Photo credit:Xinhua News Agency
■ Lu Hongxing, reporter of China Economic Times
Tesla is raising prices again!
A few days ago, Tesla officials once again released the news of price increases. Among them, the price of model3 high-performance version rose from 339,900 yuan to 349,900 yuan. The price of modelY long-endurance and high-performance version was adjusted from 347,900 yuan and 387,900 yuan to 357,900 yuan and 397,900 yuan, respectively. The reporter learned that Tesla's price increase is related to the supply of raw materials such as nickel and neon gas.
The recent surge in the value of nickel has made nickel enter the field of vision of consumers. New energy vehicle batteries mainly have lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries do not need nickel or cobalt, and ternary lithium batteries, containing lithium nickel cobalt manganese and other elements, are greatly affected by the price rise of nickel and other elements.
Different car companies respond differently
Yan Jinghui, an expert of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview with the China Economic Times reporter that the rise in the price of battery raw materials such as nickel will drive the rise in battery costs, which is beyond doubt, but whether new energy vehicle companies will increase prices on a large scale is a very cautious thing, and car companies are also paying close attention to the development of the entire supply chain.
"The sudden surge in the price of metal nickel is an inevitable impetus to the price increase in the new energy vehicle industry chain." For battery companies, the pressure is greater than that of vehicle companies, so battery manufacturers will definitely raise the price of batteries, which will promote the price of vehicles. Xuan Jiyou, director of Qianmen Asset Investment Research, told this reporter.
"The battery route of 'high nickel and low cobalt' has become a high mileage route in the industry, as a necessary path to reduce costs and rely on the scarcity of cobalt resources, especially the price of new energy vehicles corresponding to high value-added ternary lithium batteries is also high, and downstream car companies are more likely to transmit the cost of raw material price increases to consumers." For low-value-added lithium iron phosphate battery models, it is more difficult to conduct the price cost of raw materials, so it is necessary to balance the relationship between sales volume and profit indicators well. Qi Haiyan, president of Beijing Teyi Sunshine New Energy, told this reporter.
The reporter learned that not only Tesla, but also many new energy vehicle companies have made price adjustments. On March 1, the official guidance price of the GT version of Euler Good Cat was adjusted from 135,000 yuan to 147,000 yuan. On the same day, WM Motor announced that due to factors such as the rise in parts prices, the price of the 2022 EX5-ZPRO all-round version was adjusted to 154,800 yuan, and the price of the Lead Chuangling edition was adjusted to 163,800 yuan, up 3,000 yuan and 4,000 yuan respectively.
Although many car companies began to raise prices, according to the reporter, due to the rise in battery prices, some low-end car companies have stopped taking orders to avoid further losses.
In Qi Haiyan's view, in the case of relatively limited lithium resources and less synchronous and smooth mining cycle, in the face of strong downstream demand, price increases and expansion have become the new normal of industry development. However, this continuous price increase phenomenon is not long-term and sustainable, some downstream users are not willing to pay for too many price increases, and even some new energy vehicle companies have lost money and begun to stop taking orders.
"Overall, high-end car companies such as Tesla have certain loyal customers in the terminal market, and there is a certain space for price increases; and for low-end new energy vehicle companies, they need to be extra cautious." Yan Jinghui said.
The imbalance between supply and demand is an important factor
At present, due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, the price of the global oil market has soared, and new energy vehicles are generally optimistic about fuel vehicles.
According to the China Automobile Association, in January this year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 452,000 units and 431,000 units, respectively, an increase of 1.3 times and 1.4 times year-on-year; in February, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 368,000 units and 334,000 units, respectively, an increase of 2 times and 1.8 times.
In Xuan jiyou's view, the current oil price is soaring, and the entire production and sales of new energy vehicles in 2022 may be even larger than in 2021. However, the current production capacity of domestic batteries is not as fast as the development of the entire industrial chain of new energy vehicles, resulting in an imbalance between supply and demand.
Xuanji lobbied that one of the most critical reasons for the rise in the price of battery materials is that the production capacity of minerals does not match the current speed of rapid development of new energy vehicles. The mining of minerals generally takes 3 to 5 years to be put into production, and when the demand is strong and the supply is insufficient, the price of raw materials will rise sharply, thus driving the price of new energy vehicles up.
"The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated some time ago that it should moderately accelerate the development of lithium ore and other resources, but also so that the industry can promote the national new energy development strategy in a rational, orderly and rhythmic manner under the concept of healthy and sustainable development." Qi Haiyan further expressed the hope that the industry will strengthen the collaboration between the industrial chains and cooperate for win-win results under the synergy.
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Producer 丨 Wang Hui Li Piguang Wang Yu Liu Weimin
Editor 丨 Mao Jinghui Editor 丨 Gu Yun
