With the rising penetration rate of new energy vehicles and the force of new infrastructure to help stabilize growth, the 100-billion-level charging market has been renovated, and the new model represented by aggregate charging has begun to be expected by the industry to seize the C position.
At the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2022, npc deputies and CPPCC members from Many Internet giants such as Netease, Xiaomi, 360, Baidu, etc., all focused on new energy vehicles and smart transportation, calling on the new energy automobile industry to accelerate the pace of development in terms of power batteries and charging infrastructure, and offer suggestions for promoting smart transportation escort road safety and helping low-carbon emission reduction. Taking Lei Jun as an example, it points directly to the pain points of charging infrastructure. "At present, the proportion of fast charging in public charging piles in the mainland is only 40%, and the fast charging power is generally low, which is difficult to meet the charging needs of the majority of users and it is difficult to adapt to the rapid development of the current new energy automobile industry."
"Judging from the suggestions and proposals of many deputies and members, it reflects the concern about the difficulties and blockages in the development of new energy vehicles." A relevant person from the China Association of Industrial Automobile Manufacturers analyzed the Securities Times reporter that although the travel field is an important part of achieving "double carbon", its development is not smooth. Technology, cost, peripheral charging and other links are still facing many constraints.
Yang Yong, a senior researcher at Yinfeng Investment, told reporters that charging piles are regarded by the capital market as a 100-billion-level track, but for operators, industry standards are not uniform, charging pile utilization rates are low, regional obvious, user stickiness is not high, and revenue is difficult; for car owners, it is annoying to find piles, charging difficulties, poor experience, and repeated downloading of clients are the norm; from the perspective of the industry as a whole, the effective matching between the supply and demand sides is insufficient, the charging station planning is unreasonable, and the service innovation is not enough, which are scars in the development process of the industry.
Multi-channel players are also accelerating "pain relief", but the chosen path is differentiated.
According to the reporter's combing, the current mainstream charging pile operation service providers include three major types. The first is the head KA of charging operators represented by the State Grid, the South Grid, the special caller, and the star charging, which provide charging operations and Internet value-added services through the construction of charging piles.
According to public data from the Charging Alliance, as of January 2022, there are 13 charging piles operated by charging operators nationwide with more than 10,000 units, including 266,000 star charging units, 262,000 special calls, and 196,000 state grid units. These operators own more than 93% of the charging piles. This shows that high concentration has become a new trend in industrial evolution.
The second category is Tesla, Weilai, Xiaopeng and other cutting-edge car companies, through the self-built brand charging station to create a closed loop of charging services.
Yang Yong believes that this is related to the business model of new strength. Under the direct sales model, cutting-edge car companies will be associated with users in the whole life cycle from sales to after-sales service. For example, according to the user's high demand for power supply, new substations or fast charging stations can be added.
In addition to the above two types of models, one type of new model is also rapidly emerging - the third-party aggregate charging platform model. This model does not require self-built charging piles, but is connected with the operating platforms of various operating entities and operates in an asset-light Internet model. Through the connection of data, car owners can charge at major brand charging stations across the country with only "one code", breaking the strong barrier of "fighting for each other" at the end of charging.
The new electric path under Longxin Technology is a typical representative of the third-party aggregate charging platform model. Through independent research and development of aggregate charging platforms, the integration of upstream and downstream resources of the main engine factory, B-end car service companies, charging operators and other industries has broken down the technical barriers between charging piles of different brands, so that all kinds of "car platforms" and "pile platforms" can be interconnected to solve the problems of electric vehicle owners repeatedly downloading charging APP and inconvenient payment.
Why do different players choose differentiated paths and operating models?
One of the reasons is that their accumulation at a key node in the new energy industry chain is different. Taking Xindiantu as an example, its parent company is The Gem company Longxin Technology. Through more than 20 years of energy main track focus, Longxin Technology has taken advantage of the opportunity to provide energy digital services and operations for energy supply and consumption to grasp the operation characteristics of the energy marketing system, as well as its own accumulated operational capabilities in scenarios such as Alipay life payment, Shanghai Metro Metro Metro, and urban super APP represented by Beijing Pass, providing guarantees for the user acquisition of new electric circuits and the growth of user viscosity. In addition, combined with the demand for the use of "green electricity" in the dual carbon era, Longxin Technology has also created a set of integrated charging field station solutions with energy digital characteristics, which will help the new electric channel operation and charging operators to establish a closer cooperative relationship.
The competition in the 100-billion-level charging market is inseparable from the increase in capital. One of the important operations of Terrex in recent years has been the introduction of war projection. In the middle of last year, Trident issued an announcement that Telai intends to introduce strategic investors such as GLP and State Power Investment through capital increase and share expansion. At that time, the company's post-investment valuation was about 13.6 billion yuan, and the total amount of capital increase was about 300 million yuan.
But capital is not the only support for model building. Taking the new electric path as an example, traffic is one of the core guarantees for the platform to break the circle.
Wang Guangxing, general manager of New Dendo Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters that Xindiantu did not go back to the old road of independently building APP applications like most platforms, but used the super traffic platform with high frequency of use as the entrance, and the current launch of Alipay, AutoNavi, and Urban Super APP scan code charging mode. "This new model is conducive to reaching more end users due to the advantages of wide coverage, high reach rate and strong credibility of the super entrance service." After having traffic resources, the new electric way can jointly create a theme charging station that integrates dining, car beauty, rest, sports and other services, so as to extend the service chain. This year, New Electric Way will invest more efforts to build a membership model, so that more old users can trust and rely on new electric circuits, and then create a private domain traffic pool for new electric circuits. ”
Under the thousand sails and waves, which model can finally break the game, it is still time to verify. However, from the perspective of the mesoscopic industry, the person in charge of the China Automobile Association analyzed to reporters that since 2015, the charging infrastructure industry has passed the initial period of horse racing, and after the fierce elimination period in previous years, the new industry competition has just begun. "Under the new competitive ecology, on the one hand, the product and service system will become the protective wall of the charging industry to escort the development of new energy vehicles; on the other hand, the transformation of business model and operating model is more likely to become the protective wall to achieve high-quality and sustainable development of the charging industry."