10 companies, chaotic battery recycling until the era of power exchange？

According to Zhonggong Auto Network, on April 13th, Weilai’s first batch of third-generation power stations were put into operation in 10 cities including Haikou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shanghai, Wuxi, Hefei, Zhengzhou, Qingdao, Beijing and Harbin, which once again triggered a heated discussion in the industry.

"With the (vigorous) development of electric vehicle industry, more and more people will enter this industry. You don’t have to worry about where to charge and where to change electricity in the future. As long as the car is easy to drive and the car is easy to use, the infrastructure will definitely keep up. " Shen Fei, senior vice president of Weilai Energy, told reporters.

So, what exactly is a power station change? What companies are involved in the field of power station replacement? What does it have to do with battery recycling?

development prospect

Break through the bottleneck of new energy vehicle development

With the continuous growth of the new energy vehicle market, improving the energy supply system has become the focus of the whole industry. In 2022, the total output of new energy vehicles in China reached 7.219 million, up 97.5% year-on-year, and the cumulative penetration rate reached 26.3%. From the perspective of construction speed, the increase of charging infrastructure in 2022 was 2.593 million units, of which the increase of public charging piles increased by 91.6% year-on-year, and the increase of private charging piles with vehicles continued to rise.

The rapid expansion of the new energy vehicle market means that both automobile manufacturers and end consumers have put forward greater demand for charging piles. The interests come first, and major companies want to break their heads to solve the "difficult charging".

Policies are favorable for popularization and application.

At the beginning of the 21st century, attempts have been made at home and abroad to exchange electricity for new energy vehicles, but they have not been widely promoted due to the policy environment, technical level, cost factors and market scale.

Since 2019, the sales growth rate of new energy vehicles in China has slowed down sharply, and the manufacturing cost is difficult to digest due to the substantial withdrawal of subsidies. The sales price of the whole vehicle is still high. At the same time, due to the inefficiency of charging infrastructure, the lack of self-owned parking spaces and the difficulty in expanding the power grid, the construction of charging piles is less than expected. In this context, the separation of vehicle and electricity has begun to attract attention. As a new way to replenish energy for new energy vehicles, the power exchange mode has been strongly supported by national policies.

Market situation

Industrial chain dismantling

Specifically, the battery replacement mode is to replace the battery of a new energy vehicle to meet the endurance needs of the owner, and it is a mode of separating the vehicle from the battery to replenish energy. In the market, new energy vehicle power exchange can be divided into passenger car power exchange and commercial truck power exchange, among which chassis power exchange and box power exchange are mainly used in passenger car market, and side power exchange is mainly used in commercial truck market.

The upstream of the power exchange industry chain consists of battery suppliers, power exchange station basic components suppliers and supporting charging system suppliers, which are respectively responsible for providing power batteries and power exchange station equipment corresponding to the application scope.

The middle reaches are mainly for the construction and operators of power exchange stations, responsible for the construction and operation of power exchange stations and providing power exchange services to the market. The battery asset company will be established from this, and will form cooperation with power battery enterprises and financial leasing companies to reduce the financial pressure.

The downstream is composed of power exchange service users and power battery recyclers.

The number of power exchange stations has increased rapidly.

From 2019 to 2022, the number of power stations in China continued to grow. In 2022, the number of power stations increased to 1973, an increase of 52% over the previous year. At present, China’s power exchange stations are concentrated in East China, accounting for 37.4%, followed by North China, accounting for 20.73%. This is mainly because the power exchange technology is still in the stage of technology research and development and upgrading, and there is a lot of demand for talents and technology.

According to the latest data, in March 2023, Beijing ranked first with 292 seats, while Guangdong Province and Zhejiang Province ranked second and third with 258 seats and 237 seats.

Analysis of market competition pattern

From the point of view of power exchange brand, in March, 1344 of Weilai became the leading operator of power exchange station, ranking third with Aodong and Hangzhou Botan. In 2021, Weilai built 789 power stations, more than three times as many as in 2020, 402 in Aodong and 107 in Hangzhou Botan. The three companies together accounted for 92.3%.

Top ten companies

NIO Power

NIO Power is a mobile Internet-based power-on solution launched by Weilai, with a wide network of charging facilities. Relying on Weilai cloud technology, it has built a "rechargeable, replaceable and upgradeable" energy service system to provide car owners with full-scene power-on services. In 2018, the battery rental model was introduced earlier in the industry, and it has a widely distributed network of charging and replacing facilities.

Aodong Aulton

Since 2000, Aodong New Energy has been focusing on the research and development of power exchange technology and the commercial operation of power exchange station network, with nearly 3,000 global patented technologies for power exchange, forming a closed loop of power exchange business such as research and development of core technologies for power exchange, commercial operation of power exchange station, urban distributed energy storage and battery life cycle management. Before 2021, Aodong New Energy was the operator with the largest number of power stations in China, and there were 286 power stations operated by Aodong in 2020. However, in recent two years, Weilai attached great importance to the research and development of power exchange technology and the construction layout of power exchange stations, and the number of power exchange stations in operation increased rapidly.

Botan technology

The builder of the commercial ecology and technical system of "separation of vehicles and electricity and battery replacement in different boxes" has realized the compatibility of battery replacement for all electric vehicles through the self-developed "standard box power battery" and "battery replacement in different boxes", and the power battery is highly utilized and recycled. "Vehicle-electricity separation and box-to-box electricity exchange" is the electricity exchange ecology with practical application at present.

Easy to recall energy

Geely Group’s brand of power-changing operation focuses on comprehensive energy-replenishing services for charging and replacing power, and at the same time provides services such as battery life cycle management and big data for smart transportation and smart energy.

Langu wisdom energy

BAIC Group, a national high-tech enterprise engaged in the business of power exchange and step utilization of power batteries, is also an enterprise that obtained the qualification of step utilization of power batteries earlier in Beijing. It has key technologies such as intelligent power exchange, energy integration, battery evaluation and cascade utilization.

Xiexin diangang

GCL’s mobile energy brand, with vehicles as the energy carrier and batteries as the core resources, builds an ecological closed loop of green electricity, port stations, vehicles, batteries and energy storage, jointly develops new energy vehicles in customized operation fields, integrates transportation resources, and provides electric vehicle charging service, battery life cycle management, charging and replacing power stations and commercial operation of mobile digital energy platforms.

STATEGRID state grid

Founded in 2002, it is a wholly state-owned company directly managed by the central government established according to the Company Law. Large-scale central enterprises, whose core business is to invest in the construction and operation of power grids, are mainly engaged in power transmission and power supply business, and their business sectors include energy Internet technology, information communication and e-commerce, comprehensive energy services, support and security services, etc.

Qiyuanxin power

State Power Investment Corporation, a comprehensive smart energy service provider focusing on the field of green electricity transportation, is a leading large-scale power exchange service brand in China, and has mastered the core power exchange patent technology. It has fully deployed over 100 heavy truck charging and replacing power stations in 31 provinces and cities across the country, adapting to more than 200 heavy trucks on the market.

EVOGO

In January, 2022, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited officially released a brand-new brand EVOGO for power exchange, and at the same time, it also provided a combined overall solution for power exchange. The three products of "power exchange block, quick exchange station and APP" were used to solve the problems of power exchange and battery leasing. It is endowed with three characteristics: multi-vehicle with one power supply, on-demand electricity rental and rechargeable and exchangeable, so as to provide users with convenient and reliable mobile power solutions and services.

Jie neng zhi Dian

A joint venture invested by China Petrochemical, China Petroleum, SAIC, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and Shanghai International Automobile City Group, which focuses on power battery leasing business. Jieneng Zhidian will carry out R&D and promotion of power exchange technology, battery operation management, big data services and other businesses, promote the construction of a complete ecosystem of vehicle and electricity separation, and build a standardized platform.

Battery asset management

Transformation of asset management model

Battery enterprises participate in the battery asset management business established under BaaS mode and are responsible for the daily operation and management of battery packs. Take Weilai as an example. In 2020, Weineng Asset Management Co., Ltd. was established to manage battery packs. The shareholders are Weilai Automobile, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, Hubei Ketou and Guotai Junan International.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, as a leading battery enterprise, participates in the last battery supplement under the business model. When Weilai Automobile sells cars, the battery packs will be directly sold to the battery asset management company, and consumers will buy new energy vehicles with separate cars and electricity. In the process of changing electricity, consumers will change power stations through Weilai, but the actual process is to rent battery packs from the battery asset management company.

The ownership of the new energy frame (excluding battery) belongs to the user, and the ownership of the power battery is transferred to the battery asset company. Users only need to pay the battery rental fee, without worrying about the depreciation caused by battery depreciation, and the "separation of vehicle and electricity" model has gradually matured.

Battery recovery depends on power exchange construction

Batteries belong to individuals, and because power batteries are non-standardized products, recycling is hindered. However, once the power exchange mode is open, these problems seem to be solved. After the separation of vehicles and electricity, the batteries no longer belong to individuals, and the subsequent recycling can naturally be completely in the hands of the power station, which can fundamentally curb the chaos of scrap batteries flowing into the black market and change the status quo that the regular army loses to small workshops.

In addition, car companies lead and implement the power exchange model to break the "gap" between car companies and recycling companies. Generally speaking, most car companies are reluctant to open their data to recycling companies, which makes it difficult for recycling companies to obtain information about batteries. However, if the recycling party and the car company are the same, the problem will be solved very well.

Future forecast

According to the market forecast, assuming that private cars and construction machinery change power once a day on average, and operating vehicles and commercial vehicles change power twice a day, by 2025, the demand for power stations for passenger cars will exceed 11,000, the demand for power stations for commercial vehicles will exceed 8,000, and the demand for power stations for construction machinery will exceed 700, with a total market space of 62.6 billion yuan.

Generally speaking, the essence of power exchange mode is to tap the whole life cycle value of power battery and realize the redistribution of interests of enterprises and consumers. Promoting power exchange mode can realize multi-party benefits.