A new perspective of "dual carbon". Infrastructure plays an important role in the zero-emission transition to transportation

On November 28, 2023, the "Towards Zero Emission Transportation Forum 2023 and the Annual Meeting of the China Clean Transportation Partnership (CCTP)" hosted by the China Clean Transportation Partnership (CCTP) was held in Beijing. The guests had an in-depth discussion on how infrastructure can further contribute to the zero-emission transformation of transportation.

The picture shows the roundtable discussion session of the "Towards Zero Emission Transportation Forum 2023 - China Clean Transportation Partnership (CCTP) Annual Conference". From left to right, Jia Junguo, Deputy Director and Secretary-General of the Smart Transportation and Green Energy Special Committee of the China Energy Research Society, Li Lili, Deputy Director of the New Energy Vehicle Energy Storage Research Institute of Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, Liu Jianguo, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Center of the Energy Research Institute of the China Macroeconomic Research Institute, and Xu Ziqi, Member of the Technical Expert Committee of China Automotive Data Co., Ltd. and Project Director of the Clean Energy Research Department.

In the process of zero-emission transportation, different technology pathways put forward different requirements for infrastructure

Li Lili, deputy director of the New Energy Vehicle Energy Storage Research Institute of Tsinghua Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, said: "Among the zero-emission transition paths, the path of electricity is the most certain, especially the path of charging technology. Although it is believed that the zero-emission transition path of heavy-duty commercial vehicles is highly uncertain, from our research, its charging path is still the most certain and the most advantageous in terms of cost. As megawatt-scale fast charging technology solves the problem of convenience, the certainty of future charging paths should deserve more attention. ”

Talking about alternative fuel technology routes, Liu Jianguo, deputy director of the International Cooperation Center of the Energy Research Institute of the China Academy of Macroeconomics, said: "There are many alternative fuel technology routes in the industry, including hydrogen, ammonia, alcohol, ether, oil, electricity and gas. ”

Xu Ziqi, member of the Technical Expert Committee of China Automotive Data Co., Ltd. and project director of the Clean Energy Research Department, added: "The future of zero-carbon fuels is an important path. The electrification of vehicles has brought great pressure to the power grid, so the planning of smart transportation and smart road network is the business point brought by new energy vehicles, and there is a lot of room for the future. “

In the face of the emergence of new technologies, how should infrastructure construction and development be planned to ensure their availability and continuity?

Li Lili said: "I focus on the charging facilities, whether it is a heavy-duty vehicle or a light-duty vehicle, there are two types of charging facilities in the future. The first type of facility is to be built in combination with the existing power supply facilities and sites, which need to be built on demand, and the availability and continuity for internal dedicated needs are better. There is great uncertainty in the face of public demand, and it is necessary to rely on the market to allocate resources in this regard, and try not to be overly advanced. The second type of facilities are those that were not guaranteed by sufficient power supply facilities, such as high-speed service areas, large parking lots, and logistics parks. The key in this regard is to do a good job in demand forecasting, for areas with high demand certainty, such as high-speed service areas, in the planning of power facilities can be relatively ahead of more than 10 years, its availability and continuity are good, but in terms of charging facilities, it should be moderately advanced, not too much ahead, to avoid the waste of investment caused by changes in technical routes. ”

Liu Jianguo believes that it is difficult to achieve the ideal goal of matching infrastructure and technology. The scale of development of different technical routes is currently unclear, although the overall supply of charging piles exceeds demand, but in fact, there are regional differences in the layout of charging piles, and the utilization rate of charging piles in some places is very low, and the national utilization rate is less than 6%. It's hard to achieve 100% with planning.

Experts believe that it is necessary to give full play to the role of the market, set up good standards, straighten out relevant policies and mechanisms, do a good job in basic work, and realize the problem of matching infrastructure and technological routes through an effective market. At the same time, it is recommended that the competent authorities strengthen the connection between power planning and operators' charging infrastructure planning, and strengthen publicity and education for the public, such as how to rationally use charging infrastructure to reduce the damage of charging infrastructure and extend the life of infrastructure.

Priority attention should be given to near-term and medium- and long-term infrastructureWhat theIssue?

Experts believe that there are two key points in the near future, the first is the direction of the need for the government to increase investment support, such as the overall transformation of low-voltage lines of charging piles in residential areas, high-speed service areas and logistics hubs supporting power grids and charging facilities investment, etc., power facilities should be built as far as possible in place, and charging facilities are gradually built according to the growth of charging demand. In the near term, investment in supporting power grids is likely to exceed investment in charging infrastructure. The second is the construction of pilots, such as electric heavy truck infrastructure pilots, vehicle-network interaction pilots. Without pilots, there will be no large-scale development.

In addition, some experts believe that the infrastructure in the transportation sector should pay attention to low-carbon energy replenishment in the near future, such as port RNG refueling stations, methanol, etc. In the near future, we will pay attention to reducing the intensity and taking into account the long-term technical route in the future, and do preliminary technology research and development. Some experts pointed out that charging operators and OEMs should now pay more attention to the utilization rate and return on investment, improve the utilization rate, and also need to pay attention to the lack of use evaluation and other problems of the use of stations.

How to base it onDifferent regions and citiesWhat are the characteristics of a customized zero-emission strategy?

"It is very important for local governments to build demonstration benchmarks, such as Tangshan heavy truck benchmarks, Taiyuan taxi benchmarks, Shenzhen public transport benchmarks, etc., and the leading role of advanced city benchmarks is great. On this basis, it is necessary to turn the benchmark of advanced cities into the overall strategy of the country, increase the promotion and coordination at the national level, and strengthen the linkage between the local and central governments. Li Lili said.

Liu Jianguo introduced that the state advocates adapting measures to local conditions, mature technologies can be promoted on a large scale, and those that have potential but do not have economy can be slowed down. The application of different technical routes in different vehicle types is quite different, and the electrification of urban public vehicles is high, and the electrification of medium and long-distance logistics vehicles with a high degree of commercialization is difficult.

Xu Ziqi said: "There are many problems faced by the infrastructure situation in rural areas, including how to conduct data analysis and precise policies for rural areas, demand forecasting for new energy vehicles in rural areas, power grid upgrading and unclear business models, etc. ”