1. Energy replenishment anxiety limits the electrification process
As the electric vehicle industry accelerates its development, users' acceptance of electric vehicles continues to increase, but charging issues are still the primary factor affecting users' purchase of electric vehicles. Users have a strong demand for fast energy replenishment, but the current average charging time of electric vehicles is generally long, and the number of DC charging piles that match the fast charging needs is insufficient, which cannot meet users' fast energy replenishment needs. During peak travel periods such as holidays, the problem of "slow charging and inconvenient charging" of electric vehicles has become more prominent, greatly affecting users' enthusiasm for buying cars. The energy replenishment problem has become a key factor restricting the continued improvement of the penetration rate of new energy vehicles. In the energy replenishment technology route, battery swapping and fast charging can theoretically solve the problem of 10-minute fast energy replenishment, but battery swapping has not become the mainstream method of fast energy replenishment due to the small number of battery swaps, long waiting time for car owners, and inconsistent standards. The core of fast charging is to increase the charging power of the whole vehicle. To increase the charging power of the whole vehicle, the technical means are either to increase the charging current or to increase the charging voltage. Increasing the charging current means thicker and heavier wiring harnesses, more heat generation, and more bottlenecks of auxiliary equipment. High voltage has the advantages of higher design flexibility and a wide range of fast charging. The conversion of the 400V voltage platform to 800V has become the mainstream trend. The voltage range of the current mainstream new energy vehicle high-voltage electrical system is generally 230V-450V, taking the middle value of 400V, which is generally referred to as a 400V system; and with the application of fast charging, the voltage range of the vehicle high-voltage electrical system reaches 550-930V, taking the middle value of 800V, which can be generally referred to as an 800V system.
2. The voltage platform architecture of the whole vehicle is moving towards 1000V/500A
In the early stage of electric vehicle promotion, consumers did not pay much attention to the charging speed of electric vehicles. The main way of electric vehicle energy replenishment was slow charging, and the voltage/current of DC charging was generally below 350V/125A. With the rapid increase in the number of electric vehicles and the continuous increase in battery capacity, the original energy replenishment efficiency can no longer meet user needs. The relevant standards increase the DC charging interface current from the original 125A to the upper limit of 250A to meet the increase in charging power brought by the increase in battery capacity. Subsequently, car companies mainly achieved fast charging based on 250A current by improving the vehicle voltage platform. The voltage platform has gradually evolved from 350V to 450V and 750V, achieving a charging rate of 1-2C. With the gradual and in-depth application of SiC power devices, the voltage platform of about 950V has gradually been put on the agenda by car companies and will become an important trend in the next 3-5 years. The 950V/500A high-voltage fast charging pile can reach a charging power of 480kW, achieving rapid energy replenishment in about 5 minutes, truly realizing "charging is as fast as refueling."
3. It is expected that the sales penetration rate of 800V models in China will reach 50% by the end of 2026
Due to the upper limit of IGBT750V withstand voltage and cost issues, the current charging rate of mainstream models is <2C. Major car companies have deployed high-voltage fast-charging models for differentiated competition. In 2019, Porsche launched the world's first 800V model Taycan. In 2020, BYD adopted an 800V architecture. Tesla also revealed in April 2022 that it will develop an 800V high-voltage electrical architecture in the future. In the short term, high-end models will achieve 800V differentiated competition, and in the long term, the 800V architecture of mid- and low-end models will also be upgraded. According to the plan, mass production will begin in 2022, and high-end models that meet 3C and above high-voltage fast charging will be intensively launched in 2023. In 2025, mainstream models will all support high-voltage fast charging.
4. Supercharging pile construction urgently needs to be accelerated
If you want to achieve the "charging like refueling" experience, taking a 75kwh battery pack as an example, the charging time is shortened from 1h to less than 5min, and the single-gun charging power is required to be increased from 60kw to more than 450kw. Currently, there are very few existing charging piles that can meet supercharging. In terms of voltage, only 24% of high-voltage charging piles that meet ≥950V, and only 5% of charging piles with power above 150KW.
