On March 3, some media reported that ZTE Corporation (hereinafter referred to as ZTE) will establish an automotive electronics product line and set up an automotive electronics team, which will be affiliated with the system product technology planning department. Its positioning is to be responsible for unified business planning and operations in the automotive electronics field.
Judging from the time alone, ZTE seems to be a latecomer among the technology giants to enter the automobile industry. Huawei has already shouted the slogan of "helping car companies build good cars"; technology companies such as Apple, Baidu, and Foxconn have It has become a member of the cross-border car manufacturing camp. However, this is not the case. ZTE is not a "newcomer" in the automotive industry. As early as 2012, ZTE began its layout in the automotive field. From power batteries to charging technology to building its own cars, ZTE’s investment in the automotive field can be said to be real. ZTE, which has not caught up with the development trend of high-end smartphones, seems to be more firmly committed to the cause of the "new four modernizations" of automobiles.
Looking back at ZTE’s car-making plans in the past ten years, it is far from smooth sailing. In 2016, ZTE officially entered the vehicle field through the acquisition of Zhuhai Guangtong Bus, and confidently stated that "in five years, we will strive to be among the top five in the commercial vehicle market." However, the reality is very skinny. As the process of smart cities accelerates, mature commercial vehicle companies have also made a lot of investment and layout in the field of intelligence. Now that the five-year time limit has passed, regardless of whether ZTE plans to restart "in-person" car manufacturing, positioning itself as a first-tier supplier to car companies like Huawei seems to be the safest choice.
01 Cross-border commercial vehicle manufacturing ceased
Public information shows that Hou Weigui, the former chairman of ZTE, stated several times many years ago that ZTE would enter new energy vehicles. Industry, Hou Weigui has also led many delegations to inspect OEMs that can cooperate.
In 2014, ZTE established a wholly-owned subsidiary, ZTE New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd. (renamed "ZTE New Energy Technology Co., Ltd." at the end of last year), positioning itself as a comprehensive service provider for the new energy vehicle industry, providing Professional charging product solutions and services, focusing on the research and development of new energy vehicle supporting facilities. At the end of 2016, ZTE publicly stated that it had successfully acquired Zhuhai Guangtong Bus Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guangtong Bus) in July 2016 and entered the field of new energy vehicles. After the acquisition was completed, ZTE Intelligent Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ZTE Automobile), a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation, was established. At the same time, it obtained the qualifications to enter the automobile market and traditional automobile manufacturing technology.
In December of the same year, according to public information, ZTE Intelligent Vehicle Co., Ltd. and ZTE New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd. jointly won the bid for the Shenzhen West Bus Project and will provide 204 units of 8 Mi pure electric buses and smart charging basic supporting services. At that time, bidders for the project included Wuzhoulong, a commercial vehicle company also based in Shenzhen, and Nanjing Jinlong, which planned to invest and build factories in Shenzhen. ZTE Automobile, which was just founded, has received a large order of 100 vehicles, which seems to be a good start for car manufacturing. However, combing through public information, we can find that ZTE Automobile’s subsequent domestic orders have almost never left the Pearl River Delta region.
Although passenger car orders mostly come from government and corporate procurement, which tends to protect local brands, ZTE is not the only commercial vehicle company in Shenzhen. There are also BYD, Wuzhoulong and other cross-border car manufacturers. Kaiwo Automobile (parent company of Nanjing Jinlong). Even in Zhuhai, the home base of Guangtong Bus, there is Yinlong Bus invested by Dong Mingzhu. In terms of sales volume and scale in the domestic market, ZTE Automobile is far behind the leading commercial vehicle companies. Therefore, ZTE Automobile has never stopped exploring overseas markets.
In terms of the international market, ZTE Automobile Marketing Director Yao Quanquan said in an interview at the end of 2019 that the double-decker buses produced by the company accounted for 60% of the share in Hong Kong.
However, it is worth noting that these double-decker buses are produced in cooperation with ADL, the largest bus manufacturer in the UK, and are produced by ZTE Automobile, also known as Guangtong Bus, using an OEM model. Regardless of whether it is the domestic or international passenger car market, ZTE only occupies a "niche" market share.
In fact, under the influence of the economic environment and the reduction of subsidies, the domestic passenger car market has become saturated and competition pressure has intensified. Compared with passenger cars, the technology and investment thresholds in the passenger car field are relatively low, so it is relatively difficult to enter the vehicle field. However, ZTE Automobile's development path is not as smooth as the previously planned "to be among the top five".
02 Questionable Wireless Charging Technology
In addition to entering vehicle manufacturing, one of ZTE’s most important layouts in the automotive field is wireless charging technology. As early as 2012, ZTE began to research charging technology for new energy vehicles, and in 2014 it established a wholly-owned subsidiary, ZTE New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd.
Wireless charging is a non-contact charging method. There is no contact between the power transmitter and the receiver, and charging is performed in the air. At present, wireless charging has begun commercial applications in low-power fields such as mobile phones and headphones. Equipment suppliers and vehicle manufacturers such as ZTE, Huawei, SAIC Roewe, BYD, and BAIC New Energy have all conducted research in this field, but currently there is no mass-produced model in the domestic market that supports wireless charging. The reason is that there are still many "flaws" in wireless charging technology that have not been resolved.
Hu Chao, deputy general manager of ZTE New Energy Vehicle Co., Ltd., gave a speech at the 100-person meeting in 2019, "For cars to develop from intelligent network connection to autonomous driving and autonomous parking, they will eventually need a An automated charging technology. Because, including the last mile parking application scenarios and business models, automated charging technology is needed to solve the entire closed loop of unmanned operation of intelligent connected vehicles. ”
Wireless charging does eliminate the need to "draw the gun" during the current charging process. However, in order to eliminate this step, car companies need to bear higher costs. Professionals in the field of charging technology pointed out that the reason why wireless charging is not widely popular is that in addition to the higher cost than the charging pile solution, there are also problems such as loss during the charging process and low charging efficiency. In addition, wireless charging requires precise alignment of the vehicle and the coil, which will affect the experience of some users with poor driving skills. The most important point is that there is currently a lack of unified technical standards in China, which makes it difficult to promote and apply this technology on a large scale. Moreover, the public has always had doubts about the electromagnetic radiation problem in wireless charging, which reduces the enthusiasm of ordinary users to participate and use.
Hu Chao also admitted that wireless charging is currently more suitable for use in commercial vehicles. Reviewing ZTE's wireless charging cooperation projects, we can also find that they are basically cooperation with new energy bus manufacturers. Even if the future is unclear, ZTE is still insisting on investing in wireless charging technology. In February this year, ZTE's patent information on "a wireless charging positioning method, device, system and electric vehicle" was authorized to be disclosed. Statistics show that of ZTE’s more than 5,000 patents, 24 are related to automobiles, with the earliest filing date appearing in 2013. Patents related to automobiles mainly involve wireless charging, Internet of Vehicles, parking space status detection, vehicle driving route analysis, etc.
03 Tier1 is more "reliable" than directly building cars
With the advent of software-defined cars and the 5G era, ZTE, which has advantages in the fields of 5G and Internet of Vehicles, seems to realize , being a Tier1 (first-tier supplier) is more "reliable" than building cars directly. Friendly company Huawei is the best reference.
A professional analysis agency pointed out that by 2040, global sales of self-driving cars may exceed 30 million units, and China is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. It is expected that by 2023, China's autonomous driving market will reach 238.1 billion yuan; by 2025, the penetration rate of domestic Internet of Vehicles will increase from 24 in 2020 to 65.
Autonomous driving and Internet of Vehicles will become the largest blue ocean market for automotive electronics.
Because of this, the smart car track is no longer just a competition between car companies, but also attracts more and more cross-border players. Moreover, technology giants have natural advantages. They can extend mature technologies to the field of smart cars, especially in the fields of 5G technology, vehicle sensors, autonomous driving, and chips.
In the field of Internet of Vehicles, ZTE has cooperated with many car companies. Currently, ZTE provides Geely Automobile with solutions such as pre-installed wireless communication modules to support better FOTA and OTA for the entire vehicle. In 2019, ZTE and Chery Automobile reached a strategic cooperation to jointly study application scenarios in business fields such as 5G-based Internet of Vehicles, smart manufacturing, and smart parks. At the same time, ZTE's first-tier subsidiary InBev Supercomputing (Nanjing) Technology Co., Ltd. Anhui Qiying Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., a joint venture jointly established by InBev Supercomputer (hereinafter referred to as InBev Supercomputer) and Chery New Energy, was officially unveiled.
It is understood that the predecessor of InBev Supercomputer is ZTE Automotive Electronics Product Line (Business Unit). In December 2018, InBev Supercomputing became independent from ZTE and established InBev Supercomputing (Nanjing) Technology Co., Ltd. In 2020, Chery New Energy and InBev Supercomputer jointly released a model equipped with an L2 intelligent assisted driving system - Chery Ant Smart Driving Edition. Its intelligent driving system comes from InBev Supercomputer. In addition, Chery's pure electric SUV Big Ant, which was launched in September last year, is equipped with an on-board chip jointly developed by Horizon and InBev Supercomputer.
Whether it is building a car or being a Tier 1, it is an undeniable fact that more and more technology giants are looking for breakthroughs in the industrial chain of smart new energy vehicles, coveting this blue ocean with a valuation of trillions. market. It is true that technological level and software and hardware service capabilities are the strengths of cross-border players like Huawei and ZTE. However, ZTE's setbacks in the field of commercial vehicles have shown that building cars is not easy. Like our friend Huawei, empowering traditional car companies rather than building cars yourself is also a safe choice.