Why are pure electric cars rarely seen in Japan? This is an intriguing question.
You know, at present, even BBA, Volkswagen and other old traditional car companies have announced one by one that they will no longer sell fuel vehicles in XX years, turn around and embrace the transformation of electrification, so why are the top Japanese car companies in the century-old automobile industry slack in the face of electrification?
You know, Japan has proposed a plan to manufacture electric vehicles in 1977, and Japan has long been leading lithium battery technology in industries such as digital appliances, so why will Japan lag behind China in the field of pure electric vehicles in the late 20 years?
Remember the BYD F3 of that year? In fact, this is a mold that BYD bought from Toyota and was eliminated, and it was launched into the market with the title of plagiarized corolla.
Until now, Toyota's "BYD Toyota Electric Vehicle Technology Co., Ltd.", which is seeking cooperation with BYD, was officially established in March this year. Next year, the new pure tram launched by the joint venture will be equipped with BYD's batteries and technology!
Just as the so-called thirty years of Hedong and thirty years of Hexi, at this time netizens said: "Then I can directly buy a BYD pure tram"? And China, Chinese car companies, have every opportunity to become the leader of the automobile industry in the next hundred years! Let's explore the first question: Why are pure electric cars rarely seen in Japan?
Why develop new energy vehicles, of course, is related to oil, oil is a limited resource, there will always be a day when it will run out. Now the world consumes about 4 billion tons of oil every year, and some experts predict that at this rate, oil may be supplied for two or three hundred years.
The dependence of cars on gasoline is clear to everyone, and we can even feel the impact of oil on the economy, but only slightly, such as the rise and fall of oil prices. But in fact, globalization has always been linked to everything, and the impact behind it is by no means more than a few cents of oil price changes.
For example, in the global economic crisis triggered by the oil crisis in 1973, the soaring price of crude oil caused the economic recession in the developed countries of the West, according to statistics, the US GDP growth rate fell by 4.7%, and the unemployment rate soared to 8.3%.
In the same period, Japan was also seriously affected, as an oil-dependent country, without these "industrial blood", it is difficult to make the automobile, steel, construction and other industries live a good life, in 1974 Japan collapsed about 11,000 companies.
Soaring oil prices led Japan to avoid spending high prices on the oil production industry, thus entering a meaningless cycle, and then made up its mind to get rid of oil dependence. And to get rid of dependence, start with the most dependent, expensive direction or the best direction: the car.
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But whether it is fuel saving, it is still necessary to use oil, so the production of electric vehicles has become a better solution. So in 1977, Japan had a plan to mass-produce 200,000 electric vehicles within 10 years.
The question is, the production of pure electric cars must not have batteries?
Therefore, after some scientific research and attempts, scientific and technological personnel found that the most suitable battery for pure electric vehicles is lithium battery, because of the same size and capacity, lithium battery energy density is greater, lighter weight, longer life.
In other words, being able to control the commercialization of lithium batteries will become the hope of electric vehicles, so as to achieve the goal of getting rid of oil dependence. Since then, the research of lithium batteries has also become the key.
Sure enough, Japan soon made a technological breakthrough in the field of lithium batteries, and Sony launched the 18650 battery that laid the foundation for the industry as early as the 90s.
With the backing of lithium battery technology, Japan dominates the electronic product industry, Sony has won the best well-known brand in the United States for 7 consecutive years, and behind the huge business opportunities, it has also driven Japanese brands such as Sanyo, Panasonic, and Hitachi.
As of 2000, the total sales of Japanese lithium battery companies accounted for 93% of the global share, which can be said to be a "monopoly".
According to such progress, Japan should be able to develop pure trams very well, so why is it still surpassed by China, which developed later? Here we have to say two key figures: Wang Chuanfu of BYD and Zeng Yuqun of the Ningde era.
Just mentioned that Japan's lithium batteries have made electronic digital products flourish, which is the background. In the 1990s, "big brothers" that started with 10,000 yuan gradually became popular, but the price was so expensive that the penetration rate of mobile phones in China was only 1% at that time.
(Wang Chuanfu)
But it is precisely because of this ultra-low penetration rate that the Chinese people have also seen a big blue ocean in the market, after all, mobile phone batteries will be a large market. At this time, Wang Chuanfu saw the opportunity to borrow money to start a business to establish a BYD company in Shenzhen, and he also chose to bypass the mainstream lithium battery and turn his head to attack the nickel-cadmium battery.
Because nickel-cadmium batteries can also be applied to mobile phones, the most important thing is that this is the market gap left by Japan's specialized lithium batteries, which is simply a staggered competition.
Later, the Asian financial storm triggered in 1997, the global battery price soared so that Japanese manufacturers lost a huge amount, and BYD ushered in a good time due to the advantages of nickel-cadmium battery production costs, and BYD even received orders from Japanese brands such as Philippe and Sony that year.
After standing firm in the nickel-cadmium battery market, BYD then studied lithium batteries, faced the challenge of Japanese brands, and soon launched a lithium battery with higher cost performance in 2000, also relying on price and other advantages, BYD also won the orders of Motorola, Nokia mobile phones and other orders at that time, and gradually received international brand recognition.
About another important person, Zeng Yuqun in the Ningde era, is also the key to overtaking China's new energy track.
(Zeng Yuqun)
In 1999, he founded ATL, the predecessor of the Ningde era, in Hong Kong, which also avoided the Japanese leader- hard-pack lithium batteries, and instead studied soft-pack lithium batteries that are more suitable for mobile phones and notebooks.
Although the research and development of soft-pack lithium batteries was very difficult at the beginning, ATL Company finally developed a soft-pack lithium battery that did not inflate after constantly trying the formula and solving the electrolyte problem. After ATL solved the problem, it gradually grew by relying on the market such as DVD and mobile phones, and won the order for Apple's MP3.
However, at this time, ATL, a new lithium battery brand, suddenly became a Japanese brand, why? Because the company's major U.S. shareholder suddenly withdrew its investment, it was acquired by Japan's TDK company at a low price.
However, according to this script, in Japan, where lithium battery technology originally had a hand, at this time, it has obtained a powerful ATL company, and it should be more in the field of pure trams.
in Musk
However, it is interesting that at this time, Japan saw the initial development of Tesla and changed its direction. That's right, it's the Tesla that sells so well right now!
(Tesla's original Roadster)
Seeing that Tesla's initial development was not smooth, the brand was only released two models in the 9th year of its establishment, and it was difficult to mass-produce, and the Japanese brand was more determined not to take the pure electricity route, and Tesla was once used as a "negative teaching material".
Subsequently, the "Next-Generation Automobile Research and Development Strategy" released by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry made it clear that pure electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles will be developed at the same time. That means to give Japanese brands one more choice, and the highly representative Toyota and Honda, looking at the status quo, have taken the lead in abandoning the pure electricity that has been bet on for many years, thus choosing hydrogen fuel.
In this way, Japan is equivalent to giving up the excellent opportunity for power batteries, after all, even two fields are not supported, and no matter how many lithium batteries are put into the place. It is precisely because of this miss that Japan seems to have dug a deep pit for itself, and also contributed to the birth of a Chinese lithium battery giant.
Japan's TDK company, which once acquired ATL, of course became cold to the lithium battery business, and directly refused BMW's invitation to cooperate. But Zeng Yuqun has always had ambitions in his heart, so he resolutely bought out shares from ATL and resigned, returned to his hometown Ningde to create a new company - CATL Ningde Era, and at the same time found BMW, produced power batteries for BMW, and then successively took orders from Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and other brands, and began a new era of power batteries.
Just as there is no such shop after this village, from the perspective of historical factors, Japan should be able to play a good hand, but in the end, because it can't see the future of pure electric cars, it turns around and changes direction.
But think about it carefully, as an era of auto giants, many times have to make decisions and bets, after all, Japanese brands have always been very strong, and Tesla will not be famous, who is willing to believe in a new power brand that has not improved?
Although no one ever expected Tesla to be so successful today, China still grasps the opportunity and does not miss any opportunity. As the world's largest single automobile market, in addition to promulgating the "Automobile Industry Adjustment and Revitalization Plan" and driving the development of pure electric vehicles in the form of subsidies, China has also made a bold decision: the introduction of Tesla super factory and the promotion of Tesla localization.
Many people ask, give money and land, why do you want to help Tesla in this way? In my opinion, this is somewhat like the radical method. The price of the domestic Tesla is very attractive and extremely popular, from the previous Model 3 to the current Model Y, monthly sales say it all.
The price of continuous pressure and the gradual recognition of products will of course make Chinese car companies nervous and strive to make progress. Want to make money? Yes, but can't cheat anymore, honestly build a car! In addition, this can also drive the development of the domestic pure tram industry chain.
As a result, Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal and traditional Chinese car brands have all begun to build new energy vehicles, and sales have also soared, such as Xiaopeng P7, Ideal ONE and so on.
After all, selling cars is still a business, making money is the most important purpose, when seeing Tesla in the world's largest car market can sell so well, other overseas brands will definitely be red-eyed.
Therefore, even traditional luxury car companies such as BBA have shouted out the slogan of winning Tesla, and gradually launched pure electric new cars to keep up with China's pure electric new energy route, rather than following Japan's hydrogen energy route.
Even Japanese brands have begun to "waver", including Honda announcing the termination of the production of hydrogen energy battery vehicles and specially releasing the "Honda China Electrification Strategy"; while Nissan announced the "2030 Vision", planning to invest 2 trillion yen in electrification transformation within five years, and committing to battery research and development, etc.
In the last hundred years, it is indeed necessary to recognize the weakness of China's automobile industry, after all, it started late, and technology needs to catch up with overseas, but as for the next hundred years, who is the right to say? And can China achieve overtaking in curves and become the leader of the next automotive era with its strength?
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