"It takes about 1 minute for a single block to change electricity", "one electric vehicle, on-demand rental electricity, rechargeable and replaceable", "can adapt to the pure electric platform developed by 80% of the world's 80% that have been listed and will be listed in the next 3 years".
On January 18, CATL officially released the EVOGO power replacement brand, as the world's largest annual shipment of power batteries, officially announced that it entered the power replacement track. What is the intention of CATL to release the new brand?
Seize the new track for power exchange
Car companies are still keen to launch electric vehicles with longer range to reduce consumers' anxiety about the range of new energy vehicles. For example, in December last year, GAC Aean just launched a new model with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers.
In addition to the pursuit of long mileage, car companies are also looking for other ways to alleviate range anxiety. Changing power is one of them, but changing power is not a new thing.
As early as 2008, there was a power exchange mode for pure electric buses in China. In the field of passenger cars, Tesla also tried to change the power in 2013. In addition, in 2016, BAIC BJEV, together with Sinopec, Shanghai Dianba and other institutions, delivered 10 substations at one time in Beijing to promote the popularity of pure electric replacement taxis. Nio also announced at the end of 2017 that it has laid out a national layout of substations, and as of now, NIO has built a total of 800 substations in the country.
Although the power exchange model has been developed for more than 10 years, it has not become a climate. Why did the NINGDE era bet on the "unpopular" track of power exchange?
At present, the new energy vehicles sold by car companies are mainly one car and one electricity, and only Weilai, BAIC New Energy, and Geely (the first power replacement model will be listed soon) have power replacement business. Public data show that the power battery loading volume of CATL in 2021 is 80.51GWh, accounting for 52.1% of the market. This means that more than half of the new energy vehicles on the market last year used batteries in the Ningde era.
The entry of the Ningde era into the power exchange will surely drive the development of the power exchange business model, and even affect the entire new energy automobile industry. Ningde era layout to change electricity, the goal or the life of the entire industry.
But why would the Ningde era, which is already the world's first, take risks in new areas? This may have something to do with the crisis it is facing.
BYD, which develops its own power batteries, plans to divest its power battery business three years ago to make it independent and provide power battery supply to the entire automotive industry. So far, Tesla, Toyota, FAW, Ford, and even Apple have been rumored to purchase BYD's blade batteries.
At present, BYD's power batteries are mainly produced and sold in-house, and in 2021, with an installed capacity of 25.06GWh, it will occupy a market share of 16.2%. Once the procurement volume of external car companies rises, BYD's power battery market share will increase rapidly.
In addition to BYD, DUE TOAC Lithium Battery, which has in-depth cooperation with GAC Group, the installed capacity increased by 15 times from January to February last year, and the total installed volume in 2021 surpassed LG Chem to rank third in the industry. In addition, Great Wall Motors has also successfully incubated the Honeycomb Energy Power Battery Enterprise, and will develop it independently, and at present, The Hive Energy has squeezed into the top ten of the domestic power battery installed capacity.
Powerful car companies support and develop the power battery business, which has the advantage of reducing procurement costs, improving product competitiveness, and mastering more initiatives.
In addition, due to the limited production capacity of power batteries last year, coupled with the unexpected surge in the new energy vehicle market, there have been rumors that car executives have bought batteries in power battery companies with cash. Among them, Weilai has caused a decline in terminal delivery due to battery supply problems. According to industry estimates, the new energy vehicle market will still develop rapidly in the future, so car companies are bound to seek more channels of power battery supply, and are no longer willing to put "eggs in a basket".
The careful thinking of car companies and the "ambitions" of other power battery companies are unfavorable to the Ningde era. Therefore, at this time, using the market share advantage to open up a power exchange track that few people have set foot in is a game-breaking strategy for the Ningde era to take the initiative to attack and maintain the leading position in the industry.
Leverage capital to secure a position
Of course, in addition to the "good card" of market share, there is also the trump card of capital advantage in the Ningde era.
At present, the Ningde era, with a market value of up to 1.3 trillion yuan, is still reinforcing the moat through financing.
According to the financial report, the net profit of CATL in the first three quarters of 2021 was 7.75 billion yuan, an increase of 130.9% year-on-year. According to statistics, the cumulative financing of CATL in the 3 years of listing has reached 80 billion. Although the company's revenue is high, it is far from meeting the investment needs of its capacity expansion.
Recently (January 17), in an announcement in response to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in CATL, it said that the company's new round of 52.5 billion yuan of fundraising will be used to expand production capacity, and it is expected that the fund will add 135GWh.
As the world's largest enterprise in terms of loading volume, CATL has laid out production bases in many places at home and abroad. According to the announcement, as of September 30, 2021, the battery production line that has been completed and put into operation in the Ningde era will reach a total of 220GWh to 240GWh after completing the capacity climb and running stably.
However, CATL said that according to the planning company, the battery production capacity is expected to reach more than 670GWh by 2025. Therefore, after this financing, the company still has a capacity gap of 295GWh. According to the more cautious investment intensity of 300 million yuan / GWh, the corresponding investment scale is expected to be about 88.5 billion yuan. This means that after the fundraising of 52.5 billion yuan, IF CATL wants to complete the production capacity planning target, it will need nearly 90 billion funds.
Why increase production capacity and continue to expand production? This may also start from the competition faced by the Ningde era.
Recently, in the first 11 months of last year, the global installed capacity was second only to LG New Energy in the Ningde era, and it was about to IPO in South Korea. According to the issue price, LG New Energy will become the third largest company in South Korea by market value after listing. Its CEO said that it is "confident to surpass the CATL era in terms of market share and become the world's first."
In addition to global competition, domestic power battery companies are also eyeing the tiger.
In December last year, Hive Energy released the "600" strategy of leading bees in 2025, announcing that the company's global capacity planning target for 2025 will be increased to 600GWh, which is only 70GWh less than the Ningde era. In addition, according to media statistics, BYD's total planned production capacity is expected to exceed 670GWh in 2025, the planned production capacity of China Innovation Airlines (AVIC Lithium Battery) will reach 500GWh, and the planning capacity of Guoxuan Hi-Tech will reach 300GWh.
In order to seize the continuous growth of the new energy vehicle market, various power battery companies have laid out in advance and opened a production capacity competition. The rise in production and sales will reduce the production cost of power batteries and be more conducive to obtaining more orders. Therefore, behind the continuous financing and expansion of the Ningde era, it is also the use of scale effects to maintain market share and stabilize its leading position in the industry.
From the perspective of the production capacity layout of various power battery companies, by 2025, the production capacity scale of the Ningde era will no longer be a monopoly, and the technical advantage will be the core of the future competition of power battery companies.
Recently, according to the website of the State Intellectual Property Office, CATL has developed a "no negative electrode" similar technical process for sodium-ion batteries starting from the negative electrode material and obtained a patent.
In addition, in response to the inquiry letter of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, CATL said, "At present, the company has launched the industrialization layout of sodium-ion batteries, and it is expected to form a basic industrial chain in 2023." In addition, CATL also said that with the development of business and the continuous expansion of the R&D field, R&D technicians increased from 4,217 at the end of 2018 to 9,491 at the end of September 2021, and the R&D expenses increased from 1991.000 million yuan in 2018 to 3569.3777 million yuan in 2020, and from January to September 2021, the company's R&D expenses were 459,492.33 million yuan, an increase of 116.73% year-on-year.
In the face of uncertainty in the future, even the Ningde era, which is firmly sitting on the world's first, has not relaxed at all. Nowadays, whether it is betting on the power exchange track or financing to expand production capacity, it is the choice made by the NINGDE era to ensure market share and industry position. In the future, whether the Ningde era can still be achieved, time will give the answer.