But does the village really need so many charging stations?, Various policies support the development of new energy vehicles and charging stations in rural areas | Zhejiang Province | Automobile

Recently, Zhejiang Province issued the Action Plan for Improving the Network System of High Quality Charging Infrastructure and Promoting the Rural Development of New Energy Vehicles. Among them, the construction of urban and rural charging infrastructure is one of the key points. By 2025, Zhejiang Province will have built more than 2.3 million charging stations, with no less than 900000 in rural areas, to meet the charging needs of over 4 million new energy vehicles, and form a 5-minute urban and half hour urban and rural charging circle. Earlier, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Charging Infrastructure and Better Supporting the Rural Revitalization of New Energy Vehicles. This is the first programmatic document in China that focuses on promoting charging stations to rural areas. The Implementation Opinions propose to moderately advance the construction of charging infrastructure, make up for the shortcomings in charging infrastructure construction, and achieve full coverage of charging stations in counties and villages, as well as charging stations in townships. Charging stations going to rural areas are constantly accelerating. However, in the specific implementation process of policies, the implementation of charging stations in rural areas has not been smooth sailing, and still faces difficulties such as profitability, low usage rate, and difficult operation and maintenance. Some people have also raised the question of whether rural areas really need more charging stations? Is it necessary to address the occasional charging needs of a small number of villagers after such a great deal of effort?

State Grid Wuxi Power Supply Company has put into operation a charging and swapping integrated station in Shengtang Lexiang City, Huishan District. Respondents provide pictures

How big is the rural charging market?

"There may be more people looking for charging stations in the village than expected," said Jiang Linlin, Deputy Director of the Marketing Department of State Grid Jiashan County Power Supply Company, after meeting the reporter. He showed a set of data to the reporter, and as of the end of June 2023, a total of 9412 new energy vehicles were registered in Jiashan County, including 9032 small cars, an increase of 814.67% compared to the end of 2020. In the first half of this year alone, 2168 new energy vehicles were newly registered, accounting for 23.03% of the total number of registered vehicles in the county, and the development is quite rapid. Where there is a car, there is a demand, and the demand is always diverse. Jiang Linlin gave himself an example, saying, "Many of my friends and I drive the Wuling Hongguang, which is small and has low range. Sometimes when we go to a town or a remote village, we may not be able to come back.". Once, he went to Jiaxing with his family for a trip, and on the way back, he took a detour to Xitang Town for dinner. When he arrived at Xitang, the range of the car was almost at its bottom. Fortunately, he found a charging station in the village to recharge. In Jiang Linlin's view, charging stations in rural areas have both demand and diverse usage scenarios. He asked in response that since last year, State Grid Wuxi Power Supply Company has put into operation 16 fast charging piles in Taoyuan Village, Yangshan Town, Huishan District, with good operational results. Photo by Zhu Lingjun

How to build charging stations in the village?

Is it difficult to construct rural charging stations? For individuals, the difficulty is not significant. Individuals applying for charging station services require identification documents, purchase vouchers, proof of parking space ownership, and proof of property consent for construction. In Wuxi, in order to simplify the process, a capacity shortage acceptance service has been opened. You can first apply with your ID card and complete the relevant information during the on-site inspection process to install. The entire process generally does not exceed one week. "In rural areas, if there is an independent parking space, it will be even simpler," Qian Jia, Director of the Marketing Department of State Grid Wuxi Power Supply Company, told reporters. From January to July this year, Wuxi Power Supply Company connected a total of 31000 households' charging stations to meter boxes, of which 21000 were located in rural areas. Occasionally, there are exceptions. For example, Li Ranfeng was deeply impressed. They once installed charging stations for a villager living on the mountain, and the entire installation process lasted for nearly half a year. "His family lives on the mountain and has no power supply. We can only pull the cable from the bottom of the mountain and connect the transformer to the mountain, which is very complicated." Li Ranfeng said, "The installation of the charging station involves multiple aspects.". For example, relevant cables passing through the road require consultation with the Road Political Consultative Conference, and in case of excavation, compensation may be required. In contrast, the construction of public charging stations faces more complex problems. The construction of public charging stations in rural areas involves multiple aspects such as planning, land use, electricity, and operation and maintenance. It requires coordination and joint efforts from all parties, and is not as simple as building a public charging site just by looking at available land. Jiang Linlin joked with reporters that in the past, in order to build charging stations, they once "competed for territory" with the elderly people who danced square dancing. Generally speaking, charging stations need to be built in conjunction with parking lot construction and will be located in bustling areas of the village, such as squares or near party and mass service centers. Once, they went to the village to investigate the situation, but the village did not support it. The reason given was that the unattractive charging station would affect the appearance of the village and occupy the place for square dancing in the village. Experts have pointed out that the primary threshold for bringing charging piles to rural areas is the land problem. Currently, many rural lands are collectively owned, and land use needs to be negotiated and resolved by all parties. Policy support is also needed to include collective land in the construction of charging piles. Fortunately, with the increasing popularity of new energy vehicles, the importance of charging stations as supporting infrastructure is also increasing. The previously released Implementation Opinions proposed that county and township governments should plan for charging infrastructure; At the same time, local governments are required to introduce special policies to support the construction of rural charging infrastructure, including subsidy policies and various aspects such as land and electricity use, and to do a good job in connecting with national spatial planning, distribution network planning, etc. Nowadays, the enthusiasm of the village is also increasing, and many rural areas consider charging stations and reserve space when formulating tourism and other development plans. Many villages in Jiashan have taken the initiative to seek cooperation with Jiang Linlin in promoting the work of connecting charging piles to every village.

Heat map of the distribution of charging stations in Jiashan County. Respondents provide pictures

How can the difficulty of making profits for enterprises be alleviated?

Data shows that in the first half of this year, the number of newly installed private charging stations in rural areas of Zhejiang Province showed an explosive growth. From January to June, private charging stations in rural areas of Zhejiang Province added 174200 newly registered households, a year-on-year increase of 165.26%. As of the end of June this year, there were a total of 435200 registered rural private charging stations in Zhejiang Province, accounting for more than half of the total number of private charging stations in the province. At the same time, public charging stations are also accelerating their migration to rural areas. Wuxi is the earliest city to launch new energy vehicles in rural areas, and has simultaneously improved the layout of charging stations in rural areas. In addition, Shaoxing is promoting the connection of public charging stations to every village, and it is expected to complete the distribution of charging facilities in all townships and streets by the end of this year; Jiaxing Jiashan aims to achieve moderate advancement and suitable charging stations, and plans to build at least one fast and one slow charging station in each village. It is expected to have charging stations in each village by the end of September this year. Not long ago, Wenzhou Dongtou officially announced the completion of charging infrastructure construction in 65 administrative villages under its jurisdiction, taking the lead in achieving access to charging stations in every village. However, behind the explosive demand, there are also hidden concerns. For example, the balance between private piles and public piles is difficult to grasp. A company has conducted research and found that in the Yangtze River Delta region, 70% of rural users have the conditions for home charging, and their charging enthusiasm is also high. Most rural residents have one household, one courtyard, and have the physical conditions to build their own charging stations. The average household power distribution capacity reaches 2.7 kVA, which can fully meet the electricity demand of slow charging stations. In such a situation, private charging stations become the preferred option for slow charging, while public charging stations are not only difficult to achieve profitability, but sometimes even the funds for daily operation and maintenance are difficult to guarantee. As early as 2021, Jiashan had carried out related work on charging stations entering villages in conjunction with rural revitalization, and also carried out some pilot projects. "But at that time, there was almost no charging capacity, the efficiency was very poor, and there was no one to operate and maintain it. If it broke down, there was no one to repair it, and over time it was put on hold," said Jiang Linlin. The reporter found that currently, State Grid is the main force in the construction of rural public charging stations. The difficulty of making profits is a concern for more charging station operators when entering the rural market. The relevant staff of the special call told reporters that the layout of rural charging stations is scattered, the scale of single stations is small, and the installation of charging equipment in the later stage is difficult, and the operation and maintenance costs are high. For enterprises, it is difficult to form large-scale operations and the investment return rate is relatively poor. During the interview, several interviewees expressed that homestays are a suitable entry point for specific scenarios of rural charging stations, and are currently one of the few profitable rural charging scenarios. For example, guests of homestays who drive new energy vehicles generally have a need for charging, which has a high-frequency characteristic. Moreover, charging piles, as the infrastructure of homestays, have unparalleled advantages in attracting passenger flow. At present, some companies have begun to explore this market. In June of this year, "Zhidian Lai" officially launched the "One City, One City, One Hundred Stations" initiative, plann

State Grid Jiashan County Power Supply Company has developed a split type mobile charging station, which is currently in operation in various villages under the jurisdiction of Huimin Street, effectively alleviating the charging difficulties of local new energy vehicles. Respondents provide pictures

How to ensure the safety of the power grid?

In the long run, the large-scale migration of charging piles to rural areas and villages also requires simultaneous efforts to consolidate and improve rural power grids. "Whether it's new energy vehicles going to rural areas or charging piles going to rural areas, the carrying capacity of the power grid is the foundation that needs to be ensured." Qian Jia pointed out that since the beginning of this year, State Grid Wuxi Power Supply Company has invested and constructed a total of 431 projects in rural power grids, involving 294 million yuan in funds. He explained that new energy vehicles have suddenly shown an explosive growth trend in the past two years, coupled with policies such as new energy vehicles and charging stations going to rural areas, the load on rural power grids is very high. "In the past, our rural power grid was mainly used to meet the electricity needs of residents and enterprises and institutions, with little consideration given to this part of the load. In addition, in the past, the capacity growth of this part was slow, and the impact on the power grid was relatively small. Now, if the trend of replacing gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles continues in large quantities, especially this year, it will have a greater impact on the rural power grid," said Qian Jia. Taking ordinary household charging stations as an example, the typical power of a charging station is 7 kilowatts. If this power is converted into household appliances, the power of a common bedroom air conditioner with one and a half horsepower is about 1.1 kilowatts, which means that when a charging station is working, it is equivalent to running six or seven air conditioners simultaneously. To fully charge a current mainstream electric vehicle, the charging station needs to be continuously running for 8 hours without stopping. "A person or a pile may not feel much, but some things are built on sand. Once this number expands, it may be hundreds or thousands of people charging at the same time, forming a huge load in a short period of time. This is amazing. Especially in rural areas, the safety of the power grid may go through a great test." said Yong Ye, a third level employee of State Grid Wuxi Power Supply Company. Tong Zongqi, Deputy Secretary General of the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, pointed out that as high-power electrical equipment, car charging facilities will exacerbate the problem of rural power grid energy load, and also cause hidden dangers in electrical safety, including user grounding issues, wire quality issues, leakage protection issues, etc. In addition, the existing rural power grid load has typical seasonal and daily load characteristics. If not guided, disorderly charging will inevitably lead to the problem of imbalanced supply and demand in the distribution network, and the contradiction between ordinary load and charging load in rural power grids will become apparent. Tong Zongqi is concerned that rural areas have limited access to electricity, and the capacity planning of the power grid is not very large, and most of them do not have particularly large expansion conditions. In addition, urban charging stations are mainly attached to public parking lots and follow the fire safety regulations and management standards of the city. However, there is very little concept of specifically planning public parking lots in rural areas, which can also create safety hazards.

Where is the future business model?

Yongye believes that in the future, the construction of charging stations should actively promote vehicle network interaction. For example, collaborating with all parties to comprehensively promote orderly charging and increase the number of rural charging stations connected; Collaborate with car companies to carry out pilot applications of electric vehicle charging and discharging, explore sustainable technologies and business models, etc. Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference, has repeatedly called for the construction of rural charging piles to be extended to the integration of optical storage and charging. He believes that by utilizing the convenient conditions of photovoltaic construction in rural areas and installing photovoltaic equipment on the roofs of rural housing, a charging network integrating light storage and charging can be formed. This can not only alleviate the pressure on the power grid, but also increase the utilization rate of green electricity, and bring benefits to rural users, achieving multiple benefits with one move. Tong Zongqi suggests that infrastructure construction for battery swapping can be carried out in rural areas according to local conditions, using standardized battery packs and launching some pure electric vehicles that can replace batteries. Charging can be centralized in densely populated towns and villages, which can not only meet the needs of driving range but also save operating costs. In June this year, at the 9th China International Electric Vehicle Charging and Swapping Industry Conference, relevant experts specifically discussed issues such as charging piles going to rural areas. Industry insiders believe that operators are facing significant cost pressures for the operation and maintenance of charging stations and facilities in rural areas. In this situation, the continuous promotion of charging stations to rural areas requires joint efforts from all parties. For example, operators can develop targeted charging station products suitable for rural areas, while exploring the use of new technologies, models, and other methods to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and solve the operational difficulties of rural charging stations and stations. Local governments should coordinate resources from all parties, strengthen top-level planning and design, refine the layout planning of rural charging facilities, and give preferential treatment in terms of land use guarantee, financial subsidies, special policies, etc; Actively carry out socialized operations, adopt franchising methods, and guide the appropriate advanced construction of charging piles.