Development comparison of battery swapping vs charging station for electric vehicles

Charging mode

Market Status

According to the relevant data released, as of the end of December 2022, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure in China is 5.2 million units. Among them, the public charging infrastructure increased by about 650,000 units, and the cumulative number reached 1.8 million; the private charging infrastructure increased by about 1.9 million units, and the cumulative number exceeded 3.4 million units.

From the perspective of the construction scale of public charging piles, since 2015, the number of electric vehicle charging piles in China has shown explosive growth. As of the end of 2022, a total of 1.797 million public charging piles have been reported, an increase of 56.67% compared to the same period in 2021. In April 2023, the number of public charging piles exceeded the 2 million mark, reaching 2.025 million.

Difficulty analysis

• Slow charging of electric vehicles

With the increase of vehicle charging capacity and cruising range, the convenience of charging has become a major factor restricting the improvement of electric vehicle experience. In practice, most pure electric vehicles need to be charged for 40-50 minutes to achieve SOC 30%-80%, and can only travel about 150-200km. Compared with battery swapping vs charging station, “slow charging” is still the core pain point of the pure electric passenger car industry.

• Charging is inconvenient

With the accelerated development of the electric vehicle industry, users’ acceptance of electric vehicles continues to increase, but charging problems are still the primary factor affecting users’ purchase of electric vehicles. Users have a strong demand for fast energy replenishment, requiring “fast charging within 5 minutes”.

However, in battery swapping vs charging station, the current average charging time of electric vehicles is generally 1 hour or more, and the number of DC charging piles matching the fast charging demand is insufficient, which cannot meet the user’s fast energy replenishment needs.

Battery swapping mode

Market Status

According to relevant data on the number of swap station construction, as of the end of 2021, the three companies, NIO, Aulton and Hangzhou Botan, have 1,298 battery swapping stations. As of the end of June 2022, the three companies have 1,582 battery swapping stations.

Difficulty analysis

• The industry standard specification for the construction and operation of electric commercial vehicle swap station has not yet been released

In 2021, the T/CAAMTB 55 group standard compiled by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance organized by relevant units. It is mainly aimed at the construction specifications of passenger car swapping stations, while the construction standards and specifications for commercial vehicle swapping stations are still being formulated.

• The cost of a single battery replacement for customers

Car owners who choose public battery swap stations need to consider the cost of a single battery replacement. Different from battery swapping vs charging station, there is no uniform standard for the service fees charged by each battery swapping station for battery swapping, and there are pricing problems in the industry.

• Security responsibility division issues

Compared with battery swapping vs charging station, the battery packs used in swapping cars are mainly lithium batteries. When lithium batteries are disturbed by external factors such as violent impact or puncture, they are prone to spontaneous combustion and cause danger. When an accident occurs, how to divide the responsibility is still controversial.

Battery swapping vs charging station – advantages and disadvantages and cost comparison

At present, there are mainly two charging modes in the electric vehicle market: battery swapping vs charging station. Among them, the charging mode can be divided into conventional charging mode and emerging high-power charging mode. These three modes mainly have the following advantages and disadvantages.

From the perspective of market demand, among the three modes, the high-power charging mode and the battery swap mode require a shorter recharging time, which has obvious advantages in the competition.

In addition, comparing battery swapping vs charging station, because the battery swap mode requires a lot of investment in infrastructure, equipment, batteries, labor and site costs, and there are problems with poor interoperability, the high-power charging mode has a huge competitive advantage in the competition.

Conventional charging mode

Advantages:

•  The charger and installation cost are low, which is convenient for vehicle installation;
• It can make full use of the low power period for charging, reduce the charging cost, and ensure that the voltage is relatively stable during the charging period;
• The charging facility is small and portable, which is convenient for vehicles to charge in places other than the parking lot.

Disadvantage:

• Comparing battery swapping vs charging station, the charging time is too long, and it is difficult to meet the needs of emergency operation of the vehicle.

Applicability:

• Design the mileage of the electric vehicle to be as large as possible, which can meet the needs of the vehicle’s operation for a day, and only use the evening outage time to charge;
• Since conventional charging uses conventional current to charge the battery, it can be charged at home, parking lot and bus station;
• The scale of conventional charging stations is generally large so as to be able to charge multiple electric vehicles at the same time.

High-power charging mode

Advantages:

• The charging time is short and the site turnover is fast;
• The charging station does not need a large parking lot.

Disadvantages:

• The charging efficiency is low, and the installation cost and work cost are high;
• The charging current is large, which requires high charging technology and methods, and has a negative impact on the life of the battery;
• Large charging current can easily cause battery abnormality, to compare battery swapping vs charging station, which poses a safety hazard.

Applicability:

• The mileage of the electric vehicle is moderate, and it can be quickly replenished during the long-distance travel of the vehicle to meet the needs of safe operation of the vehicle;
• High-current fast charging makes the charging time much shorter, allowing enough time for the subsequent equalization charging;
• The fast charging mode is only suitable for dedicated charging stations due to the corresponding high current demand that would have a detrimental effect on the public grid.

Battery swap mode

Advantages:

• Improve the use efficiency of the vehicle and facilitate the use of users;
• The replaced battery can be charged during the off-peak period, which reduces the charging cost and improves the economy of vehicle operation;
• Solved the problems of long charging time, low remaining charge, poor battery quality, and short cruising range;
• It is convenient to improve the maintenance and management of the battery pack and improve the service life of the battery to compare battery swapping vs charging station;
• Comparing battery swapping vs charging station, it is beneficial to the recycling and reuse of waste batteries.

Disadvantage:

• Different from battery swapping vs charging station, there are strict requirements on the standardization of batteries and electric vehicles, the design improvement of electric vehicles, the construction and management of charging stations, and the circulation management of batteries.

Applicability:

• The design of the vehicle battery pack is standardized and easy to replace;
• The battery needs to be replaced in a timely manner during vehicle operation, and the charging station can achieve professional and rapid separation of the battery and the vehicle.

Conclusion

From the perspective of market demand, in battery swapping vs charging station modes, among the three modes, the high-power charging mode and the battery swap system require a shorter recharging time, which has obvious advantages in the competition. In addition, because the battery swap mode requires a lot of investment in infrastructure, equipment, batteries, labor and site costs, and there is a problem of poor interoperability, the high-power charging mode has a huge competitive advantage in the competition.