With the global emphasis on environmental protection, the development of new energy is gradually on the right track.
The first to benefit is the automobile industry.
2019 is a year of rapid development for new energy vehicles, both at home and abroad.
As a global power, China naturally responds actively to the development of new energy, which is also more in line with domestic development needs.
Great Wall Motors is the earliest company to develop new energy vehicles, but its development process is slightly slower.
BYD Wang Chuanfu was born in the battery business, and his traditional car business is also booming, and he is also taking the lead in the new energy competition.
In addition to the transformation of these traditional car companies, there are also some newly established companies that started out as new energy vehicles. The ones currently developing rapidly include NIO, Ideal and Xpeng Motors.
1. New energy automobile technology competition
New energy automobile technology is divided into biofuel and electric.
1. Biofuel technology is mainly used in urban buses, because biofuel technology is not suitable for family cars and its popularity is not high;
The new energy that everyone now generally recognizes is Electric cars.
2. Electric vehicles are divided into gasoline-electric hybrid drive and pure electric drive.
Gas-electric hybrid is an earlier and more mature technology. Gas-electric hybrid, as the name suggests, means that the power of the car comes from both the internal combustion engine and the motor. Today's gasoline-electric hybrid can basically realize low-speed motor drive after development. , driven by a medium-speed internal combustion engine, and driven by both at high speed.
Currently, gasoline-electric hybrid technology is divided into weak hybrid (HEV) and strong hybrid (PHEV).
(1) 48V weak hybrid power is familiar to everyone. Simply put, it improves the discharge capacity of the motor. However, the technical requirements are quite high and the cost requirements are also much higher. Therefore, this technology is currently mainly used in Mid- to high-end brands;
(2) The popularity of strong hybrids is much higher. The cars currently on the road that can carry green labels are basically with strong hybrid technology. As a technology that enjoys exclusive green card treatment, it naturally has its uniqueness or ease of operation.
Strong hybrid technology is currently plug-in PHEV. A simple understanding is that it uses fuel to provide power to the power battery, and then the power battery drives the regulator.
The biggest advantage of hybrid technology, whether it is weak hybrid or strong hybrid, is that you don’t have to worry about battery life, but it also has a fatal problem. The emission reduction capability is too poor. After all, success means fuel failure.
In fact, judging from the orientation of the green card policy, the country currently relatively recognizes hybrid power technology, and there should still be room for development in the future. Both environmental protection and new energy development are now in a transitional stage. stage.
However, it has to be admitted that the development of pure electric drive technology will eventually replace the existing ones in the future. At present, the development of pure electric drive technology has also entered the early maturity stage, but it needs to be tested by the market.
Pure electric drive is divided into power battery, fuel cell and extended range (EREV).
(1) Let’s talk about the range extender first. The range extender superficially means a technology that can increase mileage. Range-extended vehicles, like hybrid vehicles, use fuel to provide electric energy to the motor, and the motor drives the vehicle. However, the difference is that the range-extended vehicle adds an internal combustion range extender. Only when the battery power reaches a critical value will the internal combustion engine work and charge, which directly reduces the battery life to a certain extent. emissions and indirectly increased mileage.
(2) Power batteries are basically composed of a combination of various elements to reflect the battery technology that provides electrical energy. Currently, lithium batteries are widely used.
(3) Needless to say, hydrogen batteries have obvious advantages and disadvantages. Hydrogen batteries are essentially small reactors that provide relatively large amounts of power, but are unstable and may cause major accidents in the event of a violent collision.
Therefore, the current domestic development direction of pure electric vehicles is power batteries and range extenders.
These are also the two major sectors with fierce competition at home and abroad.
2. New energy vehicle battery competition
In fact, whether it is a pure electric vehicle or an extended-range new energy vehicle, for ordinary people, what is used in the car? Technology is not important, what is important is configuration and battery life.
So new energy vehicles are essentially a competition in battery technology.
Back to 2017, this year should be the year of new energy policy.
Although the development of new energy technologies has been promoted at home and abroad a few years ago, it was not until 2017 that China began to focus on research and development in the automotive field.
The battery battle between CATL, BYD and Panasonic
Previously, CATL was only a battery manufacturer, but the power lithium battery launched in 2017 quickly occupied the automotive market, and in 2018 Completed GEM listing.
Power lithium batteries have a long history of development abroad, but they still remain true to their origins after several changes. Ternary lithium batteries have become the mainstream of automotive batteries. CATL is taking advantage of this domestic trend to overtake.
Looking back at BYD, Wang Chuanfu is known as the battery king, because BYD was born in the battery industry. However, BYD, which does not believe in evil, always wants to be innovative in the battery field. In 2002, it began to develop lithium iron phosphate batteries, commonly known as iron batteries. However, mass production was not achieved until 2017, and it could only be sold domestically. Fortunately, the quality was still acceptable.
Although BYD has accumulated a lot of experience in the domestic automobile field, its misjudgment of the direction of battery research and development caused it to be overtaken by CATL and become the domestic battery sales champion.
CATL revealed its cooperative relationship with well-known car companies such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota in 2018 and 2019, and completed the upgrade of the industry and supply chain amid fierce competition.
In 2020, CATL even revealed plans to conduct industrial cooperation with Tesla, which once made CATL a hot investment spot in the capital market.
However, the first batch of Teslas delivered still uses the 18650 lithium battery originally provided by Panasonic.
Because Panasonic battery started earlier, the technology is mature, and it can mass-produce Tesla’s exclusive round lithium batteries. Although the battery output of CATL is higher, it is mainly square and has not completed the industrial structure. .
3. The battle for new energy - automobile competition
As the number one new energy car company, Tesla has been committed to the development of pure electric vehicles since its establishment in 2003.
With an early start and mature development, Tesla has risen rapidly in the face of government policy subsidies.
In the past ten years of development, Tesla has become the dominant company and expanded rapidly, relying on its superb research and development capabilities.
In addition to completing self-production of self-driving chips, it also opens up technology patents and attracts component supply chain manufacturers.
In terms of battery supply, on the one hand, Tesla continues to supply batteries with Panasonic and deepens industrial cooperation; on the other hand, it acquires lithium mining companies to reduce costs and improve performance;
Finally Tesla has used the strong financing capabilities of the capital market to complete the global expansion of the industry.
Tesla’s success is due to its forward-looking ability and the promotion of capital policies, and it is far ahead in the field of intelligence.
Although the development of domestic electric vehicles started late, there are also outstanding leaders.
Weilai was established in 2014, but it was not until the second half of 2018 that the first batch of deliveries, more than 1,700 vehicles, was completed. The delivery volume was considered passing.
Some people say that NIO’s efforts to imitate Tesla are not rationally appropriate, but in the current fierce competition, survival is the only thing that needs to be considered. In addition to the operation of funds, there is also the support of adhering to the concept.
Faced with a start-up that was more than 10 years later, NIO not only worked hard on automobiles, but also created NIO automobile financial services.
In today’s world, the competition between price and technology is not absolute. The quality of Great Wall cars is average, but car owners don't criticize them while buying them. They rely on excellent marketing.
So for new energy vehicles, technology and battery life are priorities, but in order to open up the market, service is also the top priority.
In this regard, the founder Li Bin started to build the basic supply network and charging and swapping network, and opened a gap in the market by offering the maximum discount to the first batch of car owners.
It is worth mentioning that NIO currently uses batteries from CATL. In addition to having a deep supply cooperation relationship with CATL, it also has technical cooperation. This is a model for domestic supply development at present. .
Li Auto and Xpeng Auto started late, but their development has their own characteristics. Let’s look forward to the subsequent development.
However, as the early dividends of new energy and the national financial subsidies fade away, the development of new energy vehicles has ushered in a new stage.
Energy disputes have existed since ancient times, from land, oil and gold to the current disputes over new energy. It can be said that whoever masters new energy first will lead the new era. This is also a sector that various countries are striving to develop and seize, although it has not yet become particularly prominent.
Applications in the field of new energy vehicles are just the tip of the iceberg, and the promotion of capital will be one of the driving forces for the development of new energy.
NIO and XPeng have gone public in the United States. Currently, NIO’s market value on Nasdaq exceeds 20 billion, Ideal’s market value on Nasdaq exceeds 13 billion, and Xpeng Motors, which was recently listed in New York, has The market value of the stock exchange has also hit 10 billion.
With the rise and development of the domestic new energy industry, I believe that the domestic competition for new energy will become more prosperous.