Electrification, as one of the development trends of the construction machinery industry, has become the focus of attention of all parties in recent years. Although there are pain points in the current electrification of construction machinery from the user's perspective, with the development of the industry, the battery price has decreased, the battery technology has made a breakthrough, the supporting system has been improved, and the electrification of construction machinery has a strong momentum.
Pain point 1: the battery life is short, and frequent charging affects the operation progress
In terms of endurance time, most of the electric equipment currently on the market operate for about 5-6 hours, while the actual engineering mechanical equipment operates for about 12 hours a day. Therefore, although the endurance time of individual electric excavators reaches 8-10 hours and that of individual electric loaders reaches 10 hours, except for the towing equipment, other electric equipment still needs to be powered once a day during the lunch break to realize the whole day operation of the equipment.
In terms of charging mode, at present, most electric engineering machines support industrial power, civil power and automobile charging pile charging, and some Sany products also support supplementary trolley charging. Various charging modes meet the operation needs of electric equipment in different scenarios. However, in the actual operation process, the simultaneous charging of multiple electric equipment during lunch break has certain requirements on the voltage at the construction site. In terms of charging efficiency, at present, the normal charging of electric equipment requires at least 4-6 hours. Although most of the current electric equipment support DC fast power and AC fast power, the charging time is about 1-2 hours. Taking Sany sy19e as an example, the DC fast charging takes 1.5 hours and the AC charging takes 2.5 hours; Liugong 922f-ev can fully charge 80% of the electricity in one hour, but the fast charging time is longer than the refueling time of traditional fuel equipment.
Although under the current battery technology, the equipment endurance can not meet the needs of all day operation, according to the technological evolution, the breakthrough of battery raw materials and battery technology, energy density and battery capacity will effectively improve the mileage anxiety of users.
Pain point 2: the natural deterioration of the battery is inevitable, and the temperature environment and use mode affect the battery performance
Battery capacity attenuation is inevitable. At present, the number of cycle charging of lithium iron phosphate battery is about 2000 times, and the number of cycle charging of ordinary lithium battery is 400-600 times. Even the lithium battery with good performance will not have more than 1000 times. During the use process, the loss of electrode active materials leads to battery capacity attenuation, and the polarization phenomenon caused by the loss of recyclable ions or the increase of internal resistance leads to battery capacity attenuation and impedance increase, Thus, the battery capacity and power are affected, and the performance degradation caused by battery characteristics is inevitable. In combination with the above mentioned electric construction machinery equipment, which is recharged at least once a day, the service life of lithium iron phosphate battery in natural use is about 5 years, which is still a certain gap compared with traditional equipment.
The ambient temperature affects the performance of the battery. According to the experimental conclusion of Beijing Wanyuan graphene and energy storage research center, the decrease of electrolyte conductivity, the increase of electrode interface facial mask impedance and the increase of charge transfer resistance during charging in the environment below 0 ℃ reduce the discharge capacity of the battery. When the charging ambient temperature is above 50 ℃, LiFePO ? reacts with the electrolyte to precipitate Fe ions, The dissolution of SEI film and the HF corrosion of the positive collector generated by the reaction of electrolyte and water will lead to the rapid decline of the capacity of lithium iron phosphate power battery and affect the high-temperature performance of the battery. Therefore, the operating environment of construction machinery is complex. Both the high temperature in summer and the low temperature in autumn and winter in the north have a significant impact on the battery performance.
Fast charging affects the battery life. According to the survey, if the fast charging pile is always used to charge the power battery, the battery life will be reduced by about 70%. In the actual use process, in order to meet the construction progress, the electric equipment of engineering machinery uses the lunch break time to charge. The use of fast charging occurs frequently, which also significantly affects the battery life.
In addition, the charging voltage, charging current, over discharge and violent driving all affect the battery performance.
The battery BMS system is constantly improving. It provides functions such as charge and discharge temperature protection, energy monitoring and management, battery status detection, etc. to effectively realize the intelligent management and maintenance of the battery, improve the energy utilization efficiency, improve the battery performance, and extend the battery life.
Pain point 3: supporting facilities and services for electrification of construction machinery lag behind
The electrification supporting facilities of engineering machinery have a direct impact on the penetration rate of electrification equipment. At present, the supporting facilities and services of new energy vehicles are developing rapidly. In terms of charging facilities, the monitoring report on charging infrastructure in major cities in China shows that the average density of public piles in 32 major cities in China is 21.5 sets / km2. The average coverage rate of public piles in 32 urban centers is 73.3%. In terms of power exchange facilities, as of February 2022, the number of power exchange stations of major power exchange operators in China has reached 1405, with a year-on-year increase of 111.92%, and the number of power exchange stations has increased by more than 100% for five consecutive months. However, the development of supporting infrastructure and services for charging and power exchange of electric engineering machinery and equipment lags behind that of new energy vehicles.
The players of supporting facilities and services overlap with new energy passenger vehicles, and the lack of supporting links of construction machinery affects the market penetration
At present, there are mainly three types of enterprises providing supporting facilities and services for electric engineering machinery. The first type is the head main engine plant, which is similar to the current Sany and XCMG layout of charging / replacement power station manufacturing; One is a professional power solution provider, which is similar to the main layout of charging and changing equipment manufacturing and infrastructure construction of State Grid and China Southern Power Grid; There are also enterprises that mainly provide supporting services for new energy vehicles. These enterprises mainly provide supporting battery asset management, battery operation and charging pile operation services for new energy vehicles. With the development of electric engineering machinery equipment, they have expanded their business in the field of engineering machinery. Therefore, from the perspective of industry players, there is a large blank market in the supporting infrastructure and service market of electric engineering machinery: first, the number of new energy infrastructure and supporting services currently provided in the market still has a large market space even for new energy vehicles; Second, although the infrastructure of new energy vehicles continues to improve, the infrastructure of electric engineering machinery and new energy vehicles cannot be shared, and there is only a small amount of overlap in the use scenarios. Therefore, the supporting facilities and services for the electrification of engineering machinery bring a new incremental market. At present, the shortage of supporting facilities also aggravates users' mileage anxiety, and the shortage of supporting services affects users' willingness to purchase.
The demand for power exchange mode is urgent, and the battery standard needs to be unified
At present, the main energy supplement mode of construction machinery is charging. Only some heavy truck vehicles can support power exchange. It is particularly urgent to fully implement the power exchange mode of construction machinery. First, as a production material, the construction machinery can bring better operation efficiency and effectively alleviate the mileage anxiety of users by quickly completing the energy supplement in the power exchange mode; Second, compared with new energy passenger vehicles, the initial purchase price of electric engineering machinery equipment is higher, and the power exchange mode can share the initial equipment purchase pressure of users; Third, battery operating companies can not only carry out professional battery maintenance to delay battery life, but also share battery depreciation.
There are two main reasons why the power exchange mode in the field of construction machinery can not be rapidly popularized: first, the differences in equipment structure caused by the diversity of equipment pose a challenge to the design of the power exchange station; Second, there is no recognized industry standard for battery materials and battery packs, so complex battery performance differences need to be taken into account in the design process of the power plant.
Although there is a relative lack of supporting facilities and services for the electrification of construction machinery at present, with more and more capital investment and market cultivation in the future, more professional players will emerge in the electrification of construction machinery.
4、 Prospects for the current pain points of electrification of construction machinery
The short-term rise in the price of battery raw materials brings cost pressure to the main engine plant. In the long run, the decline in the price of batteries or the decline in the price of electric equipment
Although the prices of lithium, nickel, cobalt and other raw materials have risen sharply since the second quarter of last year, and the prices of many new energy vehicle enterprises have also risen accordingly, for the construction machinery industry, the long-term cooperation agreement signed between leading OEMs and battery suppliers can smooth the battery cost, but in the short term, the rise in battery prices has brought some cost pressure to OEMs. Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde times, said that the battery performance has been increased by three times in the past decade, and the cost has decreased by 90%. Referring to the price trend of new energy passenger vehicles, it is expected that in the next two to three years, the mass production of electric equipment will be carried out. At that time, the large-scale production of power batteries and the recovery system of power batteries will be gradually improved, the cost of power batteries will be significantly reduced, and the price of electric equipment transmitted to downstream main engine plants will also be slightly reduced, The price advantage of electric construction machinery and equipment has gradually emerged.
Comprehensive use cost can balance the initial purchase cost of electric equipment
The annual operating cost of the pure electric loader is 300000 yuan lower than that of the fuel loader: the price of a fuel loader is about 350000 yuan, and the fuel consumption for one hour of operation is about 16 liters of diesel; The price of a pure electric loader is about 800000 yuan, and the power consumption for one hour is about 40 kwh. If diesel oil is 7 yuan per liter, electricity is 0.6 yuan per kilowatt hour, and working for 10 hours a day, the daily energy costs of fuel oil loader and pure electric loader are 1120 yuan and 240 yuan respectively. If the whole year is operated for 330 days, the annual energy cost of the fuel loader is 290400 yuan more than that of the pure electric loader. In addition, plus the maintenance and other expenses, the pure electric loader can save 305400 yuan of operating cost per year than the fuel loader. The comprehensive use cost, and the recovery period of the price difference between the pure electric loader and the fuel loader is about 2 years
Table 1 Comparison of economic benefits between fuel loader and pure electric loader
Comparison of economic benefits
Comparison of economic benefits between fuel loader and pure electric loader
The battery raw materials and technologies have made continuous breakthroughs, and the battery capacity, density and safety have been significantly improved
At present, the lithium-ion battery of electric engineering machinery is gradually replacing the lead-acid battery, while the battery cell energy of sodium ion battery is gradually approaching that of lithium iron phosphate battery, and it has the outstanding advantage of low temperature resistance in extremely cold regions, which will provide more options for power batteries; In terms of battery technology, the large cylindrical 4680 power battery, relying on the innovative structural design of "infinite ear", has promoted the technological breakthrough of power battery and is expected to drive the rapid growth of relevant markets from 0 to 1 to N in the next five years; In terms of safety, the electrolyte of power battery is evolving from liquid battery to semi-solid battery and finally solid battery. According to the judgment of yiou think tank, semi-solid batteries can be carried on passenger cars in batches as early as 2023, and the technical application of solid battery will completely solve the problem of battery safety around 2030.
The new energy track has attracted much attention, and more cross-border players will be deployed in the future
For the trillion level electrification market of construction machinery in the future, supporting facilities and services still have broad growth space. Under the "double carbon" background, a number of policies clearly support the development of electrification. It is expected that as the electrification equipment of the main engine plant is put into production in batches, as a low threshold link of the new energy competition, supporting facilities and supporting services will welcome more cross-border players. It is expected that with the investment of the capital market, the supporting facilities and services will be integrated and acquired through resources, forming a more perfect supporting system.
