This is conditioned by China's famous development plans, so it is not surprising that there is a large number of manufacturers of various types of electric vehicles, as well as an increase in electric cars on China's roads.
However, for the introduction of new technology, it is necessary to build the supporting infrastructure and services for battery charging.
Back in 2019, the law stipulated that in the next 2 years, all newly registered or replaced taxis in Beijing must be fully electric vehicles.
Following this news, we want to show you how it is done in China, how taxis work and how their batteries are charged, and what chargers for private vehicles look like.
See what an average place to recharge your batteries looks like.
In this particular place there are 11 fast chargers for 22 vehicles that can be charged simultaneously.
Within a radius of about 1 km from this place, there are 2 other places of similar size for recharging electric car batteries!
Apart from these public charging points, almost every building has its own chargers, some more, some less.
Charging prices vary depending on what time of day you charge your vehicle and where you charge it and whose chargers you use. In Josip's case, it is cheapest to charge at night, when a 100% full battery costs you about $7-8 (for approximately 450km of driving). However, it is not much more expensive during the day either.
Development of electric vehicles through taxi associations
China entered the project of developing and introducing electric cars into general use through the taxi association.City by city each passed laws so that newly registered or replaced taxis must be all-electric vehicles.
Today we have come to the point where Hainan (the province where Mr. Josip lives) will be the first province to ban the sale of fossil fuel vehicles by 2030.
Therefore, not only taxis, but all vehicles must satisfy zero emission of harmful gases!
The solution mainly used by taxi associations today is battery swapping stations, which reduces the dependence on high voltage fast charging stations.
Taxi associations generally use the same vehicle manufacturer that has its own battery swapping technology.
This technology allows drivers to replace their car's battery in record time, at low cost and with maximum convenience.
Here are a few reasons why we think this technology could play a big role in the future of electric vehicles, especially if there is standardization of technologies.< br>
Charging time
Changeover time is very fast – these stations complete the battery change process in around one minute – perfect for taxis whose earnings depend on time. If we compare the charging speed with fast charging, which currently lasts up to 30 minutes for almost 80% of the battery, you understand the advantage.
Drive-through - replacement without leaving the vehicle
These stations have a front entrance, rear exit, which means that driving is like a car wash. You get on the platform by car and get off the platform without getting out of the vehicle.
Simple payment
As with most businesses and services in China, payment is very simplified. The driver doesn't even have to take out his phone – the car's license plates are identified upon entry, and the corresponding fees are automatically charged to the driver's account.
Price
This service is very popular thanks in large part to its price - the average replacement costs about 55 yuan (which means about 7 euros), to fully charge the entire car - replace the batteries (about 400km of driving).
Smarter battery management
The primary use of these stations is (as you may have guessed) to replace dead batteries in cars with fully charged batteries. In addition, the stations will also manage batteries, charging, switching and removing faulty ones when necessary, all the while storing this information in the Cloud where it can be used to inform users via an app.
Intelligent application
In the new electric vehicle industry, no service is complete without its applications. In this case, the app informs users not only of their distance to nearby stations and how to get there, but also real-time data on the number of available batteries and estimated waiting time - the nearest station is not necessarily the best option.
Watch our video to see how battery replacement looks like on a taxi in China.
As you can see in the video, the car replaced the battery and now has a 100% full battery in 93sec. which is faster than the classic refueling from empty to full tank at an average station.
If you are a taxi association and you want to switch to new technology, to make your vehicles electric contact us.
We will help you to find a suitable station for replacing and charging batteries.
These stations can be combined with solar panels, so your savings would be even greater!
And that's not all, today in China there are also electric cargo vehicles that have the same quick battery replacement.
The principle is a little different since the batteries weigh 2-3t and are removed with a crane from above, but the replacement speed is still very high, about 5 minutes.
