The demand for high-speed charging of new energy vehicles surges during the National Day holiday, with many places taking measures to ease queuing pressure

During the National Day holiday, the popularity of new energy vehicle travel continued to rise, with the average number of daily trips being 1.8 times that of daily trips. The charging demand also increases. Queuing up for charging at highway service areas has become an annoyance for many car owners.

So, is there any way to avoid or reduce queues for holiday charging? In order to alleviate the charging pressure in new energy vehicle high-speed service areas during holidays, what measures have been taken by relevant departments? How to better solve the problem of difficulty in charging new energy vehicles during holidays?

Charging demand shows the characteristics of "dispersed on the outbound journey and concentrated on the return journey"

According to the forecast of the Ministry of Transport, the overall charging demand on highways during the National Day holiday is characterized by "dispersion on the outbound journey and concentration on the return journey". So, when is the most crowded time for charging in the high-speed service area? Which service areas are particularly busy?

The transportation department reminds that starting from 10 o'clock every day, the number of vehicles at the charging station in the expressway service area begins to increase significantly. After 21 o'clock, the traffic flow gradually decreases, and the charging demand decreases accordingly.

October 5th and 6th are the core periods for return journeys, and there will be a significant increase in highway charging vehicles. The peak charging hours are from 11:00 to 21:00 on October 5 and from 10:00 to 22:00 on October 6.

Which service areas are "especially busy charging"?

During the National Day holiday, the high-speed service areas that are particularly busy with charging across the country include:

Laeting service area and Tanghai service area in Hebei section of Qinbin Expressway;

Pengcheng Service Area, Jiangsu Section of Lianhuo Expressway;

Yundan parking area in Fujian section of Shenhai Expressway;

Xiucun Service Area, Fujian Section of Shaxia Expressway;

Luohe Service Area, Henan Section of Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway;

Wangwushan Service Area, Henan Section of Hebao Expressway;

Qiaotou River Service Area, Hunan Section of Changzhi Expressway;

Xin'an Service Area, Sichuan Section of Beijing-Kunming Expressway;

Chengcheng service area of Shaanxi section of Beijing-Kunming Expressway.

Is there a way to avoid or reduce charging queues?

In addition to making charging plans in advance and trying to avoid peak hours and road sections, are there any other ways to avoid or reduce queues for charging during holidays?

Shi Shuanglong, Director of the Monitoring Center of State Grid Smart Internet of Vehicles Technology Co., Ltd.: We released a highway travel guide before the holiday to predict congestion periods and road sections to help car owners optimize travel routes;

During the holidays, we actively guide car owners to charge at urban public charging stations near highway entrances and exits in an orderly manner;

At the same time, for hot-spot high-speed service area stations, car owners are encouraged to vacate parking spaces in time when charging reaches 80%, reducing the average charging time of bicycles and improving the overall energy replenishment efficiency during holiday peak hours.

Charging to 80% and leaving the venue can shorten the queuing time without affecting the battery

Some car owners may ask, new energy vehicles need to leave the site after charging to 80%. What is the reason for this arrangement? Will it affect the battery?

Qin Jian, Director of Charging Service Center of State Grid Smart Internet of Vehicles Technology Co., Ltd.: At present, electric vehicles basically use lithium batteries. Because of their active chemical properties, in order to protect the vehicle, the first 80% of the battery is generally charged quickly, but the last 20% will be significantly slower. Therefore, when traveling long distances, we recommend that you only need to be 80% full. The waiting time is short, which can also improve the overall efficiency during peak holiday periods and effectively alleviate the charging queue pressure in high-speed service areas.

The "e-Route Smooth" applet can provide inquiries and help

The Ministry of Transport also reminded that new energy vehicle owners can inquire about charging services with one click through the "e Road Smooth" WeChat applet; if they encounter a situation that requires rescue on the road, they can also call for rescue with one click.

Dynamically deploy charging facilities to protect holiday travel

In order to cope with the peak charging demand during holidays, relevant departments have also taken some measures. For example, in order to improve the charging speed of new energy vehicles, the State Grid Corporation of China has deployed a total of 599 emergency charging guns in high-speed service areas during the National Day holiday, and deployed 32 mobile emergency charging vehicles in service areas with busy charging and excess transformer capacity.

Based on data from the State Grid Smart Internet of Vehicles platform, the busyness of the service area is predicted daily, and emergency charging facilities are dynamically adjusted and deployed.

Charging station in Gaoyou service area of Beijing-Shanghai Expressway completed expansion

Before the National Day holiday, some service areas were expanded and upgraded to increase charging capacity to cope with the holiday charging peak.

As the largest high-speed service area charging station in Jiangsu Province, the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway Gaoyou Service Area Charging Station completed its expansion on the eve of National Day. After the upgrade, the site has a total of 82 DC charging piles and 142 charging guns, which can simultaneously ensure the recharging of a large number of new energy vehicles.

In addition to hardware upgrades, the site has also launched smart charging services, relying on big data to monitor charging load and parking space status in real time, accurately push text message reminders to new energy vehicle owners, and implement tidal charging guidance and dynamic diversion to alleviate charging queue pressure during holidays.

In the Pan'an service area of ​​Zhuyong Expressway in Zhejiang, State Grid Pan'an County Power Supply Company completed the construction of new charging piles before the National Day holiday. The local power supply department improves the power supply capacity of the service area by increasing the capacity of transformers and adding solar photovoltaic power generation equipment. After the expansion, the charging efficiency in the service area has increased by more than three times.

Fu Peng, Director of Marketing Department of State Grid Pan'an County Power Supply Company: Before the National Day, we added 68 new charging piles, and the number of parking spaces for new energy charging piles in the service area reached about 150, accounting for 50% of the total parking spaces in the service area. It can greatly meet the energy replenishment needs of past new energy car owners.

Xiaoshan service area takes multiple measures to improve charging efficiency

Headquarters reporter Xia Zhou: In the Xiaoshan service area of the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway, the average daily traffic volume during the National Day holiday was 170,000 vehicles, of which new energy vehicles accounted for more than 30%. According to staff from Zhejiang Communications Investment Group, the proportion of new energy vehicles has increased by 10% compared with the same period last year.

New energy vehicles have become the mainstay of travel, and service areas have taken multiple measures to guide charging

In response to the increasing number of new travel characteristics of new energy vehicles, Xiaoshan Service Area has set up new energy charging parking spaces since 2016. The busiest time during the holidays is 10:00-14:00 every day, and there will be queues waiting. In response to this situation, when there is a large queue in the service area, the staff of Zhejiang Communications Investment Group takes temporary measures to guide the traffic to the nearest free service area for charging.

According to reports, "charging to 80% and leaving" is an emergency measure to allow charging resources to flow under extreme peaks. It is not a fixed measure. The purpose is to make charging resources flow better.

Flexible guidance in the service area and reasonable planning of charging capacity

If there is a shortage of charging parking spaces in a single service area, the service area will reasonably plan the charging amount based on the macro statistics of charging parking spaces. For example, if the battery is still 50%, which is enough to drive to the next free service area, the staff will provide guidance so that everyone can charge and avoid queuing.

Relevant departments have also provided some suggestions for friends who are on the road or preparing to set off:

First, before departure, use the "e-road smooth" WeChat applet to check the charging status of service areas along the way. You can see in advance which service areas are busy and which are not.

Second, if you are driving an extended-range or plug-in hybrid vehicle, when the charging queue is serious, you can refuel instead of charging to save time.

Third, owners of pure electric vehicles should try to avoid charging during the return peak hours from October 5th to 6th. Relevant departments predict that the peak charging hours will be from 10am to 10pm on these two days.

Sichuan: Mobile charging robot unlocks new National Day travel experience

During the National Day, Sichuan Xin'an service area was included in the national list of particularly busy charging service areas by the Ministry of Transport.

On the second day of the holiday, new energy vehicles lined up in the charging area of ​​the Xin'an service area of ​​the Sichuan section of the G5 Beijing-Kunming Expressway, with an average wait of about 30 minutes. Although the site was crowded, the staff directed the vehicles at the entrance and charging stations, assisted in scanning codes for charging, and answered questions. The vehicles lined up in an orderly manner according to the guidance, and the site was busy but not chaotic. The eight newly added 120-kilowatt mobile charging pile robots can travel across regions through underground culverts under the highway.

How to better solve the holiday charging problem?

Li Hongchang, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University: Normally, the problem of centralized charging of new energy vehicles is not prominent. Traffic surges several times during holidays, and this conflict between supply and demand cannot be solved by adding charging piles alone. In order to better solve the problem of centralized charging of new energy vehicles during holidays, there are different solutions in the short, medium and long term.

In the short term, stocks must be revitalized and emergency protection must be provided

In the short term, it is still necessary to revitalize the stock and make emergency arrangements. Including charging piles at highway entrances and buffer zones, the deployment process of charging service capabilities, including mobile charging piles, mobile energy storage, and unified information, showing the estimated queue length through platform operators and map navigation, etc., to better arrange the existing inventory. Including on-site operation and maintenance, advance maintenance must be done.

In the medium term, we need to expand capacity and efficiency and optimize business models.

In the mid-term, power still needs to be increased. Compared with ordinary fast charging, overcharging can compress the time to 1/2 or even 1/3 of the original time. The service area capacity improvement process including the integration of optical storage and charging, as well as the optimization of business models, will also help to cut peaks and flatten valleys.

Distributed supply and technology iteration must be achieved in the long term

In the long run, distributed supply still needs to be achieved. That means we can charge at our doorstep, on the highway, including at our destination. As the number of new energy vehicles in the country continues to increase, a distributed space network pattern will gradually take shape. It also requires simultaneous planning and construction of charging stations and transformer capacities, including further increasing charging mileage, which are all effective means of adjustment.