"At the beginning of this year, the price of new energy (models) has increased, but the increase has been mixed. Preliminary statistics, including new car-making forces, Chinese brands, joint venture brands, and imported brands, are all in the range of price increases, and the price increase is 1% to 10%. A new energy vehicle sales staff in Beijing said in an interview with the media that the price increase in this round of new energy vehicle market is mainly divided into two situations, one is a simple product price increase, and the other is that some models have increased the product configuration, and therefore the price has been raised.
According to the incomplete statistics of the "Daily Economic News" reporter, as of now, Tesla, Weilai, Xiaopeng Automobile, Nezha Automobile, GAC Eian, Feifan Automobile, BYD, Euler, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Volkswagen, Zero-run Car, JiKr, Geometric Automobile, Ford Motor, WM Motor, Roewe and other brands of new energy models have announced price increases, including most of the mainstream models in the market.
In fact, the recent price increase in new energy vehicles began at the end of last year. In the 2022 subsidy decline time node approaching the stage, some car companies have announced that they will increase the price of their new energy models. However, some people believe that the deeper reason behind it may lie in the rising price of raw materials for new energy vehicle power batteries.
Take lithium carbonate, the core raw material of power batteries, as an example. According to business data, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate in East China on March 10 has reached 491,000 yuan / ton. On December 28, 2020, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate in East China was only 54,600 yuan / ton. This means that in less than a year and a half, the price of lithium carbonate has increased by 8 times.
In addition, the price of raw materials required for other power batteries has also risen sharply. According to business agency data, on March 13, the cobalt commodity index was 203.06, up 190.75% from the lowest point of 69.84 points on July 5, 2016; on March 14, the average quotation of Cobalt (250kg/99.95% in barrels) of Shanghai Metal Network was 565,000 yuan / ton, and the price continued to remain at a high level.
According to market research firm IHS Markit, in late 2021, lithium-ion battery prices rose by about 10% to 20%. According to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), by the end of 2021, the average price of lithium-ion battery packs worldwide is $132/kWh (about 840 yuan).
In this context, the rising cost of raw materials for power batteries has also made it difficult for some new energy models to make profits, and even the person in charge of a car company frankly said: "Selling a loss." ”
Image source: Screenshot of CCTV financial report
"We have done the cost sharing to the extreme, but the most critical reason for stopping orders is the loss, the price of raw materials continues to rise, coupled with the 30% reduction in the subsidy policy for new energy vehicles in 2022, which makes the black cat and white cat two models in a difficult situation." Now every car sold loses 10,000 yuan. Dong Yudong, CEO of the Euler brand under Great Wall Motor, once said, "Counting the state subsidies for new energy vehicles, coupled with the current upward trend in raw material prices, by 2023, Euler black cats and white cats will lose nearly 17,000 yuan per car sold." ”
Dong Yang, vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle Hundred Association, also said: "The increase in raw material prices this time is too large, and it is difficult to absorb all the increases in a certain link of the industrial chain alone. In his view, since China's new energy vehicle market was cultivated by financial subsidies in the early stage, the market will not accept the phenomenon that the price of new energy vehicles is significantly higher than that of fuel vehicles of the same level. Therefore, the price increase of new energy vehicles is extremely small. However, if the price increase of batteries exceeds the degree that new energy vehicle companies can afford, it is very likely that the production and sales of new energy vehicles will decline two years ago.
It is worth mentioning that for the above-mentioned new energy vehicle companies to "sell cars to lose money", some netizens expressed different views. Some netizens said, "Carbon points (car companies) do not mention" "earn points!" Points make more money than selling cars. ”
Image source: Sina Weibo
The "integral" referred to in the netizen message is the "double integral" policy in the mainland's "Measures for the Parallel Management of Average Fuel Consumption of Passenger Car Enterprises and New Energy Vehicle Credits", which is generally referred to as "fuel consumption integral" and "new energy integral" in the industry. Since enterprises that produce more fuel models need to purchase "new energy credits" to offset "fuel consumption points", "new energy credits" itself has actual transaction value and has become an important source of profit for some new energy vehicle companies.
Relevant data show that in 2018, the new energy integration order transactions are mainly concentrated within 1,000 yuan / min; in 2019, nearly 90% of the order transaction unit price does not exceed 500 yuan; in 2020, more than 50% of the order unit price is higher than 1000 yuan, some exceed 3000 yuan, and the average transaction unit price is 1204 yuan / min. By 2021, the points transaction price will rise further, with an average unit price of about 2100 yuan.
At a time when the price of new energy vehicle credits has soared, many enterprises with a large number of positive points for new energy vehicles have made a lot of money. Ideal Automobile's financial report shows that in the 2021 trading year, it sold a total of about 70,000 points of positive points for new energy vehicles, with a revenue of 200 million yuan, equivalent to a unit price of 2857 yuan per point; Weilai Automobile's financial report shows that it sold about 200,000 positive points of new energy vehicles in the 2021 trading year, with revenue of 517 million yuan, equivalent to a unit price of 2585 yuan per cent.
Image source: Per reporter Li Xing photographed (data map)
However, this changed in 2022. In June 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revised the "Measures for the Parallel Management of Average Fuel Consumption of Passenger Vehicle Enterprises and New Energy Vehicle Credits", which clarified that from 2021 to 2023, the assessment requirements for the credit ratio of new energy vehicles are 14%, 16% and 18% respectively. According to the regulations, only if the new energy credits of car companies reach a certain standard, they can obtain positive new energy credits.
In addition, the points corresponding to models with different mileages are also changing. Electric vehicles that have reached a range of 100 kilometers in previous years can earn 2 points. For example, SAIC-GM-Wuling, with the sales of Hongguang MINIEV, received 440,000 points in 2021. However, the latest revised policy shows that from 2021 to 2023, the maximum number of pure electric bicycle points has dropped from the previous 5 points to 3.4 points, for example, the Wuling Hongguang MINIEV with a mileage of 120km can get 2 points / car points in 2020, but now its bicycle points have dropped by 62.5%, and only 0.75 points can be obtained.
Image source: Photo by reporter Li Shuo (data map)
"The whole integral market is oversupplied. The expected points trading price has indeed decreased. "Deep Way" quoted relevant people in the industry as saying, "However, this year's 'double integral' trading market has not yet opened." Each manufacturer is still in the stage of inquiry. So the actual price is unknown. ”
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association, believes that the decline in the price of new energy vehicles is very large on low-priced products, while the impact on high-end brands with higher prices is relatively small.
Source: Daily Economic News