What is the battery swap standard for heavy trucks

Policies promote the rapid development of battery swap for heavy trucks

Since the beginning of 2020, China has clearly supported the development of the battery swap system. In many places, policies have been issued to support the pilot application of battery swapping heavy trucks, and other places have also issued policies one after another to support the expanded application of battery swapping heavy trucks.

With the support of the policy, the battery-swapping heavy trucks are developing rapidly. The total sales volume will exceed 3,200 in 2021, 12,431 in 2022, and 5,729 in the first six months of 2023. The cumulative total sales of battery-swapping heavy trucks will exceed 21,000.

The sales volume of heavy-duty trucks replaced by batteries is growing rapidly, also because of its obvious advantages:

● High-efficiency battery swapping every 5 minutes shortens the energy supply time, solves the problem of cruising range, and improves work efficiency.
● Moreover, the “separation of vehicle and battery” mode can effectively reduce the cost of car purchase for users.
● It is well known that the use cost of electric heavy trucks is low.
● The construction of a battery swap station can effectively alleviate the problem of difficult charging of heavy trucks.
● The power battery is managed in a centralized and unified manner by professionals, which improves the safety of the power battery and prolongs the battery life.

The economy of replacing heavy trucks is also very obvious. According to professionals, the cost advantage of replacing heavy trucks on trunk lines is the greatest. Under the same mileage, compared with diesel tractors and hydrogen fuel tractors, the average annual energy cost of electric tractors can save 52,000 RMB. In addition, in terms of short-term transportation, battery swapping also has obvious economic advantages in terms of transportation costs compared with diesel tractors.

Is the unification of heavy-duty truck battery swap standards an obstacle or a boost?

The sales of battery-swapped heavy-duty trucks have skyrocketed, and the number of users operating battery-swapped heavy-duty trucks has further increased, and the requirements for the models and operations of battery-swapped heavy-duty trucks have further increased.

Since battery swapping for heavy trucks is an ecological development system, including upstream and downstream ecological enterprises such as heavy truck OEMs, battery swapping operators, battery swap equipment manufacturers, and battery swap heavy truck operators, there are different opinions on the development model of battery replacement heavy trucks. Among them, the battery swap standard for heavy trucks has become one of the biggest disputes in the field of heavy truck battery swapping.

Due to the non-uniform battery exchange standards, each heavy truck battery swap station can only exchange batteries for specific heavy truck models, and cannot exchange batteries between models of different car companies, or even different models of the same car company.

For some users who operate heavy-duty trucks across regions, due to the need to dispatch vehicles across regions, it is hoped that the standards for heavy-duty truck replacements will be unified to achieve interoperability. However, for some local heavy-duty truck operators, they do not pay much attention to whether the standard for heavy-duty truck replacement is uniform.

Today, the total sales volume of battery-swapping heavy trucks is only 21,000 units. Excluding some of the battery-swapping heavy-duty trucks that have not actually been operated for battery-swapping operations, the actual operation of battery-swapping heavy-duty trucks is only more than 10,000 vehicles, and there is still huge room for growth.

The market has huge room for development, more and more companies are joining the field of heavy truck battery replacement, and the market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. As for the battery replacement standard for heavy-duty trucks, OEMs, battery swap, equipment manufacturers, and heavy-duty truck operators in the ecological field of battery replacement for heavy-duty trucks now believe that the unification of battery swap standards for heavy-duty trucks will eventually be realized.

However, many ecological chain companies believe that the heavy-duty truck battery replacement market is not fully competitive, and the premature introduction of unified standards can really promote the development of heavy-duty truck battery replacement?

Nowadays, there are many companies entering the heavy-duty truck battery swapping market, each company has different technical strengths, and each company has different standards for heavy-duty truck battery swapping. Will the immediate introduction of a unified battery swap standard dampen the enthusiasm of leading companies in technology research and development and more innovative iterations?

Moreover, battery swap for heavy-duty trucks is in the exploratory period, and the market is far from saturated. Different companies have different standards for battery swapping for heavy-duty trucks. Without long-term fierce competition, whose standard is the best solution?

User recognition safe and reliable standards are the best

As for the unification of battery swap standards for heavy-duty trucks, there are times when various battery swapping companies such as top 10 ev battery swapping companies in China and battery replacement equipment companies agree. Everyone agreed that after full competition in the market, the standard for heavy-duty truck battery swapping that came out of the top enterprise standard, recognized by users, strong in safety, and compatible with the interests of all parties is the best standard. The market will eventually reverse the unification of heavy truck replacement standards.

Industry insiders said that after full competition in the market, the enterprise standard with a high market share and the standard recognized by the most users will be a better choice for heavy-duty truck battery swap standards.

Conclusion

The unification of battery swap standards for heavy trucks is the general trend, but when it will be unified is temporarily unknown. The final standard involves the entire battery replacement ecological chain enterprise. After fierce competition in the market, the heavy-duty truck replacement standard developed in the market will be recognized by users.

It is necessary to study and compile a standard system for battery swap technology, and promote the unification of battery size, battery swapping interface, and communication protocols. The intercommunication and interchangeability of the battery swapping industry is a requirement of the government. The voice of the industry and the expectation of enterprises have become a key focus of the high-quality development of the industry.