Hangzhou Electric taxi re-started due to "spontaneous combustion" accident

Low-carbon cities Hangzhou Hangzhou is one of the earliest “water testing” low-carbon cities in China. It has for the first time clearly established low-carbon cities in the form of government documents. As early as in December 2009, it announced the “50 Low-carbon New Policies” and proposed the “six-in-one” low-carbon master plan for cities from six aspects of economy, architecture, transportation, life, environment and society. In August 2010, Hangzhou formally entered the ranks of “five provinces and eight cities” for low-carbon pilot projects in China.

In the past three years, Hangzhou has carried out drastic reforms in urban transportation, becoming the first city in the country to successfully cover the public bicycle system in the entire city, and has vigorously promoted the application of new energy vehicles. However, Hangzhou also bears the price of the forerunner. In April of this year, an accident involving spontaneous combustion of a pure electric taxi car in a downtown area caused widespread public skepticism.

From August 30th to 31st, invited by the Hangzhou Development and Reform Commission, the first station of the low-carbon city inspection team jointly organized by the Climate Organization and the Southern Metropolis Daily came to Hangzhou and inspected Hangzhou New Energy Rental, the first to launch an electric taxi in the country. Automobile company, Hangzhou Public Transportation Corporation, low-carbon city and the first preparatory office in China with low carbon as the theme of the Hangzhou Low-carbon Science and Technology Museum.

Southern Reporter Chen Jia from Hangzhou According to the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" of Hangzhou, the city's new energy vehicle development target is more than 20,000. This city, which pioneered the promotion of the pure electric taxi business, faced twists and turns this year. After more than two months of rectification, Hangzhou’s first “public bus” taxi company has resumed operations and plans to expand its pure electric vehicle rental business.

Convenient for taxi operations, using the "replacement-combination" power transmission method is different from the charging-type electric vehicles trialed by Shenzhen, Hangzhou pure electric vehicles adopt a "replacement-combination" approach. "Replacement and replacement" refers to the method of selecting electricity for the vehicle depending on the use of the vehicle. The taxis in Hangzhou are replaced by batteries, and they need to be replaced to replace the batteries. The private car is mostly charged in its own parking lot at night.

Qiu Weicheng, general manager of Hangzhou New Energy Taxi Company, explained to the low-carbon city team that such a choice is based on the consideration of taxi operating modes. After this method is adopted, the replacement process of automobiles is obviously accelerated, generally not exceeding 15 minutes. For charging, it will take at least 3 hours at the fastest, and the charging method is more suitable for private cars that are charged for a long time at night.

The Southern Metropolis Daily reporter saw at a change point set by the taxi company that the staff had replaced four groups of batteries with a total of 260 kilograms. The whole process only took 9 minutes.

Qiu Weicheng said that Hangzhou's electric taxis exchange batteries on average four times a day, driving up to 220 kilometers. At present, there are 5 charge-and-swappable power stations in Hangzhou, all of which are located in urban public transport companies or power grid companies. According to the calculation of the 45-litre daily fuel consumption of traditional oil tankers, the annual carbon emission is 38 tons, while the electric vehicle is charged only 4 times a day and the annual discharge is only 22 tons.

In order to ensure the safety of passengers, it was necessary to suspend spontaneous combustion for nearly three months. On January 26 of this year, the first pure electric taxi in Hangzhou departed, marking the official launch of Hangzhou pure electric taxi. Qiu Weicheng disclosed that this year's investment target was originally set at 200 vehicles. However, due to the accident of spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles in April, the scale of new cars has been greatly reduced.

On April 13 this year, a pure electric vehicle produced by a local company in Hangzhou ignited in the downtown area and burned to an empty shell, causing public alarm. Since then, pure electric taxis have been out of service for nearly 3 months, and the purchase plan has been suspended. Excluding the car that was burned, there are currently only 39 electric taxis operated by Hangzhou New Energy Taxi Company.

Subsequently, the Hangzhou Energy Conservation and New Energy Vehicle Development Coordinating Group reported the results of the accident: The battery has a defect in the installation of the later assembly.

In this regard, the production and installation of the Hangzhou New Energy Taxi Company and the production company have all been improved.

Qiu Weicheng, for example, said that batteries have added many safety inspection procedures and that the replacement time of car batteries has been extended. Now, the service personnel who have charged or replaced the battery must go through the inspection and test at each point. When the battery is in good condition, the battery is changed to the car. Only when the program is completed, the time from the previous average of 5 minutes to 15 minutes. At the same time, the driver has also added special training to focus on observing changes in battery voltage during vehicle operation.

Supporting new energy vehicles, using the public bus model, and increasing subsidies for new energy rental cars can now make money? Qiu Weicheng's answer is: No. Therefore, Hangzhou's electric taxi took a public bus approach. This move was considered by Hangzhou people to be the only way to promote pure electric taxis.

Hangzhou New Energy Taxi Co., Ltd. is invested and constructed by Zhejiang Dayou Industrial Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hangzhou Electric Power Bureau, and Zhejiang Electric Power Industrial Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Zhejiang Province. Unlike ordinary taxi drivers who buy their own cars and affiliate with a taxi company, they need to pay money to the company. Hangzhou New Energy Taxi Company's vehicles are purchased by the company and employees are recruited from abroad. Benefits of employees In addition to the established salary, the company also uses performance appraisal methods for accounting.

At the beginning of August, there was a strike and stoppage of taxis in Hangzhou. A driver told the reporter that this was because the drivers were having trouble operating. The starting price of taxis stopped at RMB 10 for a long time. The free bicycles provided by the government within one hour allowed the driver's short-distance business to shrink significantly.

However, in this strike, none of the drivers of the new energy taxi participated. An electric taxi driver even revealed to reporters that he chose to open an electric car after August. Because "welfare is good and easy."

Qiu Weicheng disclosed that during the two months of the outage of pure electric vehicles, drivers did not go to work but they still received 1,400 yuan in wages and various living allowances. In this way, the company retained the driver during the initial turmoil. Including subsidies, the current price of a pure electric taxi is 150,000. Qiu Weicheng said that no one at such a high price would be willing to buy a pure electric car as a taxi.

In the current technology stage, pure electric taxis are cheaper than normal taxis (no need to pay fuel tax) and are more popular with passengers due to their noiselessness and smooth operation. However, due to the inability to do long-distance business, there are few replacement stations, and there is a need for For reasons such as frequent round trips and maintenance failures, drivers are still operating at a loss. If no state-owned enterprises can provide economic security, they cannot maintain operations at all.

Wei Zhaohong, deputy director of the Automotive Industry Department of Hangzhou Economic and Information Commission, said that electric vehicles have a loss period of 5-8 years. Through technological improvements, the cost of the battery will decrease. Next, Hangzhou will build 86 charging stations and open state-owned taxi rental pilots. The rental of electric vehicles is expected to remain below 2,000 yuan per month.