Mentioned again by the government work report, new energy vehicles are expected to become a new engine for the development of the economy?

After a year, new energy vehicles have once again appeared in the government work report.

On March 5, the Fifth Session of the 13th National People's Congress opened in Beijing, and Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council delivered a government work report. The government work report proposes to continue to support the consumption of new energy vehicles and encourage local governments to carry out green smart home appliances to the countryside and replace old with new.

On the same day, the State Council New Office held a press briefing to interpret the relevant situation of the "Government Work Report." Xiang Dong, deputy director of the Research Office of the State Council, said that last year's sales of new energy vehicles "blowout", the annual sales reached 3.52 million, an increase of 1.6 times, and this year we will continue to support the consumption of new energy vehicles.

Zhang Hong, secretary general of the New Energy Vehicle Branch of the Circulation Association, told Shell Financial Reporter that this is the second time that support for the consumption of new energy vehicles has been proposed in the government work report, which shows the government's perseverance and determination to achieve the double carbon goal on the one hand, and on the other hand, it shows that the government hopes to use new energy vehicles as an engine for economic development and drive the development of the manufacturing industry.

Zhu Yunyao, an expert in China's automobile research, told Shell Financial Reporter that after more than ten years of development, the annual sales of new energy vehicles have increased from ten cities and thousands of vehicles in that year to more than 3.5 million vehicles in 2021, ranking first in the world for 7 consecutive years.

A number of npc deputies said that the development of the new energy automobile industry will help the mainland achieve the "double carbon" goal. They also suggested that in the future, they will continue to make the new energy vehicle industry chain bigger and stronger, develop scale effects, and reduce costs.

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The development of new energy vehicles will help to upgrade the industrial structure

According to the latest data from the Association of Passenger Vehicles, in January this year, the retail sales of new energy passenger cars in the mainland reached 347,000 units, an increase of 132% year-on-year. Sales of new energy vehicles will achieve a "good start" in 2022.

For the "continue to support the consumption of new energy vehicles" mentioned in the government work report, Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, told Shell Financial Reporter that supporting the consumption of new energy vehicles needs to be understood from multiple levels.

He said that on the one hand, the development trend of new energy vehicles in the mainland is good, and with the promotion of the brand upwards, the number of high-end new energy vehicle products has gradually increased, and the pulling effect of the entire new energy automobile industry on the mainland's GDP is more obvious.

On the other hand, vigorously developing new energy vehicles will help promote the upgrading of the mainland automobile industry structure. At present, China has become the world's largest automotive market. If in the field of traditional fuel vehicles, the mainland is slightly inferior to the old multinational car companies because of its late start, then now it seems that many car companies are trying to transform and upgrade with new energy technology and overtake in curves. Judging from the results, mainland car companies have performed well on the new energy track, and their technical level has directly caught up with multinational car companies.

It should be noted that in 2021, under the dual pressure of the continuous recurrence of the epidemic and the shortage of chips, the production and sales of the mainland automotive industry were booming, achieving year-on-year growth, ending the decline of three consecutive years since 2018 and boosting industry confidence to a certain extent.

Chen Hong, deputy to the National People's Congress, secretary of the party committee and chairman of SAIC Motor, told reporters that the new energy vehicle market, the market for increase and exchange, and the overseas market are pregnant with new development opportunities, and the driving force for the resumption of growth of the domestic automobile market is constantly increasing.

He expects that the domestic auto market will usher in a recovery of growth in 2022, with the domestic market vehicle demand of about 27.3 million units, an increase of 9.2% year-on-year; of which, the sales of new energy vehicles will be about 4.8 million units, an increase of 50% year-on-year.

For the development of SAIC in this regard, Chen Hong introduced to reporters that new energy and intelligent networking have become the two major "killer skills" of differentiated competition of car companies. Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, SAIC has invested tens of billions of yuan in independent research and development, forming innovative technological advantages such as new energy and intelligent networking, and actively spilling out overseas to create differentiated competitiveness.

LAST YEAR, SAIC's own brands MG and MAXUS sold more than 40,000 new energy vehicles in developed countries in Europe, ranking the forefront in the market segments of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden and other countries.

The development of new energy vehicles will help achieve the goal of "double carbon"

Zhang Xiang also analyzed that as the mainland continues to promote carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, new energy vehicles that reduce exhaust emissions have also become one of the boosts. If you look at the energy structure, the mainland is currently more dependent on imports in oil and gas, and the use of clean energy is more conducive to energy self-sufficiency.

In fact, the government work report mentions that it is necessary to orderly promote the carbon peak carbon neutrality work, implement the carbon peak action plan, promote the energy revolution, ensure energy supply, based on resource endowments, adhere to the principle of establishing first and then breaking, overall planning, and promoting the low-carbon transformation of energy.

The government work report mentions that we should promote the research and development and promotion and application of green low-carbon technologies and build a green manufacturing and service system.

This year, many deputies to the automotive industry have also paid attention to the topic of low carbon.

Chen Hong said that he mainly focused on "helping to implement the strategic goal of double carbon" this year, and suggested accelerating the overall transformation of green and low carbon in the automotive industry.

He suggested the introduction of a medium- and long-term plan for the low-carbon development of the automotive industry; further improve the policies conducive to the management and control of automotive carbon emissions, and form a low-carbon policy toolbox for the automotive industry; further promote the research and development and innovation of low-carbon technologies in the automotive industry, accelerate the application of landing; and further increase support for the use of new energy vehicles.

Chen Hong told Shell Financial Reporter that this is not only of great significance to the mainland to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, but also a key milestone in realizing the dream of the mainland's automobile power.

Yin Tongyue, deputy to the National People's Congress, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Chery Automobile, also said that the automotive industry's promotion of new energy vehicles to replace fuel vehicles will effectively improve carbon emissions in the use of automobiles. Compared with traditional fuel passenger cars, existing new energy passenger cars reduce carbon emissions by about 15 million tons per year during the use phase.

He said that at present, the automotive industry has not been included in the key industries of carbon emission management due to the small carbon emissions in the manufacturing process, but if the effectiveness of new energy vehicles in reducing carbon emissions in the use stage can be considered, carbon trading should be used to actively encourage industry car manufacturers to transform the production of new energy vehicles.

Strengthen the supply guarantee of raw materials and key components

It should be noted that the development of new energy vehicles is also closely related to the layout of the industrial chain.

In fact, the government work report also mentions that it is necessary to enhance the core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry, promote the smooth operation of the industrial economy, strengthen the supply guarantee of raw materials and key components, implement the chain stabilization project of leading enterprises, and maintain the security and stability of the industrial chain supply chain.

For the key chip shortage in the automotive industry, Chen Hong told reporters that he expects the chip supply to be effectively alleviated in the second half of this year, but it is still difficult to fully return to normal. He said that SAIC Motor is currently working to reduce the short-term impact of chip shortage, including coordinating joint venture foreign resources to "find goods globally" and "establishing direct connections" with chip companies.

For the layout of the automotive industry chain, Chen Hong suggested that it is necessary to coordinate the sustainable exploitation and utilization of domestic strategic resources; continue to deepen the construction of supporting facilities at the user end; and continue to promote the formulation and implementation of high-tech standards.

In this regard, he explained to reporters that accelerating the layout and construction of the upstream and downstream of the new energy automobile industry chain, rationally utilizing resources, improving industry efficiency, and improving user experience are of great significance to the country's development of the new energy industry.

Zeng Qinghong, deputy to the National People's Congress, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., said that the mainland automobile industry is in a critical period of strategic transformation, and chips, as the cornerstone of the development of automobile intelligence and electrification, play a vital role in the survival and development of the automobile industry.

Zeng Qinghong believes that only the government and R & D institutions, enterprises work together to truly solve the chip bottleneck and promote industrial development. In the short term, various industries should coordinate and stabilize the market and ensure the supply of chips; in the long run, it is necessary to deepen the industrial layout and promote industrial development.

Yin Tongyue also said that with the increasing heat of the new energy vehicle track, the demand for new energy vehicle power batteries is naturally rising. According to the data released by EV Volumes, the installed capacity of global automotive power batteries in 2021 has achieved substantial growth compared with the same period last year, making the shortage of battery supply more and more severe, the cost has risen sharply, and it is also linked to the shortage of upstream raw materials and their mineral resources, which has become a bottleneck in the development of new energy.

Yin Tongyue suggested that new energy power battery materials be included in the national strategic reserve resource management, and special funds should be set up to support and encourage domestic enterprises to acquire foreign battery material resources to ensure the safety of the new energy vehicle supply chain.

It should be noted that Zhu Yunyao, an expert in China's automobile research, told reporters that at present, the infrastructure construction such as charging and replacing new energy vehicles in the mainland is still lagging behind, and it is recommended that in the future, the relevant enterprises in the new energy automobile industry chain will become bigger and stronger, reduce costs through scale effect, and also recommend that through the national science and technology project, gradually solve the new energy vehicle card neck technology.

In addition, Zhu Yunyao also suggested that the relationship between new energy vehicle enterprises and insurance can be opened up, and the premium of new energy vehicles can be reduced through new models.

Beijing News shell financial reporter Lin Zi Bai Haotian Editor Chen Li Proofreader Lu Qian