Midea and Gree used to be the two big hits in the A-share market, but now Midea's stock price has fallen from the highest of more than 100 yuan last year to about 70 yuan. Home appliances are affected by the economic environment, coupled with rising raw materials to reduce people's expectations of the United States.
Therefore, Midea and Gree have cut into the field of car manufacturing in various ways to create new profit growth points. After all, the automotive market is the big ocean.
In fact, midea has announced its entry into car manufacturing in May last year, not in the field of complete vehicles, but in related new energy vehicle parts. Half a year later, Midea recently announced an investment of 11 billion yuan to build a new base for auto parts, of which about 6.5 billion yuan was invested in fixed assets.
Midea's auto parts project is specifically responsible for its Welling Auto Parts, and the new parts base is located in Anqing City, Anhui Province. After the completion of the project, it can form an annual output capacity of 60 million sets and achieve an annual output value of 40 billion yuan.
It mainly produces power steering motors, electric compressors for new energy vehicles, new energy vehicle drive motors and other categories of products, and has built three major system research and development centers and national laboratories for thermal management, main drive, auxiliary/intelligent driving. Midea said that Welling has invested a total of 100 million US dollars to have today's product competitiveness and has been put into production.
So so far, what products can be produced by these three major systems?
Midea Welling electric compressors
The thermal management system of new energy vehicles is much more complex than that of fuel vehicles, from traditional crew compartment refrigeration to crew compartment and battery refrigeration, heating, etc. In layman's terms, if your electric vehicle has a decline in winter battery life, in addition to battery reasons, it is that thermal management is not done well.
I believe that you must have heard of heat pump air conditioning, and the best electric vehicles currently use this. However, the so-called heat pump principle is the same as that of household air conditioners, and the cold/hot air from the outside world is exchanged through the compressor.
Friends who understand air conditioning know that Midea's air conditioners have obvious advantages in compressors, and their own Meizhi compressors not only use themselves but also supply many domestic brands of air conditioners, such as Millet. The midea air conditioner, washing machine and other motors are also provided by their own Welling.
Midea's first product is the R134a scroll electric compressor, which has a speed of 12,000 rpm and supports triangular circulation heating, which can still be effectively heated even in the case of minus 30 degrees.
More advanced is the vehicle rotor type electric compressor, the use of natural refrigerant CO2, to meet the needs of efficient refrigeration and low temperature heating, even in the low temperature environment of -35 °C, the heating capacity is still strong. Midea claims that their product has a 20% increase in the cruising range of traditional heat pumps.
Midea Welling main drive motor
The drive motor is the core technology in the electric vehicle, and the electronic control and motor in the current vehicle three-electric system are from the world's well-known auto parts, most of which are not local suppliers. Technology and pricing power are not in their own hands, which is also a hidden pain that domestic new energy vehicle companies cannot say.
Many of Midea's home appliances, including KUKA robots, use electric motors, and the purchase of parts is very large. At present, Midea is the largest purchaser of bulk raw materials for electric motors in China, and the annual purchase volume can be used by 10 million drive motors. Therefore, Welling's development of main drive motors also has advantages in the supply chain.
The Welling main drive motor developed by Midea covers a power range of 80~120kW and a range of 120~240kW, basically covering all types of domestic electric vehicles. The motor efficiency reaches 97%, and the cooling methods are water-cooled and oil-cooled.
Midea mentioned that the technical advantages of Welling main drive motors include: torque density is 4% higher than that of high-end vehicles in the industry; the high efficiency range (efficiency > 85% area), which is 2% higher than the industry level; and the torque pulsation of the full speed section (the key technical indicator affecting motor noise) is 3% + lower than the industry level.
Midea Welling EPS motor
Midea introduced Welling entered the research and development of EPS steering motors 10 years ago, and began the research and development of automotive electric air conditioning compressors 5 years ago.
EPS motors are key components involved in intelligent/assisted driving and are highly technically demanding. Welling also encountered problems such as frustration, noise vibration and medium-high speed undervoltage torque output during product development.
Finally, the mechanical and electrical division carried out basic research on the bottom of the technology, and only then did it break the monopoly of foreign technology and realize the localization of key components.
Mid-Range medium power electronic water/oil pump
Welling's medium power electronic water pump adopts the integral injection molding process, which has the advantages of high efficiency and low noise and reliability, and the power covers 30~600W. In addition to traditional fuel and electric vehicle cooling, it is also used in hydrogen fuel cell cooling.
Welling electronic oil pump can provide new energy vehicle oil-cooled motor oil cycle power. This type of motor places great demands on miniaturization and low noise.
Midea's car manufacturing seems to be serious
Most of the impression of Midea is still a white goods brand, in fact, Midea as early as 2016 to open the acquisition of German industrial robot giant KUKA, and finally Midea became the largest controlling shareholder at a price of 29.2 billion yuan, holding 94.55% of the shares.
KUKA industrial robots are also used in automobile production lines, and from this point of view, Midea has long been involved in car building.
At present, Midea Welling Auto Parts has laid out R&D centers and cooperative institutions in Shanghai, Anhui Hefei, Guangdong Shunde, Osaka in Japan and the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. It also plans to invest $1 billion in research and development over the next decade, with the aim of becoming a supplier of new energy vehicles.