The 2022 China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum has just come to an end. During the three-day meeting, a total of 14 sub-forums with different themes were held, including senior representatives of multinational car companies such as BMW, GM and Volvo, who spoke, and the heads of BYD, Changan, Ideal and Xiaopeng Automobile discussed current industry topics. The theme of this forum is set as "Greeting a New Stage of Market-oriented Development of New Energy Vehicles", and there are many topics, including lack of cores, supply chain, information technology and intelligent technology, and double carbon.
But it is precisely at such a high-quality, annual car circle conference with the theme of "a new stage of development" that Tesla, which has a high market share in China's new energy market, did not appear in the public forum.
As a member of the Council of the Hundred, Tesla actually did not have many public appearances at the Hundred People's Meeting and output "burst points". The limited number of appearances on the stage is actually at the moment when Tesla has the significance of the time node.
In 2016, Tesla highlighted its direct operation model that combines online ordering on the official website and offline experience stores.
In 2017, Tesla, which is eager to enter the Chinese market, made a "promotion" at the 100-person meeting, when the Model 3 had not yet been officially launched, and Tesla announced that it would introduce the Model 3 in China the following year.
Last year, Wang Hao, general manager of Tesla China, took the stage to speak, mainly talking about Tesla's rapid development in the Chinese market in 2020.
However, Tesla actually appears as a topic at the 100-person meeting. For example, at the 100-person meeting in 2020, when Tesla's Shanghai factory opened delivery and swept the Chinese electric vehicle market with a price war, Tesla's menacing force for The Chinese electric vehicle market was in stark contrast to the new car manufacturers who had not eased up from the financial crisis at that time.
Interestingly, the hundred people's meeting at the beginning of 2020, because of Tesla, price reduction has become a topic.
Two years later, Tesla is still the leader. It can be said that Tesla, which has accelerated the marketization process of New Energy Vehicles in China, is now facing the same threat as the entire industry.
From this year's 100-person meeting, it can be found that Tesla is gradually not a benchmark symbol. There are fewer and fewer technological innovations and market-leading things that Tesla can mention.
From the marketing model, to sales volume, to technological innovation, China's car manufacturers and technology companies are no longer Tesla's followers, and are trying to surpass Tesla from all directions.
For example, when talking about V2X (Vehicle to X) is the key technology of the future intelligent transportation system, Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that so far, including Tesla, bicycle intelligence is the main implementation method, but now more and more companies are aware of the importance of V2X.
In the choice of technical routes for autonomous driving, Tesla has also begun to be unrepresentative, if in the past, car manufacturers want to become Tesla, then, in industry conferences like the Hundred People's Association, it can already be felt that "everyone wants to surpass Tesla" meaning.
In the Tesla-led 4680 battery technology, it has also ushered in the first sight. CATL announced the latest battery technology - Kirin Battery at the 100-person meeting, which involves an important indicator: the power of the Kirin battery pack under the same chemical system and the same battery pack size can be increased by 13% compared with the 4680 system.
Source: Ningde Times official website
In the field of chips, domestic large computing power chips have also begun to be listed, Black Sesame CEO Shan Jizhang revealed at the hundred people meeting that 2022 will be the mass production year of domestic large computing car rules chips, Black Sesame Intelligent Huashan No. 2 A1000 series chips, and Horizon Journey 5 chips are planned to be mass-produced this year.
Moreover, Yu Kai, founder of Horizon, also proposed that opening up is the general trend of industrial development. While providing SoC-level high-performance automotive intelligent chips, Horizon will be further opened, opening up BPU IP authorization to automakers, providing software kits, chip reference designs and technical support, helping some car companies develop self-developed chips, enhance differentiated competitiveness, and accelerate the speed of innovation and research and development.
This also means that in terms of intelligent hardware and ecological innovation, Chinese technology companies have begun to explore more possibilities with vehicle companies, whether it is hardware capabilities or innovation capabilities brought about by technological openness, the synergy in automatic driving capabilities will be further integrated.
This model is also committed to the all-round crushing of Tesla's self-driving capabilities.
At this year's meeting of 100 people, Miao Wei's blunt statement spread rapidly, "Chips and operating systems are our shortcomings and weaknesses, 'lack of core and less soul', especially car-level chips." In the past, auto companies basically handed over to first-level suppliers to do, and now they are just calling there, and there is no real action, and foreign auto factories have begun to invest in TSMC to produce capacity. ”
The rise of battery raw materials is a fact, the lack of core has also become a dilemma for the entire industry, in addition to the hand of government regulation, technological innovation and industrial chain reform are also new challenges.
This is an urgent transformation signal from the development of the industry.
At this year's electric vehicle 100 people's meeting, the development trend was talked about as usual:
Chen Qingtai, chairman of the China Electric Vehicle Hundred Association, said that in the revolution of automobile intelligence, the mainland automobile industry has achieved a first-mover effect in changing lanes, but the window of opportunity will not be too long.
Ouyang Minggao, vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, predicted that the sales of new energy vehicles will be basically the same as that of fuel vehicles around 2030, and it is expected that there will be battery overcapacity in 2025.
From the general direction, Lin Nianxiu, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that around the development direction and key links of electrification and intelligence, we should accelerate technology research and development and collaborative innovation, and continuously enhance core competitiveness.
Ouyang Minggao believes that one of the keys for vehicle companies to maintain their advantages in competition is to cope with the technological changes in vehicle design and manufacturing, value chain reconstruction and industrial ecological evolution brought about by the new round of electrified chassis platform technology.
These are the problems that the entire industry needs to face and face up to. Whether it is an independent brand or a new car manufacturer, they are doing their best to seize the so-called window period of little time.
At this time, Tesla has just held the commissioning ceremony of the German gigafactory, tesla has also opened an ambitious European plan, the European market has a higher penetration rate of electric vehicles than the Chinese market, and there is also a more aggressive electric vehicle promotion plan, but Europe does not have a more open market like China, and a harsh regulatory environment.
Image source: Tesla
For Tesla at this stage, there is no room for the marketization of New Energy Vehicles in China, or committing to the European market may be a better way to resist the threat from Chinese car manufacturers.
Musk danced again in Germany. Tesla is not on stage here, so there is no surprise.
Header image source: 100 people will video playback screenshot