State Grid: Build a New Energy Vehicle Charging Station Regardless of Cost

With the rapid advancement of the country's new energy automotive industry, an electric vehicle charging station has mushroomed in many provinces and regions across the country. “The State Grid has the potential to become the largest transport energy supplier in the future.” Yesterday, a national power grid insider told reporters that this largest Chinese electric power company's ambitions in the field of new energy vehicles. At the same time, the reporter found a person in charge of the relevant project of the company to explain the charging station strategy exclusively to this newspaper.

“Building Charging Stations at All Costs” By the end of 2010, the National Grid will deploy nearly 100 charging stations nationwide. The above-mentioned person in charge told the reporter about the short-term goal of the national grid charging station strategy during the Asian Wind Energy Conference held yesterday. The vision was depicted.

According to reports, the company's planned charging facilities are roughly divided into three categories: AC charging piles, plane charging stations, and three-dimensional charging stations. Compared to similar charging stations like gas stations, the charging pile has a smaller footprint and is easy to install. It is divided into two types, one is a charging type and the other is a two charging type. It can not only be placed in the charging station, but also in the charging station. Within the residential area, the parking lot or roadside outside the shopping mall is set independently, coin-operated power supply, simple operation is the main advantage of such facilities.

In addition, the stereo charging station model will also be applied to the market in the future. From the design point of view, this kind of three-dimensional charging station is more like a three-dimensional parking lot with lift function. It can be built in residential areas and commercial areas. After the car enters the parking space, it can be charged.

“The future charging facilities will be seen everywhere, and the charging of electric vehicles will also become very convenient. At present, the State Grid is to vigorously promote the construction of charging piles and charging stations. Although the commercialization conditions are not yet mature, it is now an image to build momentum. We can 'do not cost'." The responsible person emphasized to reporters. Regarding the charging price that car owners are most concerned about, the person only said: "Charging must be cheaper than refueling."

Another informed source disclosed to reporters: "How pricing is still under discussion, the future may not be like civilian electricity prices are not like commercial electricity prices, but a separate set of standards."

Profitable imagination space According to the state's planning requirements for new energy vehicles, by 2020, the proportion of new energy vehicles in China will account for 1/2 of all automobiles, which is approximately 65 million vehicles. This is evident in the large market. As an auxiliary facility, the construction of charging stations is the absolute basis for the promotion of new energy vehicles. There are even rumors that the future profitability of charging stations is comparable to that of printing machines. Therefore, it is not difficult for major energy companies to concentrate on the launch of the charging station project.

On June 1 this year, the four ministries and commissions including the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued detailed rules for the private purchase of new energy vehicles, adding to the enthusiasm of companies for setting up charging stations. On the second day of the introduction of the rules, the Shanghai Electric Power Company under the State Grid announced the completion of the first residential community electric vehicle charging point in the Pujiang Yingxiang Smart Community, and the Beijing Electric Power Company also issued the news that the first electric vehicle charging station was in the same period. Will be built in the space bridge. Just on the 23rd of this month, the nation’s largest electric vehicle charging station built and built by State Grid was officially completed and completed in Linyi, Shandong Province, which can simultaneously satisfy the charge of 45 vehicles. Since Shandong is a large automobile province, National Grid plans to build 9 charging stations and 500 AC charging piles here this year.

These actions are only part of the national grid's preemption of the market for charging stations. In their view, the investment in the construction of charging stations will increase without limit. Just as a person in charge of the company said frankly to the media: "The key is to grab the initiative to occupy the best resources. At present, the issue of return on investment has not been considered."

According to industry sources, investing in a charging station is about 3 to 4 million yuan, and 100 charging stations only need to invest 340 million yuan, which is a small percentage of the national grid with a total investment of more than 200 billion yuan. In addition, although China's electric vehicle market still faces a long incubation period, some experts have estimated that in the future when the market matures, it will be possible to recover the cost in three to four years.
Do not rule out the cooperation with oil companies in this round of charging stations for enterprises in the staking area, in addition to the State Grid, China Southern Power Grid and the traditional oil and gas giant Sinopec, CNOOC, etc., have started investment plans, want to share. At the same time, foreign capital and domestic capital are also eager to try. The German-owned company Kim Miller said that although the national technical standards have not yet been introduced, the company has started to develop related products and said that the prototype is already in the experimental phase and will soon be put on the market. Private entrepreneurs in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and other places have also started to move closer to the industry and revealed that they have “examined the market and are ready to introduce some foreign technology”.

When asked about the future competitive relationship with the oil companies or other companies, the insiders of the Electric Power Institute of State Grid are very confident. Compared with other energy companies, grid companies have a unique advantage in distribution networks and power sources. He also gave an example: "The charging of electric vehicles requires very strong power. Now that there are few charging stations and the power grid capacity is not high enough, the oil companies can barely cope. When there are many charging stations, the national grid transmits power to the distribution network and the corresponding Technical advantages (such as capacity expansion, etc.) will be much more obvious."

In addition, the State Grid also enjoys "congenital" advantages in terms of technical standards. At the technical level, the State Grid took the lead in drafting national standards involving electric wires, charging interfaces, charging requirements, off-board chargers and many other technologies, which laid the foundation for the fight for the right to speak in the industry.

However, the channel problem has always been the shortcoming of upstream companies such as the State Grid. Traditional oil companies currently have a wide range of sales terminals, such as gas stations and gas stations, which are beyond the reach of grid companies. The above-mentioned persons also admitted that the biggest advantage of oil companies is that they have saved the trouble of the layout of the enclosure, and they have become more mature in the related channels and services of the downstream market. In this regard, the above-mentioned person in charge of the national grid charging station project said: "Welcome everyone to jointly develop, in the future does not rule out cooperation with oil companies."