There is no contradiction between charging and changing power. Weilai has always maintained its advantages in charging technology and scale.
On May 21, FAW and Weilai signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement at the Jilin Anhui Cooperation and Development Exchange Forum. The two sides will carry out all-round and multi-level in-depth strategic cooperation around battery technology standards, research and development of rechargeable and replaceable battery models, battery asset management and operation, construction and operation of charging, replacement and energy supplement ecological service networks, and battery industry procurement and support.
Just two weeks ago, on May 8, Weilai signed a strategic cooperation agreement with GAC Group on charging and changing electricity, which will deepen cooperation in many fields of charging and changing electricity. In just half a month, two large automobile enterprises have joined the "Power Change Alliance".
Since November 2023, Chang'an, Geely, Chery, JAC, Lutes and other large car enterprises have cooperated with Weilai in the field of power exchange. China Southern Power Grid is working with Weilai to promote the integration and interaction of new energy vehicles and power grids.
At present, the demand for new energy vehicles is releasing at an alarming speed. In the first half of April this year, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China exceeded 50% for the first time. However, problems such as lagging energy supplement and rapid battery decay are still prominent. In order to realize large capacity energy supplement, the energy supplement layout mode of combination of charging and changing is imperative. In order to ensure the energy supplement efficiency and solve the battery life anxiety, power replacement is the best solution.
However, due to the high requirements for investment and technology in the construction of power exchange, it is difficult for auto enterprises to gain scale advantages in a short time. At this time, cooperation with Weilai, the first to enter the Bureau, becomes a "shortcut". This means that more partners will join the "power exchange alliance" with Weilai as the core.
From Chang'an to FAW, where does consensus come from?
"There is no contradiction between charging and power replacement, and Weilai has always maintained its advantages in charging technology and scale." When talking about Weilai focusing on power replacement business, founder Li Bin always kindly reminds each other, and Weilai's charging is also strong.
In the industry, many people's first impression of Weilai is that the power exchange business is outstanding. Weilai is a car brand with the largest number of power exchange stations and charging piles in China. The charging piles are open to all new energy vehicle users, and 80% of the electricity is used by electric vehicle brand users other than Weilai.
In the "rechargeable, exchangeable and upgradeable" energy service system of Weilai, power exchange is favored by more users because of better experience.
The battery replacement can be completed in a short time, and users do not need to get off the car, greatly improving the energy supplement efficiency. The third generation replacement power station of Weilai, which is being deployed, can realize full power starting in three minutes, making power on more convenient than refueling.
In contrast, the overall efficiency of charging is much lower. It is understood that the slow charging time with AC charging piles is about 4 to 10 hours, and the fast charging time with DC charging piles is about 30 to 60 minutes. Even with the most advanced overcharging technology, the fastest charging speed still needs 12 to 15 minutes. The problems of uneven distribution of charging piles and long charging time are prominent, which greatly affect the car experience.
Even the current popular overcharge mode has certain disadvantages. In addition to causing damage to the power battery, if the overcharge goes online on a large scale, a large number of vehicles will be gathered for use in a short time, or it will cause security risks to the power grid. The overcharge technology also has its own limitations. For example, the excessive charging voltage has higher requirements for supporting cables and cooling equipment. How to ensure the safety is also a big problem. To achieve overcharge, car companies must build products based on the new platform, which is not conducive to car companies controlling costs.
In addition, through the power change mode, vehicle enterprises can focus on battery maintenance and management, extend battery life, optimize resource allocation, and improve overall energy utilization efficiency.
Among them, "extending battery life" will have a decisive impact on the development of new energy vehicles. In fact, in the past few years, many new energy vehicle enterprises have tried to solve many problems such as battery safety, battery life, charging efficiency, charging convenience, and cost, but neglected the crucial issue of battery life.
With the increase in the number of new energy vehicles, many power batteries are directly facing the aging problem. According to data, according to the statutory eight year or 120000 km battery warranty standard, nearly 20 million new energy vehicles will face the expiration of battery warranty in the next eight years, and the cost of battery replacement will vary from tens of thousands to more than 200000 yuan. This will cause consumers to worry about battery life, and even lose confidence in new energy vehicles.
From the experience of Weilai in operating large-scale power exchange stations for many years in a row, it is one of the effective ways to extend the battery life to maintain the batteries through the power exchange network and reduce the impact of daily harsh conditions. It is reported that Weilai is the first in the industry to establish a full life cycle battery health operation system to achieve full coverage of the three conditions that affect battery life: temperature, intensity and frequency. Based on the operation and scheduling of power battery big data, it further improves the power battery life of the power exchange system.
Nowadays, all users of Weilai can exchange a healthy battery in three minutes by changing the power, which is equivalent to that each user has a lifetime battery warranty. Since then, there has been no anxiety about battery life.
However, when more and more people have experienced the power change, the call for a large area of power replacement is rising. Chang'an, Geely, GAC, FAW and other automobile enterprises have joined the "Power Change Alliance", the purpose of which is to improve the user's energy supplement experience and eliminate the anxiety of battery life.
Layout power exchange is a must for Weilaicheng
Most automobile enterprises have no doubt about the advantages of power replacement. However, due to the large amount of investment required for power replacement, the difficulty of construction is greater than that of charging facilities, and the inconsistent standard of power replacement, the power replacement mode once developed slowly.
Until 2023, Weilai has released a signal: Weilai's power exchange business is open to the society. In November of that year, Chang'an announced cooperation with Weilai. Then, the "power exchange alliance" grew rapidly. Some insiders believe that car enterprises committed to the electrification route need to replace power and supplement energy. In this regard, Weilai has irreplaceable advantages.
First of all, Weilai has built the largest power exchange network in China. As of May 21, a total of 2420 power exchange stations, 22500 charging piles and 800 high-speed power exchange stations have been built across the country, covering 11 urban agglomerations in 7 vertical and 6 horizontal directions, providing users with more than 44.5 million power exchange services. To build such a scale of charging and changing infrastructure with our own efforts, we have invested a lot and formed excellent ability and experience.
Some practitioners said that one of the reasons for the rapid expansion of the "power exchange alliance" is that many car enterprises want to improve the efficiency of power exchange layout. However, if they build it alone, the cost is too high after seven to eight years of accumulation like Weilai.
At this year's Beijing Auto Show, Zhou Hongyi, Chairman of 360, made three comments on the spot after visiting the exhibition of Weilai Power Change: first, Weilai Power Change has created a huge differentiated positioning; Second, some users said that after five years of driving the tram, they saved a lot of fuel money, so they solved the user's pain points; Third, from a commercial perspective, this is an energy service, and Weilai will also become an energy company.
In addition, the multi brand and multi platform sharing mode of Weilai Power Exchange has been fully verified. On May 15, Weilai launched its second brand of Ledo, which ensures that its new car will have a perfect energy supplement system when it comes to the market by sharing Weilai's 1000 seat power plant. Theoretically, all brands in the "power exchange alliance" can follow this model, through cooperation, sharing and co construction with Weilai, to enable their users to obtain the most convenient power exchange experience in a short time and improve their market competitiveness.
"From this point of view, Ledo is indeed the first brand to join the 'Power Change Alliance'," Li Bin said frankly in a recent interview.
In the past 10 years, Weilai has realized the internal operation of 11 models, multiple battery packs and three generation replacement power stations. Next, it is oriented to multi brand operation.
"In fact, openness is a capability that requires in-depth research in design, technical details, business rules, etc. This is particularly similar to Amazon's cloud service, which was only for internal use at the beginning, and will only serve externally after almost 10 years."
Li Bin has always regarded Weilai power exchange network as the same service as "Amazon Cloud". As the cloud service infrastructure of energy Internet, the continuous construction and expansion of power exchange network cannot be separated from continuous investment. After time accumulation, the power exchange network can change from quantitative change to qualitative change. When the number of power exchange stations reaches a certain level and the number of partners is increasing, a positive business loop will be formed, and finally an obvious cluster effect of head brands will be formed.
From the perspective of the expansion degree of China's new energy vehicle market, the existing energy supplement infrastructure is still insufficient, and car enterprises can still gain the first mover advantage by joining the "power exchange alliance" first.
Beneficiaries of the economic account behind the power exchange boom are not only coming
For Weilai Company, whether it is the development of its own multi brand or the expansion of the "power exchange alliance", it can effectively reduce the construction cost of the power exchange station, achieve the overall scale expansion, and move closer to profitability.
Therefore, Li Bin openly raised his expectations for the development of the power exchange alliance. He hoped that more and more partners would join the power exchange alliance to make the scale of power exchange stations exceed 10000 as soon as possible. At that time, the business logic of power replacement will be completely different from that of today.
Some people in the industry believe that 10000 seat power exchange stations can theoretically support 10 million electric vehicles. It is estimated that half of the new energy vehicle users will be free from the battery life problem based on the overall market ownership.
Looking back on the development of Weilai power exchange, from infrastructure first to realizing internal closed-loop operation, then to opening and sharing for the industry, until the formation of network effect, it is like the high-speed railway construction with years of dedicated layout. In the field of new infrastructure construction, China's high-speed railway has formed a network scale, which has not only driven regional economic development, but also created considerable benefits, and achieved technology export. It can also be said that the "high-speed rail line" reappeared in the new energy vehicle industry.
An industry person said that the power exchange mode involves many fields such as power exchange station sharing, battery bank management, and battery exchange of different brands. It is difficult for a car enterprise to build an industry ecological environment. Only the "power exchange alliance" develops in a group way can play a market role and promote the ecological construction of power exchange. At that time, the compatibility and convenience of new energy vehicles will be greatly improved. Different brands of vehicles can complete the power exchange in the same power exchange station, which will ultimately benefit all the vehicle enterprises involved in the construction.
According to Li Bin's explanation, if we can receive 60 orders a day, we will not lose money. The four generation stations currently under layout can receive more than 400 orders a day. According to this model, the more users change electricity, the greater the possibility of profit.
At present, changing electricity has become a valuable new track. Kaiyuan Securities predicts that the market size of China's power exchange industry chain is expected to reach 133.4 billion yuan in 2025. Orient Securities predicts that by 2025, the proportion of domestic tram replacement is expected to reach 30%.
Fundamentally, the "power exchange alliance" is a win-win situation. After all, many families in China cannot install charging piles. Through interconnection, the "Power Change Alliance" continues to expand the coverage of the power supply network and solve the energy supplement problem, so that more people can feel the advantages of new energy vehicles. It is natural to facilitate the purchase.
Once the market enters the stage of continuous outbreak, Weilai will not only benefit.
