On the first day of the Spring Festival in 2022, the new car-making forces have successively released sales data in January, of which Xiaopeng Automobile, which has recently had a strong momentum, continues to sing, with sales reaching 12,922 units in January, an increase of 115% year-on-year, while ideal cars sold 12,268 vehicles in January, an increase of 128.1%; in contrast, Weilai sold 9652 vehicles in January, the smallest year-on-year increase of 33.6%. There is no doubt that since October last year, Xiaopeng Automobile has won the sales champion of new forces for four consecutive months, and its head status has gradually become apparent.
The good news does not stop there, Xiaopeng Motors has been seeking an alternative to lithium batteries and finally has results. According to relevant media reports, Xiaopeng Automobile's upcoming medium and large SUV G9 will use The Sunwoda 4c power battery, of which Sunwoda will be a certain version of the G9 A supply, with a supply share of more than 50%.
In fact, Xiaopeng Automobile has long been rumored to break away from the shackles of the Ningde era and find an alternative to lithium batteries. Before Sunwoda was included in the Xiaopeng supply chain, there were rumors that in the middle of last year, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, and He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, had a dispute at the headquarters building of Ningde Times, and the quarrel was due to He Xiaopeng's intention to introduce AVIC lithium batteries as the new main battery supplier of Xiaopeng Motors.
Although Xiaopeng Automobile has always stressed afterwards, "The news that we want to transfer suppliers or a supplier to be our core battery supplier has been spread outside recently, which is a huge difference from the facts." Xiaopeng Automobile will, as always, choose a strong supplier such as CATL to become our core partner", but it can also be seen from the contradictions between Xiaopeng Automobile and NINGDE Era.
For the rumor that Sunwoda was selected by Xiaopeng, Xiaopeng Automobile did not deny it as before, and its ambiguous response was not official information, "This information is not the official information of the enterprise, the preparation of the vehicle and the selection of suppliers are an important part of the business plan of the enterprise, and the specific information for the filing of the Ministry of Vehicle Industry and Information Technology shall prevail", which makes the media have more reverie, thinking that it is only a matter of time before Sunwoda becomes the A supply of Xiaopeng G9.
So why did Xiaopeng Automobile eventually abandon the aviation lithium battery that has been rumored, but the previously unknown Xinwanda? Listen to me on this question.
Eggs cannot be placed in the same basket
For this time, Sunwoda was selected, it was not a momentary impulse of Xiaopeng Motors. Prior to this, Sunwoda was actually a Pack supplier of Xiaopeng G3 batteries, so in terms of strength, Sunwoda was not too much of a problem.
In addition, in addition to strength, the reason why Xiaopeng Automobile chose Sunwoda as an alternative to lithium batteries this time has two main points. The first point is supply chain security. As the saying goes, eggs cannot be placed in the same basket, and I think Xiaopeng Motors will not be unclear.
In fact, not only Xiaopeng Motors, but even Tesla, which has been tied to the NINGDE era since entering China, has been rumored to seek more lithium battery suppliers. Recently, Credit Suisse published a research report that BYD batteries may be supplied to Tesla's European factories.
Not only that, as the demand for power batteries continues to grow and prices rise sharply, it is also necessary for car companies to try to share supply chain risks. The data shows that by 2023, the global demand for power batteries for electric vehicles will reach 406 gigawatt hours (GWH), while the supply of power batteries is only 335 gigawatt hours (GWH), a gap of about 18%, and by 2025, this gap will even expand to about 40%.
Although the Ningde era is the "Ning King" in the field of batteries, there are many customers, and its production capacity has long been divided, especially with such a huge customer as Tesla, Xiaopeng Automobile cannot grab more. Last year, there were rumors that He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Automobile, did not hesitate to go to the front line of the Ningde Times Factory for a week in order to get the goods.
For Xiaopeng Automobile, which has become the sales champion of the new forces for 4 consecutive months since October last year and aims to win the annual sales champion of the new forces this year, if it continues to bundle the Ningde era, then once the production capacity of the Ningde era has problems, then the current situation of Xiaopeng Automobile will even be destroyed.
It should be known that the annual sales target of Xiaopeng Automobile this year is not low, according to the data previously released by Xiaopeng Automobile, it will ensure that the annual sales of 250,000 vehicles will impact 300,000 vehicles in 2022. With the gradual increase in the delivery of the new car Xiaopeng P5 launched in mid-last year and the imminent delivery date of the Xiaopeng G9, in order to impact the annual sales target, it is also reasonable to choose Sunwoda as the A supply of the G9 at this time.
In addition to supply chain security, Xiaopeng Motors also hopes to grasp greater initiative in the future suppliers of power batteries. You know, known as the "King of Ning", the Ningde era, as the leader of the global power battery, currently occupies more than 50% of the market share and holds a great right to speak, and car companies not only need to pay a huge advance payment in advance in order to obtain the battery of the Ningde era. In this case, car companies like Xiaopeng Automobile, which aspire to be the annual champion of the new forces, are often difficult to get more support.
Different from the strong ningde era, Xinwanda is still relatively weak. According to the data, in 2021, the top ten domestic power battery companies are Ningde Times, BYD, Zhongxin Airlines (AVIC Lithium Battery), Guoxuan Hi-Tech, LG New Energy, Hive Energy, Tafier New Energy, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Fu Neng Technology and Sunwoda, of which the loading volume of Ningde Times is 80.51GWh, accounting for 52.1% of Sunwoda's installed vehicle volume of 2.06GWh, accounting for only 1.3%. It can be said that compared with Xiaopeng Motors, which needs Sunwoda, which is in a weak position, needs Xiaopeng Motors even more.
Of course, this time, Sunwoda bound Xiaopeng such a head car company, it is not without benefits, before the rise of the Ningde era, BMW played a very important role, it is with the cooperation with BMW, Ningde era can rise rapidly. At present, Sunwoda, whether it is technical reserves or production capacity scale, has a significant distance from the industry head. If it is true to hold hands with Xiaopeng Automobile, then Sunwoda can not only obtain stable downstream orders, but also have a positive impact on improving its technical level.
All indications show that with the growing strength of Xiaopeng Motors, whether in terms of supply chain security or initiative considerations, Xiaopeng Motors is very necessary to seek more lithium battery alternatives outside the Ningde era, and Sunwoda is only the first.
Car companies "go to the Ningde era"
Although the current CATL era is still a monopoly, and even has locked a number of long orders, it is understood that the current long orders of the CATL era include Geely's Zhejiang Vision 57GWh large order, the United States Fisker company 3 years total 15GWh orders, the United States commercial electric vehicle ELMS orders, Jinkang new energy 5 years orders, Tesla 4 years orders, signed a 10-year long-term strategic cooperation agreement with Great Wall Motors, obtained a 7-year order for Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles and increased supply BMW, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Rolls-Royce, But this does not hinder the pace of car companies "going to the Ningde era".
As for why car companies "go to the Ningde era", Ding Rui, founder and chairman of Zhichong Technology, once said that "car companies are definitely unwilling to accept binding, and no one is willing to become a company that only makes shells." More realistically, whether it is a battery or an energy company, it is actually a supplier of car companies, and the hard binding relationship will not be established", so car companies will undoubtedly seek more solutions for independence.
For most of the new energy automobile companies currently trapped in the "battery shortage", bundling the Ningde era means losing more independence, so with the growth of strength, car companies will basically embark on seeking alternative solutions, Xiaopeng Automobile is not the first to find a battery alternative, nor will it be the last.
Since May last year, AVIC lithium batteries have replaced CATL as the first supplier of GAC new energy vehicles. According to a senior executive of GAC, in the Ningde era of cooperation in the car companies, Tesla and Nio are also introducing new main battery suppliers, and recently there is news that BYD's blade battery has reached tesla's C-wheel test stage, which is about to be mass-produced and installed, and Weilai is also in deep contact with BYD, and the two sides have entered the end of the cooperation discussion on the Weilai sub-brand.
It is worth mentioning that the power battery as the core technology of pure electric vehicles, car companies will certainly not be satisfied with their technology being controlled by power battery car companies. With the high demand for new energy vehicles, cost reduction, production capacity self-control, and improving the competitiveness of power batteries have become important indicators of new energy vehicle companies in technological development, and BYD, which has successfully stood up by relying on its own blade battery, is the best proof. In order to get rid of the power battery suppliers to the constraints of car companies, self-developed and self-produced power batteries are becoming the development trend of new energy vehicle companies, for example, Volkswagen announced at last year's Power Day that it will establish 6 battery factories in Europe with partners by 2030, while also expanding the construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure around the world, Ford Motor has also previously said that it will set up a new global battery innovation center Ford Ion Park to accelerate the research and development of power battery packs and battery cell technology. And the future of power battery manufacturing.
For car companies, it is understandable to seek battery alternatives for their core technologies, supply chain security and even cost issues, and the Ningde era is nothing more than too worried. Moreover, car companies are only looking for alternative solutions at present, and are not completely "derailed" from the Ningde era. The most important thing is that as long as the Ningde era continues to focus on the development of batteries, with the first-mover advantage of the Ningde era, the advantages of the Ningde era are still unshakable.
Summary: For Sunwoda to be included in the supply chain of Xiaopeng Motors, I think it will certainly not be the impulse of Xiaopeng Motors on a whim, as the sales of Xiaopeng Motors continue to expand, relying solely on the supply of the Ningde era is obviously unable to meet the needs of Xiaopeng Motors. And from the perspective of supply chain security, Xiaopeng Motors, which gradually has a giant trend, also needs to share the risk. After all, blindly relying on the Ningde era, once the supply of the Ningde era can not keep up, then Xiaopeng Automobile's previous good situation may even be wiped out, I think this is the fundamental reason why Xiaopeng Automobile chose an alternative.
For the Ningde era, de Xiaopeng Automobile will not be the first car company to choose an alternative solution for batteries like De Xiaopeng Automobile, and it will not be the last, there is no need to panic too much, this is just the normal business behavior of the enterprise. As long as the battery technology and cost of the Ningde era still maintain sufficient advantages, the status of "Ning Wang" is still unshakable.