"Separation of vehicles and electricity" is indeed an innovation in technology and business model, which is a great breakthrough for Weilai and even the whole new energy market. /kloc-In August of 0/8, Weilai took the lead in establishing a battery asset management company, namely Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset Co., Ltd.; The registered capital of the new company is 800 million yuan, the legal representative is Shen Fei, vice president of Weilai Automobile Energy, and the shareholders include Weilai China operating entity Weilai (Anhui) Holding Co., Ltd., Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., Guotai Junan and Hubei Science and Technology Investment Group Co., Ltd.
The new company, independent from Weilai, will play the role of battery asset management, which is also the first battery asset management company in China, and BaaS is the service system based on this. Weilai sells cars to users first, and then sells batteries to Weineng Battery Assets Co., Ltd., from which end users can rent batteries.
The most intuitive benefit brought by BaaS service is the reduction of new car prices. After choosing this service, the models of ES8, ES6 and EC6 currently on sale will be reduced by 70,000 yuan. In this way, we can start from the price of less than 300,000 for Weilai ES6 and EC6. In addition, the battery and the car itself become two independent individuals, and the future car experience will be more flexible. At present, the battery rental fee refers to the 70kWh battery. If you need to rent 100kWh battery, you can choose a flexible scheme of monthly upgrade.
At the same time, users can also choose whether to buy batteries and what specifications to buy according to their own needs; Or choose direct lease, give up the ownership of the battery and only keep the right to use it. It is worth noting that Weilai users need to sign a vehicle sales contract for Weilai users, a battery sales contract for Weilai battery assets company, a battery lease contract for Weilai users, and an entrusted service contract for Weilai battery assets company while purchasing cars and retaining the right to use them. At this point, the user not only bought a new car from Weilai, but also signed a power exchange service with the "third party".
It is worth mentioning that Weilai also upgraded the previous free power exchange policy. 10 June 1 1 For users who decided to buy Weilai before, the first car owner can enjoy life-long free power exchange, regardless of the battery purchase or the BaaS policy, regardless of the distance, frequency and power station change.
Users who decide from 10 and 12 can enjoy free power exchange for the first six times a month, whether they buy out batteries or choose BaaS policy and give up free household charging piles. Users who keep free household charging piles will only charge the first six times a month, without service charges, and the full fee will be charged at the seventh time.
Although the development of new energy vehicles is an irreversible trend, more and more new vehicles with high endurance are emerging, but for consumers who are used to fuel vehicles, the problems of difficult charging, mileage anxiety and high depreciation rate are still lingering pains for new energy owners. In this regard, Weilai has previously launched the first car owner's lifetime free power exchange and free warranty service, which has alleviated the charging difficulty and mileage anxiety to a certain extent.
BaaS service is introduced to provide consumers with more flexible ways to use cars. Selling cars with stripped batteries can not only effectively reduce the BOM cost of new cars, but also greatly reduce the entry threshold of selling prices. This seems to be a "win-win" choice for car companies and consumers.
For the whole new energy field, this move has a strong sense of innovation and breakthrough, especially the model with a price of 300,000 yuan from Weilai. But in addition to the urgent needs of the market and users, there are still cases to refer to.
In the first half of this year, Renault ZOE, which previously provided battery rental service, sold 3,765,438+054 new cars in the global market, becoming the best-selling model of Renault Group in the world in the first half of this year. As an automobile company, Renault is both a battery supplier and an operator of battery asset management. As for whether to change electricity or charge, it is up to the owner to decide. Because of its low positioning and flexible way of buying cars, this model has been welcomed by many European users.
It is true that the reduction of the selling price can really attract more potential users; But unlike the small and cheap Renault ZOE, Weilai, which has a higher positioning, can't just reduce the price by 70,000 yuan, and the follow-up service is particularly important. However, judging from the current layout of Weilai Power Station, the number is still a little too small.
Find out what BaaS service is, why weilai should do it, and what benefits can it bring to consumers?
Firstly, the problem of battery attenuation can be solved to some extent. The ownership of the battery belongs to the battery asset management company. Ordinary users can use the battery with confidence and boldness, and the residual value and depreciation rate are left to the battery asset management company. Although there is no property right of the battery, there is no trouble caused by the battery.
Secondly, users can continue to enjoy the bonus of battery technology upgrade. With the rapid development of battery technology, the future battery energy density will be upgraded and the battery materials will be improved. Therefore, users can enjoy the benefits of upgrading through BaaS service.
Thirdly, as mentioned above, after selecting the BaaS service, the "stripping" between the car body and the battery is also selected. The degradation of vehicle performance caused by battery attenuation will no longer participate in the judgment of vehicle maintenance rate, which is also conducive to the stability of new energy vehicle maintenance rate.
From this point of view, changing electricity is indeed a new direction for the development of new energy vehicles in the future, which also promotes the support of the competent authorities for the technical route of changing electricity. In 2020, the national subsidy policy for new energy vehicles clearly affirmed the separation mode of vehicles and electricity based on the technology of changing electricity, and electric vehicles with more than 300,000 yuan must have the ability to change electricity to enjoy the car purchase subsidy; In the government work report of the two sessions in 2020, the power exchange station was included in the category of "new infrastructure" for the first time.
Many consumers may have misgivings about the practice of keeping the right to use the battery without ownership, which feels like buying an incomplete car. However, if we look at it from another angle, batteries can be compared with gasoline on fuel vehicles, and both can be regarded as fuel. But the difference is that changing electricity is far less convenient than refueling. Changing power stations is not only very limited, but also the whole step will become much more complicated.
In this regard, Wei Lai has a good expectation and planning. It is assumed that 20%-30% of users will be the first to accept this consumption pattern. After a few years, if 80%-90% of users are willing to accept the BaaS model, Weilai may stop the traditional sales service. They even thought that if the car is not used for a long time, the user can suspend the payment of rent only by paying a door-to-door disassembly fee.
Weilai's ideal and vision are really beautiful, but in fact, there are still many places to be improved in BaaS service. First of all, although the separation of batteries and cars has brought flexible ways to use cars, the current leasing method is only considered from the time latitude. For example, if a user doesn't use a lot of cars every month, should he pay the same rent as a user who uses a car intensively every day? And many of the previous services were aimed at the first car owner. Since it comes to improving the rate of preservation, what kind of services can the second, third and fourth owners of Weilai enjoy? These are difficult to give a clear answer at present.
As Li Bin said, "changing electricity and charging should not be antagonistic". In the eyes of hackers, the two are more like two complementary ways to use cars. The current way of changing electricity is really attractive. However, with the gradual development of overcharge technology and the large-scale laying of overcharge stations, it seems that it is impossible to judge whether it is convenient to change electricity or overcharge. It's as if all mobile phones could support "power exchange" in those days, but with the emphasis on lightweight and integration, mainstream mobile phones now give up the design of power exchange.
For new energy vehicles, the investment in power exchange and the flow of assets are quite huge. If Weilai undertakes this part of assets, the pressure will be very great. Therefore, Weilai took the lead in organizing a third-party battery asset management company. Referring to Tesla, a global new energy brother, Musk seems to be more persistent in implementing overcharge. Although Tesla also supports power exchange, the current "power exchange" that is full of difficulties and difficult to return to its original position is obviously not something that Tesla needs to accelerate its expansion.
I believe that after reading the above text, you have a deeper understanding of the BaaS service released by Weilai. Its appearance can be said to be a positive innovation, and it can also be said to conform to the market. The idea is always beautiful, but there are still many problems in the actual development and application of this service. The birth of new things is bound to be accompanied by advantages and disadvantages. Is changing electricity the best solution for new energy vehicles? How to get back from Weilai? Let's wait and see. However, as far as the current car purchase cognition is concerned, whether to retain the ownership of the battery is something that consumers need to consider carefully.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.