A man charges his new energy vehicle (NEV) at a comprehensive NEV charging station in Hefei, east China's Anhui province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By ZHONG Jianli

To strengthen the role of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in the electrochemical energy storage system, and support the building of a new energy and power system, China's National Development and Reform Commission and other departments recently issued a plan to strengthen the integration and interaction of NEVs with the power grid.

NEVs are connected to the power grid through charging and swapping facilities. The interaction between NEVs and the grid mainly includes intelligent and orderly charging, as well as bi-directional charging and discharging.

The plan says that by 2025, China's technical standards for vehicle-grid interaction will be initially established. By then, the peak-valley electricity pricing mechanism for charging is expected to be fully implemented and continuously optimized.

Efforts will also be made to ensure that in pilot cities, more than 60 percent of the annual total power of NEVs is charged during off-peak hours, while the target for private charging piles is 80 percent. Furthermore, the potential of NEVs as mobile electrochemical energy storage will be preliminarily verified.

In terms of promoting core technological breakthroughs for vehicle-grid interaction, it proposes increasing efforts in key technology research for power batteries. Without significantly increasing costs, the cycle life of power batteries will be increased to 3000 times or more.

To improve the interaction level of charging and swapping facilities, uniformly intelligent and orderly charging piles will be adopted, and the intelligent transformation of existing charging piles will be promoted as needed.

This move marks a significant step for China in promoting the integration of NEVs with the power grid, and fostering an environment conducive to the widespread use of vehicle-grid interaction technologies, ultimately contributing to the development of a more efficient and sustainable energy ecosystem.