2021 has become a big year for new energy vehicles. Xiaomi, Huawei, DJI, 360, Lalala and other enterprises have cross-border car manufacturing, and now the automotive design company's Beijing Box Zhixing Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Box Zhixing"), which is upstream of the automotive supply chain, has also come to a high-profile end.
On December 15, Box Chi Heng will release three models: BM-200, BM-400, and BM-600, of which the BM-400 is a mass production model; from the naming point of view, the 200/400/600 may represent the mileage of the three models respectively. Different from the general new car-making forces, Box Zhixing aims at the B-end market such as taxis, online ride-hailing cars, and rental cars.
Box Zhixing founder Zhang Shuguang Source: Box Zhixing official website
The actual controller of Box Zhixing is Zhang Shuguang, who read and understood digital technology and found that there are only 50 patent information in Box Zhixing at present, including 4 invention patents and 46 utility model patents. This is in stark contrast to the huge number of patents for other new energy vehicles.
The patents of Box Zhixing include patents related to new energy vehicles such as "electric vehicle battery pack" and "new energy vehicle battery pack bracket", but more are patents such as "car interior", "armrest box" and "luggage rack".
Compared with the forerunners of new energy vehicles, Box Zhixing is more like a game-saver - mastering some of the technology, resources and capabilities of its own, allowing allies to make up for others.
For example, Fu Neng Technology, which has a comprehensive strategic cooperation with Box Zhixing, has 800VTC overcharge and overvoltage technology, which is the industry's first 800V high-voltage platform that can achieve mass production so far, and the technology SOC (state of charge) 10%-80% charging takes only 15 minutes, which is at the industry-leading level, and the next-generation technology fast charging capacity can reach SOC10%-80% charging in only 7 minutes. This may be the core of the box wisdom walk into the B-end.
At the same time, Wang Zhe, a new shareholder of Box Zhixing, is the founder of Yousensense Technology, which has a wireless charging system for electric vehicles covering different power levels (3.3-30kW), successfully achieving higher charging efficiency, larger charging range and low energy consumption under static working conditions.
In addition, another strategic partner of Box Zhixing, Siwei Zhilian, is a provider of vehicle networking solutions, covering several major sectors such as the underlying vehicle operating system, intelligent cockpit software and hardware, Vehicle networking platform operation and cloud-based Car Networking Big Data Center.
Allies of The Box
In July 2021, Box Zhixing experienced a round of equity changes, the original shareholders Dong Yue and Jin Longyi withdrew, and the new shareholders Beijing Dimu Technology Center (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Dimu Technology") and the natural person shareholder Wang Zhe held 35% and 20% of the shares respectively.
Dong Yue and Jin Longyi each hold 14% of the equity of Dimu Technology, while Fan Weiwei and Liu Liang also hold 7% of the equity of Dimu Technology, zhang Shuguang holds 58% of the shares, plus directly holds the shares of Box Zhixing, and Zhang Shuguang's final income shares in Box Intelligence are 65.3%. Judging from this change, the positioning of Dimu Technology may be a shareholding platform for zhixing box executives and core employees.
Wang Zhe graduated from the Department of Electronics of Tsinghua University with a bachelor's degree, and then went to Columbia University to pursue a doctorate in engineering, and then took a break from school to return to China to start a business in early 2014. In April this year, the Polar Fox Alphas, which is equipped with the release of high-power wireless charging with sense technology, was released, becoming the world's first large-scale mass-produced wirelessly chargable electric vehicle. In addition to electric vehicle wireless charging products, Yousensing Technology also has a number of products related to new energy vehicles such as automotive digital keys and on-board inverters.
The strengths of sentient technology can meet the blank space of Box Zhixing in the field of wireless charging.
Box Zhixing's strategic partner, Siwei Zhilian, is a vehicle network solution service provider, whose products include intelligent networking systems for the new generation of autonomous vehicles, intelligent navigation, vehicle networking services and content, intelligent networking operating systems and solutions, etc.
The cooperation with 4D Zhilian can greatly improve the intelligence of box cars.
Mileage anxiety has always been accompanied by the development of new energy vehicles, and the way to solve mileage anxiety in the industry is nothing more than two categories: increasing mileage and shortening charging time.
Fu Neng Technology, which has a comprehensive strategic cooperation with Box Zhixing, ranks among the top ten domestic power battery manufacturers in China, and its 800VTC overcharge and overvoltage technology is the industry's first 800V high-voltage platform that can reach mass production so far, the technology SOC (state of charge) 10%-80% charging takes only 15 minutes, and the next generation technology fast charging capacity can reach SOC10%-80% Charging takes only 7 minutes.
For B-end markets such as taxis, ride-hailing cars, and rental cars, the probability of long-distance use is not large, and whether the charging time of urban cars is 15 minutes or 7 minutes, it can greatly improve the driver's experience. The cooperation with Fu Neng Technology may be the biggest reliance of Box Zhixing to enter the B-end market.
Cars are built to be sold, who will be the first customers of Box Chi Heng? There seems to be some hint of this at the moment.
On the afternoon of December 1st, Box Auto invited Qingdao to travel, Hangzhou Xiaotao, Hangzhou Life After rain, SAIC Yicheng, Xiamen Chaohe and Gansu Yixiangxing and other senior executives of car travel service platforms and car rental companies for product exchanges. The exchange meeting was of high specification and was directly received by zhang zhangguang and senior executives.
However, how many of these participating companies will become the first customers of box cars is not yet known. In addition, on December 2, Go Car Rental reached a strategic cooperation with Box Cars.
The box that sells the space is smart
Perhaps, Zhang Shuguang has been preparing for the construction of cars.
Zhang graduated from Jilin University and worked for Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd. in 2009 to found the automotive design company Broad & Bright Automobile. Broad & Bright Automobile has become the exclusive partner of LG V-ENS (LG Electronics), a Korean automotive design company, and has provided design and development of complete vehicles and parts for mainstream car companies at home and abroad such as China FAW R&D Institute, China FAW Besturn Research Institute, FAW-Volkswagen, BAIC Group, and Jianghuai Automobile.
When did Box Chi Heng decide to build a car?
According to the information on the official website of Box Zhixing, it established the Electric Vehicle Division in 2019 and began to build a new electric vehicle platform suitable for B-end travel; in 2020, it established a wholly-owned subsidiary "Beijing Zhixing Box Automobile Co., Ltd."; however, reading digital technology found that the first patent application of Box Zhixing was on June 28, 2018, and the patent name was "a full-range seismic box for the installation of new energy vehicle batteries", if the time required for patent research and development and application is included, The preparation time for the Box Smart Car Project may be earlier.
In 2019, when it officially announced the establishment of the Electric Vehicle Division, Box Zhixing held a summit forum on the development and exchange of automobile talents in the three northeastern provinces in Changchun, inviting more than 100 automotive industry-related enterprises and universities in the three northeastern provinces, such as FAW, Brilliance Automobile, BMW Brilliance, FAW Car, FAW Volkswagen, FAW Jiefang, South Korea's LG Electronics, Jilin University, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Northeastern University. In September of the same year, more than ten well-known OEMs such as FAW, Dongfeng, SAIC, BAIC, Geely, and Wuling were invited to hold a preparatory meeting of the Automobile R&D System Capability Evaluation Working Committee in Dalian.
Not long ago, the box car photo was exposed, and the model exposed this time is the first intelligent MPV developed for the online car market and the commercial car market. According to official data, the length of this model is about 4500mm, and the wheelbase is between 2700-2900mm.
As an established car design company, the main selling point of box cars is also related to space design. It is understood that the upcoming BM-400 of Box Cars adopts a three-row 5-seat design, no co-pilot seat, and has an L-shaped seat layout in the car.
Zhang Shuguang believes that the core point of the box car is to "sell space" and give the space to the passengers. Only by making the space large enough, innovative enough, and with flexible software + hardware, can we meet the diverse needs of users.