Which is the strongest 2017 charging pile market?

China Automobile Association data, China's new energy vehicles in 2016 exceeded 1.09 million, the world's share of more than 53%, 2017 production and sales exceeded 700,000 vehicles should be a high probability event, the world's leading position in new energy vehicles has been established, the national grid, special Calls, star charging and other enterprises have built a dense charging network, which has made the development of the industry more emboldened. The enormous value of charging networks for energy management has also begun to show up with the increase in electric vehicles.

From May 2014, when the State Grid Corporation of China opened the electric vehicle replacement and exchange facilities market, hundreds of companies have flooded into the “runway” for a time and experienced fierce competition for more than three years. By the end of 2017, most of the “delivery” had been shaken. By".

China Charge Union Statistics Latest Data

According to the latest statistical data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (abbreviation: Charging Alliance), there are currently 13 operators with relatively large scale (≥1000 charging piles), and the number of charging piles of each company is relatively different. Large, which ranks first in the number of special calls more than twice the national grid, accounting for almost 40% of the national market share, is also the current charging market, the most concerned about the company. Experts in the industry said that after experiencing an early crazy land grab, the focus of the entire industry chain has shifted from building piles to charging operations.

2017 was a year of rapid development in the field of new energy. The policy was favorable, the market became mature, and the technology became increasingly perfect. Several operators that were among the top players in the industry also achieved good results. To be able to operate in a scale, we will analyze the charging operations of the top 3 operators in several ways.

Charging pile size and charging pile equipment: The largest number of special calls, State Grid equipment basically rely on procurement

According to statistics from the China Charging Federation, special callers are currently the largest domestic charging operator, with the largest scale, operating nearly 100,000 charging piles on the line; its second-ranking country network is at the second place and operates more than 40,000 charging piles; Ranked third, more than 27,000 charging equipment terminals.

For the charging pile equipment, the State Grid is basically outsourcing, and currently at least 6-7 suppliers provide charging piles. This kind of equipment depends entirely on the way of procurement, which increases the operating costs to a certain extent, and the quality cannot be guaranteed. In contrast, special call charging piles are manufactured by the parent company, Tracht, which is the largest power equipment manufacturer in China. The core technology of the equipment is also in its own hands. Star charging charging piles are produced by Dehe. Both belong to Wanbang Group, and the charging equipment is sold externally in addition to its own use. This self-produced mode of special calls and star charging can not only reduce the cost of equipment construction, but also facilitate the subsequent operation and maintenance of the equipment, resulting in higher operational efficiency.

Charging method and charging experience: Scan code charging is the mainstream, special call experience is the best

In the charging mode, except for certain equipments of the State Grid, which are also charged by using a card, most of the charging piles are charged with scan codes as well as special calls and star charging, and there are independent APPs. The “e-charging” of the State Grid realizes interconnection and interoperability with mainstream operators such as special callers and stars, and at the same time, it is also renovating the card-charged charging points that have been invested in the early days; the “special incoming-call” APP for special calls is regarded as a model for interconnection and interoperability. , There are special tens of thousands of charging piles for their own calls, but also realize the interconnection with dozens of charging companies, there are also some humanized design, such as shaking the phone to find the charging pile, and then shake the navigation destination; Star charging APP is "star charging", which can be screened according to the charging pile type, etc. to ensure that the pile finding is more accurate. In addition, both the star charging and the special calling can achieve “remote charging”, which is a pleasant surprise. At present, all three operators have paid for paying Alipay, WeChat, UnionPay, etc., and they all have online navigation capabilities.

It is worth mentioning that special charging stations can also be used to share private stakes and build bridges between private charging stations and charging vehicles. This is a new attempt to share the economy.

Charging experience, the media has done a more objective evaluation, the State Grid charging pile has a slow charging speed, insert gun too heavy, easy to card line and other deficiencies, and operation and maintenance response is too slow, which is too many charging pile suppliers One of the drawbacks is that there are no uniform standards for related technical problems and equipment maintenance, and failures cannot be solved in time. Although it can meet the charging requirements, there are many drawbacks in the device design, and the overall experience is general.

It is more convenient for the stars to charge and use APP to find piles, but the design of the tip and charging screen of fast filling piles is not reasonable. In contrast, the stars charge a lot of lightly and slowly filling pile heads, and more than 95% are equipped with slow charging lines, the charging process is convenient, and the charging compatibility is very good.

Special calls because the number of charging piles is enough, easy to find, is a plus item. However, there is no power nameplate and display on the fast charge pile, and the power must be known through the “special call” APP when charging. Although there are many advantages for the charging stand, for example, it does not occupy space and has a high safety factor, but it is easily dirty. However, the overall charging process is relatively smooth, continuous non-card, charging speed, it can be considered to make up for some deficiencies.

Charging pile layout field: State Grid high speed, special call public, stars charge private

At present, as the main force for the construction of charging piles, the State Grid has focused on building a high-speed, fast-charging network of “nine vertical, nine horizontal and two-ring,” and has built more than 50,000 charging piles and 150 cities in series to ensure the long-distance power supply for electric vehicle owners. Demand is the guarantee for long-distance driving by electric vehicle owners.

Special calls focused on the construction of public stations. The data show that special calls have been established through joint ventures with local governments and industrial chain companies, and 83 subsidiaries have been established. The establishment of station sites focuses on government agencies, transportation hubs, large enterprises, and technology. Parks, commercial complexes and other parking lots are charging guarantees for public travel.

Star charging is to choose private pile as the main field, through the free security piles, crowd-raising charging piles, shared charging piles, network sales of electric piles and other forms, to meet the needs of car owners with the pile. Compared to the public charging pile, the private pile can facilitate the charging of the owner.

In terms of layout, the three companies have their own emphasis and complement each other. There is not much difference between the advantages and disadvantages. At most, the number of charging piles is much.

Upgrading: Charging technology is developing rapidly, and upgrading should be considered

Regardless of the scale and technology of charging piles, our country has taken the lead in the world. However, the development of technology and the formulation of standards all indicate the arrival of technical iterations of charging piles. In particular, during the investigation, the author saw the charging pile built several years ago by the State Grid. The interface between the operation and maintenance of the charging pile was not uniform, and the internal components were aging. All of these caused inconvenience to the user. In a long-term view, the charging pile was close. Abandoned. However, due to the inconsistency of standards due to the purchase of products from many companies, upgrading becomes difficult. And from the information seen on the labels of the charging piles, many manufacturers have ceased to exist and it is easy to talk about how to reform.

Although the investment cost of modular products for special calls is a bit large, the upgrading is relatively simple. The charging piles do not have to be disassembled, no power is cut off, and no modification is required. A box change module is unplugged and the factory is rebuilt. The standardized module is in the factory. The realization of batch transformation should also not be a problem.

During the investigation, the author also saw a lot of local branded charging piles, all sorts of things, and many outdoor wind and sun rays have changed beyond recognition. It is inevitably a bit worrying to think about the upgrading of such a huge charging system in the country. Charging pile enterprises can not only think of today's construction, but also consider the future upgrade, otherwise it will cause great waste of resources and user experience behind.

Revenue Operation: None of the Total Profits

At present, no operator has dared to say that it has been fully profitable, and most of the charging pile operators are losing money. Although industry experts have stated that the automotive charging industry will have a more mature business model in the next year or two, before this time, charging and service fees are still the main profit points of the operators. Once the price difference between electricity and service fees, such as special calls on the charge of 1.9 million degrees, the charging capacity of the stars charging 700,000 degrees, if you charge 0.5 yuan per service fee, special calls a day income of 950,000, stars charging income 350,000 , Together with the subsidy to be landed later, it can reduce operating costs to some extent.

In view of the fact that the special caller’s daily income is large, but the operation of more than 90,000 charging piles, together with a total of 190,000 piles that have not yet been put into operation, has only reached the inflection point of profit as the industry leader and has not achieved a large scale. Profitability, which is also one of the reasons for this year's special calls to significantly slow the pace of construction. Although the public charging pile market needs scale support to reach a balance point, long-term investment and lack of profit are not optimistic for private enterprises.

Value-added service development: Pile advertisements, car sales, and leasing have been gradually realized

Although the current operation of charging piles does not achieve profitability, it still attracts many companies to enter the competition. In the final analysis, it still values the possibility of future value-added services. At the "Second China Electric Vehicle Charge and Replacement Service Innovation Summit Forum" held recently, the special call chairman Yu Dexiang proposed the establishment of a "charging network" to bring out many years of experience to share with everyone and establish a correct relationship together. Car charging development route to avoid detours. The future energy management involved in the charging network, the direct application of photovoltaic direct current in electric vehicles, charging peak-shaving and filling valleys, etc. are also considered to be the strategic layout of special value-added services for future charging operations. After all, the scale of “network” ratio Separate piles make it easier to develop more business models.

With the development of the Internet, operators are exploring profit-making methods other than charging services, such as advertising, insurance, finance, car sales, and transportation rental that use charging posts as entrances.

Among them, pile advertising is the most profitable mode that most operators can easily achieve. Advertising revenue is realized by installing LCD screens or advertising light boxes on charging piles. But this requires a certain amount of charging piles and sufficient user resources. At present, the national grid, special calls, and stars should be the operators that are most hopeful to achieve profitability through pile advertisements.

Charging pile insurance service is the first mode tried by the State Grid. Through cooperation with the insurance industry, the State Grid guarantees charging safety for customers by giving way to charging pile insurance. For the attempt to sell cars, State Grid launched the “State Grid Mall,” which includes sales of electric vehicle business. Special calls have developed the "Telecar" APP to realize the extension of industries such as car sales, car rental, and time-sharing lease.

Big data development and operation: The value of big data needs to be further explored

In addition to these simple-added value-added services, big data in the automotive industry is the most promising area in the industry. Under the blessing of the Internet, the charging network and the car network are integrated, and the charging pile will become an interface that is full of possibilities. Operators connect vehicles, people and energy through charging piles, and various data will be extended to more business models through analysis. For example, to achieve big data repair, maintenance, to provide users with accurate route recommendations, shopping recommendations, and information on the surrounding shopping malls. Of course, all this also requires a charging grid with a sufficient size of charging network for support. At present, it seems that only operators such as Special Calls, State Grid, Star Charging, and Putian have hope.

As a central state-owned enterprise, the State Grid is responsible for the macro industry development tasks. At present, the State Grid has initially established a unified and open smart vehicle networking platform. It has achieved data interconnection and interconnection with 10 domestic operators, accumulatively accessing 168,000 charging piles, 17,000 electric vehicles, and over 600,000 registered users, making it the world's largest number of access charging piles and the most extensive coverage. The largest service platform for charging capacity.

In 2016, special callers released the big data cloud platform of "Charging network, car networking, and the Internet." Currently, nearly 1,000 enterprises and institutions have realized data interconnection and information exchange. Among them, Beiqi New Energy, Yutong Bus, and Zhongtai have been integrated. Automobiles and other large car companies and Guoxuan, China Aviation Lithium, billion latitude lithium and other power battery companies, and initially realized the "big data repair" function, cloud data value-added services have begun to show results.

Star Charging also established its own large database, including collection and analysis of charging pile data, vehicle data, energy data, and consumption behavior data. In the future, as the number of charging piles continues to increase, the big data charged by the stars will be applied to more Many fields.

to sum up:

In general, in 2017, the country’s entire new energy vehicle charging field has achieved fruitful results. With the active efforts of major operators, China has built the world's largest charging network and laid the foundation for future industry's rapid growth. According to the overall analysis of the operation of the charging piles, the special accountant who takes the top position is indispensable to the mission, and the operation performance in all aspects is good. Of course, there are still various problems to be solved.

It is believed that in 2018, with the deployment of subsidy policies for charging infrastructure around the country, the first echelon operators consisting of the State Grid, special calls, star charging, Putian, etc. will burst out with even more vitality. However, it is difficult for a market of nearly 100 billion to rely on only one operator to meet the needs of the entire market. Experts predict that the greater the market development space, the more fierce the competition will be, and the industry will hardly avoid reshuffling, and will eventually leave strong financial strength. Large-scale, high-quality businesses, there will be no lack of ecological companies Unicorn.