With the booming development of the new energy vehicle industry, charging and battery swapping facilities are gradually becoming an important force in promoting this green transformation.

At the Shanghai Charging and Battery Swapping Exhibition (CPSE) held in May this year, numerous companies along the charging and swapping industry chain attended and showcased their products. It is noteworthy that in addition to established charging pile companies such as Tejia Laidian and Xingxing Charging, many cross-industry enterprises that were not originally in the charging pile business also occupied a place. These companies, based on the endowments and advantages accumulated in their original business fields, have brought new technological innovations and market vitality to the charging pile sector, but at the same time, they are bound to intensify competition in the charging pile market.

Gongniu Group: From Consumer Electrical to Third-Party Charging Piles

Gongniu Group (603195.SH) has been crossing over into the charging pile layout for several years. In 2021, the company first launched charging guns and power supply products, and in 2022, it launched charging pile products. In 2023, the annual revenue of new energy products reached 380 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 148.65%.

Regarding the strategic concept of crossing over, Xie Xiongwei, Vice President of Gongniu Group, said to First Financial that the essence of charging piles is the same as consumer electrical products, both belonging to electrical connection products. After the central government proposed the "3060" dual-carbon goal in 2020, the company followed the trend and began to actively seek opportunities in the new energy field, choosing charging piles with a high degree of technical overlap as the entry point.

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Developing the market is the first step for Gongniu Group to cross over. Xie Xiongwei said that Gongniu Group currently has more than 20,000 outlets and more than 400 dealers nationwide. Although the original dealer channels of electrical lighting and charging piles are different and cannot be directly applied, the original mature dealer development and management methodologies can be referenced.

In terms of products, Gongniu Group has developed from AC slow charging to full power range AC charging, including products such as 3.5kW, 7kW, 11kW, and 21kW. In addition, the company has also launched DC fast charging products, including single and group charging equipment for DC fast charging from 20-240kW. This year, Gongniu Group launched its flagship product, the Ultimate Pro charging pile. Xie Xiongwei introduced that this charging pile can be compatible with more than 99% of car models, can charge stably in special harsh environments such as extreme heat, extreme humidity, extreme cold, extreme dust, and extreme altitude, and for the first time introduced touch screen technology.

In terms of market positioning, Gongniu Group has inherited its consistent style and chosen to take a people-friendly route, positioning its main customer base as C-end individual users and small and medium-sized operators. "Gongniu Group is good at providing services for distributed station customers, and we have reached a leading level in third-party charging pile brands, with the goal of becoming the largest domestic home charging pile brand," Xie Xiongwei said.

Xie Xiongwei pointed out that the charging pile industry is a technology-driven industry, involving a wide range of fields, including AC/DC conversion, power electronics, software, communication protocols, etc. It is a relatively smooth way for electrical or power grid supporting enterprises to transform and enter this field. On the other hand, cross-border entrants can often bring their original experience and endowments to the new field, creating different sparks. "Traditional enterprises have advantages in products, and new entrants have advantages in innovation," Xie Xiongwei said.

Yijia He: Innovative Layout of Shared Charging RobotsEjiahe (603666.SH)'s "Shared Charging Robot" is the company's core product that integrates charging piles with robotics, and it is also a new charging technology route that has attracted market attention.

Established in 1999, Ejiahe is mainly engaged in the research and development, production, and promotion of robots. The financial report for 2023 shows that the company's robot business contributed revenue of 402 million yuan, accounting for 53.68%; the smart grid and smart automation equipment business contributed revenue of 149 million yuan, accounting for 14.29%. It is worth noting that this is the first time the company's financial report has disclosed smart grid equipment as a separate category.

He Junwei, Vice President of Ejiahe, said to Yicai that the design concept of the shared charging system is based on the company's judgment of the future development of the charging market and its understanding of charging scenarios. Although fast charging is the current focus of the charging market, the future charging method will not entirely rely on fast charging. This is because many owners of home electric vehicles are accustomed to charging at charging stations at their residence or company, and they do not have high requirements for charging speed. The core pain point for these users is the lack of parking spaces equipped with charging piles.

He Junwei said that according to the company's backend statistical data, the average charging time for users is about 7.5 hours, and the parking time on the parking space is relatively long. Traditional charging piles require the previous car owner to unplug and move the vehicle after it is fully charged before the next car owner can use the charging pile. This is particularly inconvenient in core business districts and old communities with tight parking spaces.

Ejiahe's shared charging robot was specifically developed to address these issues. The difference from traditional charging piles is that it allows the pile to "move". When car owners use it, they can enter the small program by scanning the code, input the parking space number, and the shared charging robot can transport the charging pile to any area covered by the system for car owners to use. This mobile charging pile can achieve flexible matching between cars and piles in a parking area, changing from "car finds pile" to "pile finds car" in terms of space, avoiding the situation where cars that are fully charged waste charging pile positions, thereby improving the utilization rate of charging piles and solving the problem of car owners' difficulty in charging.

"We choose destination charging as the target market, serving home car users with low charging frequency, and open up the market through the low cost and flexible use of slow charging. The company has promoted the shared charging system in provinces such as Jiangsu, Fujian, Shandong, and Zhejiang, and has built a total of 42 operating points, covering about 10,000 parking spaces," He Junwei said.

The development of shared charging robots is still in its infancy. He Junwei said that the main limitation in promoting the shared charging system is at the policy level. Previously, there were policies that required real estate developers to equip charging facilities according to the one-car-one-pile model, which conflicts with the shared charging model to a certain extent. In 2023, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Constructing a High-Quality Charging Infrastructure System", which brought benefits to the overall planning of the industry, but the implementation of the policy still needs time. The promotion of shared charging in some areas is still difficult and requires more policy support and pilot operation. On the positive side, the adjustment of electricity prices provides more possibilities for the shared charging model. Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Several Measures to Promote Automobile Consumption", which mentioned "promoting the implementation of residential electricity prices for public charging and swapping facilities in residential areas, and promoting the implementation of peak and valley time-of-use electricity price policy for charging and swapping facilities that implement industrial and commercial electricity prices", reducing the use cost of shared charging stations.

"The shared charging system combines the company's technology in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, and has innovatively applied it to the charging scenario. The market we choose is the main force of the future charging market. Although there are challenges in policy and operation and maintenance, the shared charging system has obvious advantages and a broad prospect," He Junwei said.

Kstar: Benign synergy between data centers and new energy

Kstar (002518.SZ) is a well-known domestic supplier of data center infrastructure solutions, and is also continuously deploying new energy "photovoltaic storage and charging" integrated business, with charging piles being an important part of it. The financial report shows that from 2021 to 2023, Kstar's new energy business revenue was 452 million yuan, 2026 million yuan, and 2730 million yuan, accounting for 16.12%, 46.03%, and 50.19% of total revenue, respectively, with the scale and proportion increasing year by year.Regarding the synergy between data centers and new energy businesses, Dai Hongwei, Deputy General Manager of the New Energy Vehicle Business Division at KSTAR, said to Yicai: "Firstly, the two business segments have a close synergy in technology, with core technologies both based on power electronic conversion. The homogeneity of technology allows us to achieve synergy in product development and iteration. Secondly, during the production phase, the supply chains of the two segments have a high degree of overlap, enabling the sharing of IC devices, power semiconductor devices, etc. Based on KSTAR's supply chain platform, we can achieve flexible allocation of production lines and reasonable staffing, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Thirdly, as the cost of energy storage devices decreases, the integration of customers between the two segments continues to improve. Data centers combined with new energy can reduce electricity costs and improve economic benefits. Charging piles combined with energy storage devices can reduce the impact on the power grid, achieving economic growth. The company's customer system has already been internally integrated, including finance, communication, energy, and transportation, among other fields."

Among cross-border enterprises, KSTAR has a relatively mature product system construction for charging piles, with a full range of product solutions including charging modules, wall-mounted integrated, split DC chargers, and liquid-cooled chargers. At this charging and battery swapping exhibition, the company launched a series of IP65 products. Dai Hongwei introduced that the product features high protection, high reliability, and high returns. In addition, KSTAR's 960kW liquid-cooled split charger can accommodate 2-20 charging guns, with a power range covering 360-960kW, meeting different application scenarios, while achieving fast charging through liquid cooling technology, balancing charging speed and economic benefits.

Charging pile equipment has passivity, and the core of its research and iteration lies in adapting to the needs of new energy vehicles. "The charging speed of 'one kilometer per second' is theoretically not difficult to achieve, but it depends not only on the performance of the charger but also on the degree of technological openness of car manufacturers and the reception capacity of the vehicles. Some users have a misunderstanding about this, leading them to have unrealistic expectations for charging speed. Based on our in-depth communication with car manufacturers, it is expected that future models will mainly focus on the 800V voltage platform, which provides a good development space for the charging pile industry," said Dai Hongwei.

Dai Hongwei believes that the charging pile market will move from disordered competition to orderly competition in the future, with customers placing more emphasis on product quality and after-sales operation and maintenance, rather than just focusing on price. "We strictly control the quality of products through full-process visualization operation, and have achieved traceability from supplier processes to product storage, production process, and shipment in production management, ensuring control over the supply chain," said Dai Hongwei. In terms of after-sales operation and maintenance, KSTAR supports 24-hour response and problem-solving through 72 after-sales centers and spare parts warehouses nationwide. Dai Hongwei believes that only a complete after-sales service can ensure the operational benefits of charging piles.

Conclusion

The field of charging piles is burgeoning. According to data from the National Energy Administration, by the end of 2023, the total amount of China's charging infrastructure was 8.596 million units, a year-on-year increase of 65%; according to data from the Ministry of Public Security, by the end of 2023, the number of pure electric vehicles in China was 15.52 million. In comparison, there is still a huge market space for the charging pile field to explore towards the future goal of a 1:1 car-to-pile ratio. Minsheng Securities predicts that the domestic charging pile stock market size may exceed 300 billion yuan by 2025.

However, challenges and opportunities often come hand in hand. The cross-border participation of a large number of enterprises has brought new technologies and products to the market on the one hand, and intensified market competition on the other. In recent years, some charging operators have captured market share through low-price promotion activities such as "charging for 1 cent" and "0 service fee," leading to issues such as declining product quality and lack of operation and maintenance. The healthy and orderly development of the future charging pile industry still depends on the relevant departments and industry associations to set standards, regulate market order, and jointly build a good industry ecosystem with manufacturers and operators.