The controversial line of energy replenishment: will fast charging lead to reunification?

In the field of new energy power batteries , Recently, two fast charging news of batteries have aroused heated discussion among netizens ： One is a Japanese electronic parts development enterprise Eamex , It has developed high-capacity capacitors , If used in pure electric vehicles , The fastest 1 Charging can be completed in minutes . also Eamex Will be in 8 Monthly supply samples , Ready to start mass production .

Another news was released by Ningde times CTP3.0 Kirin battery , Can be realized 1000 Km range ,10 Minute quick charge , Kirin battery will be available in 2023 It's on the market in mass production . In the field of new energy batteries , This is a breakthrough innovation , It has caused great repercussions in the capital market .

Both of the two news items, without exception, reflect the rapid development and iteration rate of the current fast charging technology of power batteries . At present, the vast majority of electric vehicles can only be fully charged in almost an hour , Slow charging requires 6 Hour or so . Fast charging technology has made breakthroughs frequently in the news , But it seems that there is still a certain time before the real landing . The efficiency of fast charging of electric vehicles on the market is not as high as that described in the news , At what stage is the fast charging technology currently applied on the ground ？ What are the challenges of upgrading ？

Breakthrough technology and growth expectations

Discuss the development status of fast charging technology , We need to clarify the concept of fast charging . There is an important term in the concept of fast charging —— Charge discharge ratio C, It can be simply understood as filling 、 Discharge rate . Charging and discharging rate of battery , Determines how fast we can use , Store a certain amount of energy in the battery , Or how fast , Release the energy in the battery .

According to industry definition , Fast charging of electric vehicles means that the charging current is greater than 1.6C Charging mode , That is from 0% Charge to 80% Time is less than 30 Minute technology .

Charging speed and power battery 、 Charging pile 、 Power grid and other overall technology are closely related to design , And the power battery is the root of fast charging . When the battery is fast charged, by-products will appear on the negative pole , Affect the circulation and stability of the cell . Whether for manufacturers or users , The ideal fast charging battery means high energy density , Fast charging , Cheapness . However “ You can't have your cake and eat it too ”, The characteristics of the battery make its magnification performance 、 Energy density 、 life 、 Security 、 Price and other indicators cannot have both , It can only be the middle choice after balance , If you improve any of these indicators , Other indicators need to make certain sacrifices relatively .

Among the fast charging technologies currently on the ground , Tesla uses 4680 The battery , It is reported that 4680 The battery pack only needs 15 You can change the power from... In minutes 10% Charge to 80%, If the power changes from 10% Charge to 50%, You just need 7 Minute time . in other words , Without expanding the charging pile , Users need to wait at most 20 Minutes can replenish the power to a suitable state .

Ideal intelligence ONE The capacity from Ningde era is 40.5kwh Of VDA The battery pack . In the fast charging mode , from 0 to 80% The electric energy supplement needs 30 minute . If it is slow charging , need 6 It takes hours to fully charge . Xiaopeng's latest model P7 Of 2022 paragraph 480N+ The fast charging time is 45 minute , The slow charging time is 5 Hours .

For now , In the ground fast charging battery , Tesla's fast charging rate is the fastest , And other players in the market quickly recharge from 10% Charge to 80% Need at least 30 Minutes to an hour , Some enterprises also give the theoretical charging speed from 30% Charge to 80% need 30 minute , The actual charging time may take 40、50 minute .

For users' charging anxiety , The practices of manufacturers are divided into two factions , One is to expand the energy density of the battery and extend its mileage , If the mileage is long enough , The low charging frequency can also cover some users' choices ; The other is the fast charging technology we are introducing , Limit the charging time to less than half an hour , Although it is similar to the fuel truck 5 Filling up the oil in minutes is not better than , However, fast charging technology has been breaking previous records repeatedly .

CCTV finance also released a message before , Said that the rapid charging technology of electric vehicles has matured , It only needs 10 One machine with a capacity of... Can be filled in about minutes 100KWh electric vehicle . The new Kirin battery launched by Ningde times 10 Minute quick charge ,2023 Mass production on the market , These breakthroughs in fast charging batteries have made people waiting for new energy vehicles look forward .

Fast charging road “ The mountains are stacked ”

Maybe someone will think , If you combine the two advantages of mileage and fast charging , The popularity of new energy vehicles will be higher , Especially when the current fuel cost exceeds 10 yuan , The high fuel rate highlights the advantage of cheap electricity . We also mentioned before , Due to the physical characteristics of the battery , As a result, its energy density and power density are not two indicators that can be improved at the same time , Only one of them can be improved in the same battery , The performance of the other item can only be neglected .

In the power battery , Rate performance 、 Energy density 、 life 、 Security 、 Price and other indicators need to be in a reasonable range after optimization , The choice of manufacturers is to control the cost of batteries , With convenient charging capacity + Applicable range , To alleviate users' anxiety . For fast charging batteries , There are also bottlenecks in the process of improving performance .

1. The requirements of materials and processes are improved . Fast charging process of power battery , Shorter charging time , Increase of charging power , Need higher frequency magnetic materials and magnetic components . This requires raw material manufacturers to develop more high-frequency magnetic materials 、 Magnetic components , At the same time, improve the production process to meet the increasingly complex process requirements .

2. Pressure resistance and safety . Compared with ordinary charging, super fast charging , The voltage may even rise to 1000V, This pair of relays 、 For fuses and magnetic components , Need more pressure resistant materials . Besides , Due to the increase of power , A lot of heat will be generated during charging , While ensuring the performance of fast charging rate , Also consider the efficiency of heat dissipation , Safe performance needs to be guaranteed .

3. The breakthrough of battery technology extends its life . Fast charging rate , It also has a great impact on the life of the battery , We still need to explore the technology of reducing the internal resistance of the battery for a long time , Further optimization of anode and cathode materials , For example, adjust the performance of the battery according to the charging power and charging time required in the super fast charging . At present, the technical breakthrough direction of battery mainly includes changing the formula of electrolyte , The structure of the cell , Reduce the temperature rise , Increase the voltage, etc .

In the process of fast charging , For batteries , The biggest risk is the harm caused by thermal runaway during charging . For some new energy vehicles , In case of overload charging , The probability of battery spontaneous combustion will be greatly increased . Previously, including GAC Toyota 、 Weima and other car enterprises , In order to ensure vehicle safety , It used to lock the power of its models 、 Power reduction . This means that the fast charging technology is in the process of complete landing , Publicity is only one aspect , Fast charging itself needs to be restricted in many ways .

Energy replenishment route ： Complement and cooperate with each other

For new energy vehicles , Fast charging is a systematic project , Need charging pile 、 Power grid 、 Synergy of power batteries , From the perspective of power battery development , The energy supplement system has changed in the ten years of the development of electric vehicles , Great changes have taken place . Quick charge 、 Change the electricity 、 Long endurance mileage is almost the three controversial choices of the current development route , Car manufacturers choose different technical routes in their respective fields .

For users , The choice is relatively simple ,《2021 White paper on charging behavior of electric vehicle users in China 》 Show , Fast charging 99.3％ The user's preference , Especially for operating vehicle users who are highly sensitive to charging time , The demand for fast charging is higher ; From the power of charging facilities , exceed 87％ Users tend to choose 120kW And above high-power charging pile .

The National Day holiday every year , Those who rush into the hot search news will always find it difficult to charge new energy vehicles , Waiting in line for a long time, charging for a long time . The popularity of fast charging will also be an important means to solve the problem of fast energy replenishment during holiday travel in the future . In the long run , The public charging scenario still focuses on fast charging , Including super charging , In terms of policy , China is vigorously developing public fast charging network , Accelerate the popularization of the coverage of Expressway charging and replacement network , State Grid and other related enterprises are also increasing investment in fast charging networks on highways . Including car companies 、 All parties including operators are actively promoting the layout of fast charging network .

On top of the stack “ Double carbon ” The impact of strategic objectives , It is a general trend to stop production of fuel vehicles . Earlier, the European Parliament voted to pass the legislative proposal drafted by the European Commission , It's up to 2035 The sale of registered fuel vehicles has been banned throughout the EU since , Including plug-in hybrid 、 Transitional plans, including synthetic fuels, have also been rejected . Automobile manufacturers include BAIC 、 changan 、 audi 、 Mercedes Benz and other car companies have also announced the time when their fuel vehicles will be discontinued , Audi brand has been determined 2026 No new models of internal combustion engines will be introduced in 、2033 The goal of stopping the production of all internal combustion engine models from ; Mercedes Benz will devote itself to 2030 Complete the electrification transformation of the group in , The exit time of internal combustion engines in the global market is no later than 2039 year ; Changan Automobile will be in 2025 The sale of traditional fuel vehicles was officially stopped in . The manufacturers' sales ban time is basically 2025 year —2040 In between .

The timetable for banning fuel vehicles is established , It also means that the development of automotive electrification is deepening , For the key fast charging technology , It's also the dawn stage before the outbreak .

However, due to the physical characteristics of the power battery itself , Fast charging and safety 、 life 、 Key elements such as cost are contradictory , Balanced fast charging 、 Security 、 Life and other requirements still need a long period of time to run in . The process of successfully achieving things with huge development space is always full of challenges , Long term cultivation and accumulation are necessary paths , I can't get around it .

In the path selection of energy replenishment , From the day when new energy vehicles began to develop , The argument never stopped , From slow charging to fast charging , From changing electricity to charging , All kinds of sounds , And now no one has eliminated anyone , This is also the presentation of the final result of market selection , In different situations , There will be different needs , Things with market development , It also needs energy supplement methods that meet the needs of market development .

The ultimate need of users is the convenience of charging , For example, if there is no time for charging, change the power , If there's plenty of time , Select the stage slow charging of the power grid trough , Different energy supplement methods , In different use situations , There are different market spaces . We know our territory is vast , The climatic conditions covered vary , And charging has a strong regional , Winter in the North , Changing electricity is more popular with consumers than fast charging , If we have to discuss which technical route is the king, we will eliminate other routes , In terms of user scenarios , It is unrealistic to unify the energy replenishment methods .

Return to the technical route of fast charging , For manufacturers , Nor will you choose a single path , Either or choice is easy to enter a dead end , Enterprises will also adjust the way of energy supplement according to the wishes of users . Technology iteration 、 Consumption awareness improved 、 Various factors such as the inclined promotion of enterprises have different manifestations in the market-oriented development , But the final choice still depends on the market .