Tech Planet (WeChat ID: tech618)
Wen | Li Anqi
Edit the | Su Jianxun
Source| 36 carbon
Cover source | Visual China
This time, BYD ran ahead of global car companies.
On April 3, 2022, BYD announced that it will stop the production of fuel vehicles from March this year and will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the future.
A paper announcement directly made BYD the first car company in the world to officially announce the suspension of fuel vehicles.
At the same time, BYD also announced the full line of passenger car sales in March 2022: 104338 units, exceeding 100,000 units for the first time, respectively, by 50,674 DM models (plug-in hybrid models) and 53,664 EV models (pure electric models). What's more, sales of BYD's fuel models were already zero in March.
However, BYD said that it will continue to provide perfect service and after-sales protection for existing fuel vehicle customers, as well as the supply of spare parts throughout the life cycle.
This is a move that conforms to the trend of the times. In October 2021, the State Council issued the "Carbon Peak Action Plan before 2030", which stated that by 2030, the proportion of new new energy and clean energy powered transportation vehicles will reach about 40%.
Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Group, also proposed in a recent public speech: adhere to the "two legs" of pure electric and plug-in hybrid.
"If pure electric vehicles focus on solving the need for additional purchases, then plug-in hybrid effectively solves the first purchase and replacement needs of more families, and forms a significant substitution effect on the huge stock fuel vehicle market." Plug-in hybrid is an important path to achieve the goal of double carbon, and the change is relatively mild, which will help stabilize the industrial chain supply chain and achieve a smooth transition from fuel vehicles to pure electric vehicles. ”
Discontinued fuel vehicles, BYD is not out of thin air.
Previously, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference on November 14, 2021, BYD, as the only Chinese car company, signed a commitment letter with Five car companies, Volvo, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar Land Rover, confirming that it would stop selling fuel vehicles by 2040.
But the speed at which BYD stopped production was still unexpected by everyone. It is determination, but at the same time there is no way back, this move has given global car companies a reminder: on the road of "de-fuel vehicleization", BYD will begin to "roll up".
The sharp edge behind sales
The reason why it can quickly withdraw from the fuel vehicle market is not unrelated to BYD's surge in sales of new energy vehicles in 2021.
In 2021, BYD's annual passenger car sales reached 730,000 units, an increase of 75.4% year-on-year, far exceeding its peers. Among them, the annual sales of new energy passenger cars exceeded 590,000 units, an increase of 231.6% year-on-year, ranking first in China's new energy vehicle sales.
In terms of segmentation, the cumulative sales of DM models (plug-in hybrid models) for the whole year were 270,000 units, an increase of 467.6% year-on-year; the cumulative sales of EV models (pure electric models) for the whole year were 320,000 units, an increase of 144.9% year-on-year.
Obviously, BYD's strategy of adhering to the "two-legged walk" strategy of DM models and EV models has achieved results.
The new energy vehicle market is an opportunity for BYD to wait for many years.
In the past, in the field of fuel vehicles, the BYD brand was often labeled as "cost-effective" or even "cheap". But in the field of new energy, BYD's reputation is very different: with the release of core technologies such as DM-i super hybrid platform and blade battery, BYD tries to reverse the image with the label of "technology madman".
BYD blade battery. Image source: BYD official
Since 2008, BYD has seen the market potential of hybrid vehicles and launched the first plug-in hybrid model F3DM. Since then, BYD's plug-in hybrid technology has been iterative.
In terms of technical route, BYD believes that the traditional hybrid system based on the energy supply of fuel vehicle engines is not the optimal solution for the development of hybrid technology. Therefore, BYD has developed a hybrid architecture of "motor drive and power battery energy supply, supplemented by engine", subverting the traditional hybrid technology, not only low fuel consumption, but also making the vehicle price more affordable.
In January 2021, BYD officially launched a new hybrid solution - DM-i super hybrid platform, and the three models based on the platform, Qin PLUS DM-i, Song PLUS DM-i and Tang DM-i, were launched simultaneously.
"We want to let dm-i super hybrid enter the market segment where traditional fuel vehicles are absolutely dominant, and kill a blue ocean in the Red Sea." Wang Chuanfu once said at the DM-i technology conference.
Facts have proved that the DM-i hybrid model has become a major weapon for BYD's new energy vehicles, and the three models equipped with DM-i super hybrid will sell 180,000 in 2021.
Another sharp edge of BYD's technical reserves is the blade battery.
In March 2020, BYD released a new generation of self-developed lithium iron phosphate batteries - "blade batteries". In the past, due to low energy density, lithium iron phosphate batteries were once thrown behind ternary lithium batteries. Although the ternary lithium battery has poor thermal stability, it has a high energy density, so it is favored by the main engine factory.
The blade battery created by BYD based on the innovation of lithium phosphoriterate technology has a higher safety performance in the case of energy density being equal to that of mainstream ternary lithium batteries, making it possible for new energy vehicles to have both battery safety and energy density. Blade batteries were originally installed on the "Han" model, but from April 7, 2021, ALL of BYD's pure electric models have been equipped with blade batteries.
In addition to internal supply, BYD is also constantly opening up the battery market, including Tesla, Weilai, Xiaomi and other car companies, all of which are "gossip" customers of BYD blade batteries. This also confirms the technical reliability and market favor of blade batteries.
Under the support of BYD's DM-i platform + blade battery, some BYD models are in short supply.
In November 2021, Wang Chuanfu said that due to the excessive order volume, the delivery period of dm-i hybrid models has been repeatedly extended, with a delivery period of up to 4 months and an order of up to 200,000 yuan on hand. According to the Financial Associated Press on March 30, BYD's cumulative undelivered orders have reached 400,000 vehicles, and it is still increasing month by month.
In 2022, BYD also set a sales target: conservatively expected 1.5 million vehicles, if the supply chain is good, it will hit the sales target of 2 million vehicles.
However, from the perspective of BYD's delivery delays last year, BYD's production capacity is more than 700,000, so if it wants to impact 1.5 million to 2 million sales, BYD's production capacity will be expanded by 2-3 times.
At present, BYD is actively expanding production, and has built six major automobile industry bases such as Xi'an, Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Changsha and Tianjin, and is also building a factory in Hefei, Anhui, Changzhou, Jiangsu, and Zhengzhou, Henan. By the end of 2022, BYD's actual available capacity will reach 1.9 million units.
It can be said that BYD has a place enough to stand on the road of new energy vehicles. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before you withdraw from the fuel vehicle market. BYD's optimistic expectations for the new energy vehicle market have obviously accelerated this process.
The double challenge: pry open the door to intelligence and high-end
Electrification is only a basic ticket, and if it wants to go further, BYD needs to answer more questions after electrification.
Vehicle intelligence and high-end have always been the two major shortcomings of BYD.
In terms of intelligence, for the two major areas of smart cockpit and intelligent driving that are hot in the market, BYD has more efforts in the former, and the latter is conservative.
Previously, in the field of smart cockpit, BYD launched the DiLink intelligent networked vehicle machine system, upgrading from 1.0 to version 4.0. Mainly through a rotatable electronic screen, relying on the Android system ecology, so that users can download and use the APP.
The advantage of this approach is that BYD can quickly have intelligent networking capabilities; but the disadvantage is that the intelligent network ecology created by relying on tablets is still separated from the in-car experience that users expect.
What really makes BYD nervous is intelligent driving. Under the sweep of Tesla and Wei Xiaoli, intelligent driving has gradually become the standard for new cars in car companies, but BYD's intelligent driving is not enough to compete with the new car forces.
A BYD employee told 36Kr that the interior has realized that it is relatively backward in the intelligentization of the car, and is currently investing a lot of energy in the development of intelligent cockpits and intelligent driving, and the number of related teams has reached 2,000 people.
In addition, BYD is also improving its business capabilities through continuous investment. In November 2021, BYD and intelligent driving company Momenta jointly established an intelligent driving joint venture to jointly create high-level intelligent driving solutions.
More collaborations have been exposed. In February 2022, BYD invested in lidar company Sagitar Juchuang, and at the end of February, it was reported that Baidu had become a supplier of intelligent driving for BYD, and at the end of March, BYD announced that it had reached a cooperation with NVIDIA.
The above-mentioned employees told 36Kr that the technical solutions of Huawei, Baidu, Momenta, Bosch and other companies are within the scope of BYD's consideration. "In the future, different types of suppliers will be selected according to different models."
He said that BYD expects to launch some models with low-level auxiliary driving functions this year, and the planning of high-end intelligent driving products next year is also on the way.
However, in the next few years, the competition in the domestic new energy vehicle market will be more intense, and it remains to be seen whether BYD can quickly launch intelligent products with the help of suppliers' capabilities, catch up with the industry level and even highlight the siege.
In addition to intelligence, how to build a high-end brand is also a problem that BYD has been thinking about.
At present, BYD has two series of models: the Dynasty series and the Ocean series. The main sales models of the former include Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and derivative models, basically covering the new energy vehicle market of 100,000-300,000 yuan.
BYD Khan. Image source: BYD official
The "Ocean Series" undertakes the mission of bydiring the BYD brand rejuvenation, covering models such as Dolphin, Seal and the upcoming warship series.
In addition to the two major areas, BYD is also investing 300,000-500,000 and 500,000-1 million models respectively.
In the price range of 300,000 to 500,000, BYD pins its hopes on the Denza brand jointly built with Daimler. On December 24, 2021, BYD and Daimler's shareholding in Denza was changed from 50% to 90% of BYD and 10% of Daimler.
BYD's intention to dominate the brand is self-evident. It is understood that the Denza brand will launch a new car to the market in 2022. According to the plan, Denza will launch three new models in the Chinese market in the next two years, including MPV and SUV.
In the price range of 500,000-1 million, BYD's high-end brand will also be unveiled in the first quarter of 2022, and the first hardcore off-road vehicle will be released in the fourth quarter of this year.
These two major range models are the roads that BYD has never explored. How the product strength and market response are, you can wait a little longer.
Recently, Wang Chuanfu said in a public speech: The development of new energy vehicles last year exceeded expectations, and the speed of industry change in the future may be faster than imagined. "According to the speed of industry change last year, if it is calculated at the same speed, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the mainland is expected to reach 35% at the end of this year."
In other words, the new energy automobile industry will also face a more turbulent tide, and BYD, which holds a DM-i super hybrid + blade battery, cannot sit back and relax.
However, BYD seems to be mentally prepared for a "quick response".
Previously, in an interview with China Entrepreneur, in the face of the current new energy vehicle market, Wang Chuanfu said: "At this stage, it is not too much to use 'fighting a war' to describe, fighting a war should be made quickly, if it is wrong, it will be changed, adjusted in the implementation process, and iterated quickly", "In this change, it must be a fast fish eating a slow fish, not a big fish eating a small fish." ”