No piles, no piles, what does the charging service provider NaaS rely on?

Nowadays, the global new energy industry is on the cusp, policy dividends are frequent, and the layout around new energy vehicles is gradually unfolding. The rapid construction of charging piles has provided a guarantee for the popularity of new energy vehicles, and the charging pile market is also booming. According to the latest data from Tianyancha, there are currently nearly 216,000 charging pile-related enterprises in the mainland.

The pain points of the industry highlight the value of the platform

The booming new energy and charging market has attracted many players to enter the market. Overall, similar to the e-commerce industry, the current charging pile industry presents two mainstream models of self-operation and platform. The self-operated model requires investment, construction and operation of charging stations, and the model is heavier, and most charging pile operators and car companies are in this mode. The platform model belongs to the asset-light model, and it does not build piles by itself, but relies on service operators, service owners and other parties involved in the charging industry chain to make profits.

No matter which mode, it is necessary to solve the pain points of the current charging industry in order to achieve greater development. On the demand side, electric vehicle owners face multiple problems such as difficulty in finding piles, occupying places for oil vehicles, downloading multiple operator Apps, and difficulty in aggregating payments; on the supply side, the utilization rate of charging piles is generally low, the profitability of charging stations is difficult, and the return on investment period is long. From the perspective of industry development, it is transforming and upgrading from heavy construction to heavy operation, and no matter which model it is to strengthen online and offline operation capabilities.

The pain points of the industry are both challenges and opportunities, which highlights the value of the platform model. Taking offline operation as an example, the daily cleaning, operation and maintenance of charging stations requires greater labor costs. For the self-operated model, this is another huge investment. However, the platform model can open up its offline team to the whole industry, which can not only reduce costs for the industry, but also improve the overall service experience. At the same time, the platform model builds an interconnected charging network to attract different brand operators to settle in, and the use of different brand charging piles through an aggregate App can also effectively improve the user experience.

Diversified business services the whole industry chain, NaaS to do the whole industry service provider

NaaS is a typical platform model that does not produce charging piles or invest in construction, but serves charging station operators, charging pile manufacturers, electric vehicle OEMs, and also benefits end users and other stakeholders along the charging industry value chain.

Specifically, for charging station operators, NaaS provides services including pile sales, electricity sales, online and offline operations, operation and maintenance services, improves the utilization rate of charging pile single piles, and provides operators with value-added services such as retail and after-vehicle to improve the operational efficiency and profitability of operators. NaaS can also provide agency operation services for charging pile operators.

For OEMs, NaaS can add charging functions to the pre-installed software for electric vehicles, improve the charging experience of car owners, and simultaneously promote electric vehicle sales. For charging pile manufacturers, NaaS can help them increase sales through their powerful platform resources and brand influence.

For end users, NaaS provides users with an interconnected charging network and "one-click pile" service, and builds a charging network with a wide coverage with a third-party role, breaking the information shackles for users, enabling them to enjoy convenient and efficient charging services, and greatly improving the user experience.

The NaaS model has actually been verified abroad. ChargePoint, the leader of the US pile enterprise, adopts a joint business model with the charging pile investor, that is, the ownership of the charging pile belongs to the investor, and the operation and maintenance are completed by ChargePoint. Its revenue sources mainly include: commercial charging pile sales and software and maintenance services; home charging pile sales; Saas optimization, software and maintenance services.

NaaS is similar to it, but also an asset model, the main revenue comes from: mobile services / charging pile connection; charging pile sales and maintenance; to the charging station operator to provide agency operation and non-charging services (such as retail, car wash, etc.).

In early 2021, ChargePoint landed on the New York Stock Exchange through SPAC. Today, NaaS is also using this method to enter the US stock market. In February this year, Ruisi Education announced that it would reach a merger agreement with NaaS to enter the new energy track. And NaaS will also be "backdoor listing".

In April, REDU Education (REDU. US) once again announced that it will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders on April 29 to consider and approve a partnership with Dada Auto Inc. Merger agreement (NaaS). As a result, the merger and acquisition case officially entered the countdown stage.

Public information shows that the total number of charging service orders traded through NaaS has increased from 7 million in 2019 to 55 million in 2021. The total transaction volume of NaaS increased from approximately $153.9 million in 2019 to approximately $1.19 billion in 2021. In 2021, about 18% of the public charging of electric vehicles in China will be done through NaaS.

At the same time, NaaS's backdoor listing has caught up with the rise of the global new energy sector. Since February this year, with the soaring prices of fossil fuels such as crude oil and natural gas, green energy has ushered in development opportunities, and the green energy industry in many parts of the world has opened a crazy "gold absorption" model, and the stock price has risen significantly.

Similar to the NaaS business model, ChargePoint (CHPT. US) and EVgo (CLII.US), the two underlying stock prices in the past month to achieve 82%, 90% respectively. It is worth noting that NaaS, which ranks among the top users and market share in the world, is hovering in the low valuation range. At present, the valuation multiple of the price-to-sales ratio of the charging pile industry is 51.39 times, the average is 142.9 times, and according to the market value of about 600 million US dollars after the merger of NaaS, the current valuation of NaaS is less than half of the industry median and less than 20% of the industry average.