Why aren't AC charging stations phased out because they charge much slower than DC charging stations

For new energy vehicle owners, the impact of charging stations on electric vehicles is as important as traditional fuel vehicles, and the user experience of charging stations directly affects the car experience.

At present, the charging piles for new energy vehicles on the market are mainly divided into DC piles and AC piles. There are significant differences in technical parameters such as current and voltage. The most obvious difference is power: pure electric vehicles only take 1 to 2 hours to fully discharge through DC charging stations, while it takes 8 to 10 hours to fully discharge through AC charging stations.

As of November 2021, member units within the alliance have reported a total of 1.092 million public charging piles, an increase of 30000 compared to the previous month, a year-on-year increase of 57.1%. Among them, there are 450000 DC charging piles, 646000 AC charging piles, and 406 AC DC integrated charging piles. From December 2020 to November 2021, there were approximately 33000 new public charging stations added per month.

Why do communication charging stations have a high proportion of low charging efficiency?

Firstly, due to the low technical threshold, the manufacturing cost of AC charging stations is relatively low; Secondly, DC charging piles should be matched with three-phase 380. The V power supply department needs to separately approve the voltage, while AC charging piles only require single-phase 220V ordinary household electricity to support the voltage. Compared with the coordination of land and power grid resources required for building DC charging piles, the investment and construction restrictions of AC charging piles are much smaller.

Due to low cost and fast installation speed, in the era of horse racing enclosure, many enterprises invested in the construction of a large number of low-power AC charging piles to quickly occupy the market, leading to the proliferation of AC piles.

However, for new energy vehicle owners, their love for communication piles is far from keeping up with its proportion. According to the White Paper on Charging Behavior of Chinese Electric Vehicle Users released by the China Charging Alliance in early December last year, over 99% of car owners are more inclined to choose DC fast charging for charging new energy vehicles, and less than 1% choose AC charging stations.
 

Since DC charging stations are the trend, why do I still say that AC charging stations cannot be eliminated?

Firstly, the current charging piles are mainly constructed in a centralized manner, and the advantages of DC piles in terms of power are self-evident. In the future, private charging stations will be common, with lower costs and convenient installation for communication charging stations, making them obviously more suitable for private car owners.

According to the "Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Technology Roadmap 2" released by the Chinese Society of Automotive Engineering, it is expected that by 2025, the proportion of slow charging output will reach over 70%. The achievement of this goal largely depends on the construction of private charging stations. Due to limitations in community parking spaces and power grid capacity, the construction of private piles is currently progressing slowly. However, with the inclusion of charging piles in new infrastructure construction and the introduction of relevant national policies, the construction of private piles may bring explosive growth. At this point, the price is more friendly and the installation of exchange piles is more convenient.

Secondly, communication charging piles are beneficial for cutting peak values and filling valleys, with minimal impact on the power grid. DC piles have high power and fast charging, which has a greater impact on the power grid. If new energy vehicle owners use high-power DC piles for charging, they can imagine the burden on the power grid. On the contrary, if you have one, if you have a pile, you don't have to spend energy looking for a pile to charge. Charging during the rest time after work can not only reduce the burden on the power grid, but also use time of use electricity prices to reduce charging costs.

Finally, communication charging stations are more battery friendly and beneficial for extending battery life. Although every battery produced by a legitimate manufacturer undergoes professional testing to ensure its normal service life, experts still recommend that new energy vehicle owners prioritize slow charging when conditions permit, especially if they lack confidence in their vehicle's battery management system. After all, battery damage caused by overcharging is irreversible, and the cost of replacing batteries is really high.

Of course, when constructing private charging stations, it is necessary to choose well-known brand charging stations to ensure stable charging current and safer charging process.