Introduction

"One kilometer per second", the anxiety about battery life is gradually becoming history. Liquid-cooled supercharging is rewriting the energy replenishment pattern of electric vehicles at an unprecedented speed, and the market spring is approaching. Under this wave of change, how should the automotive charging cable industry upgrade in line with the trend?

After 600kW, the new 720kW full liquid-cooled supercharging architecture made a shocking debut. The first full liquid-cooled supercharging station in the world's port was officially put into use. The charging time was sharply reduced by half, and the supercharging efficiency achieved a qualitative leap.

The secret of liquid-cooled supercharging lies in the liquid circulation channel between the charging gun and the cable. Driven by the power pump, the coolant circulates back and forth, efficiently absorbs heat energy, and allows the cable to run at low temperature throughout the process. Compared with traditional air cooling and natural heat dissipation, liquid cooling has the advantages of rapid charging, safe and worry-free, low noise, convenient and light, and has more advantages in operation and maintenance costs and service life, and has become the first choice for electric vehicle fast charging.

What is "liquid-cooled supercharging"?

Liquid-cooled super charging technology is a new energy technology that applies a liquid cooling system to the charging process of electric vehicles. Its main principle is to cool the heat generated during the charging process through a liquid cooling system, thereby improving charging efficiency and speed.

The liquid-cooled super charging system consists of a liquid-cooled charging gun (vehicle plug), coolant, liquid-cooled cable, cooling system (thermal management system, including a circulation pump, a liquid storage tank, a radiator, etc.), a charging gun core flow channel structure, a tail cable locking structure, and temperature control. The liquid-cooled super charging pile is a special liquid circulation channel set between the cable and the charging gun. The channel is filled with coolant that plays a heat dissipation role. The liquid cooling system efficiently takes away the heat from the charging cable, so that a larger charging current can be loaded on a thinner charging cable, which doubles the charging power and achieves the purpose of high-speed charging.

01 What are the requirements of liquid-cooled charging technology for cables?

At the technical standard level, the 2024 Asian Cable Summit Forum provides guidance. At present, there are four modes for charging electric vehicles:

Mode 1: The charging gun uses a common 16/32A single-phase or three-phase CEE plug for charging through a cable;

Mode 2: An ICCB controller is added to Mode 1;

Mode 3: Use a double-head charging gun to connect the car charging port and the AC charging pile;

Mode 4: Use a DC charging pile for charging.

Modes 1, 2, and 3 are AC slow charging, and Mode 4 is DC fast charging. The charging gun and cable standards corresponding to different modes, the international mainstream standards cover national standards, European standards, ICE standards and American standards, each with its own emphasis. The national standard test is comprehensive and reliable; the European standard focuses on environmental protection and halogen-free first; although the American standard has fewer test items, it has high requirements on key indicators such as capacitance.

Liquid-cooled charging pile cables face higher challenges, and strict tests such as high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, high cold resistance, and explosion resistance are essential. However, challenges and opportunities coexist. Liquid-cooled cables can carry strong currents with their small cross-sections and are lightweight. Combined with smart charging piles, remote control, precise power measurement, convenient payment and other multiple functions can be easily realized.

02 Has the trend of liquid-cooled supercharging arrived?

According to data from the China Charging Alliance, the number of charging facilities will increase by more than 3.38 million in 2023, and 70% of users prefer charging piles of 120kW and above; CICC predicts that the domestic liquid-cooled supercharging market will be close to 9 billion in 2026. Sales of new energy vehicles continue to soar, high-voltage fast-charging models are frequently launched, the penetration rate of electric vehicles has steadily increased, and the infrastructure of charging piles has accelerated. With the superposition of multiple positive factors, the demand for liquid-cooled supercharging cables will inevitably rise.

The main characteristics of the factory system are: large-scale centralized labor; the use of large machines to improve production efficiency; the implementation of the system of hiring workers; the deepening of labor division, and the socialization of production.

03 Future

With the in-depth evolution of liquid-cooled supercharging technology, the beautiful vision of "charging a cup of coffee and traveling thousands of miles without worry" has become a reality, and the automotive charging cable industry will also be reborn in this transformation.

On the one hand, the coolant circulation heat dissipation mode makes the product charging efficient, safe and convenient; the technical standards are benchmarked against the international mainstream to ensure adaptation to different charging modes. On the other hand, high temperature resistance and other rigorous testing challenges are combined with intelligent control to achieve multi-functional integration. At the same time, Aichie closely follows industry trends, catches up with peers, takes advantage of the development of new energy vehicles, adapts to the rising trend of market demand for supercharging, seeks new development opportunities in the era of liquid-cooled supercharging, gradually transforms, and helps the vision of worry-free travel come true.