New energy vehicle price increases, oil prices raised Consumers face a dilemma

"Now in the case of this chip shortage and the price of raw materials, we can insist on the same price and give you the latest chip." In the propaganda caliber of some automobile sales personnel, "no price increase" has become an important publicity highlight. This situation is not unrelated to the recent price increases of new energy vehicles.

On the evening of March 19, WM Motor issued an announcement that due to the continuous sharp rise in raw material prices and the tight supply of suppliers, WM Motors will adjust the price of models on sale, and the price will be raised by 7,000 to 26,000 yuan after comprehensive subsidies.

It is worth noting that the recent competitor of new energy vehicles, fuel vehicles, is also facing the challenge of gasoline price increases. In this case, should consumers choose fuel vehicles or new energy vehicles? What factors should be considered in addition to fuel and electricity costs? The reporter interviewed professionals and made an analysis of this issue.

New energy vehicle brands have raised prices

Recently, there have been more and more voices about the price increase of new energy vehicle brands. On March 18 alone, Xiaopeng Motors, Geometric Cars and Zero-Run Cars all announced price increases. Judging from the reasons for the price increase announced, the main "muzzle" is focused on the impact of "the sharp rise in raw material prices" and "the national replenishment slope".

The nervousness of this round of "price increases" for new energy vehicles has gradually spread since Tesla made several price adjustments to its models last year. In the previous few days, Nezha, BYD, and Tesla have successively announced price increases. On March 17, Nezha Automobile announced that it would raise the price of all models by 3,000 to 5,000 yuan; on March 15, BYD issued an announcement announcing the adjustment of the official guidance price of relevant new energy models in the "Dynasty" and "Ocean" sales networks, ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 yuan; Tesla successively released a price adjustment for the Model 3 rear-wheel drive version, high-performance version and Model Y long-endurance and high-performance version on March 15 and March 17. The increase ranges from 14,000 to 20,000 yuan.

For this round of price increases, Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Auto, made an interpretation on March 19. He said, "At present, brands that have contracted with battery manufacturers to determine the price increase of batteries in the second quarter have basically announced price increases immediately." If there is no price increase, most of them have not yet been negotiated, and the price will generally increase immediately after waiting for the negotiation. ”

Many people in the industry believe that this is closely related to the sharp rise in the price of raw materials for new energy vehicle power batteries. The data shows that the current upstream costs led by nickel and lithium carbonate are still rising. Among them, nickel prices are still in a high position; lithium prices have also increased tenfold in more than a year from 50,000 yuan / ton at the beginning of 2021 to the current 500,000 yuan / ton.

Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, pointed out that the price increase of raw materials for new energy vehicles is a cyclical behavior, and the current general increase in car prices is also a reflection of the rise in raw material prices. With the recovery of the supply environment at the industrial end of raw materials, the unfavorable factors of price increases will be alleviated to a certain extent.

Gasoline prices are raised To fill a car with a tank of oil costs about 30 yuan more

While the "waiting families" of new energy vehicles shout "miss" in the face of price increases, fuel vehicle owners are also facing pressure from oil price increases. At 24:00 on March 17, the domestic gasoline price was raised by 750 yuan / ton, and the price of diesel was raised by 720 yuan / ton. Equivalent to the price increase, the price of No. 92 gasoline was raised by 0.58 yuan / liter, the price of No. 95 gasoline was raised by 0.62 yuan / liter, and the price of No. 0 diesel was raised by 0.61 yuan / liter. Moreover, this round of oil prices has been the fifth price adjustment since 2022, superimposed on a price increase at the end of December last year, and the domestic refined oil price has been "six consecutive rises", setting a record for the largest increase since the new version of the pricing mechanism in 2013.

According to statistics, after this round of oil price increases, calculated by ordinary private cars with a fuel tank capacity of 50L, the owner of a fuel vehicle will spend about 30 yuan more to fill a tank of oil. In this regard, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, said that the high oil price directly pushes up the daily commuting cost of fuel vehicles.

"As a fuel vehicle owner, I add up to 1 to 1.5 tanks of fuel on average a month, if the cost of filling a tank of gasoline costs an average of 30 yuan, then it is estimated that the extra expenditure on gasoline in a year is 3600 to 5400 yuan." Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, shared his personal experience when talking about the rise in gasoline prices, and in his view, the rise in oil prices may not necessarily last. It is worth mentioning that for the changes in oil prices in the future, many insiders also said that although oil prices have risen seriously in the short term due to geopolitics and other factors, the motivation for oil prices to continue to rise is insufficient, and oil prices are expected to be lowered in the later period.

Who is more cost-effective for new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles?

In the face of rising oil prices and car prices, "which type of car to buy is more cost-effective" has become the consideration of many wait-and-see car owners. On March 9, Shen Hui, the founder of WM Motors, posted that according to the calculation of 100,000 kilometers in 5 years, the electricity consumption of smart pure electric vehicles can save about 80,000 yuan compared with the fuel cost of fuel vehicles.

However, Zhang Xiang believes that the rise in oil prices is not enough to become a "qualitative" factor for consumers to change their concepts and purchase new energy vehicles. "What promotes consumers to buy new energy vehicles is the demand for car licenses from residents in some first- and second-tier cities and the acceleration of new energy vehicles themselves, low charging costs, and intelligence." He said that at present, the rise in oil prices has a relatively small role in promoting the sales of new energy vehicles.

For the average consumer, the main difference between the two models is also the difference in the cost of charging and refueling. Taking ordinary fuel vehicles as an example, the recent Price of No. 92 oil exceeded 8 yuan / liter, assuming that the fuel consumption of the vehicle's 100 kilometers is 10 liters, and the cost of driving 100 kilometers is more than 80 yuan; the average power consumption of pure electric vehicles per 100 kilometers is 14.7 kWh, if calculated according to 1 yuan / kWh, the energy consumption cost per 100 kilometers is only 14.7 yuan, less than 1/5 of the fuel vehicle.

However, Zhang Xiang also stressed that in general, it is necessary to consider the performance of new energy vehicles in terms of cost performance, and also to comprehensively consider the battery life of new energy vehicles and the charging experience of new energy vehicles, "The charging of new energy vehicles is still not as convenient as fuel vehicle refueling, and the number of charging stations is still insufficient." (Reporter Xu Xiaofang)