Author 丨Zuo Maoxuan
Editor 丨 Zhang Ruosi
Image Source 丨Visual China
In recent years, the mainland's new energy automobile industry has grown rapidly and ranked at the forefront of the world. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland reached 3.52 million units last year, an increase of 1.6 times, and it is predicted that domestic new energy vehicle sales will reach 5 million units this year.
On March 5, Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, said in an interview with the media in the Great Hall of the People that the sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland in the first two months of this year were very good, more than doubled, and it is expected to reach the expected target this year, which may greatly exceed the expected target.
The development situation of the new energy automobile industry in the mainland is improving, but it also faces a series of challenges.
The new energy subsidy policy that has been implemented for many years will be stopped at the end of this year, and while the subsidy is smoothly withdrawn, it is also necessary to maintain the stability of the market growth trend. On the supply side, the rise in raw material prices this year has brought a lot of cost pressure to enterprises; on the demand side, consumers are still anxious about the "safety", "charging difficulty" and "slow charging" of electric vehicles, and the overall scale of new energy vehicles is still relatively small, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in supporting infrastructure construction.
During the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2022, in view of a series of problems currently facing the development of the new energy automobile industry, in order to promote the high-quality development of the industry, a number of representatives and members of the automotive field actively offered suggestions and suggestions.
It is necessary to attach great importance to the problem of rising prices of battery raw materials
Since last year, the "explosive" growth of new energy vehicles, the demand for power batteries has also risen sharply, but the shortage of battery supply has also emerged, in addition, the upstream raw materials of the battery and its mineral resources have also appeared in short supply, the cost has risen sharply, and nickel, cobalt, lithium and other core battery materials rely heavily on imports, and the pressure on battery companies and vehicle companies has increased.
"The more serious problem facing new energy vehicle companies this year is the increase in the price of raw materials (mainly raw materials for batteries). If this continues, the price will be out of control and will disrupt the entire market and disrupt the distribution of benefits in the industrial chain. On March 4, Xu Heyi, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, former party secretary and chairman of BAIC Group, said in an interview with the 21st Century Business Herald reporter.
He pointed out that there has been a general price increase in new energy vehicles recently, and this is just the beginning. China's new energy vehicles have gone very well in the past, do not destroy the current good market environment for new energy vehicles due to the disorderly growth of battery raw material prices, which is the biggest challenge for the new energy automobile industry this year. It is hoped that the competent government departments and industry associations can immediately take decisive measures to guide prices reasonably.
Zeng Yuqun, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Board of Directors of Ningde Times, also said that the current supply and demand situation of lithium resources is grim, and the development of the industry is facing challenges.
Zeng Yuqun believes that the exploration and development of domestic lithium resources should be accelerated to ensure the safety of the supply chain, and at the same time, independent innovation and scientific and technological research should be strengthened to improve the level of efficient utilization of resource recycling.
In addition, in the international competition of lithium batteries, transportation supporting services are an important part, and it is crucial to establish a high-efficiency and low-cost lithium battery transportation system.
Zeng Yuqun suggested that to improve the transportation management of lithium batteries, we can start from strict transportation access and strengthen law enforcement supervision, establish a credit-based regulatory mechanism, and promote transportation classification and scenario control measures.
It is worth noting that in the face of material price fluctuations coupled with the cost pressure brought about by the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles, many car companies have adjusted the price of vehicles this year.
"Because the industry is developing too fast, the industrial supporting environment is not yet mature, resulting in a shortage of resources in the overall supply chain of new energy vehicles." Now the cost of electric vehicles is more than 30,000 yuan higher than that of traditional cars of the same level. Fang Yunzhou, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of United New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., said.
Fang Yunzhou suggested that we should speed up the introduction of a package of support policies for new energy vehicles and promote the stable and healthy development of the new energy automobile industry.
He proposed that the development of the new energy automobile industry should be supported in terms of taxes, fees, finance and other aspects. Extend the period for consumers to purchase new energy vehicles from purchase tax and consumption tax until December 2025; It is recommended to increase the personal subsidy for the purchase of new energy vehicles, as well as the purchase of new energy vehicles to deduct personal income tax. Give low-interest special loans or issue special bonds to new energy automobile enterprises.
In addition, he also put forward suggestions such as stabilizing the credit price of new energy vehicles, promoting the participation of new energy vehicles and energy storage products in the national carbon trading market, and supporting new energy vehicles to go to the countryside.
Regarding the improvement of the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, Zeng Qinghong, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of GUANGZHOU AUTOMOBILE Group, also put forward three suggestions.
The first is to delay state subsidies for one to two years, simplify the procedures for receiving subsidies in the early stage, and alleviate the financial pressure of enterprises; the second is to suggest that the national level consider adjusting the strategic direction of the subsidy policy for the promotion and application of new energy vehicles in the new period to achieve the purpose of "boosting consumption and encouraging construction"; the third is to increase research and improve other incentive policies as soon as possible to ensure the effective and sustainable development of the market after the subsidies for new energy vehicles are completely stopped, and to complete the "14th Five-Year Plan" goal for the innovative development of new energy vehicles.
Accelerate infrastructure construction
As more and more consumers choose new energy vehicles, the increase in the number of new energy vehicles and the follow-up of related infrastructure construction have also been concerned by many representatives and committee members.
How to solve the problems of "slow charging" and "difficult charging" faced by new energy users at present, for different technical routes, deputies and committee members gave different suggestions.
Lei Jun, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, pays attention to fast charging, and Li Shufu, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Geely Holdings, focuses on the power exchange mode.
Lei Jun said that during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the mainland charging infrastructure has achieved leapfrog development in terms of technology, standards and ecology, but the current proportion of fast charging piles in the mainland public charging pile 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.
To this end, Lei Jun suggested that it is necessary to strengthen policy guidance and coordinate the planning and layout of high-power fast charging networks; Establish a national innovation cooperation platform and strengthen joint research on core technologies; Strengthen the construction of service guarantees, and promote the popularization of high-power charging infrastructure.
Li Shufu said that the power exchange mode of vehicle electricity separation has the two major advantages of efficient energy replenishment and cost reduction compared with the traditional charging pile power supply mode. In terms of efficient energy replenishment, passenger cars only need about 1-5 minutes to change electricity, which has an absolute advantage over traditional charging piles. In terms of cost, in the initial purchase cost of electric vehicles, power batteries account for about 40%, and the charging mode of "vehicle and electricity integration" makes the cost of the vehicle significantly higher, and the purchase price of electric vehicles can be reduced by up to half in the vehicle-electricity separation mode. In addition, battery materials can also be incorporated into the circular economy, further improving environmental efficiency.
However, Li Shufu said that in the entire life cycle link and ecological construction of the vehicle-electricity separation, there are still some supporting policies and measures that need to be broken through.
In this regard, Li Shufu put forward three suggestions.
First, we should speed up the clarification of the relevant provisions on the construction of substations, the transformation of high and low pressure boxes, land and construction approvals, and incorporate them into the national market management standardization system. It is recommended that the government open up resource access and support for public parking lots to effectively and reasonably optimize the allocation of land resources. The second is to further improve the relevant policies and regulations of the power exchange model, optimize the announcement regulations of the power exchange model, establish an exclusive announcement certification system for the power exchange model, and form a separate certification of the car and the battery under the separation of vehicle electricity. The third is to accelerate the standardization and generalization of power exchange modes, such as presetting 2-3 technologically advanced interface forms to formulate recommended standards.
Contribute to the implementation of the dual carbon strategic goals
The development of the new energy automobile industry will help reduce carbon emissions and play an important role in the "double carbon" strategy.
Chen Hong, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of SAIC Motor, suggested that the automobile industry should help implement the "double carbon" goal, not only to continue to expand the popularity of new energy products, but also to work together at the production and use ends to promote the realization of green and low-carbon high-quality development of the entire industrial chain.
On the one hand, to establish and improve the policies and measures to support the low-carbon development of the automobile industry, Chen Hong proposed that it is hoped that a special plan for the green and low-carbon development of the automobile industry will be introduced as soon as possible, accelerate the formulation and implementation of carbon emission standards for the whole life cycle of automobile products, and further reduce the cost of manufacturing, circulation and use by continuously enriching the policy toolbox and effectively connecting with the subsidy policy and integral policy of new energy vehicles.
On the other hand, it is also necessary to strengthen the layout of the industrial chain and the research and development and innovation of low-carbon technologies, and effectively integrate and control upstream resources such as lithium and cobalt to ensure the safety of the industrial chain; Promote the formation of a joint force between all parties of "government, industry, education and research" to accelerate the landing of technologies such as clean energy and green manufacturing, as well as the recycling of raw materials, through technology incubation and project demonstration. At the same time, we will further increase support for the use of new energy vehicles, such as continuously improving the construction of supporting facilities such as charging piles, providing preferential charging electricity charges, etc., and further forming an atmosphere that encourages the consumption of low-carbon products.
Lei Jun suggested that a carbon footprint accounting system for new energy vehicles should be built.
He pointed out that a complete, clear and accurate carbon footprint accounting system is the premise and foundation for the low-carbon development of the new energy automobile industry. However, as of now, the mainland has not yet formed a systematic carbon footprint policy management system in the field of new energy vehicles, and has issued 3 batches of 24 industry accounting methods, but it has not yet covered the entire industrial chain of new energy vehicles.
Lei Jun said that it is urgent to establish and improve the carbon footprint accounting system, support the accurate management, accounting, certification and verification of carbon footprints, and help the realization of the "double carbon" goal of the mainland new energy automobile industry.
In this regard, he put forward four suggestions: establish a systematic carbon footprint management system to guide the low-carbon development of the new energy automobile industry as a whole; Formulate carbon footprint accounting standards and methods for the whole industry chain of new energy vehicles; Establish an industry data platform for the carbon footprint of new energy vehicles; Improve carbon footprint certification, rating and incentive mechanisms.
In addition to the whole vehicle, Zeng Yuqun also suggested that it is necessary to accelerate the study of the carbon footprint of batteries and scientifically and reasonably calculate carbon emissions.
"Batteries play a key role in the entire new energy industry chain, and European and American countries have incorporated batteries into strategic planning and formulated relevant supporting regulations." Mainland China has a leading edge in battery technology, manufacturing and industrial chain, but there are gaps in the standards and methodologies of battery carbon footprint accounting. Zeng Yuqun said.
Zeng Yuqun believes that the mainland should accelerate the research on the carbon footprint of batteries, scientifically and rationally calculate carbon emissions, start the research on China's battery carbon footprint standards and methodologies as soon as possible, establish a product carbon emission management system, participate in the formulation of global carbon neutrality rules, and promote the establishment of a mutual recognition mechanism for battery carbon footprint management with the European Union, which is very important to ensure the global competitiveness of the mainland battery field.
Editor of this issue: Wang Tingting
