On March 22, Ankai Bus released its 2021 annual report, achieving operating income of 1.781 billion yuan, down 45.38% year-on-year, and the announcement shows that in 2021, the macroeconomic downward pressure is relatively large, and the new crown epidemic point sudden has become normalized, which has a superimposed impact on the bus industry. High-speed rail and civil aviation passenger traffic reached 2.61 billion and 460 million people respectively, an increase of 18.57% and 10% respectively, and road passenger traffic is expected to decline by more than 25%. From the total point of view, in 2021, the cumulative sales of buses above 6 meters in the industry will be 97,100 units, down 7.83% from 2020, while in 2020, compared with 2019, down 26.64%, and the sales of industry buses will continue to decline.
During the reporting period, the company sold a total of 3,833 various types of buses, down 31.61% from 2020, and in 2020 compared with 2019, the company's sales volume fell by 1.53% year-on-year, and the decline in the company's sales in the past three years was consistent with the industry decline trend.
It is worth noting that from the data of the production and sales express report of domestic bus listed enterprises in February 2022, the output of Ankai Bus in February increased by 248.39% year-on-year, and the sales volume in February increased by 50.78% year-on-year. So far this year, the production and sales of Ankai buses have increased by 28.46% and 12.84% respectively year-on-year. This data shows that Ankai Bus still maintains a certain resilience.
Independent innovation to maintain core competitiveness
Innovation is the core of enterprise competitiveness, Ankai has the courage to innovate, seize opportunities, and actively meet the changing needs of the market, which is the basis for enterprises to maintain resilience.
Adhering to the concept of "manufacturing better Ankai buses and creating the best Chinese buses", Ankai has become the benchmark of domestic high-end buses with luxury, safety and reliable product quality by virtue of domestic first-class technology level, and has always occupied a dominant position in China's high-end bus market.
Ankai has a national electric bus vehicle system integration engineering technology research center, a national enterprise technology center, a national postdoctoral research workstation, and a nationally recognized vehicle performance laboratory. Ankai has built a leading laboratory of various types in China, with new energy vehicles and system integration, electronic control, drive systems, power batteries and other components performance testing, verification and development capabilities. Ankai and the University of Science and Technology of China, Tsinghua University and other domestic and foreign universities and research institutes to carry out industry-university-research cooperation and innovation, cultivated many outstanding talents, and achieved fruitful scientific research results, including 58 national provincial and municipal key science and technology projects, presided over and participated in the formulation of 31 national industry standards, applied for 1941 patents, and won more than 40 various scientific progress awards.
At present, ankai relies on the development and application of a series of high-tech safety technologies such as full load bearing technology, pre-collision protection technology, Ankai intelligent management system, fatigue driving early warning system, tire pressure monitoring system, panoramic surround view system, lane departure and pre-collision warning system, etc., so that the safety of products has reached the leading level in China.
The product research and development of Ankai Bus strictly follows the AK · NAM process, carry out "four high and one mountain" vehicle test, fully apply various types of laboratories, equipment, etc. to carry out the whole environment simulation test and development test of the whole vehicle, and has an internationally advanced passenger car electrophoresis production line to ensure that the products have reliable quality and advanced performance.
Entering a new stage of development, the role of INTELLECTUAL Property as a national development strategy resource and a core element of international competitiveness has become more prominent. By the end of 2021, Ankai Bus has 1258 valid authorized patents, including 286 invention patents, 900 utility model patents, and 72 design patents. Ankai Bus has successively won the honorary titles of Hefei Intellectual Property Demonstration Enterprise, Hefei Top Ten Invention Patent Enterprise, Anhui Province Intellectual Property Advantage Cultivation Enterprise and National Intellectual Property Advantage Enterprise. Successfully passed the intellectual property management system certification in 2020.
Photo caption: Ankai Vehicle R&D and Performance Lab
Adhere to independent innovation to make Ankai Bus continue to forge ahead, from creating "land flights" and being the leader of China's luxury buses; to promoting green travel and being the standard-bearer of China's new energy bus commercialization; and then to intelligent driving, developing in the direction of electrification, networking, intelligence and sharing. The company's products cover traditional power, pure electric, hydrogen fuel and other power platforms, the length covers 5-18 meters, serving passenger transport, tourism, groups, buses, school buses, sightseeing and other segments, to provide customers with high-quality travel solutions.
Judge the situation and seize the new energy bus track
Judge the hour and size up the situation, comprehensively lay out the new energy bus in advance, and maintain a leading position in the research and development of core key technologies and market-oriented promotion, so that enterprises can ride the wave of "new four modernizations", keep up with the development trend of the industry, and maintain the resilience of enterprise development.
Ankai Bus was the first in China to develop new energy buses. Since 2003, it has been developing new energy buses, and is the earliest and first enterprise in China to develop new energy buses and the first to obtain the announcement of new energy buses. In 2010, 30 Ankai pure electric buses were put into operation on Hefei No. 18 bus line, becoming the world's first dedicated pure electric bus line. At present, the company has formed a comprehensive layout of pure electric buses, plug-in hybrid buses, hydrogen fuel buses and unmanned buses, and independently developed new energy core key components such as motors, electronic controls, wheel hub motor bridges, CAN bus systems, battery management systems and has been applied in batches. New energy buses are industry leaders in technology research and development and market-oriented promotion.
Since its layout more than a decade ago, Ankai Bus has now achieved remarkable results in the development of hydrogen fuel buses. From the tracking and reserve of hydrogen fuel technology, to the industry's only national electric bus system integration engineering technology research center, national postdoctoral research workstation and other "hard-core think tanks", Ankai each fuel cell bus, in its lightweight, integrated vehicle design, including wide temperature range, platform design and other aspects have achieved a qualitative leap.
Through the research and development of serialized hydrogen fuel cell bus products and continuous technical upgrading, Ankai has developed a full range of 8-12 meters hydrogen fuel bus products, and formed a good demonstration effect.
Not only that, Ankai is also continuing to promote new product development and improve the performance of all aspects of products. Among them, an a new generation of 12-meter hydrogen fuel cell bus developed by Ankai for commercial applications, under the condition of public transport, the vehicle is filled with hydrogen for no more than 15 minutes, the driving range reaches more than 500 kilometers, and it can also realize automatic start in a low temperature environment of -30 °C, which can fully meet the high-intensity transportation requirements of urban buses.
Up to now, the Ankai hydrogen fuel bus put into operation in the hydrogen energy bus line in Lu'an City, Anhui Province, has a single operating mileage of more than 140,000 kilometers, and the performance of the vehicle is stable and reliable, and the comprehensive performance is excellent.
Photo caption: Ankai new energy bus was put into use
According to the goals of the "14th Five-Year Plan for the High-quality Development of the Automobile Industry in Anhui Province", by 2025, the overall development of the new energy automobile industry in Anhui Province will reach the international advanced level, the output of new energy vehicles in Anhui Province will account for more than 40%, the intelligent vehicle ecology will be initially established, and the intelligent infrastructure with a high degree of coordination of "people-vehicle-road-cloud" will be initially completed. This brings new opportunities to Ankai Bus.
On February 26, Ankai Bus exhibited the latest achievements in the field of hydrogen fuel - Ankai E9 hydrogen fuel city bus. Based on the design concept of lightweight, integrated, intelligent, low hydrogen consumption, wide temperature range and platform, this high-end intelligent bus has the technical advantages of high efficiency, strong power, low hydrogen consumption, short hydrogen refueling time, long mileage and low floor, full channel, large passenger load, intelligent network connection, etc., and the performance has reached the domestic first-class and international leading level.
Strengthen the resilience of development for overseas export markets
The internationalization strategy of "creating a global brand and doing the world's Ankai" spurs Ankai Bus to continue to strengthen product quality and continuously enhance market competitiveness. While strengthening cooperation with countries along the "Belt and Road", actively building bus brands that affect the world, and enhancing the global popularity and reputation of Chinese manufacturing with high-quality products and services, Ankai's development resilience has also been strengthened.
On March 8, 2022, the launch ceremony of 800 10.5-meter Ankai natural gas buses exported to Mexico was grandly held, which received the attention of more than 1,000 overseas media. This will not only become the largest order for Chinese buses exported to Mexico so far, but also will deliver "green energy" for the low-carbon development of North America and the world, and also bring strong growth momentum to China's bus exports.
Ankai Bus has exported more than 10,000 vehicles to Saudi Arabia, covering school buses, buses, tourist passenger transport and other types, and is the absolute main force in the field of road public transportation in Saudi Arabia and the preferred brand of Saudi users. With the continuous expansion of brand awareness in the entire Saudi Arabia region, Ankai Bus has gradually expanded its market in the Middle East, Africa and other regions, established cooperative relations with local high-quality partners, and strived to create a perfect service system to provide users with a full range of services.
In Europe, the highland of global bus technology, Ankai new energy bus has occupied a place. Since 2017, Ankai pure electric double-decker open-top sightseeing bus has been exported to France and Italy, which brings together a number of Ankai new energy leading technologies such as all-aluminum body and wheel motor, and has passed the EU certification, representing Ankai's latest achievements in the field of sightseeing tourist buses and new energy buses.
Ankai Bus has always been committed to the development of lightweight, and has taken the lead in the industry to complete the development of full-load bus technology with aluminum body structure. Ankai pure electric double-decker convertible sightseeing car adopts all-aluminum body design, which is lighter than the body of similar steel products, and the perfect match between the all-aluminum body and the wheelside electric drive axle makes the vehicle have better power performance and achieves energy-saving and efficient operation.
At present, Ankai bus has been exported to more than 100 countries and regions around the world, and Ankai new energy bus has passed the EU certification, and has been exported to Italy, France, Uruguay, India, Israel and other countries, green buses are driving into more countries.
In recent years, the domestic demand for buses is in a downward trend, in the face of the gradual saturation of the road passenger transport market, the new means of transport to the bus market cannibalized unfavorable environment, the future Ankai bus will continue to take the independent innovation, continuous innovation of the development path, focusing on technological innovation in the field of new energy vehicles, and with the help of overseas market development to maintain the resilience of enterprise development.