1. How much should a stable charging pile cost?
To understand the price of a charging pile, we need to first learn more about what components the charging pile contains.
Taking DC public charging piles as an example, their equipment mainly includes charging modules, power distribution filtering equipment,
monitoring and billing equipment, battery maintenance equipment, etc.
Among them, the charging module occupies the core cost of the charging pile. Representative companies include Shenghong Co., Ltd., Infineon, Youyou Green Energy, Tonghe Technology, Inkerui, Yonglian Technology, Huawei, etc. After years of development, the price of charging modules has dropped significantly and is now basically stable.
According to data from the China Commercial Industry Research Institute, the price of a charging module per W was about 1.2 yuan in 2016 and has dropped to 0.13 yuan/W by 2022.
According to the data disclosed in the Youyou Green Energy prospectus, the average sales price of the company’s 20/30/40KW charging modules in 2022H1 is 2558/3761/4242 yuan/unit respectively.
It is also understood that Shenghong’s 40kW charging module is around 5,000 yuan.
If we estimate that the module cost accounts for 30~45%, the price of a 120kW DC pile using three 40kW charging modules is approximately 3.3w~5w yuan.
What is the actual sales price in the market? We consulted a number of practitioners.
A charging pile company in North China told us, “We sell the regular version of the 120kW DC pile for about 4W,
and the high-end version will cost several thousand yuan more. The charging module generally has a 3-year warranty. In addition, we will teach customers how to operate it and empower them.” ”
The person in charge of a pile company from Guangdong revealed that different levels of configurations will be provided according to customer needs, with prices around 3w, including charging modules. Price differences focus on the selection of charging modules, whether the charging module has constant power/charging voltage/module technology, independent air duct or water cooling, brand and length of the gun cable, switch device selection, chassis sheet metal thickness/structure and spraying process, and overall The warranty content and duration of the machine are also included, as well as the brand premium.
2. Is the more expensive the charging pile, the better?
In fact, in general, the price of charging piles is still very transparent. In this context, if the equipment is lower than normal cognition, we must put a question mark and choose carefully. This is undoubtedly true. But, on the contrary, is the more expensive the charging pile, the better?
We think not necessarily.
When operators choose equipment, they cannot blindly believe in “high price and high quality”, but must comprehensively consider the brand, accessories, parameters, product failure rate, after-sales service, warranty, insurance, and other aspects.
Among them, product stability and failure rate should be the core considerations. Once a charging station is put into operation, it will be open 24 hours a day. Once the charging equipment fails, it will not only affect the car owner’s charging experience and reduce the reputation of the charging station but also reduce the service time of a single pile due to maintenance time and reduce the charging service fee. revenue. If you cannot quickly understand the failure rate of a product, you can also refer to the latest industry standards.
In addition, when choosing a brand manufacturer, in addition to the high-looking introduction materials and corporate official website, it is more important to consider the length of time the manufacturer has been in business and whether it has mature equipment research and development and production lines. It is best to go to the factory for on-site inspections, and at the same time, if possible, it is best to examine the company’s profitability to ensure that the company can survive in the long term. From this perspective, it is more recommended to choose a big brand.
The intelligence of charging equipment is also the current development trend of charging piles. Therefore, whether the equipment can support more intelligent applications, whether it can achieve version upgrades, remote fault diagnosis, and processing, interconnection with major platforms, etc., should also be determined by operators. One of the reference indicators when choosing a charging pile.
3. “Long-term” will be the magic weapon to win in the end
When talking about the profitability of charging station investment and construction, we often mention “long-term”. For all charging pile manufacturers, we will also give “long-term” expectations.
The foundation of “high-quality development” is safe and stable charging equipment. The charging pile industry is a big market and is the basic guarantee for promoting the development of the new energy vehicle industry. If on the production side, manufacturers only focus on short-term profits, make quick money, and cheat on subsidies, it will definitely be a stumbling block to “high-quality development” and will affect the future development of the industry.
Under industry-wide supervision based on standards and systems, charging pile equipment will also move towards a better quality road.
And those producers who maintain long-term will also be the ones who have the last laugh.