When will the market sales fire rise in price?
【Economic interface】
At present, the new energy vehicle market is quite "noisy". Affected by the rise in global raw material prices, many car companies have raised prices, often by thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan; some have been suspended due to the impact of the epidemic; and the delivery time is often as long as several months, which makes consumers Call it "hurry up".
Judging from the latest data, the market is still hot: in the first quarter of this year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 1.293 million and 1.257 million, an increase of 1.4 times year-on-year; among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles were 1.036 million and 1.007 million, respectively. Both increased by 1.3 times year-on-year.
This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to continue to support the consumption of new energy vehicles, and encourage local governments to carry out green and smart home appliances to the countryside and trade in old ones for new ones. How do you view the current development of new energy vehicles in my country? Why do the new energy vehicles on the "air outlet" make people "love and hate"? When will I stop worrying about charging and mileage?
New energy vehicles sold well in the first quarter
Rising costs lead to general price increases
"One of the 'small goals' this year is to own a car of my own." Wang Yuan, who lives in Daxing, Beijing, introduced that he recently visited many shopping malls and 4S stores, repeatedly consulted with the sales staff, and discussed prices, performance, etc. For comparison, I finally settled on a domestic new energy vehicle.
At present, Wang Yuan is still debating whether to "shot".
"It just increased by more than 10,000 yuan last month, which is a bit overwhelming. In addition, the salesman said that the delivery period is expected to be 3 months, but I heard from a friend who drove a car before the year that there might be a delay in delivery. At that time he I have been waiting for more than half a year." Wang Yuan said.
Like Wang Yuan, many consumers who want to buy new energy vehicles have similar concerns recently.
From the perspective of the market, whether it is foreign car companies such as Tesla, or domestic car brands such as BYD and Xiaopeng, some or all of their models have risen in price.
On April 10, NIO announced that from May 10, 2022, NIO will make appropriate adjustments to the prices of its products, and the starting price of some models will be increased by 10,000 yuan.
Ye Shengji, chief engineer and deputy secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said in an interview with this reporter that in 2021, the rapid development of my country's new energy vehicle market will greatly increase the demand for lithium battery products.
Affected by various factors, key materials such as lithium carbonate have shown varying degrees of insufficient supply and soaring prices.
At present, the rise in raw material prices has directly caused the comprehensive cost of battery materials to rise by more than 40%. The entire industry chain is unable to absorb the rising costs. Car companies are forced to increase the sales prices of new energy vehicles one after another, which directly affects consumers' purchasing confidence.
"Price fluctuations may continue for a period of time, ranging from three to five months to longer." Ye Shengji believes that it is necessary to strengthen the macro-control of the bulk raw material market, moderately speed up the development of domestic resources such as lithium and nickel, and support domestic enterprises. Actively explore foreign raw material supply channels; focus on cracking down on joint hoarding and price hikes, to ensure the stable supply of power battery raw materials and key materials and the stable operation of prices.
At present, relevant departments are actively solving the practical problems faced by the new energy vehicle industry.
In March this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments successively held a symposium on the operation of the lithium industry and a symposium on the price increase of upstream materials of power batteries, requiring upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain to strengthen the connection between supply and demand, and work together to form a long-term and stable strategic cooperative relationship , to jointly guide the rational return of lithium salt prices, increase efforts to ensure market supply, and better support the healthy development of strategic emerging industries such as new energy vehicles in my country.
Unsolved problems such as slow charging and difficulty in finding piles
Speed up the construction of charging and swapping infrastructure
"To be honest, it is quite cost-effective to drive a tram in the urban area. Charging is cheaper than refueling, but when you are running a long distance, charging becomes a headache." Han Yong, a new energy vehicle owner, said that two years ago, he I bought a new energy vehicle with a nominal cruising range of more than 440 kilometers and an actual cruising range of more than 360 kilometers. It takes about 1 hour to charge once.
Many expressway service areas only have 4 charging piles, and some charging pile interfaces are not compatible. Every holiday, there are often charging queues, and sometimes the wait is several hours.
In recent years, my country has accelerated the construction of charging infrastructure, and achieved results in terms of charging technology, facility scale, standard system, and industrial ecology.
According to statistics, by the end of 2021, my country has built a total of 75,000 charging stations, 2.617 million charging piles, and 1,298 battery swap stations.
However, with the rapid development, there are still many outstanding problems that cannot be ignored.
For example, the development of public charging facilities is uneven, and the urban public charging stations are unevenly heated and cold; there are a large number of charging platforms, multi-platform start-stop and multi-channel payment have not been fully covered, charging path planning and station navigation functions are not perfect, and users are looking for charging stations. Difficulty, slow charging, and the convenience of charging still needs to be improved; some charging piles are operated and maintained in a timely manner, there is a lack of charging guarantee plans, and the problem of long charging queues on expressways during holidays is increasingly prominent; the supervision system is not yet perfect, and safety management responsibilities and management mechanisms are urgently needed. Complete.
"Compared with charging, the capital investment of the battery swap mode is larger." Ye Shengji said that at present, my country is carrying out pilot demonstrations of the battery swap mode application in Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Sanya, Chongqing, Changchun, Hefei, Jinan and other cities, and gradually explore and summarize experience.
There should be multiple ways of replenishing energy to better meet the needs of different scenarios.
In the future, it is necessary to make a reasonable layout in combination with the actual development of the new energy vehicle market.
Guo Shougang, deputy director of the First Division of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that this year, the construction of charging and replacement infrastructure will be accelerated, and the pilot work of new energy vehicles to go to the countryside and battery replacement mode will continue to be carried out. high demands.
It is hoped that various localities will introduce more preferential policies for parking, charging and other links, optimize vehicle purchase restrictions, and create a good environment for promoting the consumption of new energy vehicles.
Sales expected to exceed 5 million this year
Make every effort to ensure the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain
A few days ago, a person in charge of a new energy vehicle company said that due to the recent epidemic in many places, many partners could not supply goods, and some parts were cut off, so they could only suspend production.
Actually, this is not the case.
The production of a car requires tens of thousands of parts and components, and requires close cooperation between upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain and supply chain.
Once there are "blocking points" and "breakpoints" problems in the supply chain of the industrial chain, vehicle manufacturers will often find it difficult to support themselves.
At present, my country's new energy vehicles have entered a new stage of accelerated development, but they are also facing problems such as increasing pressure from international competition and unbalanced development of industrial and supply chains.
"On the whole, the development of new energy vehicles in my country is still improving, and the prospects are very broad." Ye Shengji said that according to industry forecasts, in 2022, the sales of new energy vehicles in my country are expected to exceed 5 million units and continue to maintain a high-speed growth trend.
He said that promoting the market-oriented development of new energy vehicles is a process of continuous accumulation of the industry, especially the industrial chain supply chain should be gradually cultivated, balanced and coordinated, and scientifically advanced.
For example, in response to the current skyrocketing prices of new energy vehicle power battery raw materials and key materials, Ye Shengji believes that with the support of government departments, we should strengthen the communication between enterprises in the industrial chain and supply chain, and advocate the establishment of long-term and stable strategic cooperation between industries and enterprises. and collaboration.
At the same time, carry out industry self-discipline, eliminate information barriers between upstream and downstream industries, and publish relevant information to the industry on a regular and irregular basis, so as to provide information support for upstream raw material and key material enterprises to deploy in advance and coordinate and match production capacity.
Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that in the future, it will improve the support policy system, strengthen the systematic research on the problems faced in the new stage of industrial development, revise and improve the "double points" management method, and organize the preparation of the green and low-carbon development roadmap of the automobile industry.
Accelerate the development of integration and innovation, accelerate the research and industrialization of key technologies such as new system batteries, automotive-grade chips, and automotive operating systems, and promote the integrated development of "vehicle-road network cloud map".
"It is necessary to increase the promotion and application, continue to do a good job in ensuring the supply of automotive chips, fuel cell vehicle demonstrations, etc., and start the pilot city of full electrification of vehicles in the public sector." Xin Guobin said that it is necessary to improve the level of quality and safety, improve the standard and regulatory system, and advance steadily. Pilot access to intelligent networked vehicles.
Optimize the environment for industrial development and combat unfair competition.
Further strengthen overall planning and curb blind investment and duplication of construction.
(Our reporter Liu Kun)