PBS NewsHour China: Power & Prosperity

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cwerdna

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It's a multi-part series that's been airing recently as part of PBS NewsHour. I learned that it's 10 parts.

They're also up on YouTube via https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgawtcOBBjr8wFQ9p5mJIw-nsq_EXKBFi and they so far range from 5.5 to 12 minutes long each. I've watched each of them and some are interesting. I have heard of their Belt and Road initiative numerous times on NPR, thru my dad and some other news sources.

Titles so far are:
- Taking stock of China’s growing power and prosperity
- China's massive Belt and Road initiative builds global infrastructure -- and influence
- How President Xi Jinping is transforming China at home and abroad
- Impact of U.S.-China trade war felt in both countries
- China is producing billionaires faster than any other nation
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdQmiItrV4M&list=PLgawtcOBBjr8wFQ9p5mJIw-nsq_EXKBFi&index=9&t=0s was an 8.5 minute segment on EVs in China. They did mention that Shenzhen's the world's first city to rely only on electric buses. They said that city operates more electric buses than every city outside of China combined.

At 5:05 or so, they talk about BYD "greening" the city's taxi fleet.

They show this massive (LOTS of bays) charging area, presumably for taxis and the massive line. They said that almost all of the city's 22K cabs are electric. They talked to a taxi driver who said that he sometimes had to wait in line. A few months back, he waited an hour in line to charge and another 2 hours to charge.

After doing some Googling to see if I could find some pics, I found https://thedriven.io/2019/05/24/worlds-largest-charging-station-in-shenzhen-powers-all-electric-taxi-fleet/. Not sure if it's the same area.
An electric taxi charging station in China’s hi-tech city of Shenzhen has reportedly become the largest EV charging station in the world, as a second phase of construction adding 172 fast chargers to total 637 fast chargers was completed this week.
Unclear if they really are "fast" chargers, say over 20 kW. In China, they use GB/T standards for AC and DC charging. From what I've seen, their DC ports look similar to CHAdeMO but isn't. Their AC inlet resembles Mennekes Type 2 but w/the wrong gender.
 
I saw the segment too. They definitely need to equip Taxi fleets with both real DCFC ports and wiring, and provide enough DCFC stations for them. This is the biggest complaint from Taxi drivers worldwide (including in the US): that charging takes too long and stations aren't numerous enough for them. They need to be able to spend no more than one hour charging per shift, including finding and connecting to the station, or EV taxis won't be appealing.
 
I believe they're using BYD e6 taxis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYD_e6#China. I found https://en.byd.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/e6_cutsheet.pdf that at the bottom says
Charger On-Board Vehicle V2G 480 VAC, 3 phase, 2h (0–100% SOC)

It claims 80 kWh battery. Unclear how closely this matches what's in use as taxis. I know virtually nil about the charging standards there.
 
Taxi use is one of the cases in which present PHEV technology is often better suited than current EV technology, because the cab can keep going after the EV charge is exhausted, until it's convenient to plug in again. The Prius is probably the most popular car for fleet taxi use these days, and if the PIP had been equipped with a larger battery and an electric cabin heater (especially a heat pump) it would probably have made a name for the car in fleet use. If there were a minivan with the Voltec drivetrain and DCFC port, it would also be a major contender. The tech is there right now - just not the right configuration.
 
^^^
When I was in China in 2008, it seemed like the taxis didn't usually run on gasoline but rather on LPG (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogas) or CNG. My Mandarin's terrible but it came up as I was riding in a taxi and noticed the guy's gas gauge was pointing to empty. He replied with something along the lines of some sort of gas (not liquid). The gauge gas pointing to empty was a quirk. I assume that it flat out doesn't work on such a converted car.

In Japan, it seems that many taxis also don't run on gasoline and ran on either CNG or LPG or something like that. I've almost never taken a cab in my 6 trips to Japan...

For the Chinese application, there might be issues in terms of space for a LPG or CNG tank + a big enough battery.
 
I watched that segment (and have been watching the series since I started, although I've skipped one or two), and was interested to learn that Nio has been using battery swapping; I haven't been following them. The taxi driver's issues duplicate those which have already occurred in other countries. Given the long charging time, I suspect he was charging L2, although depending on the pack size if he was doing a full charge to 100% it might well take that long using a QC. There wasn't enough info to say.
 
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