Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Some people in the industry say that 2022 is the "first year of high pressure" for new energy vehicles.

High-voltage fast charging has been regarded as the exclusive configuration of electric sports cars since Porsche launched its first Taycan model with 800V high-voltage platform in 2019. However, at present, more and more new car-building forces and independent traditional car companies are betting on 800V high-voltage platform as a big way to solve the charging anxiety.

A simple search can find that currently equipped with 800V high-voltage platform models, there are Avita 11, polar fox Alpha S HI version, Guangzhou Automobile Eian AION V Plus, Xiaopeng G9 and so on; more individual models equipped with 800V high-voltage platform in the promotion, played a "charging 5 minutes, 200km range", "eliminate hybrid" and other slogans.

At present, the mainstream pure electric vehicle uses 400V platform, and the DC fast charging voltage is also about 400V. Through the physical formula P=UI (power = voltage * current), we can know that if we increase the DC fast charging voltage to about 800V, we can get more charging power when the charging current is constant.

In short, in the same time, the car with 800V high-voltage platform can be charged with more electricity than the model with 400V platform, so as to shorten the charging time. Therefore, the 800V high-voltage platform is also seen by independent new energy car companies as a good way to "think differently to ease the charging anxiety of car owners."

So, in the actual experience, the pure electric model with 800V high voltage platform is really as beautiful as the car company described?

"01" high voltage "overcharge", harsh conditions? For models equipped with 800V high-voltage platform, terminal salespeople must brag about their ultimate selling point of "charging for 5 minutes and driving for 200 kilometers", but what the salespeople will not say is that if the models want to achieve the ultimate high-voltage fast charging, there are certain prerequisites.

"in fact, in order to achieve the high-pressure and fast charging efficiency advertised by the government, it is usually necessary to use official overcharge piles." Zhang Yu (pseudonym), an electrical engineer at a new energy mainframe factory, said that the overcharged piles released by cars are often developed for 800V high-voltage platforms and have the characteristics of high adaptation and high power.

As for the fast charging effect of "charging for 5 minutes and driving range of 200 km" advertised by some 800V models, it is naturally the result measured on the official super charging pile. This also explains why new forces and traditional car companies almost always release super charging piles for high-pressure platforms when they release 800V high-voltage models.

If replaced by ordinary third-party public charging piles, 800V high-voltage models to achieve the official claimed fast charging effect, the conditions are much harsher. After all, the vast majority of domestic mainstream DC fast filling piles are developed for 400V platform models.

"it's not impossible to charge. 800V high voltage platforms are also compatible with 400V DC fast charging piles, but the charging voltage can not reach the 800V or higher required by the platform, and the charging efficiency is similar to that of ordinary 400V models." Zhang Yu said frankly that the DC fast filling pile built in the previous year or two could support a charging voltage of 200,000,750V.

As for the DC fast charging piles in the earlier layout, the charging voltage is even only 20000550V, which is far from being able to meet the overcharge voltage required by 800V high voltage platform models. The only one that can meet the demand of 800V high voltage charging is the 200001000V DC charging pile, which has been launched in the last year, which is rarely used in the industry.

So, can high-voltage models achieve the official fast charging effect as long as they find DC charging piles that support 800V high voltage? Not really, Zhang Yu pointed out, only talking about charging voltage, not charging current, is playing hooligans.

"even if it is the latest 20000V DC charging pile, it depends on the maximum charging power." For example, a single gun DC charging pile which can support up to 1000V voltage and maximum charging power 160kW, when charging at 400V demand voltage, roughly calculated, its maximum theoretical current is not more than 400A.

However, when the demand voltage is 800V, the theoretical maximum output current of the charging pile is not more than 200A. In other words, no matter how much voltage the vehicle needs to charge, the output charging power of the DC charging pile will not be greater than the maximum power. "if you want to achieve DC charging for 5 minutes and a range of 200km, the charging power must be at least 300kW."

As for some car companies, using automotive media to evaluate the charging efficiency of "boasted" 800V high-voltage platform models on third-party DC fast piles is still higher than 400V models, Zhang Yu stressed that similar evaluations do not talk about demand voltage or current, but only talk about the "blind method" of charging power.

Thus it can be seen that if consumers listen to the selling point of 800V high-voltage platform model "charging for 5 minutes and lasting 200 kilometers", and buy high-voltage platform models, after leaving the 4S store, they want to achieve the advertised fast charging effect, either look for the official layout of super charging piles, or wait for the market to force the charging industry to change.

Another "autopilot" behind the "02" gimmick, then, if you want to experience the "overcharging" pleasure of an 800V high-voltage platform, is it easy to wait for the super charging piles to be laid out by car companies? or is it easy to wait for the market to force the charging pile industry to change and to replace high-voltage high-power DC fast charging piles at charging stations?

To be honest, it's not easy.

First of all, car companies build piles, relying solely on the strength of mainframe factories, it is not an easy task to popularize high-pressure overfilled piles in a large area of major cities in China. However, bluffing gimmicks have to be done. In April this year, a new force in car building announced that it would take three years to lay 10000 super charging piles in China.

At first glance, the number of 10000 super-charging piles seems to be very large, but compared with the current number of public charging piles in China, 10000 super-charging piles also seem to be negligible.

According to the charging Alliance, as of July this year, the total number of public charging piles in the alliance reached 1.575 million, of which 684000 were DC.

Guolian Securities estimates that by 2025, the number of domestic charging piles is expected to reach 9.3 million. Obviously, if we only rely on the layout speed of thousands or tens of thousands of overcharging stations for several years, it will be very difficult for pure electric vehicles to have enough to eat.

Therefore, the way to experience the pleasure of "overcharging" in the short term can only be realized with the help of private capital and the power of charging enterprises to realize the iteration of charging piles from 400V platform to 800V high voltage and high power charging platform. Hard to understand? Never mind. In other words, is to allow charging station operators to replace high-voltage DC fast charging piles, is it dry or not?

"the charging station is not a charity. who will replace the piles of the latest technology because of a new technology iteration?" Talking about the iteration of DC charging piles, staff from several charging station operators in southern China have said that the company will not replace new piles because of the launch of 800V high-voltage models in the short term.

Among them, A Jie, the head of operation of a charging company in Shenzhen, further revealed that unless a new charging station is opened, it will be considered to "buy new rather than old" to adopt the latest high-voltage DC charging piles, the DC piles of 400V platforms at other sites will have to be in service for at least a few more years before they will be replaced.

"at present, the company still has more than half of the DC piles, and the highest voltage is only 550V, which was launched the year before last." After all, affected by the regional flow, a DC charging pile with a cost of 30,000 to 50,000 yuan usually takes 1 to 2 years to recover the cost, and then the profit return has to be considered.

Even if only upgrade the charging module inside the charging pile, so that it has a wider output voltage, greater charging power, the cost is not cheap. According to industry insiders, at present, the price of the mainstream wide-voltage 30kW charging module is often more than 2500 yuan.

Therefore, Ajie said frankly that it is impossible for charging station operators to upgrade and transform equipment rashly because of a new technology in the industry, regardless of hardware costs and profit targets. What is more, whether the charging stations can operate high-voltage and high-power super charging piles depends on the limitation of the load of their power grids.

"what's more, electric cars have sold well in the past year. At present, the supply of charging piles is less than the demand. The problem of" charging difficulty "is common in some first-tier cities. Sometimes car owners can charge their cars and burn incense. Who will criticize the old and new technologies used by charging piles?"

Because of this, Ajie said, the charging station naturally does not have the power and pressure of hardware and technology iteration, and the industry change is of course slow. Considering that the normal DC quick-filling piles have a service life of more than three years, it may take three or five years for most DC charging piles in the industry to iterate from 400V to 800V high voltage platform.

In other words, the 800V high-voltage platform models that consumers buy for the "overcharge" function are tantamount to models with a large number of sensors and cameras, but can only achieve L2-level auxiliary driving, and the so-called selling points are pure "futures".

"03" and "boarding" high voltage need "system engineering" and whether the future mainstream technical route of new energy vehicles is pure electricity or hybrid, in the field of energy replenishment of pure electric vehicles, there has always been a dispute over the technical route-whether the 800V high voltage platform is "overcharged" or the power exchange mode.

In order to "bet on the future", some consumers have chosen pure electric vehicles that can be changed or recharged, so why can't someone buy a high-voltage platform model that can achieve 800V "charging for 5 minutes and 200km" and is compatible with 400V platform charging at the same time?

Once three or five years later, most of the charging piles support 800V high voltage, high power charging, at this time to choose and buy the so-called "futures" products, is tantamount to walking in the forefront of most users. I am afraid that in a short period of three to five years, new technologies have been born in the new energy vehicle industry, making the "futures" purchased by users become backward products.

"before, the high voltage systems of pure electric vehicles were almost 400V, only because of the core components of electronic control, silicon-based IGBT generally could not withstand too high voltage, taking into account the tolerance of other components." Zhang Yu stressed that the shift from 400V to 800V high voltage platform is a "system engineering".

Although at present, the silicon-based IGBT can withstand more than 1000V high voltage, considering the characteristics of low wear and good high frequency, 800V high-voltage platform models generally use SiC (silicon carbide) MOS instead of silicon-based IGBT. "you know, SiC components are at least three times more expensive than ordinary silicon-based IGBT."

He joked that even if the 800V high-voltage platform could halve the working current of the vehicle, it would help to save wire and copper. But the saved wire and copper prices are not even enough to fill in the price difference between SiC and IGBT. "800V high-voltage platform can make vehicles lightweight, but reducing costs and increasing efficiency still have to play a question mark."

In addition, when the iteration of the vehicle battery package high voltage system is 800V, the vehicle matching motor, electric control, air conditioning system and so on need to be matched to 800V voltage to achieve the highest work efficiency and energy conversion efficiency.

Therefore, it is a big challenge for the whole vehicle parts supply chain, a large number of new components and electrical equipment need to run-in with the new technology platform, and the stability needs to be verified. At the same time, the cost of the supply chain will rise in the short term, which will eventually be reflected in the price.

Zhang Yu even revealed that in order to blindly "get on the bus" 800V high-voltage platform, some mainframe factories will even use "partial high-voltage" means, that is, parallel 800V batteries mixed with 400V platform motor, electric control, electrical way, to achieve high-voltage gimmick.

"does the 400V charging pile need to be boosted? the 800V battery is supplied to motors, electric controls and air conditioners, so you have to step down. I don't know how low the conversion rate is. Such a high-voltage platform is the most meaningless and deceiving people." He even pointed out that similar high-and low-voltage mash-up methods often put vehicles at risk.

[concluding remarks]

It is not difficult to see that in the long run, 800V high voltage platform is indeed another way of thinking to solve the battery life anxiety and charging anxiety of pure electric vehicles, but for now, in the stage of lack of matching charging hardware, new technology and supply chain is still in the "running-in" stage, consumers had better think twice before buying relevant models.

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