New energy vehicles are emerging strategic industries identified by the country. In the rapid rise, they also face many pain points in development. The reporters found that China’s new energy auto industry needs to work hard for a long time to achieve the goal of “change lanes and overtaking”.
The rapid rise of independent brands
In 2016, the Mudanjiang City Bus Group in Heilongjiang Province purchased 66 new energy bus buses, which currently transport an average of 400,000 passengers per day. Liu Yongchun, general manager assistant, calculated an account. Every day, a pure electric bus costs 80 yuan more than a fuel car. The reduction of carbon emissions by an 8-meter long bus is equivalent to 1.24 million trees per year.
The 66 new energy buses were purchased from Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co., Ltd. Yu Wei’s product manager, Zhao Wei, introduced that Yutong had sold more than 60,000 new energy buses in the past five years and only sold 26,000 electric buses in 2016.
Since the "12th Five-Year Plan", China's new energy vehicles have seen explosive growth. According to Dong Yang, executive vice president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in the past five years, the production of new energy vehicles in China has grown from less than 5,000 to 510,000, and the number of possessions has increased from 10,000 to 1 million, accounting for half of the world's total. the first.
Qin Zhidong, deputy general manager of Beiqi Futian Beijing Ouhui Bus Branch, recalled that when the company produced the first batch of new energy buses in 2008, there was no state subsidy, and the new bus saved 30% of the operating cost from the fuel vehicles and won the market in Guangdong. At present, Futian Ouhui has sold a total of 10,000 new energy passenger vehicles nationwide and operates on public transportation lines in Hebei, Jiangsu, and other provinces.
BAIC Group established a new energy company in November 2009, initially only a preparatory group of more than 20 people. “At that time, there was no technical standard. We completely groped for ourselves. We dismantled the engine of the fuel vehicle, installed the battery, and built the first electric vehicle,” said Zhang Yong, deputy general manager of Beiqi New Energy. Today, BAIC New Energy has grown to over 3,000 people. It sold 50,000 electric cars last year and is expected to reach 150,000 this year.
The core industrial industrial chain of new energy vehicles is rising. According to Zhang Yong’s prediction, by 2020, China’s new energy vehicles will reach 2 million vehicles, with an annual production value of only 500 billion yuan in the production process, and the entire industrial chain will exceed RMB 1,000 billion. Predicting the future, China’s autonomous new energy auto industry is expected to replace the existing Western auto industry, which has monopolized core technologies, and has grown into a powerful new pillar industry for the national economy.
Encounter "growth troubles"
While the new energy automobile industry in China has risen at the same time, it has also encountered "growing troubles."
At present, the traditional fuel vehicle certification projects mainly include announcements, environmental protection, and 3C. These three certification system specifications require clear requirements. In addition to the above three items, new energy vehicles also added certification items such as the recommended catalogue, tax exemption list, environmental protection information disclosure, fuel consumption report, and safety technical standards, involving approvals from various government departments.
“Our first task is running licenses, bulletin announcements, fuel consumption, grade catalogs, safety technical standards, etc. Large certifications are covered with small certifications, adding up to a few hundred.” Chairman of Shenyang Hualong New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. Ju said, "It is necessary to use compulsory certification to guarantee the quality of vehicles. Can some duplicate certifications be simplified?"
"I hope the policy is relatively stable and do not change frequently. For example, if one of the batteries, the standards of the relevant departments are upgraded once, companies need to re-validate the whole chain of product development, design, etc., and it will cost several million yuan." Beijing Hengyu New Energy Fan Yongyue, deputy general manager of Car Rental Co., Ltd., said that policies should not only adapt to changes in technological progress, but also allow companies to develop steadily.
In order to get stuck, at the end of 2016, relevant departments issued notices that new energy vehicles purchased by non-individual users should apply for a subsidy, and the cumulative mileage of vehicles must reach 30,000 kilometers.
"In order to meet this requirement, some companies drive empty vehicles to run mileage. Commuter-type shuttles, school buses run tens of kilometers a day, and run less than 10,000 kilometers a year." It is suggested that if the specificity of the policy can be increased, the relevant departments will supervise the use of the vehicle.
Marvin Xiong, brand manager of Xiamen Golden Dragon Group, also hopes that the subsidy policy will be stable. He said: "Each year is almost the end of the year before the introduction of the subsidy details, which led to manufacturers before half a year to eat enough, overwhelming for the next two months, and the preparation of electric buses to prepare the fastest one month." Br />
The "hands" supported by the government should be robust
In the face of complex and complicated situations, the industry expects that the "hands" supported by the government will be more stable.
Fan Yongyue believes that for the independent brands, the international competition for new energy vehicles has opened up. The car companies that rely solely on subsidy for survival will certainly be eliminated, and the market environment will force independent brands to continuously promote technological advancement and service enhancement.
Zhang Yong pointed out that people are still worried about buying new energy vehicles. Problems such as difficulty in charging, short battery life, and unstable performance remain to be overcome. It is hoped that the government will give greater support to the technological innovation of self-owned car makers.
Xue Cheng, product manager of Zhuhai Yinlong New Energy Industrial Park, suggested that government departments should make efforts to establish basic threshold certifications, leaving the rest of the company room for innovation. Taking a battery as an example, at present, solid batteries, liquid batteries, and graphene batteries that have higher energy storage and longer cruising range are under research; charging methods such as charge change, charging, fast charging, and slow charging have their advantages and disadvantages. Should not be too fine.
“Is the company's products entering the market consistent with the approval of the application, the quality of the products is not qualified, and is there safety?” said a person in charge of a passenger bus operating company in Shandong, the government can't do it in batches, and it needs to strengthen supervision.
The government’s hands must also “support” infrastructure construction. Dong Yang said that China has built a total of 195,000 public charging piles. To face the demand for 1 million pure electric vehicles, at least 300,000 piles must be built to meet the needs.