Tesla's official website in China was updated, and its Model 3 and Model Y models rose in price again. Among them, the price of the Model 3 all-wheel drive high-performance version has risen from the original 339,900 yuan to 349,900 yuan, the Model Y all-wheel drive version has risen from 347,900 yuan to the current 357,900 yuan, and the Model Y all-wheel drive high-performance version has risen from 387,900 yuan to 397,900 yuan.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the domestic price increase, Tesla has also raised prices in the local market. According to Tesla's official website in the United States, the price of the Model Y long-endurance version was raised by $1,000 to $59,990, and the price of the Model Y high-performance version was raised by $1,000 to $64,990.
Due to the decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles, the price of Model 3 and Model Y models increased on December 31, 2021, and the price of its Model 3 rear-wheel drive version was adjusted to 265652 yuan, up 10,000 yuan from before; the price of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version was adjusted to 301840 yuan, up 21,088 yuan from before. After experiencing this price increase, the model Y rear-wheel drive version reached more than 300,000 yuan after the price increase, which means that the model Y series will no longer enjoy subsidies for new energy vehicles.
Because Tesla adopts the model of direct sales, its vehicle price adjustment reflects the actual situation of cost fluctuations, and this time Tesla has raised the price of Model 3 and Model Y again, which is largely due to the increase in the price of parts supply and power battery raw materials. It is understood that the current Model 3 rear-wheel drive version uses lithium iron phosphate batteries in the Ningde era, which do not require nickel or cobalt, while the Model 3 high-performance version and Model Y series use LG Chemical's ternary lithium batteries, containing lithium nickel cobalt manganese and other elements, which is why the Model 3 rear wheel drive version does not increase in price.
As we all know, lithium-ion batteries have a total of three layers, of which the lithium cathode is made of a mixture of lithium with nickel and other minerals such as cobalt, manganese or aluminum, and the anode is made of carbon, graphite and silicon. In recent years, some car manufacturers have found that adding more nickel to the cathode can improve the energy density of the battery, and can also increase the range of the same quality battery, and LG Chem supplies Tesla with a nickel content of up to 90%.
In recent times, the price of nickel has soared. At the close of trading in the early morning of March 8, LME nickel closed up 76% to $50,905/mt, the highest level since June 2007. Due to the sharp rise in nickel prices, the London Metal Exchange (LME) announced that it will suspend nickel contract trading in all locations in the trading market from 8:15 local time on the 8th. Affected by the sharp rise in LME nickel, on March 9, domestic futures closed up and down, of which Shanghai nickel continued to be 3 consecutive boards, closing at 267700 yuan / ton, up 17%, continuing to set a new high record. The data shows that shanghai nickel has risen by 43.01% in the last three trading days. On the evening of March 9, the previous issue issued the "Notice on Suspending the Trading of Some Nickel Futures Contracts for One Day".
The sharp increase in nickel prices has had a greater impact on new energy vehicles equipped with ternary lithium batteries, but it has little impact on domestic new energy vehicle sales. Taking Tesla as an example, because the ternary lithium battery contains high-capacity nickel elements, so in the context of the soaring nickel price, the increase in the cost of ternary lithium batteries directly affects the terminal price of Tesla, but most of the mainstream new energy vehicles are equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries, no nickel is needed and no cobalt is needed, so the rise in nickel has little impact on models equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries. In addition, will the increase in Tesla prices affect sales? The answer is yes, but with little impact. According to Tesla's official website, the currently on sale model 3 series and model Y long-endurance version is expected to deliver 16-20 weeks, and the maximum delivery time of the Model Y rear-wheel drive version and the high-performance version has reached 14 weeks and 16 weeks respectively. From this calculation, if you buy a Tesla Model 3 now, you won't be able to pick up the car until at least after June.
The latest data show that in February 2022, Tesla's wholesale sales in China were 56,515 vehicles, of which 33,315 were exported and 23,200 were domestic retailers, of which model Y was 18,593 and Model 3 was 4,607.
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