The full-day forum was arranged by the ECCT’s Mobility committee in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) and the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO). The purpose of the forum was to offer international insights and best practices on topics that are crucial to the future development of NEVs, namely, policies, charging infrastructure and business models. At the event, opening remarks were made by Shen Chih-hsiu, Deputy Minister of the EPA, Huang Yu-lin, Deputy Minister of the MOTC, Chen Pei-li, Secretary-General of the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), under the MOEA, EETO Head of Office Filip Grzegorzewski and ECCT Vice Chairman Henry Chang. This was followed by three sessions, featuring prominent speakers from European and Taiwan government and industry. Each session was concluded with a panel discussion in which all speakers from the session participated.

The morning session focused on the topic “Policies, successful cases and challenges” while the two afternoon sessions focused on “Charging infrastructure and business models”. Prominent speakers from Europe were Ivone Kaizeler, Team Leader, Competitiveness and International matters, from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW); Petr Dolejsi, Director, Mobility and Sustainable Transport, European Automobile Manufacture’s Association (ACEA) and Christina Bu, General Secretary of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association. Prominent speakers from Taiwan included Leu Jang-hwa, Director-General, IDB, MOEA; Tsai Meng-yu, Director, Department of Air Quality Protection & Noise Control, EPA and Huang Hsin-hsun, Deputy Director-General of the Institute of Transportation (IOT), MOTC.

The forum was arranged in order to encourage exchanges, discussions, and cooperation between government agencies and industry players in an attempt to identify feasible solutions to make Taiwan's path to vehicle electrification a smooth one. In particular, one of the main aims of the forum was to promote and synchronise awareness and understanding among Taiwan's government agencies and industry players of crucial elements that should be considered during the process of devising NEV development policies, identify action items for authorities and industry players to work on through parallel meetings following discussions at the forum and serve as the beginning of an integrated EU-Taiwan platform on NEV initiatives, which will be followed up with continuous discussions and updates on NEV developments in Europe.

The forum comes at a time when the global market for vehicle electrification is expanding rapidly. In 2018, more than 1.7 million plug-in and battery electric vehicles were sold worldwide, a nearly 40% increase over 2017. According to McKinsey, the global production of battery electric vehicles is estimated to reach 3.5 million in 2020 and 14.8 million by 2025. Electrification is also considered the prerequisite for other major automotive trends, such as autonomous driving and connected vehicles. Major global automakers have announced aggressive plans for launching electric vehicles by 2022.

The shift away from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles will have significant consequences for both the automotive assembly and parts manufacturing industries. The trend will disrupt not only existing industries, but also regulatory supervision, infrastructure, energy supply, service providers and consumer behaviour, among others.

Opening remarks

In his opening remarks, ECCT Vice Chairman Henry Chang drew the link between climate change and the transportation sector, which accounts for 14% of global emissions and much more in countries such as the United States, where the figure is close to 30%. Besides the dangers posed by climate change, pollution from the fossil fuel vehicles is a major threat to human health. According to the WHO, 4.2 million deaths occur every year due to exposure to outdoor air pollution and seven million premature deaths can be attributed to air pollution. Governments and industry players are taking action. The EU has set stricter emission limits for passenger and commercial vehicles while EU laws set binding emission targets for new car and van fleets. Meanwhile, the automotive industry is now also embracing the shift towards New Energy Vehicles with aggressive plans. However, a successful transition will not be possible without proper planning and cooperation among all stakeholders, especially between the government and industry.

In his remarks, Deputy EPA Minister Shen made the point that the trend towards NEVs is one that Taiwan cannot afford to miss. He reported good progress being made towards reaching the government’s vehicle electrification goals in the electric scooter segment. According the deputy minister 15 out of 100 scooters sold in Taiwan this year have been electric while 5% of cars sold were either hybrids or battery electric. The government is also working on converting all buses to electric by 2030.

In his remarks, IDB Secretary-General Chen said that the government is encouraging manufacturers to be part of the transition to new energy vehicles. He mentioned 10 pilot projects involving hundreds of passenger cars and e-buses as well as projects to develop electric vehicles for the post office and e-taxis. In addition, Taiwan already has players in the EV charging sector, which are working with international partners. According to Chen, there are already 1,000 charging points or stations in Taiwan for EVs and the MOEA will work to connect players in the electronics and auto sectors and others to create an entire eco-system for EVs.

In his remarks, Deputy MOTC Minister Huang spoke about a taskforce on mobility, which aims to integrate resources across the whole supply chain, including electronic components and applications. He mentioned the success story of e-scooters, which was developed in close cooperation with the MOTC. The MOTC is committed to meeting its goal of electrifying all of Taiwan’s buses by 2030 and the government will invest NT$30 billion to meet this goal. In addition to urban buses, electrification plans will be expanded to include intercity and long distance buses. According to Huang, the government has decided that the EV life cycle needs to be at least 12 years while the lifespan of batteries for EVs needs to be at least six years. Industry players can apply for funding for batteries on the condition that they can last for six years and have a range [on a single charge] of 400 kilometres. He conceded that reaching these targets will be difficult for the industry but expressed confidence that some teams of players will succeed. The deputy minister also welcomed international partners to participate in R&D, manufacturing and the deployment of e-buses. He concluded by saying that the MOTC is working with the MOEA and EPA to set the relevant standards.

In his remarks, Filip Grzegorzewski said that the forum was extremely timely and important given that the incoming EU commission has made addressing climate change one of its top priorities. He noted that transport accounts for about a quarter of emissions in Europe, of which road transport is 80%, higher than the global average and therefore one of the most significant areas to address in the battle against climate change. Europe has a number of strategies and plans aimed at making Europe a leader in clean, competitive and connected mobility with the ultimate objective of creating a more sustainable transport system. According to Grzegorzewski, there was a 30% year-on-year increase in EVs sold last year. The EU is also supporting the electrification of buses and R&D through the Horizon 2020 programme, such as a €200 million investment in battery research.

Morning Session: Policies, successful cases, and challenges

Topic: NEV policies and the European Battery Alliance

Ivone Kaizeler, Team Leader, Competitiveness and International matters, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), European Commission

The EU vision for mobility is safe, connected, competitive and clean mobility. A European strategy for low emission mobility was announced in 2016 and EU mobility packages were introduced in 2017 and 2018. The overall goal is to lower transport GHG emissions by 60% compared to 1990 levels by 2050, in line with the EU’s goal to be climate neutral by that time, and gradually move towards zero emissions vehicles. Unfortunately the trend in recent years has not been good. While emissions from other sectors have been steadily falling since 1990, emissions from the road transport sector went in the opposite direction until about 10 years ago, started to fall gradually for a few years but started rising again over the past three years.

Measures that have been put in place under the EU’s vision include setting more aggressive tailpipe emission standards for cars and vans, support for road charging infrastructure, a battery action plan and road safety measures.

The EU’s 2015 emission target was a reduction per fleet to 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre (on a fleet-wide average basis) and 95 grams by 2021 for passenger cars and 147 grams for vans by 2020. The EU takes a technology neutral approach meaning that all forms of clean technologies are allowed as long as the overall fleet meets the target. Significant efforts will be required to meet targets. If they are not met, penalties will be imposed. Further reduction targets have also been set for the years following 2021. In addition, targets for heavy duty vehicles are a 15% reduction in emissions by 2025 and a 30% reduction by 2030. While layoffs are expected in some segments of the automotive industry, there will be more jobs created in battery, charging and services segments.

Plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) accounted for only 0.9% of new vehicles registered in the EU so far this year while battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 1.5%. However, there are large discrepancies between countries (Sweden has the largest portion of EV among EU member states at 8% of vehicles sold). Europe is the world’s second largest EV market after China with around 300,000 EVs sold per year at present.

The EU provides some subsidies for charging stations in the form of grants to member states as well as loans from the European Investment Bank for charging infrastructure. While there is not yet enough charging infrastructure, it is growing every year.

The European Battery Alliance started in 2017 given the large and growing market for batteries for EVs, storage and industrial applications like power tools and forklifts. However, there are as yet no “megafactories” producing batteries at scale in Europe. The alliance aims to attract manufacturers to Europe, bring all players from the European Commission, member states and industry together to create a competitive and sustainable value chain. (The speaker noted that this is conditional upon producing batteries with a low carbon footprint.) In May 2018 a strategic action plan was announced with six key elements: 1) to secure a sustainable supply of raw materials; 2) support emerging EU projects; 3) enhance EU research and innovation to overcome technological challenges; 3) develop and strengthen the availability of a skilled workforce; 4) develop an EU regulatory framework for supporting a safe and sustainable battery value chain and 6) ensure consistency with the broader regulatory framework.

The alliance will continue to source raw materials from outside and within Europe on the condition that they are sourced in a sustainable way. It will also invest more in the recycling and recovery of raw materials. Demand for lithium ion batteries is expected to increase to 200-400 Gigawatt hours per year by 2025.

The EU’s Horizon 2020 programme made €300 million available for battery R&D. A blueprint is being developed for skills development. There will be new rules on performance and sustainability out by next year. The aim is to create a circular model for batteries that can have second life, such as being used for energy storage, and later disassembled and recycled.

Topic: ACEA on decarbonisation

Speaker: Petr Dolejsi, Director, Mobility and Sustainable Transport, European Automobile Manufacture’s Association (ACEA)

Besides decarbonisation, there is a need to consider business models, connectivity and automation. The EU’s carbon emission targets are lowest in the world. The industry has already made great progress in improving fuel efficiency and gradually reducing average fuel consumption. However, it is difficult to meet new legislative targets if consumers do not choose low emission vehicles. Another factor in the increase in emissions is the switch from diesel to petrol vehicles.

According to Dolejsi, even though the industry is investing €50 billion in R&D to develop the technologies needed to meet the regulatory targets, this does not guarantee that consumers will purchase them. For this reason the industry is advocating a longer lead time and realistic targets. In addition, there should be shared responsibility with the industry, local authorities and electricity providers as car makers cannot be responsible for infrastructure. They need national and local government support to build it.

Technology is not a problem but the question is how to replace the current fleet. Average fleets are quite old and the industry needs help to convert old fleets to cleaner ones. The main challenges are affordability and the lack of a sufficient charging infrastructure. There is also a need to invest in different technologies and solutions for passenger vehicles, buses and heavy duty vehicles.

According to Dolejsi, a shift to EVs will not happen until charging infrastructure is in place. Consumers must see infrastructure to have the confidence to buy EVs. For this to happen, you need the cooperation of electricity providers and grid operators. Subsidies must be sustainable and predictable with long term visibility and support from central and local governments. The enormous pressure on the power grid also needs to be considered.

There are large discrepancies within Europe. 76% of all charging points in Europe are in just four countries: 28% in The Netherlands, 22% in Germany, 14% in France and 12% in the United Kingdom. It is estimated that 3.1 million charging points will be needed, a 20-fold increase from just 140,000 points available now. Getting to this number will require huge investment.

Dolejsi concluded with some lessons learnt: political targets are hugely demanding and the EU risks not meeting even the 95 gram target. This is not because the technology is not available but because of the high costs of EVs and range anxiety due to a lack of charging infrastructure. Targets should therefore be realistic and EVs must be affordable to average users, at least the same prices as ICE vehicles. Taxation (vehicle and fuel tax) is also important. The transition also will require changes in skills in the value chain and the after-market. Regulators also need to consider the consequences for those in traditional automotive industry.

Topic: The Norwegian EV success story – Reaching mass market

Speaker: Christina Bu, General Secretary of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association

The speaker explained that the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association is an NGO representing EV drivers, which also cooperates with industry. It has 80,000 paying members and 35 staff.

She reported that two weeks ago the biggest petrol station in Oslo removed petrol pumps to make way for fast electric vehicle chargers, illustrating a real turning point in the mobility transition. Norway is both a large oil producer while also producing 98% of its own electricity needs from renewable hydro-electric power. The country has for years been transitioning away from oil, in the knowledge that it will not last forever.

Norway has seen one of the fastest transitions to EVs. According to the speaker 44.7% of all new vehicles sold this year so far in Norway have been EVs. This is remarkably rapid transition given that the percentage was close to zero just eight years ago. Norway’s experience shows that there is no reason why the transition cannot happen as fast in other countries like Taiwan. Even in a remote area in Norway, 31% of new vehicles sold are now EVs and the percentage is much higher in urban areas. 61% of new vehicles sold in Oslo were EVs this year while the rapid replacement rate means that 15% of all cars in Oslo are now EVs and a similar trend is being seen in other urban areas. The country’s goal (although it is not mandatory) is to sell only zero emission vehicles by 2025. Initially people thought it was too ambitious but given the rapid progress made to date, the goal now looks achievable. Switching light commercial vehicles to EVs will be more of a challenge (only 4.8% are EVs now) but the government plans to introduce incentives to boost this percentage.

Given the rapid increase in EVs, Norway’s average emissions per vehicle have already dropped to 59 grams per km. If the target of 1.2 million EVs by 2025 is reached, it will realise huge reductions in CO2 emissions. While Norway is not a member of the EU, it follows EU rules.

How did Norway achieve this? Taxation played an important role. The simple strategy employed is to tax what you don’t want and exempt from tax what you want. Norway imposes a heavy purchase tax on vehicles as well as a VAT rate of 25% plus other ownership and usage taxes. However, EVs are exempted from all of the taxes. In addition, they are exempted from road tax, road tolls and allowed to drive in bus lanes. While the retail price of EVs is higher than equivalent ICE vehicles, when taking into account the tax exemptions, the price retail consumers have to pay for EVs is virtually the same as for ICE vehicles, meaning that they are price competitive. As prices of EVs continue to decline given economies of scale, they will only become even more attractive.

But financial incentives are not the only consideration. Norway actually started offering tax incentives in 1990s but there were very few takers in the first 20 years because there was a lack of charging infrastructure. This began to change with the build-out of a charging infrastructure all across the country.

Bu noted that diesel cars have trouble starting in Norway’s frigid winter. However, EVs start immediately even when the temperature is minus 40 degrees, although the range of EVs is shorter in cold temperatures.

She expressed the view that consumers are ready to buy EVs. Norway’s experience has shown that consumers will buy as long as EVs are affordable and range anxiety has been addressed by sufficient charging points. Addressing these issues requires the cooperation of policy makers and industry players.

Bu cited the results of her organisation’s survey of 16,000 people which showed a 94% satisfaction rate of EV car owners, of which 67% had inspired others to buy EVs while only 4% would consider going back to ICE cars. This includes long range drivers, which also expressed a preference for EVs as long as the range was good enough.

On the subject of charging, Bu said that most EV users in Norway charge their cars at home and mostly overnight. She noted that people don’t often use fast charging: 40% of its members use fast charging less than once a month. Nevertheless, Norway has 2,000 fast chargers (which can charge a vehicle in 20 minutes), which are needed for longer trips. She noted that more than half of users reported that fast chargers are often out of order, which is why it is important to have more than one charging point at any given charging location, otherwise there will be a queueing problem, especially during peak hours.

Currently Norway has 2,100 charging points but this will need to grow to over 9,000 by 2025 to meet the needs of the growing market. She noted that the business case for charging operators is very attractive and private operators are investing without government subsidies in the best locations for charging, especially in cities and along highways.

On the subject of disruption to the car industry, while it will be challenge to the after-market for services and parts, the fact that EVs have fewer moving parts to replace and maintain will be good for consumers.

Bu noted that electric planes are now a reality and there are predictions that all inland flying in Norway will be on electric planes in future. The country is also converting to fully electric ferries. There is even a company making a fully electric and autonomous container ship.

Bu concluded that political measures are key, consumers are ready as long as there are no risks and there is a clear business case for fast charging.

Topic: Taiwan electric vehicle policies and achievements

Speaker: Leu Jang-hwa, Director General, Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA

The speaker gave an overview of Taiwan’s EV policies. Currently there are 6.5 million registered vehicles in Taiwan, a number which does not include 13.5 million scooters. The government’s “Development Strategies and Action Plans of Intelligent Electric Vehicles” from 2010-2016 was aimed at establishing a new EV industry with a focus on critical components and increasing public awareness to create a better green environment.

The MOTC, MOEA and EPA worked together to promote the development of the EV industry and set a timetable for vehicle electrification which sets a goal for all government vehicles and public buses to be electric by 2030 and aims to encourage the use of electric scooter and passenger cars. The MOEA has also cooperated with international organisations to establish Taiwan EV standards. In this regard, authorities have developed nine standards on EV safety, performance and interoperability, nine standards for batteries, 10 standards for charging stations and chargers, six standards for motors and controllers and 23 standards for EV environmental tests.

To assist in market development, 10 projects with 489 EVs and 1,073 charging stations have been run for passenger cars while pilot projects have been run for e-buses. According to Leu, the reliability rate of e-buses has improved to 98.7% and the total number of e-buses keeps increasing. According to Leu, e-buses reached a 10% share of the market in 2018 while the sales of new e-scooters reached an 8% market share in 2018, which rose to 12% in the first quarter of 2019. In addition, several Taiwanese players are involved in charging infrastructure and battery components.

In order to stimulate the transition to e-buses, the government is phasing out incentives for diesel buses, increasing the number of charging stations and increasing subsidies for e-buses. Leu also acknowledged the need for incentives for charging infrastructure, enforcing buildings regulations to install charging facilities as well as tax incentives and free parking for EVs in order to stimulate adoption.

Topic: How to control air quality from reducing vehicle pollution and increasing green public transportation

Speaker: Tsai Meng-yu, Director, Department of Air Quality Protection & Noise Control, EPA

The speaker began with an overview of Taiwan’s air pollution status, which has been one of the main drivers of changes to legislation to encourage the transition towards green transportation. Taiwan’s most severe pollution is in winter when pollution blows in from China, although Taiwan’s air pollution is generally lower than other Asian cities. The main source of mobile pollution in cities is from diesel trucks, buses and scooters. This has prompted authorities to implement stricter vehicle emissions standards, promote low emission vehicles, improve fuel standards and promote public transport and the use of bicycle sharing.

In particular, authorities have outlawed two-stroke motorcycles, given their heavy emissions. They also offer subsidies and loans for replacing diesel trucks, installing filters in trucks and for purchasing e-scooters. According to Tsai, 900,000 two-stroke motorcycles will be retired by the end of 2019 while authorities are helping to promote the expanded use of the Youbike bicycle sharing system by offering subsidies to local governments for this purpose. Meanwhile the EPA and MOTC are subsidising the replacement of existing buses with e-buses.

Morning session panel discussion

The discussion was moderated by IDB Director General Leu. Besides all the speakers from the morning session, Huang Hsin-hsun, Deputy Director-General of the Institute of Transportation (IOT), under the MOTC also joined the panel.

Ivone Kaizeler stressed the importance of collaboration between industry, authorities and consumers in the drive towards new energy vehicles. Success requires the right regulatory push, consumer demand and action by industry. In terms of regulatory push, the right combination of regulatory measures and incentives is needed.

Petr Dolejsi stressed that individual governments have an important role to play. Norway serves as a good example of implementing a variety of measures, although these should depend on the specific circumstances in the country. Taiwan has all the elements required for a successful transition if the government and industry work together to achieve it. He added that it is important for long term commitment and strategy. The government needs to be transparent and committed for the long term with consistent and predictable policies. For example, tax incentives can be effective.

Christina Bu agreed that it is important to be committed and not to remove incentives once offered. She noted that Norway did not have a master plan. Instead, politicians just took action. Sometimes authorities focus too much on planning and not enough on implementation. Norway’s example shows that tax incentives work. There is also great upside in terms of business opportunities, especially if you start moving early, for example in charging infrastructure and business models. Taiwan already has taxes on cars so it can use this policy to achieve results.

Tsai Meng-yu noted that the government is already using subsidies and taxes to encourage the transition, as well as supporting the building of infrastructure, such as battery swapping stations for e-scooters. He added that authorities are also working on increasing maintenance capacity for EVs at existing ICE vehicle maintenance centres.

Huang Hsin-hsun noted that we have to consider consumers by making EVs cheaper and ensuring that there are sufficient charging options. He expressed the view that if we provide enough incentives, consumers will switch, citing Norway’s experience as a valuable example for Taiwan’s reference. He noted that 30% of Taiwan’s PM2 pollution comes from vehicles. Replacing 10,000 buses with e-buses will help to reduce PM2 as will expanding the scope of electrification to vans and long distance buses.

On the subject of market prices for second hand EVs, Christina Bu noted that a drop in second hand EV car prices had hurt leasing companies but this changed a year ago when there was actually a supply shortage, which led to an increase in prices in the second hand market. Given the fact that consumers now see that that EV batteries are fairly durable, more people now believe the value of EVs will be higher than those of ICE vehicles.

On the subject of disruption, given that some 12 million people’s jobs are at risk in Europe, there needs be a solution that balances the needs of all stakeholders and society.

Christina Bu noted that EVs still only make up about 9% of all vehicles in Norway so traditional after-market dealers and service providers have not yet been affected much. In addition, traditional car makers are hiring more people. Dealers used to be more specialised but the trend is now to diversify parts and services to cater to EVs. For example, some traditional ICE vehicle dealers are selling chargers.

On the subject of raw materials for batteries, Christina Bu noted that Cobalt, one of the main materials for batteries, which has been sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo, had actually helped to increase the focus of attention on the issue of ethical mining [it has been reported that many children work in perilous conditions to extract cobalt]. She added that Congo is a failed state where mining is not regulated. Following greater attention and focus on the issue, many vendors are taking action. BMW, for example, controls its own mine in the Congo. Others are working to reduce the use of cobalt. She expressed the view that the solution is not to stop importing cobalt from the Congo (which would deprive the country economically) but to make sure it comes from ethical producers.

On a question about the interoperability problem, Tsai Meng-yu said this should be resolved by common standards just published. He added that fast charging is very important for future development. The government is also working on providing training for mechanics to maintain EVs. He added that recycling of batteries is now mandatory. Local governments are encouraged to add more charging/swapping stations in petrol stations, parking lots and shopping malls.

Afternoon Session I: Charging infrastructure & business models

Topic: The way to a global standard for e-mobility & smart grid integration

Speaker: Jacques Borremans, Managing Director, CharIn Asia

Borremans said that the reduction from around 5,000 parts in a traditional ICE engine to around 20 parts for an EV vehicle illustrates how disruptive the EV transition will be to the ICE industry. Barriers to entry are much lower for EVs than for ICE vehicles and the focus is on battery management system. Maintenance is virtually zero for batteries, although chargers need regular maintenance.

Many countries are starting to prepare for the transition and disruption. Thailand, for example, is offering incentives such as tax holidays for building EV-related factories.

Just like for wifi and roaming, there is a need for common charging standards. CharIn is focused on fast high-powered charging so that any make of car use the same standards. Borremans expressed the view that no one is willing to invest in charging stations unless there is a common standard to ensure interoperability and because different standards are confusing for consumers.

In South Korea growth really took off after authorities there chose a common standard. There are now waiting lists for EVs in that country, so more investments are likely to follow to meet the demand.

The EU chose the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) as the common standard for charging equipment in the EU. Now there are 8,000 high powered chargers all over Europe, which has led to strong EV growth.

Grid management is also important. The operator needs to be able to predict charging needs and meet expectations. For example, the power needs will be different for using a 450kw charger, which take less than seven minutes to charge a vehicle, a 350kw charger, which takes about 12 minutes, a 250kw, which takes about 20 minutes and a 50kw, about 80 minutes.

There are currently several competing standards: CHAdeMO from Japan (a proprietary standard developed by Nissan), CCS1, CCS2 amd GBT from China. Because of the high risk of fire, CCS does not allow the use of adaptors. According to the speaker, the use of CCS is rising fast while it is falling for CHAdeMO (Even Nissan is apparently moving to CCS).

CharIn’s members include oil companies, which are considering installing chargers in their petrol stations, grid operators as well as all the major car makers, who are members because they want to sell their vehicles globally.

The most important player when choosing the standard is the grid operator, because of their need to manage power supply. With CCS you can tell on an individual level how much charging should be supplied to each vehicle. For example, taxis will need fast charging. The next most important player is the charging station operator because of their need to control maintenance and payment options. Next on the list is e-mobility service providers, test, equipment, hardware and software companies. Last on the priority list is the EV producer.

The use of CCS is growing dramatically. While the EU insists that every charger has a CCS connector, Korea and Singapore have insisted on only CCS. The speaker urged Taiwan to ensure at a minimum that there is a CCS option.

CCS has different applications. EVs will need something similar to the roaming system used for mobile phones to allow charging with operators that are not the EV owner’s usual service provider. New ways will be needed to automate charging such as via IT certificates with automatic billing using encrypted technology. This will be essential for the era of autonomous driving.

EVs will be part of the smart grid as vehicles connected to the grid can draw as well as give electricity back to the grid. In future, contracts between users and operators will be able to specify if you only want wind or solar energy and/or if you want to sell power back to the grid.

Another important consideration in future is security. Systems will need to be secure to prevent hacking, which is why encrypted technology is extremely important.

CharIn is now looking at 1 megawatt and greater charging options for large trucks, ships and planes. For example, Easyjet is looking to fly a hybrid plane by 2025.

Topic: EV technology: Global developments and digitalisation

Speaker: Kumail Rashid, Sales Manager, Electric Vehicle Charging, Asia Pacific, ABB

ABB expects rapid EV expansion. The company has been involved in the industry since 2010, starting with the CHAdeMO standard and later with the CCS standard. There are already examples of fast chargers in Singapore.

ABB has DC fast charging stations in 76 countries. The company is working with car manufacturers and grid operators to ensure interoperability. He made the point that operators don’t want to be limited to one type of vehicle.

AC and DC can be complimentary. ABB expects 90% of charging in future to be slow AC charging but you also need the option of fast DC charging. It is expected that there will be four main use cases for public and commercial car charging: AC destination chargers (3-22kW chargers for charging times of over four hours), DC destination charging (20-25kW chargers for 1-3 hours), DC fast charging (50kW for 20-90 minutes) and DC high power charging (150-350kW for 10-20 minutes).

Given the potential for breakdowns, additional charging points need to be built within each charging station. For high charging DC stations liquid cooled cables are needed. High power systems need to be purpose built and might need substations and transformers.

 

Rashid went on to introduce some of his company’s chargers. For charging e-buses, Belgium has 150kW dedicated pantograph charging, which connects automatically to buses for 3-4 minutes. The system is interoperable so that any kind of bus can be charged. Another option for buses is installing larger batteries that can last the whole day but this requires considering the power load requirements for charging multiple buses when not in use.

In terms of charging business models, this is an evolving business opportunity. Service providers who can provide seamless connected services with automatic billing are likely to win over the most customers.

Topic: EV

Speaker: John Wang, Chairman, Noodoe Corporation

The speaker gave an overview of his company, which provides cloud operating systems to orchestrate charging, which automates service delivery, payment and energy management.

Most charging stations require membership cards or roaming agreements. According to the speaker, Noodoe’s solution makes the process seamless for station owners. He expressed the view that the charging experience should be open to all users. For a lot of shopping malls and hotels, EV charging is becoming important as more of their customers use EVs. This is offering a business opportunity and source of revenue for shopping malls and hotels.

Fleet charging requires a different solution. It is not possible to charge all vehicles at same time, which is why a load balancing solution is needed. Noodoe’s EV operating system has an algorithm that automatically computes and executes the optimal fleet charging strategy to allow multiple vehicles to be charged over the same period with an optimal strategy to minimise energy costs (by concentrating charging during off-peak hours).

The speaker recommended not rushing to install charging stations before doing automated diagnostics in the cloud, working out central control and management, automated demand response to control the time of charging and, finally analytics of energy usage and consumer behaviour in real time.

Afternoon session I panel discussion

The session was moderated by Petr Dolejsi from ACEA. Besides the speakers from the session, other panellists participating were Yang Jin-shyr, President, Taiwan Electric Research & Testing Center; Tung Chien-chiang, Section Chief, Metal and Mechanical Industries Division, IDB, MOEA and Chang Yen-tang, Senior Technical Specialist, 6th Division, Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspections, MOEA

According to the speakers the attention in Taiwan is now focused on DC charging for e-buses, which will require large capacity.

Tung Chien-chiang said that, from the government’s perspective, the price of EVs is not the main issue and the government is considering how to expedite the roll-out of charging infrastructure. Meeting the government’s 2040 EV goals will be helped by exempting EVs from tax as well as mandatory requirements to install charging cables in all new buildings and plans to equip parking lots with charging stations.

It is one of the IDB’s goals to drive the development of the local EV industry. Taiwan’s charging station development is still mostly focused on AC charging. There is very little DC fast charging capacity and no clear competent authority. If the BSMI is put in charge, it will look at the issue from a consumer safety perspective.

Taiwan authorities are still discussing which standard to adopt in Taiwan. When there is a problem, users tend to blame EV makers but problems are sometimes caused by operators.

Afternoon Session II: Charging infrastructure & business models

 

Topic: Pilot project in Japan: eCanter for logistics service

Speaker: Fumio Akikawa, Tech Adviser (Diesel, EV), Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC)

Electric trucks are part of solution to reduce emissions and in response to the diesel ban in some cities in Europe and China.

Given ageing populations and rise of e-commerce, short haul deliveries are becoming more important. While the prices of EVs is still higher than ICE vehicles, the prices of batteries are falling, a trend which will help the development of e-trucks.

MFTBC introduced its first generation of EV truck in 2010, the second generation of highway maintenance trucks from 2012-2016 and the third generation in 2017. It has produced a total of 141 vehicles so far.

The speaker introduced the eCanter light duty truck which has a range of about 100km. Both slow AC and fast DC charging can be used. A normal 6kW AC charge takes about 11 hours.

Fast DC charging on a 50kW charger takes about 1.5 hours. Most customers choose overnight charging when vehicles are not in use. In some cases, customers use vehicles in three shifts with fast charging in between shifts.

All trucks are charged in depots and don’t rely on public charging stations because of time management, space constraints (most charging bays are only big enough for passenger cars) and to avoid waiting times. Overall running costs are about half of those of ICE trucks. Even taking into account when EVs are charged from an electricity source combination of coal, oil and LNG, the overall operating carbon emission footprint of EVs are still substantially lower than those of ICE vehicles. According to Akikawa, its trucks have received excellent feedback from customers, who say that charging is not a killer criteria, especially if done overnight. However, range limitations means they are still only suitable for short haul deliveries.

Topic: Successful case of energy service model for e-scooters

Speaker: Chen Yen-yang, Marketing Director, Gogoro

The speaker gave an introduction to Gogoro and how its scooters offer a solution to urban air pollution. The company’s convenient battery swapping system was the key to driving consumer acceptance, showing that it is not just about EVs but about providing a smart energy and mobility solution.

According to Chen, Gogoro will have 1,500 swapping stations by the end of 2019. The company tracks the location and use of batteries and charging stations and uses artificial intelligence to predict usage. With 450,000 batteries, the company’s system is already the largest battery swapping model in the world. Besides 200,000 vehicle owners, the company is working with DHL in a fleet deployment. In Berlin and Paris it has cooperated with Bosch to set up scooter sharing projects.

Topic: Analysis and planning strategy of electric load for domestic electric vehicles

Speaker: Wang Yao-ting, Vice President, Taiwan Power Company

The speaker spoke about how to prepare the grid for the expected exponential growth in EVs. The addition of renewable energy sources to the grid will be part of the solution as EVs can be charged using renewable energy and help to balance the energy demand load. Around  4GW of renewable energy capacity will be added this year alone, rising to 20GW of solar and over 5GW of wind by 2025.

According to Wang, it will be easier to manage slow AC charging compared to fast DC charging. According to Wang, based on a 31.7% market share of EVs by 2030, Taipower estimates an additional 10% demand for power, which he said is manageable. He reported that Taipower will launch a pilot project next year in conjunction with industry players to test various aspects of EV charging, information flow and energy management. The company will also be working out ways to calculate rates for EV charging services. For example, if customers charge their vehicles during off-peak hours, they will be given preferential rates.

Wang noted that as more renewables get added to the grid, the current definition of peak hours will change. While off-peak hours under the current system are from around midnight to 6am, the addition of solar energy to the grid will make electricity more plentiful at midday and mean that this will become the new off-peak rate period, while times when the wind is blowing strongly will also produce other intermittent off-peak periods. Conversely, supply will be tighter in the early evenings and this will become the new peak rate time when users will be charged a premium for charging their vehicles. In future customers will be able to get a single bill for all their EV charging and other electricity usage.

Afternoon session II panel discussion

The session was moderated by John Wang, Chairman, Noodoe Corporation. Besides the speakers additional panellists included Wu Chih-wei, Director, Electricity Division, Bureau of Energy, MOEA and Liu Kuang-Chung, Technical Specialist, Metal and Mechanical Industries Division, Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA.

Chen Yen-yang pointed out that since Gogoro’s battery system has hundreds of thousands of batteries, they could serve to help to stabilise the grid, drawing power when needed and discharging power when need to meet grid demand.

High powered DC stations require extra safety precautions. Only a limited number of chargers can be used at any given time.

Wang made the point that charging must be standardised and be able to be controlled centrally so that it can be stopped if something goes wrong.

On a question about the challenges for e-trucks, Fumio Akikawa reiterated that while customers are happy with the performance of vehicles, the main problem is limited range.

Batteries can play the important role of balancing supply and demand. EV car users can opt to allow their car batteries to supply power to the grid and receive payment for this. Old batteries can have a second life as energy storage units.

Gogoro is considering providing incentives for users to swap batteries outside of peak hours.

This could help Taipower to balance power needs.

Next year, Taipower will work with TEEMA and other associations on several projects covering standard protocols as well as business models. In the future there will be charging station operators in the parking lots of building and revenue sharing schemes between the charging operators and Taipower.