BEIJING, Aug 15 (APP): As the world’s largest market of new energy vehicles, China has witnessed an unprecedented growth rate in the sales and ownership of new energy vehicles. It is reported that the sales volume of new energy passenger vehicles in China reached 2.466 million, and ownership over 10 million units in the first half of 2022.
The contradiction between the increasing demand for charging and inadequate EV-charging infrastructure has become increasingly prominent. It is extremely difficult to find a charging pile in the old neighborhoods.
Seeing the fundamental needs of the people, the State Grid Jinhua Power Supply Company has accelerated the research and development of various new charging piles and taken multiple measures to tackle the charging problems for new energy vehicles, said a report.
As one of the landmarks of Jinhua, Wanfo Pagoda is known as “the No. 1 pagoda in Zhejiang” because of its different exquisite Buddha statues carved on its body, and it is a popular site attracting tourists from adjacent cities.
In order to facilitate the new energy vehicle owners’ trip to this pagoda, the State Grid Jinhua Power Supply Company has installed newly-developed ceiling-mounted movable charging piles, smart mobile charging robots and mobile charging-and-storage machines in the pagoda site’s underground garage, which really impresses the tourists.
Compared with the conventional public charging stations, the “ceiling-mounted movable charging pile” changes the traditional layout of piles being fixed on the ground; instead, the piles are installed on the ceiling or the side walls adjacent to the parking spaces, which takes up no ground space.
With 0.1 cubic meters and a 10-meter track, it is sufficient to provide charging services for 10 parking spaces back-to-back.
New energy car owners only need to scan the QR codes for corresponding parking spaces with smartphones, and the system program will drive the charging piles through the track automatically to corresponding parking spaces, and the charging gun will automatically connect to the car, starting the charging process.
When the new energy vehicle is fully charged, the charging gun will be automatically unplugged and the pile will automatically return.
The Company’s Shitong product development team has thus established a user-friendly, smart and convenient charging mode with cutting-edge technology, which realizes the functions of moving the piles by simply scanning QR codes, precisely positioning the piles, and automatic charging gun control.
This effectively solves the problems in the installation of charging piles, space occupation by gasoline cars, and space occupation by fully-charged cars.
Another “magic equipment”– the smart mobile charging robot uses AI technology and sensor components to achieve functions such as automatic movement, obstacle avoidance and automatic return, electricity replenishment and energy storage after charging, and transforming the mode of “car searching for pile” to “pile searching for car”.
The mobile charging-and-storage machine needs the car owners to pull the machine to the charging spot.
As a fast-charging pile, its charging power is as high as 30 kW, which can provide fast power replenishment for new energy vehicles despite being larger in size.
The above mentioned three smart charging facilities have effectively resolved the problems of limited locations for chargers installation in core business district and old residential areas.
However, there are still practical problems of relatively short power transformer capacity in old neighborhoods.
For this reason, the marketing service team of Wucheng power supply branch of State Grid Jinhua power Supply Company innovatively put forward the flexible charging strategy for old residential areas based on “charging priority” through multi-party investigation, and it was put into pilot operation in Liuhu future community charging station.
Liuhu Future Community is an old neighborhood with 2094 households, among which there are more than 200 new energy vehicles owners.
Through coordination of all sides, fourteen charging piles have been installed in the community, including three 60 kW fast-charging piles and eleven 7 kW slow-charging piles.
Meanwhile, the flexible charging strategy has been successfully applied, and the effect of intelligent digital control has been achieved. It is reported that vehicle owners can set “departure time from home” and “expectation of power level” in apps and then the system will “arrange” charging sequence and charging speed according to the client’s demands.
Furthermore, the system will try to arrange the vehicles to be charged during off-peak hours, which will help to balance electricity consumption between peak and off-peak hours, alleviating the power pressure during peak hours when charging demands add to domestic electricity demands.
Moreover, the company has built a fast-charging network “street-side convenient charging” and the first roadside charging station in Luojiatang of Wucheng District, making full use of the idle temporary roadside parking spaces to provide fast power-replenishment service for new energy vehicles.
In addition, the service of this charging station covers many adjacent residential areas and urban villages, providing strong support for charging new energy vehicles in old neighborhoods that cannot be equipped with charging piles.
In recent years, the State Grid Jinhua Power Supply Company has been building a well-rounded charging service network, innovating and exploring new charging products, extending the boundary of traditional charging methods, striving to solve charging problems and achieve the dual carbon goals.
