The town came to a Tesla, and there is no "mileage anxiety" in the countryside to drive new energy vehicles.

Everyday Finance exclusive, quick attention

"Look, it's a Tesla, or pink!" Li Sumei, who returned to her hometown in Anping Town, Anren County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, for the New Year, was surprised to find that Tesla, which she had never seen in Anren County, had actually appeared in the town. She said to her sister who went out together: "In the past, it was very rare for us to drive electric cars in our township, but now some people drive Teslas." ”

Pictured: A Tesla parked on the side of a road in a small town

Photography / Duan Fangyuan

The car advocate Liang Liang told the China Securities News reporter that the Tesla was bought by himself in April last year and has become a landscape in the town. "At that time, I said that I wanted to buy an electric car, and my father did not agree, saying that the electric car was not as powerful as a fuel car, and he did not speak to me for several days. As a result, after the car was bought and driven back, he now said that the electric car was good. ”

During the Spring Festival, a survey by a reporter from China Securities News found that from the Wuling Hongguang MINI EV of more than 30,000 yuan to the BYD e2 of about 100,000 yuan, new energy vehicles are accelerating in the rural market, and even high-end models such as Tesla are gradually "driving into ordinary villagers".

Industry insiders pointed out that after experiencing explosive growth in 2021, the rural market with huge potential is expected to become a new growth pole in the future of the domestic new energy vehicle market.

Not to mention the replacement of fuel vehicles, considering only about 7.6 million tricycles and low-speed electric vehicles in rural areas, the potential of the rural market for new energy vehicles is very huge. Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Automobile Association, believes that the popularity of electric vehicles in township and rural markets will be very fast, because the urban and rural markets in Shandong, Henan and other places have previously had the habit of using low-speed electric vehicles, and their adaptability to electric vehicles will be stronger.

Moreover, new energy vehicles are very suitable for rural use scenarios: first, the living environment of a family in rural areas is convenient for the installation of charging piles; second, most of the rural areas are short-distance travel, avoiding the biggest difficulty of "mileage anxiety" of new energy vehicles. The most important thing is that for rural consumers who are very price sensitive, new energy vehicles are really saving money compared to fuel vehicles.

Hu Bin of Zhushan Township, Anren County, replaced the fuel car with an electric car in 2020, and he calculated an account for the China Securities News reporter, "I usually charge at home, once the electricity bill is 5 cents 8 minutes 8, full only need about 30 yuan, a time can run about 400 kilometers, equivalent to less than 1 yuan a kilometer." I drove 13,000 kilometers of this car, which saved 5,000 yuan compared to a fuel car. ”

"My dad's change in attitude toward electric cars also started with saving money." Zhang Liangliang told the China Securities News reporter, "Now there are more and more people buying cars in rural areas, rural roads are generally very narrow, when they encounter a market or something, they are often stuck in traffic, and fuel vehicles are stuck on the road to spend a lot of fuel money, and electric vehicles as long as they do not step on the accelerator, basically do not consume electricity, so that they can save a lot of money in a year." ”

In particular, the A00-class new energy vehicles that focus on the rural market, with their low cost of use, have been highlighted to the greatest extent and are rapidly becoming the "new favorite" of rural automobile consumption.

Li Jinyong, president of the New Energy Vehicle Branch of the Automobile Chamber of Commerce of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said at the 2022 Electric View Conference that in 2021, non-restricted cities contributed 70% of the sales of new energy vehicles, of which 58% of users purchased A00-class electric vehicles. A00-class electric vehicles will rely on the advantages of reducing travel costs by more than half compared with fuel vehicles, and take the lead in replacing fuel vehicles of the same level.

The vast rural market is becoming the focus of policies to promote the development of the new energy automobile industry, and it is also a "new battlefield" that major car companies are competing to open up.

The two "cars to the countryside" activities in 2009 and 2019 have played an important role in boosting the domestic car market. In the past two years, the protagonist of "cars going to the countryside" has been replaced by new energy vehicles. In 2020 and 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments issued two notices to push new energy vehicles to the countryside. On January 21 this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and seven other departments issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting Green Consumption", proposing to "carry out in-depth activities for new energy vehicles to go to the countryside".

Priced at 50,000 yuan and with an endurance of 100-300 kilometers, new energy vehicles suitable for the rural market have become "a place where soldiers must compete". Taking Changan Automobile as an example, The company's Changan New Energy has launched a number of Ben E-Star models in the past two years. In 2021, the sales volume of the Ben E-Star reached 76,400 units, a year-on-year growth rate of more than 3 times, of which 60%-70% of the sales came from the third- and fourth-tier markets and rural markets.

However, there is still a long way to go to truly activate the rural new energy vehicle market.

As for whether to buy new energy vehicles, Liu Yu of Gaopo Village in Yonglejiang Town, Anren County, is entangled. He told the China Securities News reporter that he was bitter: "My work needs to go to the countryside every day, and now there are basically no public charging piles in the countryside, with the portable charging cable I carry with me, the charging speed is very slow, so the new energy vehicle is not suitable for people like me who run outside every day." ”

In this regard, industry insiders pointed out that making up for the shortcomings of new energy vehicles and expanding more use scenarios will become the key to releasing the potential of the rural new energy vehicle market in the future.

It is worth noting that compared with the "Notice on Carrying Out New Energy Vehicles to the Countryside" issued in July 2020 and the "Notice on Carrying Out New Energy Vehicles going to the Countryside in 2021" issued in March 2021, the joint sponsors have also added the Comprehensive Department of the National Energy Administration in addition to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, and the intention to further make up for the shortcomings of charging infrastructure is very obvious.

In addition, models for the rural market need to be further enriched. The China Electric Vehicle Hundred People's Association found that farmers are not exclusive of pure electric vehicles, but the price of low-speed electric vehicles is generally around 30,000 yuan, which has a reference effect that cannot be ignored for price-sensitive farmers, and there are not many products on the market that meet the mainstream price expectations of farmers (40,000-70,000 yuan).

Edit: Yu Hongbo