geely Technology aims at three major areas: battery swap products, model products, and business models. For battery swap products, Geely Technology is promoting the implementation of dual warehouse smart swap stations, focusing on safety, modularity, compatibility, and intelligence. Four major tags.”
So far, Geely Technology has signed more than 1,000 replacement power stations, and the landing cities include Shandong, Chongqing, Zhejiang and other provinces. And by 2025, Geely Technology plans to build 5,000 power swap stations in the national intercity, inter-provincial highways and Southeast Asian markets to build a new energy vehicle replenishment ecology at home and abroad.
In addition to Geely, BAIC New Energy and NIO are also exploring battery swapping models.
According to public information, BAIC New Energy mainly promotes the power exchange model in the taxi field. As of the end of 2019, BAIC New Energy operated 15,000 vehicles in 15 cities across the countryElectricity exchange taxis, 160 exchange stations have been built, the largest scale in the world. Qin Lihong, president of Weilai Automobile, publicly stated that as of June 2020, Weilai has deployed 133 swap stations and provided a total of 500,000 swapping services for car owners.
Future Car Daily