From pure electric drive to intelligent cockpit, new energy vehicles that were once scorned by traditional car companies have quietly become the favorite in the eyes of users.
From the former risk of spontaneous combustion to the suspicion of "cheating", from the increasing mileage to the evolving automatic driving system, electric vehicles have embarked on a counterattack path.
However, under the double attack of the shortage of raw materials and chip supply of power batteries, on the eve of the imminent withdrawal of the new energy vehicle subsidy policy, from Tesla and BYD to the latest Lantu and Extreme Kr, almost all electric vehicles have come to a watershed: the delivery time is constantly delayed, and the maximum price increase reaches the level of ten thousand yuan.
For a time, electric cars seemed to return to the appearance of "scams".
At the scene of the 2021 annual report of GAC Group, Feng Xingya, general manager of GAC Group, mentioned when returning to the question that GAC Toyota and GAC Honda, which are also Japanese car companies, GAC Toyota is less affected by chips, while GAC Honda has lost more than 100,000 vehicles, one of the biggest reasons is the difference in the chip supply chain, behind Toyota is Japanese Renesas.
Once criticized for the slow progress in the field of electric vehicles, Toyota in the latest electric vehicle development plan, in addition to sales and models, in 10 years or 1 million kilometers to maintain 90% of the available power of the power battery, "to create a stable supply system for power batteries", is one of the highlights.
"Safety" is the primary factor in Toyota's various reports, employees have their own "safety declarations", and "stability" is certainly one of the interpretations of safety.
For the current electric vehicle into a collective price increase tide, we also look at Toyota's planning and reserves behind the field of electric vehicles.
In contrast to the upcoming bZ4X, the first model of the e-TNGA platform, with the help of integrated research and development of the whole vehicle and the power battery, by 2030, Toyota will reduce the cost of the power battery by 50%, including the cost of the battery cell by more than 30%, and the battery efficiency by 30%.
Before releasing a comprehensive electric vehicle plan, Toyota entered the field of power battery raw materials with the help of its subsidiary Toyota Tsusho, and achieved multi-level cooperation with Australian lithium miner Orocobre, including obtaining 15% of the latter's shares, cooperating to build factories in Japan, etc., to ensure the long-term stable supply of power battery raw materials.
From raw materials to the original price reduction, to Panasonic, Ningde era and BYD's global power battery supply chain, Toyota has prepared and planned all the problems that electric vehicle companies can think of and cannot think of, and has controlled the pace of development in its own hands, which is simply too Toyota.
Due to the power battery production capacity restrictions brought about by the rapid growth of new energy vehicles, power batteries have been expanding their production capacity on a large scale in recent years, and at the same time, in addition to the main players such as Panasonic, LG Chemical, Ningde Times and BYD, there are more and more participants.
Electric vehicle companies just want to breathe a sigh of relief, but now they have to face another test brought about by large-scale price increases in raw materials.
The price of power battery raw materials does not fall one day, electric vehicles may rise in price again, coupled with the delisting of new energy vehicle subsidy policies, as well as the chip shortage caused by the "high price", the competitive advantage of electric vehicles built by Chinese cars in the past few years will disappear.
More seriously, whether it is the brand of independent traditional cars in recent years, or the brilliance of new car manufacturers, it seems to be a blindfold. The right to speak in the automobile industry is still in the hands of multinational car companies and multinational enterprises, and taking 10,000 steps back, the right to speak of China's independent car companies seems to have never changed.
From the supply chain within Toyota's system to BYD's self-research of sandian, they have firmly controlled the key to the gate of heaven in their hands.
Once China's electric vehicle companies have begged for this unicorn in the Ningde era, produced batteries for themselves, provided sufficient output, and even finally created a power battery joint venture, but the dilemma caused by the "rising price tide" of raw materials has brought everything back to the original point.
Compared with the production capacity of auto parts such as chips, the raw materials for power batteries are another world.
The production and sales scale of 100,000 new car manufacturers cannot afford to touch this field, and there is no absolute right to speak, which is like a "trapped beast fight".
Under the double attack of raw material price increases and lack of cores, some models directly stopped production, and some models were continuously postponed. After the first wave of price increases, perhaps we can foresee who will become the second car company to "raise prices again" in the future?
"Buy early and enjoy early" may become the "only truth" of the electric vehicle market.
"Price increase", pouring cold water on the fiery new energy vehicles, but also to the Chinese car companies to wake up, it is time to sober up, what is the real prosperity.
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