China Environment News trainee journalist Yu Tianhao's development of new energy vehicles has attracted much attention. In Shanghai, where the popularity of new energy vehicles is high, there were more than 270,000 electric vehicle charging facilities by the end of 2019, and more than 60,000 new ones were built that year, up 31.5 percent year on year. At the same time, the city's new energy vehicle PARC has exceeded 300,000. Under the encouragement of a series of policies and measures, such as being able to ride on the elevated bus during the morning and evening rush hours, new energy vehicles in Shanghai have developed rapidly, and corresponding adjustments and changes have been made in traffic planning and urban planning.

How do urban planning experts view the development prospects of new energy vehicles? Can the development of new energy vehicles influence the transportation and urban planning of Shanghai? What are the lessons of Shanghai's experience in developing new energy vehicles and optimizing transportation and urban planning for other cities? In this regard, the reporter interviewed Li Tao, a senior planner of The Space Planning research Center of Fudan University and Shanghai Institute of Space Planning and Design.

China Environment News: The development of new energy vehicles has attracted a lot of attention, but there are also many doubts. In your opinion, what should be improved in new energy vehicles?

Li Tao: At present, electric vehicles are limited by battery technology, battery life capability still needs to be improved, charging infrastructure layout is still not perfect, it is still difficult to change the fuel car owners' travel habits of driving long distance and replenishing fuel quickly. This is the pain that the popularization of new energy vehicles needs to face, which is also the reason why hybrid electric cars are more popular now.

The charging of civil ELECTRIC vehicles mainly relies on household charging piles and public charging piles. At present, household charging piles are the most frequently used, which can basically meet the daily commuting needs of residents by cooperating with public charging piles arranged in workplaces. However, if there is a traffic jam, although the battery energy used for power output can be much lower and more environmentally friendly than fuel, a long waiting time will lead to an increase in the power consumption of other power-consuming components, such as air conditioning and entertainment system, which will generate additional battery consumption and may disrupt the travel plan of car owners.

Long-distance driving also poses greater challenges to ev battery management capabilities and charging infrastructure configuration. In particular, electric taxis and private cars face more realistic problems. Taxis have no fixed driving path, and the imperfect charging infrastructure layout network will limit the scope of activities of electric taxis and reduce their operation capacity.

China Environment News: For many office workers, daily commuting is the most frequent scene with cars, and commuting distance is a particular concern of many new energy vehicle owners. In Shanghai, there are many office workers who commute across the city. In your opinion, due to the various technical defects of new energy vehicles, will the owners of new energy vehicles who commute across cities suffer from "range anxiety"?

Li Tao: The average commute in Shanghai is 12 kilometers.

Only 1% commuted more than 25km; The proportion of cross-city commuting is only about 2%, and most of them come from Suzhou to Shanghai. For example, from The Huaqiao area in Suzhou to the People's Square in Shanghai, the one-way distance is about 40km -- 50km, which is still within the range of new energy vehicles. Therefore, the inter-city commuting does not theoretically cause "range anxiety".

China News: In what ways has the rapid development and popularization of new energy vehicles changed the transportation planning of Shanghai in recent years?

Li Tao: In recent years, most of the new territorial space planning of Shanghai has put forward the concept of "low-carbon travel" and "green travel". For example, Shanghai's 2035 master plan stipulates that no less than 85 percent of all trips will be green. It is also mentioned in the Master Plan for the land space of the New Lingang Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone that the density of the road network in the central activity area of the new area should reach 10 kilometers per square kilometer. The 13th Five-Year Plan of Shanghai Comprehensive Transportation promotes the popularization of new energy vehicles from the aspects of increasing the proportion of new energy vehicles, perfecting the layout of charging infrastructure and guiding the development of time-sharing lease of new energy vehicles. It can be said that the rapid development of new energy vehicles and these planning concepts are mutually reinforcing.

At present, the new energy vehicles involved in Shanghai urban traffic planning mainly focus on static traffic, that is, charging piles, parking lot layout; However, it is rare to respond to the travel demand of new energy vehicles from the perspective of urban structure and road network structure.

China Environment News: Besides promoting the improvement of transportation planning, how will new energy vehicles affect the overall urban planning of Shanghai?

Li Tao: The power source of new-energy vehicles is different from that of traditional fuel vehicles, which determines the new demand of urban space for the large-scale popularization of new-energy vehicles. For example, now pure electric vehicles need charging piles, charging and changing stations and other supporting infrastructure, which will overturn the layout of gas stations in traditional urban planning. The planning of charging facilities should not only consider the travel needs of electric vehicles, but also be configured in combination with the urban power grid to achieve efficient energy utilization.

Shanghai has released "Shanghai electric vehicle charging infrastructure construction management interim provisions" Shanghai electric vehicle charging infrastructure special planning (2016-2020) and a series of promoting policies of the construction of the charging infrastructure, compiled the technical specification for the electric vehicle charging infrastructure construction of the technical specification for gas stations in the electric car dc charging pile public charging infrastructure and general technical specifications and other specifications, gradually establish and perfect the charging infrastructure construction and the management system, providing travel more convenient.

China Environment News: In terms of urban planning, the group mode has been mentioned in many urban plans. What are the benefits of group urban planning for new energy vehicles? Will Shanghai move towards being a group city?

Li Tao: The group development mode originally refers to that cities are forced to form several relatively independent groups due to the impact of the terrain. There is convenient connectivity between the groups, and there are relatively mature centers inside the groups, with relatively independent and perfect functions of residence, office, commerce, entertainment, transportation, etc., thus forming a multi-center balanced development pattern. The promotion of group development is conducive to the realization of the balance of work and residence within the group, the improvement of space utilization efficiency, the effective promotion of the use value of new energy vehicles, and the meeting of the city's future development goal of intensive and efficient land use.

Shanghai's 2035 master plan mentions "optimizing the urban and rural system to form a 'networked, multi-center, group-type and intensive' spatial structure". The previously proposed "one city and nine towns", as well as the current city-region urban-rural system, are all manifestations of the group-type development model. However, in the actual construction, the centripetal urban structure of Shanghai is still relatively obvious, and commuting obviously appears to converge towards the city center. The functions of each new city are not perfect, and it still maintains a strong connection with the central city, while the multi-center structure is not obvious.

In the long run, after the battery life of electric vehicles is improved, their application scenarios should not be limited to short distance travel. The urban structure of group development will bring opportunities for new energy vehicles to play their advantages in long distance travel.

China Environment Daily: In your opinion, how to plan a city to make people's life and travel more convenient?

Li Tao: Convenient transportation generally refers to shorter transportation time and better travel experience, which needs to be realized by improving travel mode and optimizing travel environment. For example, commuting times can be reduced through work-life balance and improved public transport services. At the same time, we should respect everyone's travel preferences, fully understand people's travel needs, and make people happy to travel. For example, people can have a quality travel experience and enjoy the travel process even if they spend two hours on commuting every day, instead of only focusing on the spatial transformation results from one point to another.