【EV Vision Report】On February 28, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference, at which Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, said that he would continue to implement policies such as subsidies for the purchase of new energy vehicles, awards for charging facilities, and preferential tax reductions and exemptions for vehicles and vessels. At the same time, new energy vehicles, green smart home appliances, and green building materials will be carried out to go to the countryside.
Xiao Yaqing said that in general, after the efforts of all aspects, so far, the mainland's industrial economy has continued the trend of steady recovery since the fourth quarter of last year, and the overall operation is stable. In particular, with the implementation of various policies and measures for industrial economic growth, the promotion of the industrial economy has achieved phased results.
According to statistics from relevant associations, automobile production and sales in January were 2.422 million units and 2.531 million units, up 1.4% and 0.9% year-on-year, respectively, of which the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 452,000 units and 431,000 units, up 1.3 times and 1.4 times, respectively. In terms of taking multiple measures to expand consumer demand, Xiao Yaqing said that policies such as subsidies for the purchase of new energy vehicles, incentives for charging facilities, and preferential tax reductions and exemptions for vehicles and ships will continue to be implemented. At the same time, new energy vehicles, green smart home appliances, and green building materials will be carried out to go to the countryside. It will also further promote the "three products" action of increasing quality, improving quality and creating brands, and fully support foreign trade enterprises to expand exports.
For the mainland new energy vehicles last year's "eye-catching" performance can continue this year? And the focus of the next step in the development of new energy vehicles? Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the mainland's new energy automobile industry developed rapidly. Annual sales increased from 507,000 units in 2016 to 1.367 million units in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 28%. Last year, the new energy automobile industry handed over a beautiful answer sheet, with production and sales exceeding 3.5 million vehicles, reaching 3.545 and 3.521 million vehicles respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, ranking first in the world for 7 consecutive years, and the cumulative promotion volume has exceeded 9 million vehicles. The achievements of the new energy automobile industry in 2021 are beyond the predictions of some experts and institutions, and I think everyone will be concerned about whether this gratifying development situation can be maintained this year. In recent times, we have carried out a series of research work, deeply felt the development of the new energy automobile industry, in line with the direction of green and low-carbon development, driven the extension and expansion of the industrial chain such as power batteries, motors, electronic controls, etc., spawned the rapid application of new technologies such as intelligent cockpit, automatic driving, intelligent networking, etc., promoted the transformation of logistics and transportation, and also brought new experiences of green travel to consumers. The ecology of industrial development has been gradually improved and perfected, so judging from the situation in all aspects, the development of the new energy automobile industry in the mainland has entered a new stage of large-scale and rapid development, although our development is still facing some difficulties and challenges, but it is expected that this year will still maintain a high-speed growth trend.
In the follow-up, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will give full play to the role of the inter-ministerial joint meeting mechanism for energy conservation and new energy automobile industry development, focusing on five aspects of work:
The first is to improve support policies. We should pay close attention to studying and clarifying support policies such as the continuation of preferential tax treatment for new energy vehicle purchases, optimize the "double integral" management method, do a good job of effectively connecting with subsidies, and stabilize market expectations. We will organize the preparation of a roadmap for the green development of the automobile industry and provide guidance and assistance for enterprises in the industry.
The second is to support innovative breakthroughs. Promote the integration and development of electrification and intelligent network technology, further improve the performance of power battery safety and low temperature adaptation, accelerate the application of 5G and vehicle-road collaboration technology, develop more functions such as leisure and entertainment, life services, and automatic driving that meet consumer needs, continuously improve the product quality and driving experience of new energy vehicles, and enhance the sense of acquisition of consumers.
The third is to promote market expansion. We will launch a pilot project for the full electrification of vehicles in the public sector, and strive to improve the level of electrification of vehicles such as urban logistics distribution, rental, and sanitation. In view of the problem of the "charging difficulties" of the old residential areas and highways reflected by the people, we will work with relevant parties to accelerate the construction of charging and replacing infrastructure, promote information sharing and unified settlement, and continuously improve the charging convenience of new energy vehicles.
The fourth is to strengthen resource guarantees. Focus on meeting the production needs of power batteries, moderately accelerate the development progress of domestic lithium resources, and crack down on unfair competition such as hoarding and price gouging. At the same time, improve the power battery recycling system, support efficient dismantling, recycling and other technical research, and continuously improve the recycling rate and resource utilization efficiency.
Fifth, strengthen safety supervision. We have always stressed that safety is the premise of the development of the new energy automobile industry, and there can be no development without safety. Therefore, we must adhere to the bottom line thinking and coordinate the improvement of functional security, data security, network security and other guarantee capabilities. Continue to improve the safety technical standards for new energy vehicles, and improve the thermal runaway alarm and safety protection level of power batteries. Build a systematic, scientific and standardized new energy vehicle safety management system, so that consumers can use it more assured.
For the lack of cores in the automotive industry, how should the industry deal with it this year? How to plan the layout around the future of the chip industry? Xin Guobin said that since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the issue of automotive chips has become a high-frequency word in public opinion. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has been paying close attention to this work and will work with relevant parties to study countermeasures. Led the establishment of the automotive semiconductor promotion and application working group to strengthen the supply and demand docking between the whole vehicle, parts and chip enterprises; the implementation of the automotive "Announcement" management convenience enterprise service measures, to promote the application of alternative products; cooperate with relevant departments, investigate and deal with automotive chip hoarding, price gouging and other unfair competition behaviors, with these means and measures to enhance the chip supply capacity, and strive to maintain the smooth operation of the automotive industry.
With the joint efforts of all parties, the automotive chip supply work has achieved phased results, from the monitoring of key automotive enterprises, although the shortage of automotive chip supply has been gradually alleviated, but relative to the demand and scheduling plans of vehicle and parts companies, there is still a certain gap. Considering that the world's major chip companies have increased the production and supply of vehicle-grade chips, new production capacity will also be released this year, and the supply capacity of some domestic chip products is also gradually improving, and it is expected that the supply situation of automotive chips will continue to improve.
Xin Guobin said that in the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will take multiple measures to maintain the stable operation of the automobile industry, focusing on the following aspects of work:
First, to strengthen the docking of supply and demand, on the basis of past work, we must build an online supply and demand docking platform for automotive chips, smooth the information channels for chip production and supply, and improve the upstream and downstream cooperation mechanism of the industrial chain.
The second is to increase production coordination. Guide vehicle and parts enterprises to optimize the layout of the supply chain, rationally schedule production, help each other, improve the efficiency of resource allocation, and minimize the impact of core shortage. Chip configuration efficiency is also very important, there are some enterprise products marketable, chip shortage impact is relatively large; there are some enterprises' products have not been recognized by consumers, so even if you get some chips, the products produced are not willing to buy, it will cause a resource mismatch for the entire industry.
The third is to improve the chip supply capacity. Further support the collaborative innovation of vehicle, parts and chip enterprises, and improve the domestic chip production and supply capacity in a safe and orderly manner. At the same time, there are still shortcomings in our application testing and evaluation system, and we will further increase our efforts in this regard this year.
The fourth is to strengthen international cooperation. Automobile is a highly international industry, we must adhere to the direction of global development, promote multinational chip companies to increase the supply of the Chinese market, increase the localization of production layout, enhance the resilience and stability of the industrial chain supply chain.
Regarding the planning and layout of the entire chip industry, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have issued a number of policies to promote the high-quality development of the integrated circuit industry and the software industry in the new era, and the follow-up work is to grasp the implementation of this policy, promote the free flow of factor resources, create a fair and just market environment, increase the protection of intellectual property rights, deepen the international cooperation and division of labor, and further promote the high-quality development of the industry with these measures and measures.