75% of charging pile investments go to waste. How to solve the operational problems?

The construction of charging piles increased rapidly in 2016, from less than 50,000 at the beginning of the year to 150,000 at the end of the year, a six-fold increase from the previous year. During the same period, the proportion of charging piles installed for private passenger cars increased to more than 80%.

Despite this, the construction of charging facilities in residential areas is still relatively slow, and poor experience, incompatibility, high safety risks, low profitability and other stubborn problems are still the root causes that hinder the development of the industry and restrict related companies from turning losses into profits as soon as possible, and also have a certain impact on consumers' purchase of new energy vehicles. Some charging pile operators even said that 75% of the investment in charging equipment has gone down the drain.

At the recently held "2017 Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum" (hereinafter referred to as the Hundred People Forum), Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said, "The new energy vehicle industry is still in its early stages of development. Just like sailing against the current, if you don't move forward, you will fall behind. Although our production and sales market scale has achieved rapid growth, the construction of charging infrastructure still needs to be accelerated."

Zheng Zhajie, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, said that in response to the above problems, the National Energy Administration will adopt six measures to centrally solve the problems faced by charging piles.

This year, the company plans to add 800,000 charging stations

"Due to factors such as parking spaces and properties, the construction of charging infrastructure in user residences in key cities such as Beijing and Shanghai is relatively difficult. Taking Beijing as an example, among those who won the lottery for new energy vehicles, more than 20% of consumers gave up their licenses because they were unable to install private charging piles," said Zheng Zhajie.

"90% of our charging power is contributed by 25% of the charging equipment. 75% of the charging equipment was not scientifically built in the past. In other words, 75% of the investment has gone down the drain." Shao Danwei, chairman of Wanbang New Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd., said in an interview with NBD Auto (WeChat ID: NBD-AUTO).

It is not difficult to see that the inability to keep up with the charging facilities has, to a certain extent, become a bottleneck in the development of the new energy vehicle industry.

In this regard, Zheng Zhajie announced six major plans to be taken at the Hundred People Forum to address the above-mentioned series of problems: First, in 2017, in conjunction with the promotion of electric vehicles, strive to add 800,000 new charging piles, including 700,000 dedicated piles and 100,000 public piles; second, accelerate the promotion of interconnection and interoperability, use advanced means such as mobile payment to promote payment interconnection and interoperability, and improve user experience; third, attach great importance to safety hazards and improve the safety level of the industry; fourth, plan ahead and strengthen technology research and development, such as high-power charging technology, wireless charging technology, intelligent charging management, interactive technology between charging piles and power grid charging and discharging, safe, fast and intelligent charging payment technology, etc.; fifth, explore mature and reasonable business models, and encourage industry innovation while increasing financial support; sixth, strengthen publicity and create a good atmosphere.

The business model of pile enterprises needs to be innovated

"Because they have expanded too large a business, it is still difficult for many charging operators to achieve full profitability at the current stage," said Shao Danwei.

Some industry insiders also believe that providing corresponding charging services based on user characteristics, maximizing resource utilization and generating greater economic benefits is the business model suitable for charging pile operators.

"Like airports and hotels, charging facilities are also infrastructure + service industry," said Shao Danwei. "In this system, the best asset holders are local state-owned enterprises, and the best operators are those with professional capabilities. Only by combining the two can we maximize the use of local policy resources and site resources, while also combining them with the industry resources and experience resources of national operators to form the best business model. In the future, if these resources can be quickly and effectively integrated, domestic charging facilities will usher in a real spring."

"The utilization rate of 75% of our charging piles is indeed very low, but the assets invested cannot be thrown away, so we can take out 75% of the equipment and convert the current B2C model into B2B2C." Shao Danwei further said, "Each charging pile can find a special car driver or private customer, who will be responsible for the profitability of the pile. The pile company only charges a small commission, and most of the profits go to the former."

In this regard, some industry insiders analyzed that "as the national industrial planning and emerging business models become clearer, and as high-speed charging technology and interconnection are realized, more charging pile companies will achieve profitability in 2017."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.