China’s public charger infrastructure network is the largest in the world, with over 1 million chargers—51% of the global total – and a total power capacity of 56 gigawatts as of 2022. Public chargers in China are disproportionately concentrated in developed cities, however, with the top 15 cities accounting for 57% of the country’s total public charger stock.
The ICCT.org
I saw a bulletin on TRTworld yesterday with a chap telling of his experience driving an ev in China; as the battery began to run out the driver selected the nearest charging point - one among dozens - drove in to the fully automated station where a gaggle of robots lifted the depleted battery out of the car and fitted a fresh unit within five minutes: no fuss. How far ahead of the Western world are they in regard to the future of driving?
Yeah, they've stolen a march on us with EV technology in general. They play a long game, the Chinese, whilst British investors are only interested in a fast return. Plus you can see, even on here, there are plenty of change-resistant folk holding us back.
However, I think they've dropped the ball on the whole "battery swap station" concept. Fair play to Nio for taking the risks and trying it - and I wish them well, but I can't see it working, to be honest. Even assuming there's no queue and you can just rock-up at the charging station, it's going to take about 5 minutes. On top off that, you have the time to divert off your route to go to the swap station, and the time to get back on to it again. Sure, in some cases, you might be lucky enough to have one right on your route, but I don't think we can bank on that. So we're already pretty close to the sort of time you'd spend charging on a fast charger anyway.
On top of that, you'd have the cost of that infrastructure - which would ultimately be borne by the end user, who would effectively be leasing the battery as well as paying for the infrastructure. The swap stations would need a prodigious amount of power laid on, if they are to maintain their 5 minute charging times. They'll either need to store a lot of batteries for each model supported, or they're going to have to charge the next one bloody quick!
And of course, swap stations would be manufacturer-specific, so you would need huge numbers of them - a bit like having different petrol stations for Fords, Peugeots, Mercedes, etc!
My gut feeling, therefore, is that plug-in charging is going to win this particular technology race. It's always going to be easier to get the electricity to the car than to get the car to the swap station, and EV fast-charging times are coming down all the time.
The main advantage, I think, would be watching the absolute apoplexy showfrom NutJob, if they got planning permission to build a tin hut full of lovely lithium ion batteries next door to his house...
