China mocks charging electric cars in Europe Everyone will need its idea
Chinese electric car manufacturer mocks the slow charging of electric cars in Europe. Their fast "recharge" stations for electric cars could soon get a new feature that European energy companies are already calling for.
The Chinese electric car manufacturer, which has been gradually penetrating European markets in recent months, introduced its charging solution a few years ago. The stations called Power Swap Station quickly became a way to deal with slow charging in Europe. Thanks to these stations, it's possible to drive away with a fully charged battery in just two minutes, which is currently impossible on standard chargers. The company NIO, which is behind these stations, plans to improve them further in the future.
Although the exchange stations from the Chinese car manufacturer were initially seen as a test that wouldn't last long in Europe, the company still believes in them. It's not surprising, as there have already been over 50 million "charges", or rather battery swaps, in these stations, mainly located in China, where there are over two and a half thousand stations.
The company hasn't rested on its laurels and is now coming up with another idea that could help not only increase their profits but also maintain a stable energy distribution system.
The energy sector currently faces issues with the increasing number of domestic and commercial photovoltaic power plants. The fluctuations caused by the energy from photovoltaic or wind power plants in the transmission grid need to be compensated for in some way, which is currently not well managed. For instance, German suppliers are already warning about the need to add various methods for balancing peak loads to the grid.
The battery exchange stations from NIO could help solve the problem of missing energy in the grid during times when the sun is covered by clouds, and photovoltaics are producing significantly less. Each exchange station contains dozens of batteries that begin to recharge automatically once removed from the car. NIO plans to have these batteries charged from renewable sources in the future and, at times when the energy grid lacks power, these batteries could supply some of their energy. This would allow the company to earn money by providing energy grid stabilization and also make more use of their batteries.
It's likely that the batteries in the device exchanging them will always spend some time there, and for instance, during the night when photovoltaic power plants are not generating electricity and there's little demand for battery exchanges, these batteries can be used in this manner.
With the increasing number of batteries in the energy grid aimed at stabilizing the network in the era of new energy sources, i.e., renewable energy, the idea from the Chinese company could be a great way to quickly increase the range of electric cars while helping to stabilize the energy grid.
