Image source: Oriental IC
The domestic power battery boss Ningde era, recently a little annoying.
After the Spring Festival, known as the "King of Ning", its stock price fell continuously, and the market value fell below one trillion, and some people jokingly said that it fell to a Gree in five days. Today, the stock price of CATL closed at 510 yuan, with a market value of 1.19 trillion yuan.
Source: Oriental Wealth
On the other hand, rumors are rife. On February 12, CATL stated on its official WeChat public account that a series of malicious rumors such as CATL being sanctioned by the United States, kicking out of the GEM weight index, and talking with Tesla have been officially reported to the public security organs.
In the "Statement", NINGDE Times did not identify who was the rumor-monger, but people with a heart found a hearing announcement: CATL's lawsuit against Hive Energy on unfair competition disputes will be heard at the Intermediate People's Court of Ningde City, Fujian Province, on February 23. This is not the first time the CATL era has sued Hive Energy. Previously, it had taken nine former employees who had jumped to Hive Energy on the grounds of a non-compete.
What happened to the "King of Ning"? Who is the hive energy that it keeps watching?
01
"King Ning" went down
Who is Hive Energy?
If there is a lack of attention to the power battery industry in the past two years, it may be easy to see "honeycomb energy" as a "rich nest".
Judging from public information, Hive Energy Technology Co., Ltd., formerly known as the power battery division of Great Wall Motors, has carried out pre-research on power batteries since 2012. After being completely spun off from Great Wall Motors in 2018, it developed for the whole industry and officially changed its name to Honeycomb Energy Technology Co., Ltd. Headquartered in Changzhou, Hive Energy is a new energy high-tech company specializing in the research and development and manufacture of automotive power battery materials, batteries, modules, PACK, BMS and energy storage products.
As an independent power battery company in 2018, Hive Energy has received more than 21 billion investment in just 4 years, with a valuation of about 46 billion yuan, which is a well-deserved upstart in the energy industry. But interestingly, since 2018, Hive Energy has repeatedly been involved in non-compete disputes with the Ningde era.
Entering the keywords "Ningde era" and "non-compete" on the Chinese judgment online, there are 15 relevant judgment documents. These instruments involve a total of 9 people and are all related to hive energy. The other two defendants mentioned in the upcoming february 23 trial, Baoding Yixin and Wuxi Tianhong, are also present.
Source: Judgment Document Network
According to the information disclosed in the judgment document, Baoding Yixin and Wuxi Tianhong are related parties of Hive Energy. Yang Hongxin, the legal representative of Baoding Yixin, is the general manager of Hive Energy, and also serves as the person in charge of The Baoding Branch of Hive Energy, and the historical registered address and the current registered address of The Baoding Branch of Hive Energy and Baoding Yixin are the same.
Although Wuxi Tianhong is not directly related to Hive Energy on the surface, Baoding Ruimao Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., which is wholly owned by Great Wall Holding Company, holds 97.83% of the shares of Hive Energy Company. Huayi Tourism Company and the Great Wall Holding Company's 2019 annual report on the same corporate contact number, while Wuxi Tianhong Company is wholly owned by Huayi Tourism Company. Through indirect shareholding, Wuxi Tianhong forms a related relationship with Hive Energy.
Although the latest information from Tianyancha shows that Baoding Yixin was dissolved in June 2021, Wuxi Tianhong changed its investor in February 2021, and the shareholder changed from Baoding Huayi Tourism Development Co., Ltd. to natural person Gao Shuwen. But this time, the Ningde era still sued them together with Hive Energy.
02
Technical barriers that are leveraged
It is an indisputable fact that Hive Energy has grown rapidly in recent years. The latest installed capacity released in January 2022 shows that Hive Energy jumped to fifth. However, from the overall share, hive energy accounts for only 2.69%, and the Ningde era has already occupied half of the country.
The size of the two enterprises is so different, why does the CATL era frequently take the hive to court?
Compared with other industries, the power battery industry has higher capital and technical barriers. The product differentiation of each battery manufacturer mostly relies on technology research and development. Technology and patents are a powerful tool for competition in the power battery industry.
In many non-compete disputes between the Ningde era and Hive Energy, the positions held by the relevant personnel in the Ningde era were basically related to technology. For the NINGDE era, once the technical personnel leave, they may face not only the loss of personnel, but also the risk of core technology leakage.
At the moment when the technological development of the power battery industry encounters a bottleneck, the next step to be leveraged may be the technical barriers built in the early Ningde era.
As the absolute leader of the power battery industry, technology has always been regarded as the most important moat in the Ningde era. In the financial reports over the years, "perfect R & D system, comprehensive technical advantages" has always been regarded as one of the most core competitiveness, to resist the risks that may be encountered.
According to the financial report of CATL, as of December 31, 2020, the company has 5592 R&D technicians, of which 127 have doctoral degrees and 1382 master's degrees. Half a year later, its mid-2021 report showed that the total number of R&D technicians increased to 7878, an increase of 2286. In 2020, the R&D cost reached 3.569 billion yuan, accounting for 7.09% of the total revenue for the whole year. In the first half of 2021, its research and development cost was 2.794 billion, more than double the same period in 2020.
CATL 2020 Annual Report
However, as the industry boss, the Ningde era naturally became the "Whampoa Military Academy", and many latecomers favored talents with the background of the Ningde era, which may also be the reason why the "King of Ning" repeatedly sacrificed non-compete prohibitions.
03
The advantages of the industrial chain are under pressure
In recent years, the development of new energy vehicles has brought huge growth to the power battery industry. On January 12, at the press conference on the development of the automobile industry in 2021 held by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Wang Weiming, director of the First Department of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that in 2021, the sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland reached 3.521 million units, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years.
According to the latest data from the Power Alliance, in January 2022, the production of continental power batteries totaled 29.7GWh, up 146.2% year-on-year. The loading volume of continental power batteries totaled 16.2GWh, up 86.9% year-on-year, achieving a substantial year-on-year increase.
More noteworthy than the amount of battery loaded is the comparison between the load of ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries. In January 2022, the loading volume of ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries was 7.3GWh and 8.9GWh, respectively, up 35.2% and 172.7% year-on-year, respectively. Since July last year, the production of ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries has been reversed, and the monthly loading volume of lithium iron phosphate batteries has exceeded that of ternary lithium batteries (ternary lithium 5.45GWh, lithium iron phosphate 5.8GWh) for the first time in nearly three years.
Source: Power Alliance
In the domestic power battery market, ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate batteries are the two most important battery types. Ternary lithium has a high capacity density, but because the raw material relies on heavy metals, the price is slightly higher; lithium iron phosphate is relatively safe, but the volume density is relatively small. The change in the loading volume of ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate means that based on safety characteristics, lithium iron phosphate batteries with lower prices are more popular with car companies. Under the urgent need to reduce costs in the automotive industry, cost advantages are particularly important in the power battery industry.
In the view of industry insiders, the cost advantage of the Ningde era comes from the raw material procurement advantage brought about by the strong right to speak in the industrial chain, the advantage of engineer dividends in developing countries, and the low depreciation advantage brought by battery cell manufacturing equipment. However, in foreign countries, the reason for the low manufacturing cost of Panasonic NCA batteries is mainly that the battery cell preparation process makes its yield rate control relatively stronger.
The advantage comes from the industrial chain, which means that the Ningde era needs to bear the same pressure from rising raw material prices and technology to catch up like other power battery companies. When the differentiation of products is erased, the industrial chain advantages of the Ningde era will also face challenges.
04
Preserving the "crown" with technological innovation
Since 2021, with the rise in upstream raw material prices, power battery manufacturers have been under pressure from price increases.
The operation of the nickel-cobalt lithium industry in 2021 released by the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that in 2021, the new energy industry in the mainland will develop rapidly, and the nickel-cobalt-lithium industry as a whole will show a pattern of supply and demand, product prices will rise sharply, and imports will increase significantly. In 2021, the average spot prices of electrolytic nickel and electrolytic cobalt were 137,000 yuan / ton and 363,000 yuan / ton, up 25.6% and 40.1% year-on-year, and the average spot prices of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide were 122,000 yuan / ton and 113,000 yuan / ton, up 177% and 117% year-on-year, respectively.
As of February 9, the average price of lithium carbonate in the battery market was 390,000 yuan / ton, up 34.48% from the beginning of this year, and the average price of industrial-grade lithium carbonate market was 377,500 yuan / ton, up 39.81% from the beginning of this year.
The entire industry is under pressure, but the crown-wearing Ningde era bears the brunt.
Although all kinds of rumors have been denied, among the issues that investors are concerned about, how to get rid of the risks caused by rising raw material prices and how to deal with the challenges brought about by technological innovation are still the problems that need to be faced in the Ningde era.
On February 17, CATL responded to investors' concerns on the investor relations platform. For the layout of the sodium innovation energy industry chain, CATL said that it has been started and will form a basic industrial chain in 2023. In response to the problem of iron-chromium flow batteries entering the Winter Olympics, CATL said that for next-generation batteries such as cobalt-free batteries, all-solid-state batteries, and rare metal-free batteries, and emerging technologies in the industry, it will always maintain a high degree of attention and carry out technical layout.
Journalist/IT Times reporter Fan Xinru
Editor/Hao Junhui Kicked Sister
Typography/Ji Jiaying
Photo/Oriental Wealth Judgment Document Network Ningde Times Power Alliance Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Oriental IC
Source/IT Times public account vittimes