BYD became the first car company in the world to officially announce the suspension of fuel vehicles.
On April 3, BYD announced that it has completely stopped the production of fuel vehicles since March this year, and its product line will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid routes.
There are two sets of figures behind this official announcement that deserve attention: one is that in March this year, the sales of BYD fuel vehicles were 0; second, in March this year, the sales of BYD new energy vehicles exceeded 100,000.
BYD took the lead in stopping the sale of fuel vehicles, which undoubtedly has a certain role in promoting the entire automotive industry to turn to the new energy vehicle market.
Under the general trend of new energy, BYD pressed the fast-forward button, all in new energy vehicles, but also has confidence.
On March 29 this year, BYD released its 2021 full-year financial report data. The annual operating income for the whole year was 216.142 billion yuan, an increase of 38.02% year-on-year. Net cash flow from operating activities was RMB65.467 billion, an increase of 44.22% year-on-year.
In terms of sales data, BYD's cumulative sales of pure electric models exceeded 320,000 units and hybrid models last year, with annual sales of nearly 600,000 vehicles. This is a new record for Sales of New Energy Vehicles in China so far.
In contrast, Tesla's sales in the Chinese market are 480,000 vehicles, the sales of the new force Wei Xiaoli are a total of 280,000 vehicles, and other independent car companies only have more than 100,000 vehicles.
Especially in February this year, BYD's new energy passenger car sales reached 87,473 units, compared with other new energy vehicle companies fell 30% to 50% month-on-month fluctuations, BYD appeared more stable, the month-on-month decline of only 6%, almost flat.
In the eyes of most people, BYD may not be foreign enough, nor is it intelligent, but the reality is that BYD's new energy vehicles are selling well.
01
BYD's new energy vehicle sales disassembly
In the whole year of 2021, BYD's total sales of new energy vehicles were 593745, the cumulative sales of EV pure electricity were 320,810, and the cumulative sales of DM hybrids were 272935.
Looking back, the sharp increase in BYD's sales volume is the result of BYD's insistence on "EV pure electric, DM hybrid" two-line parallel.
To achieve this strategy, a large product family is needed as a support.
For BYD, capturing each segment is the key to ensuring sales growth.
BYD has five major product families: Han, Tang, Song, Qin and Yuan. Each product is also divided into different models such as pure electric version and DM hybrid version.
In addition, BYD also has new family models such as the Marine series, Denza brands and unannounced high-end brands.
In 2021, the annual sales of the five dynastic families of the Han, Tang, Song, Qin and Yuan dynasties will be 117665, 54,204, 200,870, 194,220 and 41,402 respectively.
Hanzeng's monthly sales exceeded 10,000 for 6 times, ranking first in the sales list of medium and large cars of Chinese brands.
As a high-end model with an average transaction price of more than 250,000 yuan, BYD Han is currently the only medium and large car of Chinese brands that can compete head-on with BBA in the domestic auto market.
Tang is mainly in the B-class SUV market, with cumulative sales of more than 50,000 vehicles throughout the year.
With the 2022 Don EV with a closed family front face coming, Tang may continue the momentum of monthly sales of a single model exceeding 10,000 and sit firmly in the sales list of mid-size SUVs.
Song, which focuses on the A-class SUV market, has sold more than 110,000 units (including a small number of fuel vehicles) in the whole year of 2021.
In November last year, Song PLUS DM-i won the national hybrid (PHEV) model volume championship and began to challenge the same level of joint venture SUVs.
In December, bydy's 2022 Song Pro DM-i was launched, with cumulative orders on the first day of pre-sale reaching 18,116 units.
Among the DM-i models, the Qin family can be called a blockbuster model, which can be said to be BYD's largest sales contribution model in 2021, with a total of about 30% of sales coming from Qin.
From the perspective of the whole year of 2021, the Qin family is only one step away from the annual sales of 200,000 vehicles.
Yuan has taken on the heavy responsibility of conquering the A0-class SUV market and has sold more than 41,000 vehicles throughout the year, and still occupies a leading position in the small pure electric SUV market.
The Ocean series focuses on "low price" and "young". Dolphin, the first model in BYD's "Ocean" series, went on sale in August last year and exceeded the 10,000-unit mark for the first time in December.
BYD's product family covers many market segments, and new energy models cover the range of 100,000-300,000 yuan, which can be said to be one of the most abundant brands of new energy products on the market.
The latest data shows that the unit price of BYD's products has exceeded the mark of 150,000 yuan.
From the perspective of product layout, BYD's pure electric vehicle models sold in 2021 account for more than 50%, and plug-in hybrid models account for nearly 50%, accounting for almost half of the country.
The top three in the global new energy vehicle sales rankings, Tesla, ranked first, and SAIC-GM-Wuling, which ranked third, are all walking on a pure electric "one leg", while BYD uses "pure electricity + plug-in hybrid" to go hand in hand, covering the two mainstream technical routes in the current new energy market.
Whether the market is left or right in the future, this allows BYD to have sufficient product reserves and technology accumulation to cope.
However, the momentum of market size has not solved the problem of BYD's sharp decline in gross profit margin in the automotive business.
According to the data, the gross profit margin of BYD's automobile business in 2021 was 17.39%, down 7.81% from 2020. In contrast, Tesla rose from 25.6% last year to 29.3% last year, and the more BYD sells, the less it earns.
BYD said that the decline in the gross profit margin of the automobile business was mainly affected by changes in product structure and the increase in the cost of raw materials for power batteries.
On the contrary, Tesla's gross profit margin increase last year was mainly due to the replacement of lithium iron phosphate batteries, the sharp release of production capacity at the Shanghai factory, and the control of the expense ratio during the period.
Of course, a common reason for the improvement of gross profit margin and operating profit margin is the scale effect.
But whether it is the control of battery costs, the release of production capacity, or the scale effect of the market, BYD is almost the closest to Tesla.
At this year's investor meeting, Wang Chuanfu said that the growth trend is slowing down now, and it is believed that with the increase in supply, the price of raw materials should slowly fall, and BYD's current battery system has considered the matching of social resources a few years ago.
Increase the energy density of the packets by structural changes, minimizing the use of Chinese elements that are stuck in the neck. In addition to lithium, more iron and phosphorus are easily available in China.
Wang Chuanfu believes that in the future, with large-scale manufacturing, structural optimization, and energy density improvement, blade batteries still have 5%-10% of the cost reduction space.
In terms of production capacity, BYD's plants are currently in production in Shenzhen, Changsha and Xi'an, with an annual production capacity of 1.85 million units. This year, the four major factories in Changzhou, Hefei, Fuzhou and Zhengzhou will be put into operation, and the annual production capacity will be increased to 2.6 million vehicles.
It is expected that by 2023, BYD will form 9 major vehicle bases and increase its production capacity to 3.65 million vehicles, reaching an average of 10,000 per day.
At present, BYD's cumulative undelivered orders have reached 400,000 units, and it is still increasing month by month. According to conservative estimates, BYD will sell 1.5 million vehicles in 2022. If the supply chain improves, it will hit the sales target of 2 million units.
This means that after the suspension of fuel vehicles, BYD will only rely on its pure electric and plug-in hybrid models to achieve this goal.
According to this calculation, in the scale of the new energy vehicle market, BYD may return to the world's first place this year.
02
What is BYD's sales code?
With so many best-selling models, how did BYD build it?
At the 100 electric vehicle meeting held this year, Wang Chuanfu gave a summary: BYD insisted on walking on "two legs" of pure electric and plug-in hybrid with subversive technologies such as blade batteries, DM-i super hybrid, and e-platform 3.0, ushering in the outbreak of technology, products and markets.
Blade batteries, DM-i Super Hybrid and e-Platform 3.0 are BYD's most core technologies, and they have also boosted BYD's sales in the field of new energy vehicles to new highs.
Today, blade batteries have become BYD's core competitiveness, and its pure electric models have completed the switch of "knife matching". It also began to supply to other car companies. The latest rumor is that both Xiaomi and NIO will use BYD's batteries.
Blade batteries were first proposed by BYD in 2019 as a "super battery" plan: traditional batteries are made into longer, thinner blade shapes, and then these blade-like cells are put together to form a battery pack, thereby optimizing the spatial layout in the battery pack and improving energy density.
Compared with the traditional battery pack layout, the stacking between the blade and the blade is more tight than the cylinder, and it can also act as a support beam, eliminating a lot of support structure, and the space utilization rate of the entire battery pack can reach more than 60%. The extra space utilization rate is naturally to increase the energy density and increase the cruising range.
In addition, BYD's earlier block lithium iron phosphate battery has an advantage in terms of safety, and then this advantage is transferred to a blade-shaped lithium iron phosphate battery pack, which is safer.
According to BYD, after switching from a block battery to a blade battery, a blade battery with a longer short circuit loop and a larger surface heat dissipation area, the probability of spontaneous combustion is lower. This conclusion was also strongly verified in the acupuncture test.
The safety of the battery pack is also reflected in the structural strength.
Traditional battery packs generally have only 4-5 beams, while blade batteries make each cell act as a structural member, and 100 batteries are 100 beams.
But also the use of honeycomb aluminum plate structure principle, the 100 battery stack on both sides of the paste two high-strength strength plates, its strength can be imagined.
In addition to safety and high energy, another significant feature of lithium iron phosphate batteries is the long cycle life.
According to incomplete statistics, at present, domestic passenger cars are equipped with lithium iron phosphate battery packs, and the laboratory cycle life is about 3,000 times, and the actual operation can reach at least 2,000 times.
However, the charging cycle life of the blade battery is measured to be more than 4500 times, that is, the attenuation after the battery is charged 4500 times is less than 20%.
In short, the outstanding advantages of blade batteries solve the sworn enemy of safety and high energy.
BYD New Energy sells well, and another core reason is "DM-i super plug-in". Several models equipped with DM-i have gained good attention and sales in their respective market segments, which can be described as their sales code.
In 2022, BYD will also enter a new round of product offensive.
According to the plan, BYD will launch a number of new models including BYD Han DM-i, Yuan PLUS, destroyer and so on. In addition, with the increase in production capacity, sales may continue to rise this year.
BYD is one of the earliest car companies in China to lay out the hybrid market, especially in the plug-in hybrid market.
In December 2008, BYD unveiled the first generation of dm hybrid system, the first model to be equipped with the BYD F3DM.
Since the design concept of the first generation DM hybrid system is mainly based on energy saving as the technology orientation, F3DM has a low power ceiling and high vehicle price after the listing, and the market response is not ideal.
In 2013, BYD released the second generation of DM hybrid system, embarking on another concept - performance.
The first model is the 2014 BYD Qin DM, with a 1.5Ti in-cylinder direct injection engine, plus a 6-speed dry and P3 motor to achieve 5.9 s acceleration of 100 kilometers, laying a solid foundation for BYD DM-p hybrid.
In 2018, the BYD Tang DM equipped with the third-generation DM hybrid system was announced.
Different from the second generation of DM hybrid system, the upgrade of the third generation DM hybrid system is the integration of motors, electronic controls and other components, which reduces weight and volume while improving performance.
In June 2020, BYD released its dual-platform strategy for DM hybrid systems, DM-i & DM-p.
i stands for intelligent, to meet the needs of consumers who pursue the economy of the car;
p stands for powerful, satisfying consumers who are looking for speed.
The first generation of DM hybrid systems was designed to be energy efficient and fuel efficient.
BYD DM-i hybrid system is upgraded on this basis, by adding high-power motors and large-capacity batteries, so that the engine becomes an auxiliary part of the power, to achieve more electricity, less oil effect.
BYD's DM-p hybrid system is after the development of the second and third generations, and under the two major technical guarantees of high-power motors + large-capacity batteries, it has found a phased balance between performance and energy consumption.
At this point, the emergence of BYD super hybrid has filled in the technical defects in this field and solved the inevitable endurance problem of pure electric models.
If the blade battery and DM hybrid system help BYD to run, then the arrival of the e-platform allows BYD to realize the platformization from the key three-electric technology platform, system platformization and vehicle architecture.
In 2018, the launch of BYD e platform 1.0 solves the problem of changing the development of electric vehicles from one vehicle to one vehicle and one platform, and solves the problem of whether there is a pure electric platform.
e Platform 2.0 is to modularize the platform system and centralize and deepen the key modules.
In 2021, BYD's e-platform 3.0 is BYD's realization of using information thinking to build cars and applying designs to mechanical platforms with dimensionality reduction.
Before the e-platform 3.0, including EVs, DM, DM-i and other EVs, DM-i such as Qin, Han, Tang, Song and other series of explosive models originated from the e-platform 2.0 shared by oil and electricity, and the cumulative production and sales have exceeded 1 million vehicles.
Its existence is mainly from the safety, cost, endurance and other aspects to achieve the same level of fuel vehicles, that is, practical and economic two directions, intelligence is only a small area of appendages.
After the e-platform 3.0, the battery is equipped with a blade battery, from battery modularity to battery body integration, the electric drive from the original 2.0 of the 33 two pieces (drive three-in-one & high voltage three-in-one) to 8-in-1 electric drive assembly, improve the motor power, reduce energy transmission loss.
The battery under this platform adopts the drive motor boost fast charging technology, which is charged for 5 minutes, can travel up to 150 km, and is equipped with a wide temperature range high-efficiency heat pump system, which solves the problem of winter battery life for northern users.
In terms of intelligence, the e 3.0 platform has introduced four major domain controllers: intelligent power, intelligent vehicle control, intelligent cockpit, and intelligent driving, to improve the efficiency of computing power and interaction.
e 3.0 What does IT MEAN TOD?
Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu once said: "The e 3.0 platform is the most critical layout for BYD to shift from electrification in the first half to intelligence in the second half of the new energy vehicle revolution, and is the cradle of the next generation of electric vehicles."
BYD's expectations for the e 3.0 platform are also the confidence of BYD to compete in the second half of "intelligence" and achieve brand upward mobility.
03
How does BYD use "intelligence" to open up the mid-to-high-end market?
How does BYD think about the "intelligence" of cars?
In September 2018, at BYD's global developers, Wang Chuanfu mentioned: "There are two major changes in the automotive industry, one is electrification, the other is intelligence... Smart cars should be smartphones with long legs, mobile spaces with supercomputing power."
This can be seen as the first time that Wang Chuanfu has expressed his views on "intelligence" in public.
In November 2021, at the Sequoia Digital Technology Global Leaders Summit, Wang Chuanfu also mentioned that the great change in the automotive industry, electrification is the first half, and intelligence is the second half. BYD is also accelerating the informatization and intelligent transformation of the manufacturing industry, and will grasp informatization as a leading project.
Behind this statement, what actions does BYD make?
In January and November 2021, BYD completed two fundraisings with the help of BYD's Hong Kong listed company platform, totaling about HK$43.7 billion (about 35.8 billion yuan).
At that time, in the announcement, BYD's statement on the purpose of fundraising was as follows: electrification and intelligence is the future development direction of the automotive industry, the company will realize the accelerated replacement of new energy vehicles for fuel vehicles through technological innovation, and through the software and hardware layout in the field of automotive intelligence, realize the leap from traditional cars to intelligent cars.
One of the first layouts we saw was that in December last year, BYD and Momenta established a joint venture with a capital of 100 million yuan: Dipai Zhixing.
According to people familiar with the matter, BYD has invested 60 million yuan in the joint venture company, and Momenta has invested 40 million yuan. In the future, Momenta will install L2+ autonomous driving functions in specific BYD models.
At the end of last year, BYD strategically invested in lidar company Sagitar Juchuang. Not surprisingly, BYD's next-generation model will be equipped with Sagitar's lidar.
In February this year, BYD chose Baidu as its intelligent driving supplier, which will provide BYD with ANP intelligent driving products and human-machine co-driving maps. The latest development is that the Baidu intelligent driving team has entered the field to cooperate with BYD in research and development.
At the NVIDIA GTC conference in March this year, BYD announced that the new generation of models useSWD Orin chips, which use Orin chips to achieve intelligent driving and parking functions.
In addition to NVIDIA, BYD is also cooperating with Huawei MDC, and it is reported that BYD's upcoming seal will be equipped with Huawei MDC. In addition, BYD has also invested in the domestic self-driving chip vendor Horizon.
According to the plan, FROM THE FIRST HALF OF 2023, BYD will be equipped with NVIDIA Orin chips and related software and hardware systems on some new energy vehicles to achieve functions such as automatic driving and automatic parking.
After a series of actions, BYD will launch a model with intelligent driving capabilities at the earliest and latest next year, and the Denza high-end MPV planned to be launched within the year is likely to be the first model equipped with lidar.
In the fierce competition in the first half, BYD has achieved initial victory momentum with its advantages in batteries, super hybrids and other fields.
In the second half, the stage of intelligence has opened.
Impacting the high-end market has always been BYD's dream goal. Although the previous playing style of "rural encirclement of the city" has completely gained a foothold in the sinking market, it has also put a shackle on BYD's lack of brand power in the sinking market.
For this battle of new energy transformation, "intelligence" is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for BYD to enter the high-end market.