Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

GETTING back on the road after a cup of coffee with a fully charged electric vehicle (EV) will no longer be a pipe dream for Shenzhen residents.

Capitalizing on the “new infrastructure rush,” Shenzhen launched an initiative to build a “City of Superchargers” at the 2023 International Digital Energy Expo, which opened at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian District on Thursday.

A fully liquid-cooling supercharging demonstration station, jointly built by Huawei and China Southern Power Grid, is on display at the expo.

“Superchargers” are ultra-fast chargers that provide a maximum of 600 kW of power and a maximum charge current of 600 amperes, which would equate to replenishing 1 kilometer of range per second.

The integration of digital and intelligent ultra-fast charging technology is considered essential to build a new generation of intelligent charging networks. According to the city’s plan, Shenzhen will build 300 supercharging stations by 2025. The number will be increased to 1,000 and over 2,000 by 2030 and 2035, respectively.

The fully liquid-cooling supercharging architecture is one of the energy solutions and products that pull in huge crowds at the expo, which will run until Sunday.

A total of 407 leading digital energy enterprises from home and abroad are showcasing state-of-the-art technologies, products, models and business formats focusing on the supply and demand sides of digital energy.

The expo has also attracted nearly 2,000 domestic and foreign energy experts and representatives from electric power enterprises and internet companies to gather at the expo’s thematic forums to discuss the latest breakthroughs and future development trends in the field of digital energy.

As a key State-owned enterprise in the energy industry, China Southern Power Grid is displaying a series of innovative technologies and products at the expo, including “Fuxi,” the first electric-specific chip armed with domestic instruction architecture and core.

“We are showcasing the latest technologies and application practices in such fields as clean power generation, green ICT [information and communications technology] power infrastructure and electrified transportation,” Hou Jinlong, president of Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co. Ltd., said.

Shi Mei, Tencent Cloud’s vice president in charge of the energy and resources division, introduced Tencent Cloud’s two newly released products — EnerLink and EnerTwin, which would help enterprises quickly build diverse energy digitization scenarios.

According to Mario Haim, vice president of Schneider Electric, the German company is showcasing “innovative solutions covering entire lifecycle towards building grids of the future” at the expo.

“Our ETAP [electrical transient analysis program] is a new and integrated electrical digital twin platform to manage the complete electrical system lifecycle from design and engineering to operations and maintenance, which empowers users to increase productivity, collaboration and efficiency and enables their energy transition journey,” Haim said.

As one of the first cities in China to develop the new energy industry, Shenzhen has a relatively sound foundation in the R&D and industrialization of electrochemical energy storage materials and technologies.

Official data showed Shenzhen currently has nearly 7,000 firms engaged in energy storage-related businesses.