What are the concerns of new energy vehicle owners for long-distance self driving during holidays?

Naturally, it's due to range anxiety and charging difficulties.

Compared to traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles have more environmentally friendly, energy-saving, and economical characteristics, but charging is an important bottleneck that restricts their development. Building charging stations is a solution to the pain points of new energy vehicle charging, but it is influenced by various factors such as owners, operators, property management, and the power grid. Although the country has accelerated the construction of charging stations, with the increasing number of new energy vehicle consumers, users often encounter problems such as inability to find charging stations, long waiting times, and difficulty in accessing charging stations in daily use. This is a major pain point that troubles new energy vehicle users. So, can mobile charging truly solve the pain points of charging new energy vehicles?

1. Examples of mobile charging technology

Previously, many netizens expressed that if new energy vehicles were to be able to run out of battery like smartphones, they could simply rent a shared power bank nearby to continue charging, which may effectively alleviate the range anxiety of car owners. In fact, as early as 2017, NIO had already launched a similar car charging device - NIOPower charging vehicles, and has built thousands of battery swapping stations since April 2018. After several years of development, mobile charging devices for new energy vehicles have become increasingly valued, and power grids and car companies are actively researching and developing similar products.

In 2019, Tesla launched its mobile charging device - the Megapack mobile energy storage system. This mobile energy storage system adopts lithium-ion battery technology, which can store a large amount of electricity and can be moved anywhere for charging when needed. Such 'power banks' can be installed on the power generation or user side to assist power plants, factories, households, and other units in storing or backup electricity, or they can be installed on the grid side to assist in peak load regulation. At present, Megapack mobile energy storage systems have been applied in many places, such as backup energy storage in power grids in Australia, Puerto Rico, and other places.

In May 2022, Guoxuan High tech independently developed and produced the Yijia Electric Intelligent Mobile Energy Storage Charging Station, which is the company's * * To C Intelligent Mobile Energy Storage Charging Product. This product can be used as both an energy storage power station and a mobile charging station. It charges electric vehicles at night and during the day, reducing the electricity load on the grid and arbitrage through peak and valley electricity prices. This product has a small volume, easy layout, and multiple scenarios, which is conducive to making up for the shortage of future charging stations.

In June 2022, EV Safe Charge, a supplier of flexible electric vehicle (EV) charging technology, launched the mobile electric vehicle charging robot ZiGGY, which can be summoned to the electric vehicle through mobile applications or in car entertainment systems, and then arrive at the vehicle's parking space to prepare a reserved charging position. ZiGGY can return to its base for charging through the power grid, batteries, solar energy, or a combination of these. If there is no available or unnecessary infrastructure on site, ZiGGY can also be chosen for remote charging. The emergence of ZiGGY brings mobile charging services to parking facilities, shopping and entertainment centers, hotels, fleet operators, and homeowners, overcoming the limitations of fixed charging stations and eliminating the need for expensive electricity infrastructure.

2. Advantages of mobile charging technology

The advantage of mobile charging lies in its flexibility, which can solve various problems faced by new energy vehicles when charging. Traditional charging technology requires the construction of a large number of charging piles, and the construction of charging piles in urban areas is difficult, and also involves various issues such as cost, efficiency, and maintenance. Mobile charging technology, on the other hand, requires on-board or portable charging devices to provide charging services for new energy vehicles.

On the one hand, it can achieve 24/7 service, allowing users not to worry about not being able to find a charging station or waiting for too long. On the other hand, mobile charging can also flexibly respond to the charging needs of different users, providing varying degrees of charging services based on the user's driving distance and time, thereby allowing users to enjoy a more convenient charging experience. This flexible feature also enables mobile charging technology to meet the different charging needs of users and improve the user experience of new energy vehicles.

3. The difficulty of popularizing mobile charging

Firstly, mobile charging technology requires a large number of charging devices to provide charging services. In the case of a large coverage area of mobile charging services, it is necessary to increase the number of devices to meet the needs of users, which not only increases costs, but also puts higher requirements on the maintenance and management of charging devices. Secondly, the charging speed of mobile charging technology is limited by charging devices and battery technology, which cannot meet the pursuit of certain users for charging speed, The service scope of mobile charging technology is limited by operators. Different mobile charging operators cover different regions, so charging services may not be available in certain areas, which can affect the user experience and the popularity of new energy vehicles. In addition, the price of mobile charging services may also be relatively high, which may lead some users to choose other cheaper charging methods, thereby limiting the promotion and popularization of mobile charging technology.

Mobile charging technology can solve the charging pain points in some application scenarios, but currently there are not many mobile charging stations available on the market, and there are certain challenges to overcome in terms of popularization. However, the editor believes that with the addition of more new energy vehicle users, mobile charging stations will definitely have their own market. After all, the number of electric vehicle users is constantly increasing, and fixed charging stations cannot fully meet consumer needs. As an auxiliary charging device, mobile charging has its own value!