Enhancing Efficiency in Battery Swap Heavy-Duty Truck Operations

According to the “2023 China Mobile Source Environmental Management Annual Report” released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions from diesel trucks in 2022 were 4.04 million tons and 45,000 tons, respectively, accounting for 78.3% and 90% of total automobile emissions, making them major contributors to emissions in the transportation industry. Statistics show that trucks account for about 11% of the total number of vehicles but contribute to 56% of the carbon emissions in the industry, making the electrification of trucks significant for energy conservation and emission reduction in the industry.

In 2016, China began promoting new energy heavy-duty trucks, and after years of development, a scale of application has been formed. In 2023, the sales of new energy heavy-duty trucks exceeded 31,000 units, accounting for 3.4%. By the end of 2023, a total of 69,000 new energy heavy-duty trucks had been promoted nationwide, with a market penetration rate of 0.76%. Although the market penetration rate is still low, new energy heavy-duty trucks have shown a rapid growth trend.

According to the 2023 truck insurance data, pure electric and battery swap heavy-duty trucks are the main models of new energy heavy-duty trucks, with battery swap heavy-duty trucks gradually becoming the largest model. In 2023, the sales of battery swap heavy-duty trucks reached 15,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 18.7%. With the rapid increase in the number of battery swap heavy-duty trucks, regions such as Chongqing, Shandong, Fujian, and Zhejiang are accelerating the construction of heavy-duty truck battery swap stations to improve vehicle operation efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions. By 2023, the number of completed and under-construction heavy-duty truck battery swap stations in China will be nearly 600, with over 900 heavy-duty truck battery swap stations built cumulatively.

According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, based on heavy-duty truck operating mileage, urban operating scenarios account for 17%, short-distance scenarios for 17%, medium-distance scenarios for 26%, and long-distance scenarios for 40%. Currently, battery swap heavy-duty trucks are mainly used for medium and short-distance transportation in ports, mines, and steel mills, characterized by limited driving range and fixed routes and times.

As a means of production, heavy-duty trucks are sensitive to operational efficiency and costs. At present, the loading efficiency and transportation radius of battery swap heavy-duty trucks still need improvement, and medium and long-distance transportation heavily relies on the battery swap network. Taking the Chengdu-Chongqing battery swap heavy-duty truck project as an example, the project starts from the Longquan Logistics Park in Chengdu, Sichuan, and ends at the Guoyuan Port in Chongqing, with a total distance of 365 kilometers. The project includes the construction of 6 heavy-duty truck charging and battery swap stations, with a maximum distance between stations of 136 kilometers, a maximum daily battery swap frequency of 168 times, and a single battery swap time of only 3 to 5 minutes, achieving a 99% success rate for automatic battery swaps. It is expected that after the project is fully operational, the annual electricity consumption will be 36 million kilowatt-hours, which will reduce carbon emissions and fuel consumption by 15,000 tons and 6.48 million liters, respectively, compared to traditional fuel heavy-duty trucks, lowering logistics costs by more than 30%.

In addition, companies such as Qiyuan Xindong, Qiji Battery Swap, and Shudao Group have begun construction of medium and short-distance trunk lines to support the efficient operation of battery swap heavy-duty trucks. Last August, the country’s first highway battery swap green logistics line – the “Ningde-Xiamen Trunk Line” was officially opened, covering a distance of about 420 kilometers, equipped with 4 battery swap stations, using a one-stop battery swap solution, effectively alleviating the energy supply anxiety of heavy-duty truck drivers on the return trip from Ningde, Fujian to Xiamen.

It is worth noting that, unlike the Chengdu-Chongqing battery swap heavy-duty truck project, the “Ningde-Xiamen Trunk Line” only expands short-distance transportation to long-distance transportation, and the battery swap stations only serve specific vehicle models and batteries, failing to achieve interoperability and interchangeability between different models and batteries. Currently, different battery swap heavy-duty truck projects in China have not yet achieved network interoperability and settlement, making the promotion of unified interfaces and interchangeability standards an important task for industry development.

In terms of standard formulation, in November 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “Interchangeability of Onboard Battery Swap Systems for Pure Electric Commercial Vehicles,” which is currently the highest-level interchangeability standard in the industry, providing a basis for the network development of heavy-duty truck battery swap stations. In terms of policy guidance, in July 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission and 13 other departments issued the “Several Measures to Promote Automobile Consumption,” proposing to continue promoting the formulation of relevant standards for battery swap infrastructure to enhance compatibility and universality; in February 2024, the Ministry of Transport released the “Opinions on the Pilot Work of the National Power Investment Group Co., Ltd. in the Construction and Operation Demonstration of Heavy-Duty Truck Battery Swap Stations,” proposing the construction of a battery swap station network across scenarios and urban clusters, and conducting research on land planning, grid connections, and charging standards for battery swap stations. With the introduction of relevant standards and policies, the network development of heavy-duty truck battery swap stations will become a major direction for industry development.

In the early development stage, the promotion and application of battery swap heavy-duty trucks focused on short-distance transportation scenarios such as urban muck, ports, mines, rail-road intermodal transport, and steel mills, which can quickly determine capacity demand, vehicle purchasing entities, station construction entities, battery bank entities, and operation entities. Under the assurance of determined transportation conditions, all parties can reach cooperation intentions for investment after achieving investment returns, which reduces investment risks and verifies the feasibility of the plan.

From 2021 to 2023, over 90% of the investment in battery swap heavy-duty trucks and battery swap stations in China has adopted this model, but there are various problems, such as complex business development, long business negotiation cycles, difficulty in forming regional network advantages, fierce price competition, and non-unified standards. Currently, battery swap heavy-duty trucks and battery swap stations have entered the trunk network development stage, requiring the adoption of interchangeable automotive industry standards, unified site selection, unified approval, simultaneous multi-point construction, and rapid connectivity of highways and national and provincial trunk roads to form market scale advantages.

At present, the promotion and application of battery swap heavy-duty trucks and the construction of battery swap stations urgently need to address two issues: convenience and economy. In terms of convenience, the industry standards for battery swap heavy-duty trucks and battery swap stations have been released in 2023, and national standards will be released this year, providing the basic conditions for building a connected battery swap heavy-duty truck operation network. In terms of economy, the promotion and application of battery swap heavy-duty trucks and the construction of battery swap stations need to break through the following aspects:

Vehicle lightweighting. According to estimates, for every 1 kilogram reduction in weight of heavy-duty trucks, annual operating costs can be reduced by 20 to 50 yuan. Lightweighting of the whole vehicle body, power system, battery pack, and battery swap system, especially the relationship between the weight of the whole vehicle and the energy capacity and the adaptability to different scenarios, is of great significance for reducing the operating costs of battery swap heavy-duty trucks.

Vehicle low energy consumption. Accelerating the application of advanced technologies such as comprehensive thermal management of vehicle wind resistance, motor and battery waste heat recovery, heat pumps, and station-side water cooling, as well as improving heating efficiency, increasing energy recovery rates from braking, and adopting high-voltage platforms from 800 to 1000 volts are important means to reduce vehicle energy consumption, which will effectively enhance the operational efficiency of battery swap heavy-duty trucks.

Building hub-type battery swap stations. Improving the service capacity of battery swap stations and developing hub-type battery swap stations suitable for trunk network construction, which have the characteristics of low initial investment, large service volume in the later stage, and low unit service costs, can meet the needs of battery swap heavy-duty truck trunk transportation. Among them, applying advanced technologies such as integrated solar storage and charging, microgrid systems, flexible charging piles, expandable battery swap stations, and slope battery swap stations is an important content.

Sharing compatible standards. In terms of network construction, many regions use battery swap stations and battery swap heavy-duty trucks with four connectors, achieving relatively ideal operational effects. With the introduction of relevant standards, the industry needs to share battery swap stations that are compatible with different standards to meet the cross-interchange of battery swap heavy-duty trucks within the region, achieving seamless connection and extension of the battery swap network.

Establishing a unified battery safety monitoring platform. Battery swap stations usually store 2 to 3 megawatt-hours of batteries, equivalent to a small energy storage station, and must strengthen the fire emergency capabilities of battery swap stations. To ensure that battery swap stations are safe and controllable, the application of technologies and platform construction for battery safety early warning, predictive maintenance, intelligent operation and maintenance, fire emergency response, and battery safety monitoring platform is a necessary guarantee for the network development of battery swap stations.

Building an interconnection and interchange settlement platform. An interconnected and interchangeable battery swap service network not only needs to meet the interchangeability of interfaces but also needs to enable accurate settlement between different battery leasing companies and battery swap operators.

Creating an interactive comprehensive solution for stations and networks. As a distributed energy storage system, the battery swap network stores and transports batteries in physical form. Battery swap facilities participate in grid demand response, achieving energy interaction between the power system and battery swap heavy-duty trucks, forming a new collaborative system oriented towards a low-carbon grid. In terms of energy, battery swap stations should actively collaborate with new energy industries such as wind and solar power, achieving comprehensive energy stations for clean power self-use, excess electricity storage, and interchangeable charging and swapping through various forms such as wind, solar, storage, charging, and swapping, promoting the deep integration of energy power grids and transportation networks.

(The author is the Secretary-General of the China Electric Heavy-Duty Truck Battery Swap Industry Promotion Alliance)