Soviet Arctic explorer at station NP-8. Photo: Sputnik Searching for a Soviet research station The research station NP-8 was only used by Soviet Arctic explorers until the time the ice sheet began to split. At that time, the scientists could have been urgently evacuated and this abandoned research station continued to float in the ocean until it was destroyed. In the early 1960s, the CIA and the Office of Naval Research under the US Department of the Navy conducted a “hunt” for abandoned Soviet research stations. It is said that the Soviet Union installed American submarine sound detectors there. Initially, the target was station NP-9, detected by a reconnaissance aircraft in May 1961. However, the operation was delayed and the research station was located too far in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. Station NP-9. Photo: Sputnik In the spring of 1962, about 970km from the Canadian Air Force base at Resolute Bay, another abandoned and floating research station – station NP-8 – was accidentally discovered. This is an opportunity America cannot afford to miss. Plan “Skyhook” Considering the fact that an icebreaker can’t make it through the dense ice in the area, a helicopter won’t be able to reach NP-8’s location and the plane’s landing on icebergs Floating is also too dangerous. So the US decided to drop the agents there by parachute. But the question then is how to bring those people back [máy bay]. In the end, the US decided to use the evacuation system that the CIA used in hostile lands, also known as the “Skyhook” – developed in the late 1950s. The plan required a balloon. Helium-inflated small, a 150-meter lift and a low-flying aircraft. When the balloon rises to the required height, agents “tethered” to the balloon by lifting ropes will wait on the ground. The approaching aircraft will use a special scraper or “horn” to pull the rope while releasing the balloon. The lifting rope is then automatically wound into the winch, lifting the agent onto the plane. What happened on the iceberg? Major James Smith, an experienced paratrooper and fluent Russian, and his colleague Captain Leonard A. LeSchack, an expert in submarine surveillance systems, had three days to review everything at the research station. . A few boxes of essential equipment were dropped onto the iceberg with the agents. American B-17 bomber. Photo: Uli Elch (CC BY-SA 4.0) As the US predicted, the Soviet scientists left NP-8 station in a hurry without having time to bring all the equipment. Agents discovered more than 80 documents, collected debris from equipment left behind by the Soviet Union, took about 100 photos. By the time the plane returned to pick them up, the weather in the research station area had turned severely bad. Visibility is reduced and wind is very strong. “I was immediately in a situation that one would imagine was flying into space,” recalls Connie W. Seigrist, the pilot of the plane that arrived to pick up the agents. The “trophies” collected by the agents were easily loaded onto the plane using the Skyhook without any problems, but getting the agents on board was a difficult task. The wind caused LeSchack to be dragged nearly 100 meters until the agent tried to cling to a block of ice. Even after the plane picked up the lifting rope, LeSchack still spent up to 10 minutes “hanging” in the air in cold weather before boarding. After seeing what happened to his colleague, Smith released his balloon and held on to a Soviet tractor left beside the research station for as long as possible. In the end, Smith was lifted without any particular difficulty. “Enjoy your time. This is the first time I’ve been able to relax in about a week,” Smith joked to the pilots after being loaded onto the plane. As a result of Operation Coldfeet, the Americans discovered that the Soviet Union had made significant advances in the field of polar meteorology and polar oceanography. In addition, the US also obtained evidence that the Soviet Union used sonar equipment of US submarines in the Arctic. “Overall, the Soviet Union’s remarkable achievements in drifting stations show that they have a long experience in this field and that these research stations themselves are also very important to the Soviet government.” , the commander of the operation, Colonel John Cadwalader said.

Soviet polar explorer at the NP-8 ice station. Photo: Sputnik On May 28, 1962, two Americans parachuted from the B-17 “Flying Fortress,” landing at Severny Polyus-8 (also known as North Pole-8, or NP-8), a research station destroyed abandoned Soviet Union is drifting on an iceberg in the Arctic Ocean. This was the starting point of one of the CIA’s most unusual operations, which went down in history with the codename Operation Coldfeet. Hunting for Soviet ice stations An iceberg station was only useful to Soviet polar explorers until the moment the iceberg on which it rested began to disintegrate. At that time, the scientists will be urgently evacuated and the abandoned station will continue to drift across the ocean until it is completely destroyed. In the early 1960s, the CIA and the US Department of Navy’s Office of Naval Research conducted a real manhunt for abandoned Soviet ice stations. It is believed that in those places are installed sonar detectors of US submarines. Initially, the CIA’s target was station NP-9, discovered by a reconnaissance plane in May 1961. However, this mission stalled and the ice station was pushed too far into the ocean. A tow truck rescues a car mired in snow at a Soviet observation post on an iceberg in the Arctic. Photo: Getty Images In the spring of 1962, about 970 km from Candian Air Force Base in Resolute Bay, another abandoned iceberg station, NP-8, was unexpectedly discovered. It is an opportunity not to be missed. However, American icebreakers could not make their way through the dense ice in the area, helicopters could not reach the location, and it was too dangerous for an aircraft to land on a disintegrating “buoy”. So the CIA decided to drop the agents by parachute. But the question then is how to bring them back. Ultimately, officials decided to use a system that specialized in evacuating CIA agents from hostile territory known as the ‘Skyhook’ developed by Robert E. Fulton in the late 1950s. The system required a a bread-shaped, helium-filled balloon, a 150-meter extension cord and a low-altitude aircraft. Lockheed P-2 Neptune reconnaissance aircraft. Photo: RBTH When they needed to get out of the location, CIA agents would use helium cylinders to inflate their personal balloons, tie one end of the rope to it, and wrap the other end around them. The balloon will rise into the air, and the rescue plane will use special forks to reach for the rope, then release the balloon. The rope was then wound onto a winch and lifted the agents onto the plane. The rescue Major James Smith, an experienced paratrooper who is fluent in Russian, and his colleague, Lieutenant Leonard A. LeSchack, an expert in submarine surveillance systems, spent three days researching the NP-station- 8. They parachute down to the station with some necessary equipment boxes. As expected by the Americans, the Soviet scientists rushed to leave the NP-8 station without taking all the equipment with them. CIA agents unearthed more than 80 documents, collected fragments of equipment left behind by the Soviets, and took about a hundred pictures. Soviet Arctic Station 9. Photo: Sputnik By the time it was designated to evacuate, the weather at station NP-8 had deteriorated dramatically: Visibility had plummeted and icy winds were rushing in. Connie W. Seigrist, the pilot of the plane that rescued the agents, recalls: “I was immediately thrown into a situation that could have been imagined as if I was flying through space.” The aircraft collected the “trophies” using the ‘Skyhook’ system without much difficulty, but with humans it was even more difficult. The wind dragged LeSchack nearly 100 meters above the ice as he waited for evacuation by trying to anchor himself to a block of ice. Even after the plane had picked up, LeSchack spent another 10 minutes dangling in the icy air before being hoisted onto the plane. Major Smith (water drinker) on a B-17 on June 2, 1962; Lieutenant LeShack in the lower right corner. Photo: RBTH After observing what happened to his colleague, Smith released his balloon and grabbed hold of an abandoned Soviet tractor. In the end, he was lifted without any particular difficulty. As a result of Operation Coldfeet, the Americans discovered that the Soviet Union had made significant advances in the study of polar meteorology and polar oceanography. In addition, they obtained evidence that the Russians were using sonar equipment to detect American submarines in the Arctic. “Overall, the Soviet Union’s remarkable achievements in iceberg stations reflect their long experience in this field and the great importance their government places on it,” said Operation Commander, Captain John Cadwalader noted.

PVOIL’s General Director Doan Van Nhuom and VPI Director Nguyen Anh Duc signed “Consulting service contract for research on batteries and charging stations for electric cars” VPI Director Nguyen Anh Duc said, according to a survey by Frost & Sullivan (USA), 33% of consumers in Vietnam are interested in buying electric vehicles, the rest is price, charging technology, battery price and battery life. With the role and mission of a scientific research unit of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, VPI will monitor market indicators, regularly update PVOIL’s leaders to have a basis for making accurate decisions, preparing solutions to cope with risks and take advantage of opportunities in the energy shifting trend. PVOIL’s Chairman Cao Hoai Duong said that in the energy transition trend, PVOIL is a directly affected unit, so there is always a sense of proactively responding to “minimize danger and utilize muscle”. 3 years ago, PVOIL has been interested in researching the development of electric vehicles, the possibility of replacing electric cars for gasoline-powered vehicles and building possible scenarios. PVOIL hopes that, through the cooperation with VPI, experts will support PVOIL in researching technology, engineering, and development trends of batteries and charging stations so that PVOIL will have more information in planning development strategy. development, ready to adapt to the development trend of electric vehicles. As an oil product distribution business, the energy shift will directly affect PVOIL’s business operations. Therefore, PVOIL needs to take advantage of the available infrastructure of the system of more than 600 petrol stations across the country, apply technology 4.0 in business activities to have solutions to welcome the trend. development potential of electric car.

On April 15, Sinopec announced in Beijing that it will build 5,000 smart charging stations before 2025. At the same time, the world’s first fully smart charging station jointly built by Sinopec and NIO has also been officially put into operation.

However, cooperation with traditional energy giants has not stopped Weilai’s stock price from falling.The new energy vehicle company, which has a market value of more than US$50 billion, continued its decline on Wednesday, closing down 3.67% on Thursday.The other two Chinese new energy automobile companies listed on the US stock market, Ideal and Xiaopeng, also fell sharply on Thursday. Ideal Motors closed down 6.73% and Xiaopeng Motors closed down 4.53%.

Not only did the capital market fail to respond positively to the cooperation between Sinopec and NIO, many netizens also hesitated about Sinopec’s plan to build charging stations in gas stations. Worried about safety hazards when batteries are placed in gas stations .

Build no less than 5000 mixed stations in the next 5 years

According to a CCTV financial report, on April 15th, Sinopec, the largest domestic oil product sales company, announced in Beijing that 5000 smart charging stations will be built before 2025 At the same time, the world’s first fully intelligent power swap station jointly built by Sinopec and NIO was officially put into operation.

This latest fully intelligent switching station is located in Beijing’s southeast Fourth Ring Road, covering an area of ​​60 square meters. Users do not need to get off the car, and can complete the parking and battery swap business with one click in the car.

Image source: CCTV Finance

According to the Securities Times, this swap station is the second generation of Weilai swap station, which can hold up to 13 batteries. The time for a single power exchange is 4 minutes and 30 seconds, and the daily service capacity can reach up to 312 times. Compared with the first-generation power station, the efficiency is increased by more than 3 times.In addition, the second-generation power station can also support the automatic parking of the vehicle. The user does not need to get off the vehicle, and the vehicle can be automatically replaced by one-key start. .

At present, Sinopec has more than 30,000 gas stations in China, and some of these stations will coordinate the layout of charging and swapping networks with new energy vehicle companies.

Image Source:CCTV Finance

Zhang Yuzhuo, Chairman of Sinopec, said in an interview with CCTV Finance: “ The power exchange can be introduced at Sinopec’s gas stations. In this way, our plan is to build no less than 5,000 mixed stations during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period. The battery should be standardized, and the chassis of the car should also be standardized. In this way, when a gas station is built, all electric vehicles can be replaced. ”

In addition, Sinopec and NIO will conduct all-round cooperation in the fields of charging and swapping layout, new materials and smart vehicles.

Li Bin, the founder of NIO, said: “Next we have more plans to deploy NIO to replace power stations at Sinopec gas stations. In places like Beijing, Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta where we have a relatively large number of users, there is another At high speed.”

According to the Economic Observer Network, in addition to NIO, on April 15th, Sinopec also signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with another new energy company, Aodong New Energy. The two parties will fully combine their respective technologies and expertise to conduct research, exploration and promotion. Full-scenario commercial application models such as smart charging will carry out pragmatic cooperation in the research and development, construction, and promotion and application of charging and swapping of electric vehicles.

According to reports, Aodong New Energy has been in the field of battery swapping for more than 20 years. It has mature solutions and practical applications in electric vehicle swap services, battery lifecycle management, and commercial operation of swap stations. It has implemented swap stations in more than 20 cities. Large-scale commercial operations .

Upsurge in the field of power exchange

According to the Securities Times, NIO is the first new energy car company to promote the battery swap model on a large scale, and it is mainly aimed at the private car application market and can only serve NIO owners. This mode requires investment in the construction of replacement stations and the purchase of a large number of batteries. Different companies have different battery pack standards. The construction of the NIO car swap station has not been smooth sailing, and its model has also been questioned in the early stages. Weilai had planned to build 1,100 replacement power stations in 2020, and actually completed about 200 .

At present, the number of domestic power exchange stations is still small. Statistics released by the China Business Industry Research Institute show that As of December 2020, there are a total of 555 power replacement stations in China.Aodong New Energy ranked first in the number of replacement power stations, with a total of 286; Weilai ranked second with a total of 175; Hangzhou Baitan ranked third with a total of 94 .

In addition to Weilai, there are many players in the domestic power exchange field. Among them, BAIC New Energy takes the lead in implementing power exchange. In March of this year, BAIC Blue Valley (600733) stated on the investor interaction platform that BAIC New Energy will build more than 50 new power stations in 2020, and have built more than 100 power stations in Beijing, Hainan and other places.

Recently, many car companies have launched new battery swap models, but most of them are geared towards the to B market. In March of this year, SAIC Group released the Roewe Ei5 quick-change version. The taxi operating company Dazhong Transportation and Jiangnan Travel became the first users of the Roewe Ei5 quick-change version. In the same month, Geely’s battery swap model, the Maple Leaf 80V, was officially launched, mainly for the online car-hailing market.

In the context of China’s goal of achieving carbon peaks by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, considering factors such as grid load and efficiency,The recent upsurge in the field of power exchange is not surprising.

According to CCTV Finance, Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Energy Administration and many other ministries and commissions have repeatedly pointed out that it is necessary to actively support the innovation of the charging and replacement business model to help achieve carbon peak and carbon neutral .ItemThe charging mode of the former new energy electric vehicles is mainly based on the decentralized recharge of residents’ own charging piles. As the contradiction between the increasing number of electric vehicles and the scarcity of parking spaces becomes increasingly prominent, the charging mode will gradually shift to a centralized power supplement based on fast charging and battery swapping modes, which is conducive to the safe operation of the power grid. .

Professor Xia Qing of Tsinghua University said in an interview with CCTV Finance: “The advantage of the power swap mode is that the impact on the distribution network is relatively small. I can concentrate on one place and add the power grid. If it is distributed, it will be more difficult to control. Because the two modes are compared, the cost of the point-of-switch mode is much lower.”

According to industry insiders, The power exchange mode will separate the car and electricity, which will not only allow consumers to reduce the loss of battery depreciation, but also make the battery itself more fully utilized. It can be used as an energy storage device to participate in the consumption of new energy such as photovoltaic and wind power .

“The power swap mode may form a relatively large energy storage power station from small power batteries in a power swapping station. In addition, the cascade utilization of power batteries formed after the power batteries are retired may also extend the power battery business format to the energy storage battery business format. “Chen Haisheng, chairman of the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance, said.

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