Mobile charging robot: the next trend in the field of electric vehicle charging and swapping?

Mobile charging robot: the next trend in the field of electric vehicle charging and swapping?

When you are searching for available charging stations in a large commercial center parking lot, or when you encounter charging queues on highways during holidays, why not look for nearby mobile charging services? You can quickly place an order by scanning the QR code or searching for a mini program. A mobile charging robot with intelligent driving function will come to charge your tram in no time.

According to a reporter's investigation, after charging stations and battery swapping stations, mobile charging robots have become a new investment direction in the charging and swapping market, with more than 40 related companies rushing in to try to open up a new world.

Fixed charging and swapping facilities have shortcomings

According to data from the Ministry of Public Security, as of the end of June 2024, the number of new energy vehicles in China reached 24.72 million; According to the statistics of the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, the cumulative number of charging infrastructure is 10.243 million units, and the calculated pile to vehicle ratio is roughly 1:2.4. In terms of quantity alone, China has built the world's largest charging infrastructure system with the largest radiation area and the most comprehensive service vehicles. From the perspective of pile to vehicle ratio, China is also in an absolute leading position in the world.

However, there are still problems with China's charging infrastructure, such as inadequate layout, inadequate structure, unbalanced services, non-standard operation, insufficient overall planning, imbalanced proportion of fast and slow charging stations, insufficient operation and maintenance capabilities of charging facilities, low utilization rate of charging stations in remote areas, and insufficient supply of charging services in hotspot areas and holidays.

From the perspective of the target of a 1:1 ratio of charging stations to vehicles, the ideal goal of equipping a new energy vehicle with one charging station has not yet been achieved.

More importantly, the construction speed of fixed charging and swapping facilities cannot keep up with the growth rate of new energy vehicle sales. According to data recently released by the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, the increase in charging infrastructure in the first half of this year was 1.647 million units, a year-on-year increase of 14.2%; The incremental ratio of pile trucks is 1:3. According to statistics released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of new energy vehicles in China reached 4.944 million units in the first half of 2024, a year-on-year increase of 32%. Obviously, the growth rate of cars is significantly faster than the speed of pile construction.

Under normal circumstances, with the continuous high growth of new energy vehicle sales, it is reasonable for the construction of charging and swapping facilities to keep up or even moderately advance. Why is there a lag?