In the field of new energy vehicles, China has been the first in terms of sales for 7 consecutive years. But as the car gradually rose, its key materials rose by 50%. So, what kind of impact will it have on this field in the future?
On January 12, 2021, the relevant departments of the mainland released data on new energy vehicles. Specifically, in 2021, the domestic production and sales of this vehicle reached 3.545 million units and 3.521 million units, accounting for 13.4%. Among them, pure electric cars accounted for the largest proportion, with sales reaching 2.916 million units.
Overall, in 2021, the overall domestic new energy vehicles are improving, and their sales exceeded 530,000 in December alone, reaching the highest record of monthly sales that year. It is worth noting that it is precisely because the development of the mainland in this field is gradually improving. Therefore, by 2021, the mainland has ranked first in the sales of new energy vehicles for seven consecutive years.
Not only that, but as the car continues to evolve, so does its ancillary business. This is mainly reflected in the field of charging stations and so on. According to the data, by 2021, the number of charging stations in the mainland has reached 75,000, of which 2.617 million charging piles have been reached. And in battery recycling, the number of service locations established in China has also exceeded 10,000.
From this point of view, in the field of new energy, the high sales volume of the mainland is not without reasons. However, during the period when the development of new energy vehicles in the mainland was very good, the key material encountered a bottleneck, and the price of this material increased by 50% compared with before. So, what does the specific situation look like?
In fact, this key material is needed in battery manufacturing, you know, battery is the core equipment of new energy vehicles. Judging from the current rate of domestic sales, the demand for batteries will rise significantly in the future. Therefore, the supply problem of batteries will be very important. The material that the mainland has encountered a bottleneck in the battery is lithium carbonate.
This material is the key to battery manufacturing, but the price of this device has risen sharply recently. From the data point of view, on December 28, 2021, the price of this material has risen to 294,500 / ton, but as early as two months ago, its unit price was only 200,000 yuan, in such a short period of time, the price of lithium carbonate increased by 50%.
As prices rise, the supply and demand for this material will become more serious. Although it is said that small and medium-sized enterprises are the most affected among them, because suppliers mainly sell materials to large companies, but for large companies, the price after lithium carbonate is unpredictable, so major companies naturally want to prepare more just in case.
As a result, lithium concentrate has become the goal of various enterprises. It is worth noting that in terms of lithium ore production, the mainland accounts for 6% of the international share. Although it is not very many, it is also relatively high in the world. But even so, domestic enterprise research still needs to rely on imports for 80%.
In addition, domestic companies are still participating in the investment of lithium concentrate, and they are also constantly buying lithium concentrate. The data shows that in 2021, domestic companies have participated in a total of 8 lithium mine investment projects; and in the acquisition of lithium ore, major enterprises are scrambling, such as Ningde Times and other companies have snapped up.
In the case of relatively rich domestic resources, major enterprises still need to snap up, mainly because 80% of the lithium mines in the mainland need to be deeply processed to be used. So in this way, not only will the time to get lithium carbonate need to wait longer, but it will also make the company spend more money in this regard.
Therefore, domestic enterprises need to buy wildly in this field. After all, the world's new energy is now in a period of rapid development, and as this car is being accepted by the public, its demand will increase in the future. The most important thing is that the mainland, as the first enterprise in this field for 7 consecutive years, in order to ensure normal sales in the future, of course, it is necessary to actively purchase the resource of lithium carbonate.
It can be said that the price increase of this material is also a large part of the reason for the new energy vehicle. So later, as the field develops better, this resource may become more scarce. What do you think about that?