In the current era of rapid development of new energy, the ownership and penetration rate of electric heavy trucks are continuously increasing, and the energy supply mode is undergoing changes, leading to a significant increase in the demand for heavy truck charging stations.

Building a heavy truck charging station involves multiple links and professional fields. Each step, from planning, construction to operation, is crucial. The following is a guide to the process of building a heavy truck charging station, incorporating the experience and suggestions of HARDHITTER, hoping to provide ideas and useful references for your station building process.

The first step is to understand the local heavy truck ownership . For example, the working hours of mining heavy trucks are relatively fixed, but they have short charging intervals and a large demand for centralized charging; the operation routes of logistics transport heavy trucks are complex, and charging facilities may be required along the way and at the destination.

By communicating with local logistics enterprises, mining enterprises, transport fleets, etc., collect usage information of heavy trucks, such as mileage, operation time, parking duration, etc. At the same time, combined with the local economic development trend and industrial planning, predict the future growth of the number of heavy trucks to evaluate the potential charging demand. Scientifically determine the scale and service capacity of the charging station to avoid over-construction or insufficient capacity.

It is of utmost importance to select a site close to highway entrances and exits, intersections of national and provincial roads, or large logistics parks, ports, mines and other areas where heavy trucks are intensively operated. When evaluating traffic convenience, some specific data can more intuitively reflect the advantages of the site selection.

Generally speaking, a distance within 5 kilometers from the highway entrance and exit is an ideal range, so that heavy trucks can reach the charging station in a short time after getting off the highway, reducing the empty driving time and power consumption of vehicles on the road.

For the site selection of national and provincial roads, the distance between the charging station and the road should not exceed 2 - 3 kilometers, and the average speed of the surrounding roads during peak hours should not be less than 30 kilometers per hour to ensure that heavy trucks entering and leaving the charging station will not cause traffic congestion.

If it is near a logistics park, the straight-line distance between the charging station and the main entrance and exit of the park is preferably controlled within 1 - 2 kilometers to ensure sufficient buffer space and traffic capacity.

For the site selection around the port, the traffic capacity of the internal roads of the port should be considered. Generally, the designed traffic capacity of the main roads of the port should be able to meet the flow of at least 100 heavy trucks per hour, and the distance between the charging station and the loading and unloading area of the port should not exceed 3 - 5 kilometers, which is convenient for heavy trucks to charge during the loading and unloading of goods.

In addition, pay attention to the smoothness of the surrounding traffic and avoid traffic congestion caused by vehicles entering and leaving the charging station. You can observe the traffic flow and traffic conditions of the surrounding roads during peak hours on the spot and select a location with sufficient buffer space.

Communicate with the local power department. Investigate the capacity and stability of the existing power grid and understand the future upgrade plan of the power grid. For heavy truck charging stations with large power consumption, dedicated line power supply may need to be considered.

During the initial stage of site selection, evaluate the feasibility of power access at the alternative sites. Pay attention to the price policy of the local power supply. Different regions and power supply methods may have large cost differences, which have an important impact on the long-term operating cost of the charging station.

According to the planned scale of the charging station, find a suitable area of land. The nature of the land must meet the construction requirements. Priority is given to industrial land or construction land that meets the planning. Consider the service life of the land and try to choose a long-term and stable lease or purchase method to avoid affecting the continuous operation of the charging station due to land problems.

When evaluating the land cost, in addition to the rent or purchase price, also consider the possible costs such as land leveling and supporting infrastructure around the land. In addition, you can pay attention to the local government's industrial park planning or land preferential policies and strive to obtain more favorable construction conditions.

Writing a project feasibility study report is a systematic project. When elaborating on the necessity of project construction, in addition to market demand analysis, it is also necessary to combine the national and local new energy development strategies and environmental protection policies to highlight the positive significance of the heavy truck charging station for regional sustainable development.

In the technical scheme part, describe the charging equipment selection, layout planning, power supply system design and other contents. For economic evaluation, consider construction costs, operating costs, revenue forecasts, etc., including details such as equipment depreciation, personnel wages, electricity costs, and charging service fee income.

When applying for project initiation to the relevant government departments, ensure that the report content is detailed and the data is accurate, and actively communicate with the approval department to answer the questions they may raise.

When submitting the planning and design scheme of the charging station to the local planning department, in addition to meeting the basic building and layout specifications, also pay attention to the coordination with the surrounding environment.

When planning the charging area, consider factors such as the turning radius and parking spacing of heavy trucks to ensure the convenience and safety of vehicle charging operations. If it affects the surrounding traffic, it is necessary to provide the corresponding traffic organization scheme, such as the design of vehicle entry and exit routes and parking guidance signs.

Submit a power access application to the power supply department. The detailed calculation of power load and the basis for selecting the access point are very important. In addition to the expected simultaneous usage rate of charging equipment and the maximum power demand, etc., also consider the future expansion demand.

When negotiating the access scheme with the power department, you can ask whether there is the possibility of smart grid access, which helps to improve the power management efficiency and stability of the charging station. Understand the procedures and time nodes for handling the power access process and prepare the relevant materials in advance to avoid delaying the project progress due to formalities.

Heavy truck charging requires high power, and DC fast charging equipment is the mainstream choice. However, when selecting a specific model, it should be determined according to the battery type, capacity of the heavy truck and the charging time requirements of the operating enterprise. For example, for some new heavy trucks with large battery capacity, charging equipment with a power of more than 300kW may need to be selected.

The compatibility of the equipment is crucial. It is necessary to ensure that it can be compatible with the charging interfaces and communication protocols of various mainstream heavy truck models on the market.

In terms of safety, select equipment with multiple protection functions, such as overvoltage, overcurrent, and leakage protection, and it must comply with relevant international and domestic safety standards.

The degree of intelligence is also a consideration factor. Charging equipment with an intelligent power scheduling system can automatically adjust the charging power according to the power grid load and the vehicle battery state, improving the charging efficiency and power grid stability.

It is recommended to test different brands and models of charging equipment before procurement or refer to the usage of the equipment in existing charging stations.

Select an energy-efficient transformer with an appropriate capacity according to the total power consumption and peak power load, and reserve capacity redundancy.

The design should be reasonable, able to clearly distribute power, have overload and short-circuit protection functions, be easy to operate and maintain, and a distribution cabinet with an intelligent electricity meter and monitoring function can be selected.

It should have strong compatibility, stable and reliable data transmission, be easy to operate and maintain, and can real-time monitor the charging status, equipment operation status and environmental parameters and other information.

In addition to conventional fire extinguishers and fire hydrants, consider installing an automatic fire alarm system and an automatic fire extinguishing system, and configure them reasonably according to the layout of the charging station and the distribution of equipment.

Use measuring instruments to measure the flatness and slope of the site (the flatness error is within ±5 cm), and use mechanical equipment for leveling. If there is a problem of water accumulation, design a drainage slope (not less than 0.3% - 0.5%) to ensure that rainwater can be smoothly drained out of the site and avoid affecting the normal use of charging equipment and vehicles due to rainwater accumulation.

Consider the local climate conditions. The height of the shed roof should not be less than 4.5 meters. Use a steel structure with a yield strength of not less than 235MPa to build the frame. The shed roof material can be selected from 0.4 - 0.6 mm thick color steel plate or 6 - 10 mm thick sunlight panel, which can be selected according to actual needs and budget.

The building area is determined according to the number of operating personnel and functional requirements (for example, for 5 - 8 people, the area is 80 - 120 square meters).

Excavate according to the design requirements. The depth is generally between 0.8 - 1.2 meters, and the width is between 0.4 - 0.6 meters. Lay a 10 - 15 cm thick layer of fine sand as the cushion layer in the trench. After the cable is laid, cover another layer, and finally seal it with a cement cover plate or red brick.

It should be installed by professional electrical technicians according to the equipment installation instructions.

Determine the installation position of the equipment to ensure that there is sufficient safety distance between the equipment and surrounding objects. For example, the distance between the charging equipment and the wall should not be less than 1 meter, and the distance between it and other equipment should not be less than 0.8 meters to ensure the heat dissipation and maintenance space of the equipment during operation.

For the fixed installation of the equipment, use expansion bolts or anchor bolts to fix the equipment on the ground or foundation platform. The specification of the bolts should be determined according to the weight and installation requirements of the equipment. For example, for charging equipment weighing 500 - 1000 kilograms, generally use M16 - M20 expansion bolts.

When installing the distribution cabinet, place the distribution cabinet in the appropriate position according to the design drawings to ensure a reasonable electrical connection distance between the distribution cabinet and other equipment, which is convenient for operation and maintenance. The foundation height of the distribution cabinet is generally between 0.2 - 0.4 meters to avoid the influence of ground humidity on the distribution cabinet.

For a medium-sized charging station, install 1 - 2 cameras per 100 - 200 square meters of area, with a height of 2.5 - 3.5 meters.

Commission each charging equipment to check whether the working voltage and current are normal. Generally speaking, the output voltage error of the charging equipment should be within ±5%, and the current error should be within ±10%.

Commission the distribution cabinet to check whether the overload protection, short-circuit protection and other functions are normal.

Commission the monitoring equipment to check whether the image transmission of the monitoring equipment is clear and whether the data collection is accurate.

After the single-machine commissioning is completed, conduct on-line commissioning. Simulate the heavy truck charging process to test whether the charging function, power distribution, monitoring data transmission and other functions of the entire charging station system are normal.

Check the cooperative working capability between charging devices For example, when multiple charging equipment charges a heavy truck at the same time, whether the power can be reasonably allocated to meet the charging needs of the heavy truck.

Check whether the communication between the monitoring system and the charging equipment is normal and whether the monitoring system can real-time obtain the working status and charging data of the charging equipment.

Conduct training for operation and management personnel on charging equipment operation (start, stop, charging mode selection, fault handling), safety management (electrical, fire-fighting, emergency escape knowledge), and customer service (communication skills, complaint handling). You can invite technical experts from equipment suppliers and professional training institutions for training and conduct assessment after the training.

Formulate detailed and operable operation management systems. The charging standard should comprehensively consider the cost and market conditions and comply with the price regulations. The business hours should be determined according to the local heavy truck operation time. Formulate emergency response plans (for equipment, power failures and safety accidents), and prepare operation materials such as a charging card management system and an invoice printer.

Organize relevant departments and experts for acceptance, including engineering quality (the building structure and charging facility installation meet the design and construction standards), equipment performance (the performance of charging, monitoring, and fire-fighting equipment meets the standards), and safety facilities (fire-fighting passages, fire-fighting equipment, electrical safety measures) acceptance. Actively cooperate and timely rectify the problems.

Building a heavy truck charging station is a complex and systematic project that requires careful planning, strict construction and full preparation. Each link is interrelated and influential, and any negligence of details may affect the overall performance and operation effect of the charging station.

We hope that the above content can provide strong guidance for you in the process of building a heavy truck charging station and jointly promote the vigorous development of the new energy heavy truck industry.

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