On April 10, NIO announced an adjustment to the price of its products, which officially took effect on May 10. Affected by the rise in global raw material prices since the beginning of this year, many new energy vehicle companies have raised the prices of their products to varying degrees, and even some car companies have raised prices many times, ranging from 2,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan. However, this wave of price increases has also caused the market to have some concerns about the new energy vehicle industry chain.
The price increase may continue
Since April, new energy vehicles have ushered in a new round of price increases, and new energy vehicle companies such as Chery, Lynk & Co, and Weilai have announced price increases.
On April 6, Chery New Energy Vehicle announced that some of its models will raise prices, ranging from 2,900 yuan to 5,000 yuan. As for the reason for the price increase, Chery New Energy gave the statement that "due to the continuous rise in the price of raw materials such as batteries and chips", the cost of some models on sale of Chery New Energy continued to increase. The price increase this time is only about 21 days after Chery New Energy's last price increase. This also means that in less than a month, Chery New Energy has officially announced price increases twice.
There are more car companies following up on price increases. On April 8, Lynk & Co issued an explanation on the price adjustment of new energy products, "the official guidance price of its new energy (PHEV plug-in hybrid) products will be raised, with an amplitude of 2,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan." On April 10, NIO announced that it will adjust the prices of its products, including: the starting price of each version of NIO ES8, ES6, EC6 models will be raised by 10,000 yuan.
In this regard, Qi Haiyan, president of Beijing Teyi Sunshine New Energy, analyzed to reporters that due to the shortage of chips in the industry has not been solved for the time being, the limited chip supply will be preferentially used in models with higher added value, and the chip use of new energy vehicles is originally higher than that of traditional fuel vehicles.
According to Shanxi Securities, the cost of 1GWh ternary batteries, compared with the same period last year, the cost of raw materials for various types of batteries has increased by about 37,000 yuan. It is expected that the price fluctuations of power batteries will gradually pass downstream, and the price of new energy vehicles is expected to be raised successively.
So, will the price increase of new energy vehicles have an impact on sales? Judging from the terminal feedback of some car companies, it has not had a negative impact on their orders. According to the data released by a number of new energy vehicle companies, the delivery volume of each car company in March has improved significantly from the previous month, and many car companies have set new highs. For example, in March, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 15,000 units, an increase of 202.1% year-on-year and 148% month-on-month; Ideal Automobile delivered 11,000 units, an increase of 125.2% year-on-year, an increase of 31.1% month-on-month; Nezha Automobile delivered 12,000 units, an increase of 270.5% year-on-year, an increase of 69% month-on-month.
How long will the price increases last? "This round of new energy vehicle price increases should last for about half a year." Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automobile Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, told reporters that from the perspective of supply and demand, the demand amplification brought about by panic inventory reserves is temporary.
"Half a year is an adjustment cycle of the industrial chain." Zhang Xiang analysis said: "Since January 1, the national new energy vehicle subsidy has declined, like the maximum decline of pure electric vehicles more than 5,000 yuan. After the slope is receded, the price will rise when the owner buys a new car. In addition, from the beginning of the year, the cathode material of the battery has also come to a wave of new price increases, basically after the adjustment of the first half of the year, the price should be stable in the second half of the year, with the improvement of lithium carbonate supply capacity, the price will gradually return to the basic demand side, and the production capacity of new energy vehicles will also be gradually improved. ”
There is an imbalance between supply and demand
In addition to price increases, delays in the delivery of new energy vehicles occur from time to time. On April 9, WEILAI posted on its official App that since March, due to the epidemic, the company's supply chain partners in Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places have stopped production one after another and have not yet recovered.
Weilai explained that the company will work with supply chain partners to strive to resume production as soon as possible and deliver vehicles as soon as possible under the premise of meeting the requirements of epidemic prevention. "This situation is not ours, many manufacturers have suspended production. We are as anxious as everyone else and hope that the epidemic will pass soon. Weilai said.
The postponement of NIO's delivery is not unique. According to the "Domestic Automobile Consumption Rights Protection Public Opinion Research Report (2021)" released by the Beijing Sunshine Consumption Big Data Research Institute, "failure to deliver on time" has been juxtaposed with quality problems, service problems and false publicity, and has become a common problem in automobile consumer rights protection.
At present, the new energy vehicle market has gradually shifted from insufficient demand to insufficient supply. The picture is from the "Domestic Automobile Consumption Rights Protection Public Opinion Research Report (2021)".
In this regard, IPG China chief economist Bai Wenxi analyzed to reporters that in the current new energy vehicle market, most brands of pure electric vehicles have the phenomenon of "one car is difficult to find", which is mainly because the new energy consumption trend has initially formed, the market has begun to start and grow rapidly, and the production capacity and its industrial support have not yet been formed or not played enough to cause an imbalance between supply and demand.
Many car companies are also focusing on promoting the delivery progress. "Since the beginning of this year, smart electric vehicles have continued to be in short supply." Xiaopeng Automobile told reporters that in order to accelerate the delivery of a large number of orders in hand brought in from 2021 and new orders this year, Xiaopeng Automobile completed the technical transformation of the Zhaoqing plant during the Spring Festival.
Taking advantage of the "high price" and "difficult to buy" of new energy vehicles, some people even started a crooked idea. By placing an order for multiple new energy vehicles at once, locking in a lock price and then selling the order indicator at hand.
Recently, Tesla began to let car buyers sign a "letter of commitment not to resell", for the case of individuals ordering multiple Teslas, it is stipulated that no transfer or actual transfer to any third party will be transferred or actually transferred within one year, if violated, Tesla requires a 20% penalty for the opening of the fare, otherwise it will restrict the binding account change of related vehicles and services such as supercharging. Tesla said that the "Letter of Commitment not to resell" is a measure to prevent scalping orders under specific circumstances, in order to maintain the fairness and transparency of the car purchase environment and protect the rights and interests of real car buyers.
Beijing Daxing District Tesla Gathering Center Experience Store
But such agreements do not limit those who want to reap the rewards of taking risks. On idle fish, there are second-hand merchants and even sell Tesla vehicles transfer agreements, each price of 5 yuan, after the purchase can consult the transfer of relevant agreements and processes, as if derived from the relevant industrial chain and supporting services. In this regard, some lawyers have analyzed that there are actually certain legal risks in this move, such as "the vehicle cannot be transferred", "concealing the true data of the vehicle mileage", "opaque and asymmetrical information of the accident vehicle", etc. or exist.
"For consumers, a deposit has been paid, but the car is far away." In this case, it is necessary to conduct necessary consultations and communications with the car company or its agency in a timely manner and sign a written settlement agreement or supplementary agreement to confirm and protect its own rights and interests, and strive to obtain the necessary compensation. Bai Wenxi told reporters that in the case of unable to reach a consensus, it is also possible to request the termination of the car purchase agreement and demand compensation for breach of contract. Car companies should formulate marketing plans according to their own production capacity and scheduling plans to prevent the untimely supply of large areas and even the occurrence of default problems.
The whole industry chain is facing the big test
The industrial chain of new energy vehicles covers a wide range. The upstream of the industrial chain includes lithium ore, electrolyte, positive and negative electrode materials, diaphragms, etc., and there are more related listed companies. Such as: Ganfeng Lithium, Tianqi Lithium, Western Mining, etc. Immediately after that, the middle reaches of the industrial chain include batteries, electronic controls, motors and other aspects, such as the Ningde era and Tianneng Power. Downstream are mainly major car companies and charging pile companies that produce automobiles.
Among them, "lack of core" is an industry pain point that has to be mentioned. It is understood that smart cars need hundreds of chips from various aspects such as body control, automatic driving, cockpit, and power. As far as the current demand of vehicle and parts companies is concerned, there is a certain gap in chip supply. The shortage of chips not only causes tight supply, but also pushes up the production cost of the whole vehicle. "Sometimes the cost of a sample is already close to dozens of times the cost of mass production." In the view of industry insiders, the willingness of mainland chip companies to invest in vehicle-grade chips with long research and development cycles, high thresholds and low profits is low.
In terms of battery supply, there are many "far water does not quench the near thirst". Guotai Junan Securities Research Report analysis, battery-grade lithium carbonate prices rose rapidly, mainly because of the urgent demand for lithium carbonate by lithium iron phosphate manufacturers, especially the surge in demand in the field of overseas energy storage batteries. However, 80% of the world's lithium minerals can be distributed overseas, and the expansion cycle averages 3 to 5 years. Zhang Xiang believes that the contradiction between supply and demand of lithium resources such as lithium carbonate is a global problem, and at present, it is necessary to comprehensively increase upstream supply, break the monopoly of resources, improve recycling and other solutions to alleviate the current contradiction between supply and demand.
The problem of difficult charging has also inhibited the development of the new energy vehicle market to a certain extent. At present, the number of new energy vehicles is 7.84 million, 1.47 million household charging piles, only 20% of the users who have installed household charging piles, most users still need to rely on public charging piles, and the layout of public charging stations is also uneven, large cities are dense, small and medium-sized cities and counties are relatively insufficient, and remote areas are more scarce.
In addition, the impact of the epidemic is still continuing, and the production and sales data in the second quarter are also not optimistic. According to industry insiders, the automobile supply chain enterprises in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai almost cover all the parts production links of a car, affected by the epidemic, the region where the parts manufacturers are located may be slow, or strengthen control, resulting in these enterprises or production stoppage or products can not be shipped out of the factory.
In the face of market challenges, relevant departments have begun to promote relevant measures to resolve industrial risks. "We will strengthen risk monitoring and judgment in the field of new energy vehicles, timely early warning and proper resolution." Lin Nianxiu, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that it is necessary to strengthen the coordination of the industrial chain and supply chain, give play to the leading role of leading enterprises, strengthen the connection between supply and demand in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and ensure the stable operation of the industry. At the same time, we will strengthen the construction of lithium, nickel, cobalt and other resource security systems, continue to do a good job in ensuring supply and stable prices, and accelerate the construction of a diversified supply and supply system that combines development and procurement and mutual assistance between domestic and international countries.
Although facing many market pressures, the new energy vehicle market is still optimistic. Fu Bingfeng, secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, expects that the total sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China are expected to reach 5 million in 2022, and the market share is expected to exceed 18%. CITIC Securities Research Report analysis, after the price increase of new energy vehicles, orders will be in a stable recovery state, and in the second half of the year there is also the rush effect of subsidy decline, still maintain an optimistic attitude towards the demand for new energy vehicles throughout the year.
Qi Haiyan told reporters that the huge industrial ecosystem of new energy vehicles cannot be developed overnight, and it needs to be promoted rationally and orderly, and it is necessary to exert efforts and make long-term efforts to scale benefits and profits to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
Reporter | Peng Tingting Text/Photo
Responsible Editor | Hong Yu