Improve transportation efficiency, reduce cost per kilometer, and accelerate the

Chongqing, Guizhou, Guangxi, Shandong, Fujian, Zhejiang, and other regions are accelerating the construction of heavy-duty truck battery swap stations to enhance transportation efficiency, reduce energy consumption costs per kilometer, and decrease carbon dioxide emissions.

The Ministry of Transport has recently given its principled consent to the State Power Investment Corporation Limited to carry out pilot projects for the construction and operation of heavy-duty truck battery swap stations, as part of the traffic strong country construction. These pilots will provide valuable experience in the construction and operation of heavy-duty truck battery swap stations, the development of hydrogen fuel cells, and the application of hydrogen energy transportation operation platforms, as well as the construction and application of city-level green energy transportation systems.

Chongqing, Guizhou, and Guangxi are jointly constructing the Western Land-Sea New Corridor Expressway (Chongqing-Beibu Gulf) electric corridor, which is expected to be completed by 2026. Chongqing has introduced a five-year action plan to accelerate the construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, supporting the construction of electric heavy-duty truck charging and swapping facilities. Chongqing Expressway Group, Guizhou Expressway Group, and Guangxi Transportation Investment Group have joined hands in cross-regional cooperation with companies such as China Power International Development Limited to reach a strategic cooperation agreement on the joint construction of the "Western Land-Sea New Corridor Expressway Electric Corridor."

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According to the cooperation agreement, the three parties will leverage the advantages of the Chongqing-Guizhou-Guangxi expressway network, integrate market resources, and build electric heavy-duty truck charging and swapping facilities along the Western Land-Sea New Corridor from Chongqing to Beibu Gulf. They will promote the business of new energy heavy-duty truck battery swapping and battery banking, providing customized services for the Chongqing-Beibu Gulf new energy logistics mainline. The electric corridor of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor Expressway is approximately 1000 kilometers long, with plans to build 6 to 7 pairs of swap stations, with an average spacing of 150 to 200 kilometers for each station.

It is estimated that fast charging for new energy heavy-duty trucks generally takes nearly an hour, while swapping batteries only takes 5 minutes, greatly improving transportation efficiency. Compared to traditional heavy-duty trucks, pure electric new energy heavy-duty trucks can achieve near-zero carbon emissions, with one pure electric heavy-duty truck reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 120 tons per year and reducing energy consumption costs per kilometer by 20%.

At the Ningbo Zhoushan Container Terminal in Jintang Town, Zhoushan City, the swap station provides round-the-clock, fast, and green energy supply for 47 swap electric trucks in the port area. Based on the average daily operation time of 17 hours per vehicle, it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 2077 tons per year.

Charging infrastructure is an important support for promoting the application of new energy vehicles and helping to achieve the "dual carbon" goals. Photography by Zhang Ke.

The recently issued "Shandong Province New Energy Vehicle Industry High-Quality Development Action Plan" proposes to coordinate transportation and power facilities, promote the planning and construction of direct current charging stations on highways, national roads, large logistics parks, and commodity trading markets, and reasonably layout commercial vehicle swap stations and pilot the promotion of high-voltage ultra-fast charging stations. It aims to create typical application scenarios for new energy autonomous driving heavy-duty trucks in ports, mines, and steel mills.

Fujian Province's first electric heavy-duty truck swap station has recently been put into use, transforming the vehicle from the original charging waiting mode to a timed battery swapping mode. The swap station uses an intelligent system to control robots, achieving fully automated operation, with a single battery swap taking 5 minutes. Each swap station can handle 150 swaps per day, improving the efficiency of logistics operations and meeting the requirements for continuous operation of point-to-point mainline transportation.

Charging infrastructure is an important guarantee for green travel by electric vehicle users and a crucial support for promoting the application of new energy vehicles and helping to achieve the "dual carbon" goals.In the pilot aspect of "Heavy-duty Truck Battery Swap Station Construction, Networking, and Operation Demonstration," Shanghai Qiyuan Core Power Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Chengtou Environment (Group) Co., Ltd., Chongqing Green Electric Transportation Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Electric Power Co., Ltd., Beiben Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., Ltd., and Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck Co., Ltd. are all pilot implementation units.

It is expected that by 2026, new products and equipment such as intelligent bidirectional frame-mounted machines and megawatt-level bidirectional interactive battery swap stations will be successfully developed. The "Wanda Kai," Tangshan "Three Vertical and One Horizontal," and the Shanghai Yangshan Port Distribution Center battery swap heavy-duty truck application demonstrations will be completed. A "Gansu-Inner Mongolia-Shanxi-Hebei" thousand-kilometer-level heavy-duty truck battery swap corridor and trunk line battery swap network will be established, with a cumulative promotion of no less than 20,000 battery swap heavy-duty trucks nationwide. A synergistic control platform integrating "battery swap vehicles, battery swap stations, batteries, and power grids" will be built, and technical standards for battery swap station aggregation to participate in power grid interaction will be formulated, successfully creating at least one station-network interaction demonstration project.

In the aspect of "Hydrogen Fuel Cell R&D and Hydrogen Energy Transportation Operation Platform Application," a series of new vehicle water-cooled fuel cell stack modules, hundred-kilowatt-level high-power commercial vehicle fuel cell systems, and fuel cell systems for hydrogen energy ships will be developed, exploring the demonstration application of advanced hydrogen energy technology in fields such as medium and heavy-duty tractors, dump trucks, and ships. Multiple hydrogen energy transportation operation platforms will be established, with various types of hydrogen energy vehicles being operated in a market-oriented model, exploring a complete set of transportation services and platform business models.

It is expected that by 2026, the development of new vehicle water-cooled fuel cell stack module series products will be completed, and the development of hundred-kilowatt-level high-power commercial vehicle fuel cell systems will be realized with demonstration applications. A marine fuel cell power generation system will be formed, passed the certification standard tests of the China Classification Society, and delivered. The construction of 1-3 hydrogen energy transportation operation platforms will be completed, and the continuous promotion of hydrogen energy vehicle applications will be supported by the platforms.

According to the pilot content, urban-level green energy transportation construction models will also be studied, proposing an urban-level green energy transportation comprehensive solution of "green transportation energy supply + new energy transportation infrastructure construction + promotion and replacement of new energy transportation vehicles + smart control platform." The promotion and application of new energy vehicle battery separation models, financial replacement models, and battery leasing bank models will be carried out, exploring innovative charging and battery swap station operation profit models.