Header image source | NIO official
Adults also have choices.
Less than two years after the launch of BaaS (Battery as a Service), NIO offered users the opportunity to take "regret medicine".
"We have communicated internally many times, and it took a while to make a plan, hoping to have a buyout entrance for some users who regret it." On the evening of April 24, in a rumor, Weilai's official account "User Boss" confirmed that it would launch a BaaS buyout plan.
On the evening of April 25, Weilai responded exclusively to future automobile daily that it proposed the idea of buying out batteries because individual users proposed to buy out batteries for reasons such as their own car needs. After studying, NIO and NIO Battery Asset Company revised the terms of service and gave an exit plan. The programme was generally recognized by users.
In addition, Weilai revealed that at present, it seems that the number of users who choose to change to buyout is very small. It said that if the user intends to open for a long time, such as six or seven years, it is recommended that the user use the way of buying out the battery; if the opening time is not so long, BaaS is more suitable for the user, and it is recommended that the user choose the right purchase method according to their own situation.
At the same time, NIO also emphasizes that through cooperation with used car operators, NIO BaaS used cars are guaranteed to circulate in the entire market and improve the retention rate of BaaS used cars.
Specifically, NIO BaaS users who want to terminate the rental agreement have two options:
Buy out the 75-degree battery, costing "70,000 yuan + 3,000 yuan service fee"; buying out the 100-degree battery, it costs "128,000 yuan + 3,000 yuan service fee". Among them, the service fee of 3,000 yuan includes power battery warehousing and logistics, disassembly, testing, etc. If the user does not need to replace the new battery, the service fee of 3000 yuan can be waived.
The controversial point of this scheme is that the BaaS business is used first and paid later, and the rent previously generated is not refundable, that is, all the rent from the pick-up date to the date of the buyout is the BaaS cost that has been incurred; if the last month is not full month, the rent will be calculated on a daily basis.
On August 20, 2020, NIO launched the battery rental service BaaS for the first time, with a vehicle down payment of 70,000 yuan and a monthly rental fee of 980 yuan for 70kWh power batteries. This means that the cost of the BaaS user to buy out is the price of directly buying out the battery when the new car is new, but there is another 3,000 yuan service fee, and the monthly rent of the BaaS usage period cannot be deducted from the buyout fee.
As soon as the news came out, some users said "support, users have more choices", "very good, and regret medicine to eat"; but there are also users who complain, "Those who have paid for two or three years and then want to buy out, are not two or three years of rent paid in vain?" ”
BaaS turned the buyout scheme Source: NIO official
Regret medicine or big wrongs?
The desired tram has not yet been listed, and in August 2020, Xiao Liang, who was in a hurry to use the car, planned to buy a car for the "short-term transition". Because considering that he will have to change the car soon, the value of the vehicle has become an important consideration when buying a car.
However, a cruel fact is that in the second-hand car market, due to the attenuation of the battery, the residual value rate of second-hand new energy vehicles is generally not high.
In August 2020, WEIO, the first crab-eater, launched the BaaS solution and announced the realization of vehicle-to-electricity separation. Judging from the original intention of Weilai's launch of the service, it can not only improve the retention rate, encourage the combination of charging and replacing the model, but also reduce the waste of resources.
Not to mention, under this option, the user's car purchase cost is greatly reduced, but also can increase sales. In this plan, ec6, which originally started at nearly 370,000 yuan, directly dropped to 280,000 yuan. Impressed by the plan, Xiao Liang became an EC6 car owner.
Different models choose BAAS car purchase price Source: NIO official
Due to the choice of the BaaS solution, Xiao Liang needs to rent a battery pack on a monthly basis. Every month, the monthly rental cost of 70kWh power battery is 980 yuan, and there is also 80 yuan of battery insurance.
On the evening of April 24, after seeing the news that Weilai had launched a buyout plan, Xiao Liang suddenly felt "in a dilemma". In his view, the biggest significance of this plan is to give those who have just chosen BaaS and have a little regret to have a chance to re-choose, "after all, BaaS has been a long time, and then buying out is a bit worthless, there is a feeling of paying rent for several years, but paying in vain, it is really a big injustice."
Some Weilai car owners once calculated that when the time to rent a battery reached 5.95 years, the amount paid by the user was equivalent to the purchase of a battery. As of now, NIO has not announced a deadline for rent. And BaaS is to follow the car and not to follow people, as long as the car is still there, the car has to pay the battery rent all the time.
"Renting a house, will there be a deadline?" Rent for a long time, is it yours? You rent a house, rent for 2 years, and then tell the landlord that you want to buy it, and the rent for the first 2 years is deducted from the purchase price? For the unreasonable voice expressed by some car owners, Wu Lei, the owner of Weilai, fought back strongly.
In his view, some car owners are "spoiled", "since ancient times, good things are difficult to complete", "the way to rent a battery, you can erase the depreciation caused by battery loss, but fantasize that the battery is lifelong; to buy out the battery, and worry about the attenuation of the battery, saying that you have to change the car in 10 years and 8 years. ”
But some car owners believe that renting batteries cannot be compared with renting a house, and "the price of electronic products will only get lower and lower." In addition to the part of BaaS users who have a car replacement plan, "saving 70,000 yuan or 128,000 yuan to carry a lifetime electric rent is certainly not worth it."
Xiao Liang believes that the biggest sticking point of this plan is that "the buyout and BaaS equity are almost exactly the same." Its explanation said that if the battery is bought out and the BaaS can be replaced for free, "then the user who bought out the battery took advantage of it, which means that its battery will never depreciate." ”
Some car owners also retorted that the buyout plan helped Weilai recover a large amount of funds in the early stage, which was used to build a charging network more calmly and quickly.
There are also BaaS users who are happy to accept the buyout scheme.
Some car owners bluntly said that BaaS is just a way to lower the threshold, "Now that I have money, I don't want BaaS, it is good to give a new plan." ”
ES8 owner Wang Xia said that when buying a car in 2021, there are two roads to choose from: "buyout" and "BaaS". Considering that they will definitely change cars in five or six years, the rent rent rented every year is not high, "saving 120,000 yuan, leaving dry points other, 1 year's income is also more than 10,000 yuan, and now it is equivalent to giving a chance to re-choose." ”
Good used cars?
Although the original intention of launching BaaS at that time was to improve the retention rate of electric vehicles, the reality is that such a scheme is not recognized in the second-hand car market. This may also be an important reason for the launch of new solutions by Weilai today.
Although the used car is one car, but in general, compared with the buyout car, the BaaS car that once claimed to improve the retention rate has a lower retention rate. In other words, buyout owners are more confident than BaaS owners, "they have more channels to sell cars, and they also have more room for price choices."
When it came time to change the car, the retention rate of the BaaS car made Xiao Liang bitter. In terms of starting price, Xiao Liang said that in the second-hand car market, ec6, which is similar to the condition of its car, the price of the car is 75% off, that is, 277,500 yuan; while the price of the car rented battery is only 65% off, that is, about 182,000 yuan.
This means that the difference in the cost of the two sides selling the second-hand car is nearly 100,000 yuan, and the difference in the price is only 70,000 yuan, and BaaS users also have to invest in the cost of renting batteries, which is equivalent to losing 30,000 or 40,000 yuan compared with buying out users.
A guazi second-hand car collector told the future automobile daily that the second-hand Weilai BaaS car is 100,000 yuan less than the bought out car, and the EC6 in good condition is estimated to be about 200,000 yuan, and he also suggested "Weilai direct store consultation" and "the official price is higher".
For second-hand car dealers, second-hand Weilai is not difficult to sell, but the BaaS version of the car is not welcomed, "because it involves the second owner, including the rights and interests of the first car owner, the second car owner is not also to enjoy, the process is very troublesome." "On the other hand, the price is also calculated differently from other vehicles.
Even if IT is official, it cannot achieve the BaaS version of the used car and the buyout version to be completely "on an equal footing".
According to the actual measurement of The No. 42 garage, taking ec6 with a mileage of no more than 20,000 kilometers in about 1 year as an example, the retention rate of the whole vehicle purchase is 68%-73%; the retention rate of the BaaS version is 66%-69%, and the difference between the two is 3%-4%. "If held in the short term, BaaS is definitely more cost-effective than a buyout, about 3-4 years later, take a one-year discount of 70% of the median value, rent a 70 degree battery version of the BaaS version of the vehicle to lose more."
However, in the PPT of the Weilai user communication meeting, compared with the ES6 sports version with the age of the two vehicles being 5 months old and similar mileage, the true retention rate under the BaaS scheme is 86.1%; under the buyout scheme, the true retention rate is 82.5%. In terms of total expenditure, if insurance, electricity and other expenses are excluded, BaaS is 17,500 yuan less than the vehicle expenditure.
BaaS used retention rate Source: NIO official
This is undoubtedly good news for used car owners. "Equivalent to a used car that can buy a new battery." Today, after BaaS transfers the buyout plan, the second-hand owner still has the right to buy out.
At the earnings call in Q3 of 2021, Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, said that since the launch of the BaaS battery service model, the utilization rate of BaaS has increased every week. In November 2021, "35% of users chose the BaaS car purchase method."
So whether the next new plan will implicate sales is still unknown.
In 2022, NIO entered the "Big Year of Products", and the ET7 and ET5 launched include BaaS solutions, which is also the competitive advantage of NIO in terms of car costs and services. Among them, the starting price before et7 subsidies is 448,000 yuan, the baaS program starts at 378,000 yuan before subsidies, the price before ET5 subsidies is 328,000 yuan, and the baaS program subsidies are 258,000 yuan.
"Don't always think about buyouts, improve the rights and experience of some BaaS users better than anything else." In the Weilai community, some car owners sighed.
The author | Wu Xiaoyu
Edit the | Wang Yan