On January 4th, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration and other departments jointly issued the Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Integration and Interaction between New Energy Vehicles and the Power Grid (hereinafter referred to as the 'Implementation Opinions'), which is of great significance for supporting the large-scale development of the new energy vehicle industry, the construction of new energy systems and new power systems.

Vehicle network interaction refers to the interaction of energy and information between new energy vehicles and the power grid through charging and discharging devices. From the perspective of energy flow, it can be divided into intelligent and orderly charging and bidirectional charging and discharging. The Implementation Opinions specify the development goals of vehicle network interaction: by 2025, a preliminary vehicle network interaction technology standard system will be established; By 2030, China's vehicle network interaction will achieve large-scale application, comprehensively promote intelligent and orderly charging, and new energy vehicles will become an important component of the electrochemical energy storage system, striving to provide the power system with bidirectional flexible regulation capabilities of tens of millions of kilowatts.

Du Zhongming, Director of the Electric Power Department of the National Energy Administration, said that it is conducive to improving the access capacity of the distribution network to large-scale new energy vehicles and their charging and swapping facilities, thereby supporting the development of the new energy vehicle industry, stimulating the regulatory potential of new energy vehicles as flexible energy storage resources, promoting technological progress in various links such as vehicles, piles, and power grids, and driving the transformation and upgrading of the industry.

In addition, the Implementation Opinions also specify six key tasks, including the research and development of core technologies such as long-life batteries and high-frequency charging and discharging batteries, as well as the optimization and improvement of supporting electricity prices and market mechanisms, striving to fully implement the peak valley time of use electricity price for residential charging by the end of 2025. At the same time, a number of demonstration projects will also be built, striving to build more than 5 demonstration cities and more than 50 bidirectional charging and discharging demonstration projects by the end of 2025, and form replicable and promotable experience models through demonstration.

Car Network Interaction

New energy vehicle to grid transformation 'mobile power bank'

What is 'Car Network Interaction'? What is the role of car network interaction?

The 'car' in the car network interaction refers to electric vehicles, 'grid' refers to the power grid, and 'interaction' refers to the interaction of energy and information between electric vehicles and the power grid.

Power grid enterprises use incentive measures such as peak and valley electricity prices to guide car owners to charge during low electricity load periods and discharge into the grid during peak load periods, thereby turning electric vehicles into 'mobile power banks' of the grid and enhancing the grid's peak shaving ability. This can not only enable car owners to obtain corresponding benefits, reduce electricity costs, but also alleviate the power supply pressure on the grid and improve power supply reliability.

Charge discharge price difference

New energy vehicle users can benefit from it

The National Energy Administration will carry out large-scale pilot demonstrations of vehicle network interaction in relatively mature areas such as the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing Tianjin Hebei Shandong, and Sichuan Chongqing. Currently, many regions in China have begun to promote vehicle network interaction.

According to the latest released policy, new and updated official vehicles in Anhui Province will use new energy vehicles, which are expected to participate in vehicle network interaction first. The difference in charging and discharging electricity prices per kilowatt hour has reached 0.9 yuan.

Dong Xiaotian, Director of the Marketing Department of State Grid Hefei Power Supply Company: Currently, we are considering using public vehicles as the main option. Public vehicles do not need electricity from around 7 pm to 8 am the next day. However, during the tight seasons of summer and winter, our power grid is also tight. We use electric vehicles to interact with the power grid and discharge electricity from 7 pm to 12 pm, and then use the low time of 0 am to 8 am to charge official vehicles.

In Haizhu District, Guangzhou, the first integrated intelligent supercharging station for optical storage, charging, and discharging in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has recently been completed and put into operation. This super charging station can use new energy vehicles as large mobile 'power banks' and charge the charging station in reverse through the bidirectional charging piles in the station yard. Operators and car owners can also benefit from the difference in charging and discharging electricity prices, helping the power grid to reduce peak load and stabilize electricity load.

Associate Professor Pei Mingyang from the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering at South China University of Technology: The profit model of charging stations is relatively single. If vehicle network interaction technology is integrated, it can not only profit from the user side, but also have a portion of profits from the power grid side.

In an underground parking lot in a residential area in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 40 sets of orderly charging devices for electric vehicles have been officially launched. The charging piles are equipped with intelligent IoT meter orderly charging modules, which can achieve dynamic control of electric vehicle charging time and power. Car owners can enjoy discounted charging prices by scanning the QR code on their mobile phones to book an orderly charging amount and departure time.

Bidirectional charging and discharging

Improving the efficiency of electric vehicle battery usage

Many new energy vehicle owners told reporters that participating in car network interaction mainly considers two factors: electricity price benefits and vehicle battery life. Beijing, Jiangsu and other places have started pilot projects.

In Beijing, the first car network interactive demonstration station has been put into commercial operation. New energy vehicle owners can choose to charge at home and discharge during office hours to obtain electricity price benefits.

Beijing new energy vehicle owners: On normal working days, with deep participation, they can discharge approximately 35 kWh of electricity. My car's battery capacity is 65 kWh, which is about 400 cycles over 8 years and 150000 kilometers. However, my battery discharge capacity can reach 1000 to 1500 cycles. In fact, I spent a lot of money on this battery, but I only used about 40% of the cycles.

Wang Mingcai, Senior Manager of Mobile Energy Storage at State Grid Smart Car Networking Technology Co., Ltd.: Currently, our domestic batteries can support a range of 500000 kilometers, while our private cars have an average range of 200000 kilometers, which is sufficient. Therefore, there is still a considerable amount of surplus capacity that can be used for bidirectional charging and discharging applications. If the price difference per kilowatt hour can reach 2 yuan or more, I think the level of user participation will be higher.

In Wuxi, Jiangsu, the largest reverse charging test in China has recently been completed. The reverse charging power of 50 new energy vehicles reached nearly 2000 kilowatts, and the test lasted for 30 minutes. The reverse discharge to the grid reached nearly 1000 degrees, which can meet the normal daily electricity consumption of 133 households. Car owners who participate in this reverse charging response can receive a 3x charging point reward, which is a cumulative charging limit of 3000 kWh.

Experts say that there is currently a lack of unified technical standards for car network interaction. Although many small-scale pilot projects and verifications have been carried out in various regions, most of them determine corresponding product standards based on their respective application needs. The mode and implementation level of car network interaction also vary.

Niu Rongyi, a technical expert in charging facilities at Nanrui Group: Currently, the construction of the vehicle network interaction technology standard system in China is accelerating, involving charging and discharging equipment and vehicle technical specifications, safety protection during the charging process, and information security. We have validated some key technologies and piloted some devices in different scenarios. In the near future, it is fully possible to scale up promotion for private car users.