Across the three thousand great worlds, wisdom is expounded at Mount Sumeru. On September 23, 2020, the 3rd Sumeru Summit was held in Changzhou, Jiangsu. Hosted by StarCharge (Wanbang Digital Energy Co., Ltd.), the conference centered on the theme of the 'Mobile Energy Internet,' with more than 800 guests spanning government, industry, academia, research, media, and finance.
Ouyang Minggao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor at Tsinghua University, delivered a speech titled 'The Scientific Development of the New Energy Vehicle Industry.' The full transcript follows:
Distinguished delegates and experts, greetings. Warm congratulations on the successful convening of the 2020 Sumeru Summit. It is a great regret that, for special reasons, I cannot attend in person; here I wish every delegate a rewarding experience. I would like to share some thoughts on one topic — the scientific development of China's new energy vehicle industry today. Why raise this question? I believe the scientific development of new energy vehicles currently faces three issues that require attention:
01
Balanced Development
In previous years, much emphasis was placed on the specific energy of batteries, but some safety issues have recently emerged. We need all-round, balanced development across specific energy, safety, lifespan, and charging performance upgrades, so that performance becomes more balanced and comprehensive. Only this can support the rapid development of new energy vehicles. Specific energy has reached a fairly high level after years of development; the range anxiety we once worried about is basically gone, and we have entered a new stage that requires all-round balanced development and shoring up former shortcomings. In balanced development, many issues remain — for example, the balanced development between EVs and charging. As everyone knows, the new infrastructure initiative specifically mentions charging infrastructure: we must intensify the development of charging infrastructure to fully meet the needs of electric vehicles and solve the charging difficulties in EV promotion and adoption. This too is an important step in the development of our electric vehicles and requires balanced development.
02
Inclusive Development
Inclusiveness means mutual integration and compatibility. Inclusive development, which can also be called integrated development, refers to coordinated convergence. The automotive industry and the energy industry urgently need such coordination. Currently, various issues have arisen between the two industries in many respects, and after years of adjustment they have entered a new stage of integration and coordination. Especially now that new energy has reached this stage, we must pay attention to the use of new energy by new energy vehicles — which is precisely the purpose of today's summit. StarCharge has grown from a charging company into a digital energy company, integrating electric vehicles and new energy through digital energy. This is a model example of integrated, inclusive development. In addition, charging and battery swapping also need integrated development. On one hand, we must solve the fast-charging problem, especially fast charging for sedans — for instance emergency charging, where we need 5 minutes of charging for 150 km of range, that is, high-power fast charging. On the other hand, for some heavy-duty trucks, no matter how fast charging gets, it may be hard to meet their needs, so we need to open up the battery-swapping model. We have just established the China Battery-Swapping Industry Promotion Alliance, which is doing exactly this — addressing issues such as interconnection of battery-swapping heavy-duty trucks, vehicle-battery separation for battery-swapping trucks, battery banks for battery-swapping trucks, and the operation of battery-swapping stations for heavy-duty trucks, among others. These are also important development areas for StarCharge's digital energy business. Yesterday I had a very productive discussion with Ms. Shao; we can integrate and converge along the technology chain, industry chain, and value chain, uniting different innovation elements and companies with different strengths to ultimately develop our industry well.
03
Innovative Development
By innovative development, we mean we must not stand still. China's new energy vehicles have performed well in recent years, but we now face the challenge of the rapid rise of European companies and their fast-growing market share, so we cannot slow down in technology; we must keep innovating. For example, we are now in the midst of debates over battery technologies. New technologies and difficult technologies must be explored by someone, and we must keep raising our technical bar. We still need to develop high-nickel ternary batteries; although achieving the same safety level requires greater technical difficulty, we should also recognize that it demands a higher technical threshold. Our next step, solid-state batteries, may seem distant to some, but in terms of innovative development, many innovation investors are optimistic about this new technology, and I believe this step will come soon. To preserve the advantages of electric vehicles, we cannot stop; if we stop, we will surely be overtaken. Market competition is a marathon with no finish line. We must rally our spirits and keep innovating. StarCharge has provided many models worth learning from in innovative development.
Everyone has come to Changzhou today to deliberate here; I believe you will all benefit greatly. I hope you gain even more, contribute new strength to the development of China's new energy industry, and strive together!
