In July, a super charging station was officially put into operation in Yuxi city, southwest China’s Yunnan province, providing high-power charging stations for heavy trucks on Yunnan’s main traffic routes.
Located at an important junction of national highway logistics traffic, Yuxi Yanhe Supercharging Station is visited daily by a never-ending stream of heavy electric trucks for charging.
“We all like to travel fully loaded and fast. On our current transportation routes, pure electric heavy-duty trucks can save about 900 yuan (about 126 U.S. dollars) in fuel costs per day compared with internal combustion engine vehicles, so each vehicle can save about 300,000 yuan (about 42,003 U.S. dollars) in costs per year,” said truck driver Chen Jingfu.
The biggest advantage of high-power charging is that the charging speed is greatly improved. Now a charging gun can restore the power of a heavy-duty electric truck by more than 60 percent within 15 minutes.
The Yuxi Yanhe charging station is equipped with three charging stations, each with two charging guns, and the peak power of a single gun can reach 480 kilowatts.
Yunnan has rich mineral resources and commodity markets and has strong demand for freight goods. Currently, 35 fast-charging stations with charging guns of over 350 kilowatts have been put into operation across the province, providing an efficient solution for the green transformation of logistics and transportation.
“We currently have 20 vehicles in our fleet. The charging speed is very fast, and it only takes 15 minutes to charge from 20 percent to 80 percent. This saves a lot of time in charging, so the transportation efficiency is much higher than (old charging methods),” said Yang Haolian, project manager of the logistics center of Shanghai Yiai New Energy Company.
“The key to realizing the electrification transition is to increase the charging speed and make charging as fast as refueling. Starting in 2023, we will apply supercharger battery technology to the commercial vehicle field, successfully solving the problem of long charging times and limited range of heavy-duty electric trucks in medium and long-distance transportation. The technology helps trucks save two to three hours of charging time every day and drive at least 100 kilometers more,” said Pei Feng, president of Guangzhou Greater Bay Technology Co., Ltd, a manufacturer of high-power charging piles.
Super-charging station increases truck transport efficiency in Yunnan
The city of Chongqing in southwest China is aggressively expanding its network of charging stations for new energy vehicles (NEVs) to promote environmentally friendly modes of transportation.
One of these state-of-the-art Supercharger stations at the Chongqing Olympic Sports Center in Jiulongpo District is already attracting numerous electric vehicle owners who want to experience the convenience of ultra-fast charging.
“It only takes about ten minutes to fully charge and then I can drive 500 to 600 kilometers, which is very convenient for me,” said Ling, a customer who visited the station.
The station covers an area of about half a hectare and is equipped with four 600-kilowatt superchargers and twelve 250-kilowatt fast chargers. New technologies have been used to better support the supercharger capacities.
“Our fully liquid-cooled compressor technology can effectively reduce the heat generated during charging. It can also improve the user experience by reducing maintenance work and ensuring the long-term stable operation of our equipment,” said Wang Fan, general manager of the compressor company.
Since its official opening in mid-May, this Supercharger station has already recorded cumulative charging of over 200,000 kWh, with a monthly growth rate of 175 percent.
“I live in this area and recently discovered that liquid-cooled Supercharger stations have been installed just a few miles from my community, which has solved most of my charging problems on the road. Now my car can charge from 20 to 80 percent in about 15 minutes,” said another consumer.
The Supercharger company said it has already commissioned 40 Supercharger stations and plans to operate 100 stations and build 150 stations by the end of this year.
Chongqing plans to build more than 2,000 supercharger stations and over 4,000 superchargers for NEVs by the end of 2025.
By then, all newly built public fast-charging stations in Chongqing’s major metropolitan areas will be equipped with supercharger capacities and existing charging stations will gradually be converted into supercharger stations, according to a document from the city administration.
By 2025, there will also be 170 fast-charging stations for electric vehicles using new energy at the city’s motorway service stations.
The proportion of NEV owners in China has been rising steadily in recent years. By the end of 2023, the number of NEVs in use will rise to 20.41 million. To meet the increasing use of electric cars, China continues to improve and expand the nationwide network of NEV charging stations. According to the China National Energy Administration, the network grew by 65 percent year-on-year in 2023, reaching nearly 8.6 million at the end of last year.
Chongqing is transforming itself into an electric vehicle (NEV)-ready city with an extensive charging network
