Yangtze River Delta Chamber ｜ How to solve the operation dilemma of Shanghai new energy vehicle charging and replacing power station？

Since 2015, under the guidance of the national energy-saving subsidy policy, a large number of new energy vehicle charging and replacing power stations have been rapidly built in megacities such as Shanghai to alleviate the growing demand of the public. However, at present, Shanghai’s charging and replacing power stations are facing many challenges that may hinder sustainable development, including uneven regional distribution, low equipment utilization rate, difficult operation coordination, high cost, information interconnection barriers, and imperfect safety supervision system. This paper deeply analyzes the development status and potential risks of Shanghai charging and replacing power station, and puts forward corresponding countermeasures.

Unreasonable layout of charging and replacing power stations leads to low utilization rate, so top-level planning is needed.

According to the data of Shanghai Municipal Platform for Public Service of Charging and Replacing Facilities, by the end of March 2024, there were 207,900 connected public charging and replacing piles, of which 137,600 were actually in operation, including 87,400 public electric piles, but the actual utilization rate was only 7.26%.

Why is the utilization rate of public electric piles low? This is closely related to the current construction and operation mode of charging and replacing power stations in Shanghai. According to the "Support Measures of Shanghai Municipality for Encouraging the Development of Charging and Replacing Facilities for Electric Vehicles" and the "Interim Measures of Shanghai Municipality for Promoting the Interconnection and Orderly Development of Charging and Replacing Facilities for Electric Vehicles", the new charging and replacing stations are completely selected and invested by operators themselves, and operators usually make investment based on their experience in regional location and comprehensive consideration of factors such as land acquisition cost.

However, this kind of empirical judgment may lead to optimistic deviation, capital limitation or radical market occupation strategy, which may make the construction and operation of the site not fully meet the market demand, and then lead to uneven layout and utilization of charging and replacing power stations. Some stations queued for more than an hour, while others were neglected, and even an available replacement pile could not be found within 3 kilometers. In order to charge the power quickly, some citizens even have to queue up five kilometers away from home in the early morning or late at night to seize the position …

This paper takes Xujiahui subway station, Jing ‘an Temple Station, World Financial Center, Xihongqiao Hub, changfeng park, Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park and Baoshan wanda plaza as the center, and counts the number of charging and replacing power stations and charging piles within 2 km of the above seven points through three application softwares of "Gaode Map", "Express Power" and "Charging Pile". It is found that the number of charging piles in Xujiahui subway station and Jing ‘an Temple Station is five times that of Tangzhen Station and Gongkang Road Station. The fast charging stations in most hot spots are basically full all year round and full every day. The uneven distribution of charging and replacing stations may greatly reduce consumers’ satisfaction and affect their interest and confidence in electric vehicles.

In view of the uneven distribution of charging stations, the following suggestions are put forward:

First, the government should take the lead to improve the planning and layout, improve the overall equipment utilization rate and improve the user experience in maintaining the enthusiasm of the construction and operation enterprises of new energy charging and replacing power stations. Based on the statistical data of charging and replacing power stations and new energy vehicles, combined with different usage scenarios, the municipal government can appropriately plan the layout of charging and replacing power stations within the city, clarify key construction areas, and guide the investment direction of enterprises.

Secondly, since the operation scenarios of charging and replacing power stations are mainly divided into three categories: traffic operation, institutional vehicles and home use, and the specific needs of users are different in different scenarios, the government can carry out top-level planning according to the use intensity of various types of vehicles in different scenarios, optimize the distribution of charging and replacing stations, and ensure that users can get a good charging experience in various scenarios.

Third, it is suggested that the government promote data sharing and improve the investment efficiency of the whole society. At present, the data of new energy vehicles and charging piles are scattered in the hands of different operators and lack of integration. The government can take measures such as opening up the platform of pile networking and vehicle networking, and confirming the right of data to promote the sharing and use of data and realize interconnection.

Fourth, the government needs to pay close attention to the landing of charging and replacing power station projects in real time, strengthen communication and guidance, and give support to enterprises on issues such as land and power supply. At present, the government’s control over the investment in charging and replacing power stations is relatively loose, which facilitates the development of the industry, but also makes the operating enterprises lose the government endorsement to some extent. Therefore, it is suggested that the government provide clear support for some key charging and replacing power station projects, and provide specific guidance and support for sustainable development for enterprises through the establishment of pan-new energy science and technology industry associations, so as to build an efficient and mutually beneficial information exchange platform.

The profit of charging and replacing power station enterprises needs to find a balance between policy and marketization, and realize accurate subsidies.

In recent years, the government’s subsidy policy has encouraged a large number of enterprises to invest in the construction and operation of charging and replacing power stations, and achieved certain results. However, by the end of subsidies in 2026, enterprises need to achieve higher operating income in order to maintain sustainable development. This is not only dependent on the consumption of consumers, but also related to factors such as site rental costs.

Due to the rising rents of hot plots and fierce competition in the industry, the costs of some operating enterprises in Shanghai have increased. In order to cover the cost, enterprises often adopt the strategy of increasing the sales electricity price, but this may lead to a decline in user utilization. If this happens in large numbers, on the one hand, it will affect users’ preference for new energy vehicles based on price advantage and reduce their willingness to buy; On the other hand, low profits and high industry pressure may also lead enterprises to reduce investment in safety facilities, equipment and human resources allocation.

Therefore, it is suggested that the government should strengthen cooperation with enterprises and seek a balance point. First of all, it is necessary to optimize the criteria for determining the operating subsidy of charging and replacing power stations, establish a fair and transparent evaluation mechanism and process, ensure that the subsidy funds accurately flow to enterprises that really need support, and promote the healthy development of the industry. Secondly, the price department can check the reasonable parking fee standard and adjust the rental price through market research, so as to stabilize the market, prevent the parking space rent from rising too fast and reduce the burden on enterprises. In addition, it is suggested that the government promote financial institutions to innovate service mechanisms, build online and offline financial service platforms, provide more accurate financial services for charging and replacing power station construction and operation enterprises, and develop exclusive financial products to meet the capital needs of enterprises at different stages.

In order to eliminate potential safety hazards, it is necessary to explore operation supervision and fire protection technology innovation.

Since 2020, there have been accidents in Beijing, Shenzhen, Xi ‘an, Dongguan and other places where electric vehicles caught fire and exploded during the charging of charging and replacing power stations, which sounded the safety alarm. In fact, these accidents are related to the construction and operation mode of charging and replacing power stations. As far as Shanghai is concerned, at present, the equipment procurement of charging and replacing power stations is carried out independently by enterprises, and the power supply facilities are constructed by power engineering companies, and then operated and managed independently by investors. However, large-scale charging and replacing power stations are mainly arranged in outdoor space, but most of them are equipped with traditional building fire alarm devices. Once a fire breaks out, it is often impossible to effectively detect and alarm, and there are potential safety hazards. At the same time, the relevant government management departments have not yet issued a perfect regular safety inspection system for charging and replacing power stations, nor have they comprehensively carried out site measurement monitoring.

In view of this, there is an urgent need to improve and perfect the management mechanism of the safe operation of the site from the institutional level, and regularly carry out safety and management standard inspections. Considering the large number and dispersion of charging piles in Shanghai, it is necessary to study a more efficient online safety supervision system. On the technical level, it is necessary to formulate technical standards for prevention, alarm and emergency treatment of charging fire safety in open space, and urge enterprises to improve their technical ability to deal with the fire of charging and replacing power stations. At the same time, it is necessary to introduce more advanced fire monitoring means, such as infrared cameras and AI flame recognition, to improve their fire emergency ability.

Charging and replacing power stations with new energy vehicles is one of the important urban infrastructures. Ensuring its convenient and safe use, improving user experience and increasing enterprise profits are the keys to promote the sustainable development of the new energy automobile industry. At present, it is necessary to strengthen policy guidance, market cultivation and enterprise innovation, improve the existing shortcomings, promote the sustainable development of Shanghai charging and replacing power stations, and help popularize new energy vehicles.

(The author of this article, Ding Xue, is a teacher at the School of Financial Technology of Shanghai Lixin Accounting and Finance College.)

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The "Yangtze River Delta Chamber" column was jointly sponsored by China Modern City Research Center, the key research base of humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, the Yangtze River Delta Regional Integration Research Center, the Shanghai Social Science Innovation Base, and the Institute of Surging. Interpret the latest policies of Yangtze River Delta integration, provide first-line research reports, and present practical policy suggestions.