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On July 6, 2023, the first meeting of the Household Electric Water Heater Professional Committee of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association in 2023 was held in Changzhou, Jiangsu. At the meeting, more than 80 representatives from upstream and downstream enterprises in the electric water heater industry, including Midea, Haier, A.O. Smith, Wanhe, Wan Jiale, Weibo, Aucma, Orong, Vantage, Ariston, Gmeqi, Kangquan, Ashdenton, Fuland, Jiulong, Hengtong and Wanhua, gathered together to have in-depth exchanges on the development status of the electric water heater industry and the practical problems and challenges encountered in the business process.

Xu Dongsheng, vice chairman of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, attended the meeting. He said that with the gradual improvement of the economy, the upgrading trend of the home appliance consumer market is obvious, but due to the slow recovery of real estate and the increase in consumer income, the process of consumption recovery is gradual. It is not explosive. At present, the water heater market has entered a mature stage, and updated consumption has become the mainstream. In the new stage and new situation, industry research and learning how to achieve sustainable development in mature markets have become the main topics.

Xu Dongsheng, Vice Chairman of China Household Electrical Appliances Association

As the organizer of this conference, Du Li, general manager of Changzhou Fuland Electric Co., Ltd., expressed a warm welcome to the arrival of China Household Electrical Appliances Association and industry colleagues. At the scene of the meeting, Flanders technical expert Chen Zheng shared the temperature action principle of the thermostat and expressed his expectation for the improvement of the temperature control accuracy of the thermostat. After the meeting, the guests also went to the Flanders factory to visit the welding, riveting, assembly, debugging and other production processes of the thermostat.

Du Li, general manager of Changzhou Fuland Electric Co., Ltd.

01
Energy-saving, low-carbon, transition to green development model

At the meeting, Zhou Liguo, senior engineer of standardization management in the United States, discussed how to promote the energy saving and improvement of electric water heaters under the title of "energy efficiency limits and energy efficiency grades of storage electric water heaters. He said that with the continuous upgrading of foaming agents, the development of intelligent energy-saving technologies and the emergence of many new products in the industry, the energy efficiency standards of GB 21519-2008 "Energy Efficiency Limits and Energy Efficiency Grades for Storage Electric Water Heaters" issued in 2008 can no longer meet the needs, and the energy efficiency testing methods need to be further refined and upgraded. At present, the national standard GB/T 20289 for the performance of storage-type electric water heaters, which is strongly related to energy efficiency standards, has been revised and is being submitted for approval.

At the same time, he put forward five ideas on the content of the new energy efficiency standard. In addition to the four aspects of changing the energy efficiency limit of electric water heaters from energy efficiency grade 4 to grade 3, standardizing the "hot water output rate" test method, adding a description of multiple internal bile distribution methods, and the energy efficiency test method of water heaters with vacuum insulation panels (VIP), he focused on "whether the technical requirements for intelligent energy saving are included in the energy efficiency standard. He pointed out that the technical cost performance of simply increasing the thermal insulation layer to improve the energy efficiency level of electric water heaters is very low, and many domestic industry group standards and EU EN50440 all contain relevant standards for the effect of "intelligent energy saving.

Zhou Liguo, Senior Engineer of Standardization Management of the United States

In addition to products, the production end should also be more energy-efficient and green. "Under the dual carbon policy, the whole society and the whole industry will be affected. At present, China's carbon neutral time is pressing, the transformation pressure is severe, to change the industry on its own is very difficult, the need for all stakeholders in the industry chain to intervene, only joint efforts to achieve the ultimate goal," Haier Water Networking Advanced Planning Manager Yang Chuntao on the dual carbon background of the water heater structure change trend to make a share.

Under the dual carbon policy, the product energy type should gradually change from gray electricity to green electricity. He predicted that under the dual-carbon policy, there will be a new energy system that will change the current energy structure and energy system, and some low-carbon parks, smart microgrids and low-carbon factories will appear in cities. Under the government supervision scenario, a new low-carbon index evaluation system will be formed to generate a digital scheme for carbon control/carbon reduction. In the future, a dual-carbon government-enterprise service platform will be formed to create a dual-carbon industrial ecology, interconnection of energy and information.

Haier Water Networking Advanced Planning Manager Yang Chuntao

Yang Chuntao said that the problem of carbon emissions is actually a problem of energy structure. There is room for further optimization and development on the energy supply side, supply and distribution side and the consumer side of terminal appliances in the industry. According to the analysis of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), there are six technological paths to achieve global carbon neutrality goals: the development of renewable energy, energy conservation and efficiency improvement, electrification of terminal consumption, promotion of hydrogen energy, CCUS technology and BECCS. On the supply side, renewable energy such as photovoltaic is facing intermittent problems. Multi-energy complementary and distributed new energy systems may be the solution. In this respect, water storage electric water heaters have inherent advantages. On the supply and distribution side, high energy efficiency grades are frequency conversion products that convert alternating current into direct current. No matter how direct current and alternating current change, different energy supply topologies may be formed in the future. On the consumer side, the higher-end products consume more energy, so it is very important to improve consumers' environmental awareness.

02
Working together, the industry faces development issues together

In the industry exchange link, representatives from all aspects of the industry chain spoke enthusiastically, not only sharing the business situation and business plan of the enterprise, but also exchanging some common problems in the development of the industry.

At the meeting, Chen Li, deputy secretary-general of China Household Electrical Appliances Association/editor-in-chief of Electrical Appliances magazine, mentioned in the sharing of "Science and Technology Empowerment Life Leading Around User Innovation-A Report on Ten Trends in Industry Development from the AWE2023" that technological upgrading should return to the core value of categories.

Chen Li, Deputy Secretary-General of China Household Electrical Appliances Association/Editor-in-Chief of Electrical Appliances Magazine

Returning to the true value of the product has also become the common cognition of all enterprises. The electric water heater product is to bring users a good bathing experience. In this regard, the participants expressed many views in the exchange.

In the process of product development, we must first make technological innovation on the basis of ensuring safety, and safety technology must be continuously upgraded. Secondly, the core needs of users to use electric water heaters include energy efficiency, water output, constant temperature and reduction of fouling. At present, 3. four-level energy efficiency products in the market have been phased out. Regarding the water quantity of electric water heaters, the effect of small volume and large water output may be realized through the interconnection of multiple water heaters in the family. On the issue of constant temperature, we can make technical improvements in heat preservation to reduce heat loss by developing different water consumption modes. Finally, enterprises in the electric water heater industry should conduct targeted research on water quality in different regions, technically adhere to the direction of no scale.

In the actual application scenarios of the product, on the one hand, it is necessary to develop subdivided scenarios around the basic demands of users, meet the multi-level bathing experience of users, and develop new bathing scenarios, such as camping and pet-related. On the other hand, intelligence should be taken as the upgrading direction, including mobile phone WIFI intelligent control and whole-house interconnection, intelligent push, active service, after-sales active service, etc.

Not only to return to the value of the product itself, the electric water heater industry should also improve the overall value of the industry. Participants said that in the first half of 2023, the electric water heater industry maintained steady development and did not usher in a rapid recovery as expected. At the same time, many companies also reflected major changes in the market situation after May 2023. In the actual operation process, the sales volume of high-end products continues to grow, and the trend of high-end products appears. The leading enterprises in the industry all say that they will take the middle and high-end products as the main direction of development in the future, open up the industrial category pattern, move forward to the direction of high-end, promote the upgrading of the industry structure and promote the healthy development of the industry.

In this meeting, Gao Dianmei, director of the membership department of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, made a report on the work and work plan of the Electric Water Heater Professional Committee in 2023. In the first half of the year, the special committee continued to feed back to the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration the implementation of the national pumping of household electrical appliances such as water storage-type electric water heaters, and promoted the convening of the 2023 China Home Appliance Technology Conference Whole House Water and Heating Branch. In the second half of the year, the revised work plan of the water heater technology roadmap will be fully launched, and the revised opinions on the standard of "energy efficiency limit value and energy efficiency grade of storage electric water heater" will be collected and reflected to the relevant departments.

Gao Dianmei, Director of the Member Department of China Household Electrical Appliances Association

At the end of the meeting, Xu Dongsheng said that the special committee will continue to reflect industry-related issues in the future, listen to the opinions of enterprises, and provide a good development environment for the entire industry. This time, colleagues in various industries on the electric water heater special committee fully communicated and provided various development ideas, and a beautiful picture of development was clearly displayed in front of everyone. In the future, the special committee will continue to do a good job in leading the industry, provide support and help for the development of the industry, and promote the high-quality development of the electric water heater industry.