New Energy Vehicle Track "Hot and Cold"

Reporter Fang Chao, Zhang Jiazhen, reported from Shanghai

While sales have increased significantly, the issue of car recalls has also attracted much attention.

Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the "State Administration for Market Regulation") issued the "Notice on the Recall of Automobiles and Consumer Goods in 2021" (hereinafter referred to as the "Recall Notice"), showing that in 2021, the mainland implemented a total of 232 car recalls, involving 8.736 million vehicles, an increase of 16.6% and 28.8% respectively over the previous year.

(Number and number of automotive product recalls from 2004 to 2021.) Image from the State Administration for Market Regulation 'Recall Notice')

As a popular track with strong development momentum, the number and number of recalls of new energy vehicles are also increasing. According to the above-mentioned "Recall Notice" statistics, in 2021, the mainland implemented a total of 59 recalls of new energy vehicles, involving 830,000 vehicles, accounting for 9.5% of the total number of recalls in the whole year.

Auto analyst Zhang Xiang said in an interview with the China Business Daily reporter that new energy vehicles, as a new thing, the current recall and other issues are the "troubles" that need to be faced in the development process. However, Zhang Xiang also said that under the influence of multiple factors such as the gradual heating up of new energy vehicle consumption, the shortage of licenses, and the rejuvenation of consumer subjects, the growth trend of new energy vehicle sales will not be greatly affected.

"Double growth" in number and number of recalls

Catalyzed by multiple factors such as the "double carbon" strategy, the new energy vehicle market is showing a rapid development trend.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland reached 3.545 million units and 3.521 million units, respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year, and the market share reached 13.4%, 8 percentage points higher than that in 2021. In January-February 2022, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in the mainland also increased by 1.6 times and 1.5 times year-on-year, respectively.

However, while the sales of new energy vehicles continue to rise, the number and number of recalls by car companies have also shown a "double growth". According to the Recall Notice, in 2021, the number and number of recalls of new energy vehicles in mainland China increased by 31.1% and 75.9% respectively over 2020.

"With the gradual promotion and ownership of new energy vehicles, related complaints have gradually increased." According to the "Analysis of Complaints Accepted by the National Consumer Association in 2021" released by the China Consumer Association, the main problems involve driving power outages, battery quality problems, shrinkage mileage and price change disputes.

"In recent years, the speed of technological update and iteration of the new energy automobile industry has been particularly fast." Zhang Xiang told reporters that many new energy vehicles have applied a large number of new technologies, "but the application of these new technologies has a trial and error process, and it is easy to have some problems." ”

Zhang Xiang said for example, in recent years, the technology that has been widely used in new energy vehicles can be generally divided into two major technical directions of power batteries and intelligent networking, such as in terms of intelligent networked vehicles, "new energy vehicles are equipped with a variety of new technologies such as automatic driving, which are becoming more and more complex."

The "Recall Notice" also shows that from the defect clues, in 2021, the State Administration for Market Supervision received 42886 defect clues for automotive products. Among them, 3033 cases of defect clues of new energy vehicles were reported, reflecting that the problems of power batteries, motors and electronic control systems accounted for 52.5% of the defect clues of new energy vehicles.

The reporter flipped through the "Notice on the Recall of Automobiles and Consumer Goods in 2020" previously issued by the State Administration of Market Supervision and found that in 2020, 1173 cases of defect clues for new energy vehicles were reported, reflecting that power batteries, motors, and electronic control system problems accounted for 49.4% of the defect clues of new energy vehicles. In contrast, the above two data have improved significantly in 2021.

It is worth noting that the shortening of the development cycle of new energy vehicles has also become one of the reasons for frequent recalls by car companies.

"In the past, it took about 5 years for joint venture car companies to develop a car, and it took about 3 years for independent brands, but now many new energy vehicle companies often use only two years to develop a new car, and the acceleration of the vehicle development cycle has also led to a lot of development verification processes being simplified." Zhang Xiang believes that "the time for new technology verification and experimentation is insufficient, and there will definitely be some problems after the new car is listed." ”

However, Zhang Xiang also said that the rapid increase in the number and number of new energy vehicle recalls is the result of a combination of factors. It believes that not only is there a "new force in car manufacturing", but also the number and number of recalls of joint venture car companies and luxury car brands are also increasing, "which has become a common phenomenon in the industry".

Launched a pilot sandbox regulatory system

Despite the "growing pains", under the joint efforts of car companies and regulatory authorities, the new energy automobile industry is also accelerating the tightening of quality "safety valves".

"The electric vehicle industry has entered the fast lane of development, which is beyond doubt. But the key question is how China can achieve the overtaking of the automotive industry through quality improvement under the condition of leading quantity, of which the safety of batteries is very critical. Zhang Lei, CEO of Envision Technology Group, said.

"It is recommended to develop good power battery safety standards, and guide enterprises to pay attention to and improve battery quality and reliability through this 'invisible hand'." In Zhang Lei's view, scientific and technological innovation means such as the Internet of Things can also be used to achieve power battery health prediction and active safety management. "This is of great significance for the long-term development of the entire electric vehicle industry, and it is also very critical to cultivating the competitiveness of China's battery industry and electric vehicle industry."

In addition to the power battery problem, while the rapid development of automatic driving trend technology, how to promote the better development of automatic driving and further improve the level of safety also needs to be paid attention to.

Chen Hong, secretary of the party committee and chairman of SAIC Motor, previously said: "To promote the faster development of intelligent and connected vehicles, especially to achieve the landing of autonomous driving technology, it is also necessary to achieve breakthroughs in laws and regulations. ”

"For example, it is proposed to clarify the legal status of autonomous driving systems in the Road Traffic Safety Law, and to formulate standard rules and disposal mechanisms for the division of responsibilities between human drivers and 'autonomous driving systems' (car companies, parts suppliers, etc.)." Chen Hong also suggested that in the "Measures for the Administration of Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and Product Access", a grade evaluation and certification system and access mechanism for "automatic driving system" should be established.

It is worth noting that with the acceleration of the "new four modernizations" of the automobile industry, it is also necessary for multiple parties to work together to solve the problem of automobile information security.

Tan Minqiang, deputy chief engineer of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd., secretary of the party committee and director of the technology center, said: "At present, the safety of automobile information security is becoming increasingly serious, resulting in frequent accidents in automobile information security, bringing network data security and personal privacy information security, endangering personal safety and public safety, and causing loss of people's lives and property, which has aroused major national concerns and high concerns from all walks of life. ”

Tan Minqiang suggested that it can be solved by building a cross-industry collaborative vehicle networking information security guarantee system, accelerating the construction of automotive information security standards, regulations and supervision platforms, and establishing a national technological innovation platform in the field of automotive information security with in-depth cooperation between government, industry, academia and research.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said in the Recall Notice that in 2022, it will increase the intensity of recall supervision and promote product safety supervision innovation. "In view of the new trend of the development of intelligent network technology, improve the data-driven auto accident in-depth investigation system, deepen the security assessment of smart car OTA big data, launch a pilot sandbox supervision system, adhere to the bottom line of product safety, and safeguard public safety and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers."

In addition, Fang Yinliang, global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, also said: "The 'new four modernizations' also pose new challenges to the automotive industry, and further policy clarification and guidance are needed in the aspects of data security of the Internet of Vehicles and the definition of responsibility for driverless accidents." ”

(Editor: Zhang Jiazhen Proofreader: Zhai Jun)