The author | Jason Chu
In the crowded track of China's new energy vehicle market, there is no shortage of new car-making forces, nor new brands. In the envisaged "curve", it is crowded with all kinds of electric vehicles. Therefore, the curiosity of the melon-eating masses has been difficult to mobilize by the words "new energy vehicles".
However, some people use the phrase "using low-end private cars to make online ride-hailing cars, it is simply ridiculous!" "It attracted everyone's attention.
The person who said this is Zhang Shuguang, who has nearly 20 years of experience in the automotive industry and has also participated in the product design and research and development of many automotive OEMs, and he is now the founder and president of Box Cars.
On the evening of December 15, the new new energy electric vehicle brand Box Car released two new models, which have received widespread attention from inside and outside the industry. The brand is different in that it does not do C-end users, but is only born for the B-end travel market.
The two models at the press conference are the BM-400, which focuses on the private car, online ride-hailing and taxi markets, and is scheduled to achieve mass production in 2023, and the BM-600, which is aimed at the mid-to-high-end rental market, is expected to be mass-produced and listed in 2024.
Focusing on the B-end travel market is a small blue ocean in the red sea of new energy electric vehicles. Because when it comes to new energy electric vehicle brands that are only born for the B-end travel market, who can you think of? Probably not one.
Therefore, the box car can be regarded as finding a competitive differentiation. They also set the slogan for themselves, "Be the 'Tesla' of the B-end track."
Is there a prospect for the B-end travel market?
The so-called B-end travel market basically refers to taxis, online car-hailing, car rental companies and other directions, such models are to serve the majority of users of travel.
Nowadays, online ride-hailing has become the mainstream taxi method for many young people, not only because the controllability is stronger than that of taxis, but also because some prices are more cost-effective than taxis.
According to data from China's Ministry of Transport, the total number of active cruise taxis in the country is 1.38 million, and the number of online ride-hailing vehicles is even higher, and from the perspective of volume, this segment is indeed a fertile land.
But in fact, whether it is a taxi or an online car, there have been many pain points and consumer dissatisfaction that have not been solved, and Box Car wants to come forward to solve these pain points and improve travel services and experience for the public.
What are the pain points for people to travel by taxi?
Today's taxis, whether they are online ride-hailing cars, are mostly low-grade or simple-catering models produced by traditional car manufacturers, and travel service companies and self-employed people in online ride-hailing have to do this because they want to save costs.
But isn't that the first pain point that limits the travel experience?
Crowded seating space, no seat ventilation and heating, uncomfortable rear seat ride, large luggage can not be put down, etc., all stem from the low and low configuration of taxis and online ride-hailing vehicles.
Secondly, taxis and ride-hailing cars are actually the first "cityscapes" we see when we arrive at an unfamiliar city, in addition to buildings and roads, we often evaluate the city because of the quality and cleanliness of taxis and ride-hailing models.
When I first arrived in Germany, I got off the plane in Munich and saw a Mercedes-Benz taxi, and I felt good feelings and envy from my heart, after all, there are very few cities that use Mercedes-Benz as a taxi.
However, looking back at China's taxis and online ride-hailing cars, the problems of "dirty and messy" and "old and dilapidated" still exist, and taxis in some cities even have problems such as poor service attitudes and random detours. This invisibly adds a negative label to the city.
Finally, for drivers of electric taxis and ride-hailing cars, the most important thing is the mileage, charging speed, and the cost of using the car.
I have interviewed Beijing electric taxi drivers, although Aodong can provide power exchange services, but the winter power exchange problems still affect their income, and some small problems of BAIC electric vehicles also affect their use, and even some taxi drivers have said that a steering motor problem has been repaired three times, each time to wait for accessories, it is very annoying. Therefore, it is also very important to solve the fundamental problems of taxis, ride-hailing drivers and rental companies.
However, Box Cars announced at the press conference that these problems are their most concerned and to be solved.
How does box cars solve travel pain points?
Multi-functional high-end, there is also a C position in the back row
The B-end travel market has completely different ride needs from ordinary family cars. When we ride in a ride-hailing car or taxi, most of us choose the back seat for instinctive protection and comfort reasons, and we want to have enough legroom.
Because of this, the box car directly omits the passenger seat and the right seat of the second row, and even the passenger side does not have a reserved door. This is also a kind of "subtractive logic" of box cars.
This design maximizes demand at the lowest cost, and at the same time, it also forms the first "L-shaped" seat layout in box cars, that is, the "1+1+3" seat distribution.
The length of the aisle space left by this layout is about 2 meters or more, which can not only put the luggage in the passenger seat to achieve "luggage without leaving people", but also avoid the trouble of forgetting luggage in the trunk when taking a taxi.
And it also leaves enough comfortable space for the "king seat" in the rear seat, with a 30 ° elevation angle business seat and a top leg rest, so the luxurious experience of riding should be something that cannot be given by today's luxury cars.
It's worth mentioning that the aisle is designed not only for the comfort of the rear passengers. It is also possible to achieve wheelchair access for the disabled and a card slot to secure the wheelchair.
In addition, out of the care for the drivers who have been engaged in online ride-hailing for a long time, box cars can also choose to take a rest sleeping bag with the car, and this spacious aisle is the happy space for the driver's master to take a lunch break or a temporary rest.
In addition to the spatial layout and the comfortable ride of the C position, the box car also has a richer configuration and functions that are not available in the current online car.
As a "B-end travel space provider", Box Car has also created a customizable intelligent interaction system - HIGH DO. This system is a new service system covering cities, operating enterprises, drivers, and passengers.
It not only covers the car large-screen entertainment system, in-vehicle machine vision technology application, car networking, in-vehicle intelligent control, etc., can realize the car large-screen game, live broadcast, on-demand, singing K and other entertainment services; at the same time access to smart city and smart transportation, can provide urban promotional film advertising services, urban specialties ordering and other consumer experiences in the car.
2. Paint more body and save costs for car owners
Judging from the appearance of the released BM-400 and BM-600 cars, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are "cute pets". The more pleasing appearance, the palm press-style opening method, and the simple and smooth lines of the whole vehicle must add a beautiful scenery to the appearance of the city.
In addition, according to official disclosures, box cars will also customize different painting styles for different cities in the future, such as Wuhan cherry blossom version, Luoyang flower blossom rich version and so on. Such a design can indeed make outsiders more impressed with the city, and the city label is further enlarged by box cars, which is a very good move.
In addition to the "beautiful" urban appearance, in fact, operators and online car owners are more concerned about the cost of use and charging problems, these two aspects of the problem, the box car is solved in this way:
On the one hand, in view of the pain point of high maintenance costs of operating vehicles, box cars have incorporated "low-cost wearing parts replacement" into the product definition.
For example, according to the survey, most of the slight scratches of most operating vehicles today come from the front and rear bumpers. Box cars support self-replacement of overlays such as front and rear bumpers, and such overlays are set up for easy removal and installation. If the rubbing needs to be painted or replaced, the manufacturer provides spare parts purchase services, eliminating the problem of three or five days of repair of traditional cars to 4s stores, which greatly reduces maintenance costs and saves the time of operators and car owners.
In addition, the intelligent energy recovery system equipped with the box car can reduce energy consumption by 15% under the conditions of frequent braking and start-stop urban conditions.
On the other hand, the new car will also adopt a special electrical strategy optimization technology to reduce the energy consumption of the vehicle by another 5%. For example, when the vehicle is unloaded, the large screen in the rear row, vending machines, lights, air conditioners can be automatically turned off, and the torque output of the vehicle can be limited;
When the user gets on the car, the vehicle then switches to the appropriate scene in an orderly manner to achieve energy saving. This is also a manifestation of the "subtraction logic" of the box car.
Overall, these all fit in with the "one dollar theory" that box cars insist on. That is to do one dollar cheaper than the opponent, one dollar less to maintain the cost, and one dollar more to operate. In such a competitive new energy vehicle market, it can be seen that the "small target" of box cars is also cautious.
3, charging less anxiety, the platform is more dramatic
The charging problem that taxi and online car drivers are very concerned about is also taken into account by box cars, and Wang Zhe, co-founder of Box Cars and chairman of Yousen Technology, is the core figure who focuses on technical problems in terms of energy replenishment.
In the future, the box car will lay a super fast charging station with a maximum output voltage of 1000V, which includes 240kW and 480kW superfill piles. If you use a 480kW supercharge pile, you can achieve 10 minutes of charging and a range of 400 kilometers, which will greatly solve the problem of range anxiety of operating vehicles.
At the same time, considering the problem of limited load on the power grid of the supercharge station, the brand will also use the optical energy storage system to alleviate the expansion pressure of the distribution system in the future. Combined with the continuous optimization of the box car's vehicle power consumption strategy, it can basically solve the driver's charging anxiety.
In addition to the solution of the mileage anxiety problem, the chassis developed by the box car itself is also the focus of this conference, and the manufacturer calls it "octopus".
The BM-400 and BM-600 models are based on the modular chassis of the Octopus 1.0 platform, which shares up to 95% of the components, can be flexibly customized for different bodywork, the wheelbase can also be changed in the range of 2850mm-3150mm, and the chassis is also compatible with battery modules of different capacities.
Secondly, Box Auto expects to complete the construction of the "Octopus" 2.0 platform in May next year. This platform applies the very popular concept of "skateboard chassis", similar to the car-making logic proposed by Rivin and Yo-Run Technology in the United States.
The platform will support front-drive, rear-drive, four-wheel drive three-drive forms, using a power battery CTC structure, the front suspension completely follows the first generation of platform, while using line control and steer-by-wire, further approaching the advanced intelligent driving function.
Write at the end:
Only for the B-end travel market to create electric vehicles, it sounds a bit fresh, this is the box car unswervingly to focus on the new track.
For the travel market, the "pain points" grasped by box cars are indeed very accurate, and the brand regards the city, drivers, passengers, and operating platforms as a reasonable closed loop for travel, and maintains them together through products. This is why Box Car calls itself an "urban intelligent travel service provider" rather than an ordinary car company.
The emergence of box cars allows us to see the comfort and wisdom that taxi travel will be able to experience in the future, which will indeed enhance the happiness of our consumers when taking a taxi.
Some people may also question whether such a road is a bit "narrow"? Some people may also question whether the box car can be recognized by the B-side. In fact, these worries are somewhat redundant, because the drawbacks and pain points of the travel market really exist, and after solving them, our consumers can also benefit, so what is wrong?
At the same time, Box Cars also announced at the press conference that its BM-400 model intention pre-sale orders have reached 42,000 units, which is enough to prove that their ideas are paid for.
In this way, although the new energy electric vehicle industry is a red sea, as long as the differentiation of the enterprise is accurate, the product force is strong enough, and the actual problem is solved for the society, there will inevitably be a window open for it, and the outside of the window is a blue ocean.