The future and challenges of the two wheeler battery swapping industry: grasping capital or becoming a key development point.

The future and challenges of the two wheeler battery swapping industry: grasping capital or becoming a key development point.

The two wheeled vehicle battery swapping mode has obvious advantages in terms of cost and efficiency, with over 13 million users in need of battery swapping, and a broad future prospect. However, the development of this mode also faces many challenges. Firstly, due to the heavy asset nature of the battery swapping station, it requires a higher capital investment in the early stage; Secondly, the standardization level of battery swapping is relatively low, and the battery and interface parameters of major battery swapping brands are not unified. The adaptation to different electric vehicles has not yet reached a unified standard, which has become the main factor hindering the future development of the two wheeled vehicle battery swapping industry.

Recently, relevant policies such as centralized charging and swapping technology specifications released by the government have been successively introduced. With the entry of some large battery factories and two wheeled electric vehicle suppliers into the market for swapping, the standardization process of batteries and vehicles in the industry has received a lot of support from the production end. The two wheeled electric vehicle swapping industry is moving towards a new journey of standardized and compliant development.

1、 High initial capital investment in two wheeled vehicle swapping stations
The construction of battery swapping stations requires not only equipment costs such as land and swapping cabinets, but also significant costs for battery manufacturing and electricity consumption. According to industry estimates, the construction cost of a single two wheeler battery swapping point is around 80000 yuan.

In addition, the heavy asset of the two wheeled vehicle battery swapping mode is not only hardware equipment, but also the development of supporting software, which requires capital investment. This is currently a relatively weak link in the industry's capital control, and the weak point lies in the intermediate link between hardware and software. At present, most of the power change brands are Internet operators, who are responsible for developing software and cooperating with hardware equipment manufacturers to jointly promote. This multi enterprise cooperation model inevitably elongates the supply chain, which is not conducive to financial control, but may also lead to problems such as the closure of battery swapping stations, the suspension of old battery replacement progress, and server downtime due to poor cooperation among multiple enterprises and agents. This indicates that companies entering the market for battery swapping need to pay attention to shortening the intermediate supply chain.

2、 The standardization process of battery swapping may pose risks to enterprises
At present, the standardization level of battery swapping for two wheelers is relatively low. On the one hand, this is reflected in the battery standards, which are not unified among different brands of batteries, with different specifications such as battery materials and energy density; On the other hand, this is reflected in the varying sizes of vehicle battery compartments launched by different vehicle manufacturers. Both of these factors have led to issues with the specifications of battery swapping and vehicle compatibility on the market. Therefore, it is necessary for policies to continue to lead the construction and implementation of battery swapping standards, and complete the transition from industry standards to national mandatory standards.

On December 30, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Standardization Administration jointly issued the document "Part 1: Technical Specifications for Centralized Charging Facilities for Electric Bicycles", which will be officially implemented on July 1, 2023. The issuance of this normative document provides strong support for the standardization of the two wheeled vehicle battery swapping industry. The upcoming regulation also puts forward more production and technical requirements for enterprises. At present, the entire electric two wheeler and battery swapping industry is still in the stage of independent research and development by major manufacturers. The unified standards issued by the state will require enterprises to fully standardize their equipment, processes, production methods, etc. Non compliant battery swapping equipment will face the risk of recycling and elimination.

In the wave of rapid development of two wheeled vehicle battery swapping, enterprises need to grasp capital, concentrate on research and development, maintain existing advantages, and continuously expand advantages in order to form a winning situation. Expanding to the entire battery swapping track, grasping capital and valuing standardized technology development will also become the core of future development.
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