More than a decade ago, traditional fuel vehicles broke out in the Chinese market, and that prosperity scene recurred, but the protagonist changed, which was a new energy vehicle.
In 2021, BYD's market value in the stock market is approaching trillion yuan, as a new energy giant ship, BYD is moving at full speed, and Wang Chuanfu still maintains the determination and confidence of BYD's technological innovation.
"We will stop production of fuel vehicles from March this year and will focus on pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the future." On April 3, 2022, BYD officially announced the suspension of production of fuel vehicles. As soon as the official announcement came out, it quickly appeared on the hot search and became a hot topic of discussion among the whole people.
On November 14, 2021, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, BYD, as the only Chinese car company, signed a pledge with five car companies, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, GM, Jaguar Land Rover and Ford, promising to stop selling fuel vehicles by 2040. It can be seen that BYD's fuel vehicle suspension plan is not empty.
Although there have been many "fuel vehicle ban timetables" that have been rumored to be boiling, BYD is the first car company to really implement it. On the road of new energy, BYD is really in front of global car companies this time.
BYD's suspension speed has given many traditional car companies a blow, and it will also trigger a chain reaction in the auto industry and accelerate the "inner volume" of new energy in the automotive circle. As the world's first car company to stop the production of fuel vehicles, BYD's announcement of the suspension of fuel vehicles not only makes it the most out-of-the-loop car company in 2022, but also tells the world its determination and strength to focus on new energy.
Fuel vehicle "partial section"
From the battery field in 1994, to the cross-border automobile manufacturing in 2003, BYD's first car F3 was listed in 2005, and the sales volume reached 290,000 and 260,000 in 2009 and 2010, once becoming the sales champion of all the models on sale in China at that time, and then going downhill in the following years, and then to the comprehensive transformation of new energy vehicles in 2014, to today's independent new energy leadership position, BYD's development history can be called "Di Silk Counterattack".
From borrowing imitation and independent design to independent research and development, innovation, BYD's car-making technology is constantly accumulating, growing and breaking through.
In 2021, BYD's annual sales of passenger cars were 730,000 units, of which new energy passenger cars sold 594,000 units, an increase of 231.6% year-on-year, while fuel vehicles only sold about 140,000 units, accounting for less than 20% of total sales.
Under the bright results of new energy, the performance of BYD's fuel vehicles has been eclipsed and dragged its hind legs. The dismal sales of BYD's fuel vehicles are rooted in its few pure fuel models.
Before the announcement of the suspension of production, IND in addition to still providing 1.5T + 7-speed dual-clutch Song PLUS, Song PRO two "hot" fuel SUVs, is left with the low-end sedan BYD F3 "play residual heat", the former "pin crown" product strength has ceased to exist.
In February this year, BYD's fuel vehicle sales were only more than 2,000 units, and instead of surviving, why not break the arm of the hero? What's more, in fact, the suspension of fuel vehicles has little impact on BYD's actual market, and more production capacity can be converted into new energy fields to open up a broader sky.
Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said: "We must adhere to the pure electric and plug-in hybrid "two legs" to walk. As for the "third leg" pure fuel vehicle, sooner or later it will have to be cut off. ”
In 2021, BYD's full line of passenger car sales reached 730093 units, an increase of 75.4% year-on-year, of which the annual sales of new energy passenger cars reached 593745 units, an increase of 231.6% year-on-year, ranking first in China's new energy vehicle sales.
In the automobile market where fuel vehicles dominate with joint venture brands, it is not an easy task to become an independent brand that is comparable to or even surpasses the joint venture. For the new energy field of opportunities everywhere, BYD has the strength of absolute pilotage.
Over the past 28 years, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu has led BYD to achieve a gorgeous turn again and again, and the measure of stopping production of fuel vehicles is to carry forward the "electric" gene flowing in BYD's blood.
For BYD, traditional fuel vehicles have long been the "chicken ribs" of its automotive business segment. With the shortage of chips, the price of raw materials, the shortage of production capacity, the long delivery cycle and other problems, it is "forcing" BYD to abandon the fuel vehicle market and concentrate on overcoming the factors of new energy.
By stopping the sale of fuel vehicles, BYD can invest more funds and personnel in the technology research and development and production capacity improvement of new energy vehicles, which is also an important measure for BYD to seize the new energy vehicle market.
New energy "ALL in", full of confidence
BYD, which has been working in the battery field for many years, has long been a benchmark enterprise in the electric market, and then the new energy market has exploded, which is even more beautiful.
In 2008, BYD launched the first plug-in hybrid model F3DM, and then BYD's plug-in hybrid has developed two generations, using the engine of fuel vehicles, that is, BYD's independent research and development of 1.5T engine, but Wang Chuanfu always feels that this is not the most perfect solution.
In 2017, Wang Chuanfu proposed a new goal to Yang Dongsheng (vice president of BYD Co., Ltd., president of the Product Planning and Automotive New Technology Research Institute) team, hoping to develop a plug-in hybrid special engine at a lower cost, at the same time, Tesla just delivered the Model 3 in the United States, "The Way to Understand the Car" consulted the relevant information, at that time, BYD fuel vehicle base is not large, engine line is not complicated.
As of May 2021, BYD has accumulated 9426 new energy vehicle patents, whether it is invention patents, utility model patents or design patents, it is a top player in scientific and technological content, and is far ahead in the field of new energy vehicles.
Among the many technology patents, BYD is most proud of the "blade battery" and "DM-i super hybrid".
BYD's "blade battery" was released in March 2020, which is a lithium iron phosphate battery independently developed by BYD. The blade battery based on the innovation of lithium phosphoriterate technology has higher safety performance, far from the ternary lithium battery, and the energy density of the blade battery is high, and the volume utilization rate is increased by at least 50%, so it is also favored by the main engine factory.
As soon as the first Han EV equipped with BYD's blade battery was launched, sales exceeded the 10,000-unit mark, and now blade batteries have been applied to BYD's entire range of electric vehicle models. In addition to internal supply, the "gossip" customers in the BYD battery market also include Tesla, Weilai and other car companies, which shows the reliability and charm value of blade battery technology.
Another of BYD's big skills is the "DM-i Super Hybrid" released in January 2021. BYD's DM-i super hybrid technology is a hybrid architecture based on motor drive and power battery energy supply, supplemented by engine, which completely subverts the traditional hybrid technology, with a power loss of only 3.8L/100km, a comprehensive cruising range of more than 1200km, and a 100-kilometer acceleration of 7s, which can bring users an almost electric vehicle driving experience. Models equipped with dm-i super hybrids not only consume less fuel, but also combine a driving experience with a low price.
At the DM-i technology conference, Wang Chuanfu once said: "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." ”
The reality is indeed so, and dm-i super hybrid platform together with the three models: Qin PLUS DM-i, Song PLUS DM-i, Tang DM-i, sales rose rapidly, due to the excessive order volume delivery period has been repeatedly extended, the market, word of mouth double harvest, has become another big weapon for BYD new energy vehicles.
BYD's two core technologies practice the correctness of Wang Chuanfu's two-legged "walking" policy of "adhering to pure electric and plug-in hybrid". Under the double blessing of blade battery and DM-i super hybrid platform, some BYD models have long been in short supply, and the cumulative undelivered order volume has reached 400,000 units, and it has maintained a month-by-month growth trend.
e platform 3.0, dolphins developed on this platform, after being listed in August 2021, sold more than 10,000 in a single month in December of the same year.
As the world's leading new energy vehicle enterprise, BYD has more than 27 years of battery research and development experience, and is currently the only company in the world that can master the core technology of electric vehicles such as batteries, motors, and electronic controls, and can provide one-stop new energy overall solutions.
BYD, which has a hard core of new energy technology strength, has released its charm in the field of new energy vehicles with one big move after another, and has attracted the olive branch of cooperation between Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and other century-old car companies, breaking the dilemma of "market for technology" of Chinese car companies and creating a new situation in the export of core technologies of Chinese car companies.
Excellent product strength, high brand volume, strong anti-risk ability, BYD after the suspension of fuel vehicles, launched a more ferocious offensive to the new energy vehicle market.
Fully marketized, more bold BYD
BYD stock price has been soaring reasons, in addition to the surge in vehicle sales, BYD independent research and development of power batteries have a lot of market space, BYD lithium iron phosphate batteries have a period of underestimation, we all know lithium iron phosphate batteries than ternary lithium batteries, energy density is lower, it is difficult to meet the needs of long endurance.
The policy level has also been supporting ternary lithium batteries, only to create a trillion market value Ningde era, in 2017, Ningde era shipments surpassed BYD, when BYD adopted a vertical integration of industrial ideas.
Public information shows that in the whole year of 2021, the installed capacity of THE NINGDE era was 80.51GWh, accounting for 52.1% of the domestic market, ranking first, and the installed capacity of BYD ranked second was 37.92GWh.
"The Way to Understand The Car" learned that BYD has always taken safety as the most basic and important performance, so it has always adhered to the lithium iron phosphate route, and we all know that the advantages and disadvantages of ternary lithium batteries are very prominent, the advantages are: smaller size, higher capacity density, low temperature resistance, better cycle performance, is the mainstream of new energy passenger cars.
The disadvantages are: poor thermal stability, decomposition at 250-300 ° C, the chemical reaction of ternary lithium materials is particularly strong, once the oxygen molecules are released, the electrolyte will burn rapidly under the action of high temperature, and then deflagration occurs. Therefore, the spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles seen on the news is almost all models equipped with ternary lithium batteries.
With the launch of BYD blade batteries in March 2020, BYD has solved the game between high energy density and high safety, and "The Way to Know Cars" has also witnessed byd BYD blade battery "needle prick experiment" many times, which is a reserved program in BYD's exhibition hall, on the one hand, the explosion of ternary lithium batteries, and the blade batteries are safe and sound.
With the launch of blade batteries, BYD and Wang Chuanfu have bigger ideas, accumulating 154% of the mainland power battery loads from 2021. GWh, a cumulative increase of 142.8% year-on-year, of which lithium iron phosphate battery vehicles accumulated 798GWh, accounting for 51.7% of the total installed vehicles, a year-on-year cumulative increase of 227.4%, outperforming the general trend.
Under the leadership of blade batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries have achieved anti-superiority, recently in the Chinese electric vehicle market, now the power battery upstream raw material price increase problem is an industry problem, the main raw materials of power batteries include cathode materials, anode materials, diaphragms and electrolytes, etc., these raw materials are greatly affected by lithium, nickel, cobalt and other bulk commodities or chemical raw materials prices.
The main raw materials for power batteries, lithium, cobalt and nickel, have all increased significantly. The latest data show that since December 21, 2021, the quotation of nickel has risen from less than 150,000 yuan / ton to 220,000 yuan / ton on March 20, the highest point was once more than 300,000 yuan / ton; the quotation of cobalt in the East China market rose from less than 490,000 yuan / ton to 566,000 yuan / ton; the production price of lithium iron phosphate rose from less than 100,000 yuan / ton all the way to more than 150,000 yuan / ton, an increase of nearly 60%.
The installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries that do not contain cobalt and nickel is expected to break through, and BYD has promoted market-oriented changes internally.
In March 2020, BYD officially announced the establishment of Fordy Company, which will further accelerate the external sales of core components of new energy vehicles, namely Fordi Battery Co., Ltd., Fordi Vision Co., Ltd., Fordi Technology Co., Ltd., Fordi Power Co., Ltd., and Fordi Mold Co., Ltd.
It is reported that Fordy Company will be more independent in operation and will have more autonomy, marking the advancement of BYD's open strategy from 1.0 to 2.0, and subsidiaries are also gradually moving towards the road of maturity.
BYD earlier split the battery business to establish a company, because car companies and battery supply need in-depth cooperation, BYD only completely split out, there will be car companies and BYD batteries to cooperate, procurement of BYD power batteries.
It is not difficult to see that the spin-off and establishment of The Fordy Company is a key step in BYD's opening up to the outside world, BYD expects to be fully market-oriented, the group is the majority shareholder, AND Semiconductor is listed first, even if it encounters several difficulties in the middle.
Since 2016, Wang Chuanfu has begun to think about market-oriented reforms, introducing external suppliers and internal suppliers going global. At that time, BYD wanted to sell its own parts division and go out, which was also the 1.0 version of BYD's market-oriented reform.
So in recent years, BYD is not much affected by the chip storm, BYD's vertical integration path, but also allowED to accumulate the ability and talent of the whole industry chain, "The Way to Understand the Car" to understand BYD, from development to production are self-contained, very familiar with the chip, even if to deal with the global lack of core, BYD can quickly find alternatives.
The 2.0 version of BYD's market-oriented reform is from selling products to selling enterprises, and BYD still has a long way to go to achieve counterattack in the industry.
BYD in the field of power batteries to want to and Ningde era PK, the pressure is not small, there is currently news that in January 2022, BYD and FAW set up a joint venture company, called FAW Fudi New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., of which Fordi holds 51% of the shares, FAW holds 49% of the shares, the scope of business includes the development, production, sales and provision of related after-sales and technical consulting services for power batteries and battery systems. Achieving an annual production capacity of 45GWh of power batteries will provide blade batteries for more than 1 million vehicles.
Recently, BYD Semiconductor said that it has launched the automotive grade 8-digit MCU BS9000AMXX series in March 2022, and the application areas are body domain sensor detection and control, body domain end effect mechanism, and the client application development project of the product has been launched.
BYD Semiconductor Co., Ltd. was established on October 15, 2004. The company is committed to the core technology of semiconductor research and development, manufacturing, sales, integration services. BYD Semiconductor has solved many core chip supply problems for BYD Automobile and stabilized the chip supply problems in the epidemic.
According to public information, BYD's semiconductor product camp includes industry-grade general-purpose MCU chips, industrial-grade three-in-one MCU chips, vehicle-grade touch MCU chips, vehicle-grade general-purpose MCU chips, and battery management MCU chips, etc., with cumulative shipments reaching 2 billion.
Today's BYD is not only compared with itself, but also with its peers.
Intelligent, high-end, new challenges
In the past fuel vehicle market, BYD was often labeled as "cheap" and "cost-effective", while in the field of new energy, BYD relied on "blade battery" and "DM-i super hybrid platform" to create a completely different strength reputation, with the image of "technology maniac".
Obviously, BYD's DM model and EV model "walk on two legs" strategy has achieved phased results. But the competition in the era of new energy vehicles can be much more than that.
If "electrification" is the "ticket" for BYD to enter the new energy vehicle market, then if it wants to go faster and go further, it is urgent to break through the short board bottleneck of "intelligence" and "high-end".
On February 3, 2021, official information shows that BYD Automobile adjusted the company's organizational structure and established four major divisions, the Dynasty Network Sales Division, the e-network Sales Division (now the Marine Division), the Brand and Public Relations and After-sales Service Division, and the general managers of each division directly reported to Wang Chuanfu.
In the field of automotive intelligence, BYD's competitiveness is not strong. But today's BYD will be intelligent as a war, is testing BYD's "soft power", starting in 2020, BYD began to get rid of cost performance and low cost, emphasizing brand rejuvenation and user image reshaping.
In the hot "intelligent cockpit" and "intelligent driving" two major areas, BYD can only get the hand of the "DiLink intelligent network car machine system" in the field of intelligent cockpit, the car machine system has undergone 1.0 version to 4.0 version of the optimization and upgrade, mainly relying on the Android system ecology, through the rotatable electronic screen to bring users an intelligent interactive experience, although the intelligent networking ability is not bad, but there is still some gap with the future car intelligent ecology that users expect.
In the field of intelligent driving, "backwardness" is even more maddening by BYD, under the strength of Tesla and Wei Xiaoli," only driving has become the standard of the car, and BYD's intelligent driving is not enough to compete with the new forces of car manufacturing.
Obviously, BYD is also aware of the backwardness of the field of automotive intelligence, and is constantly increasing investment to enhance business capabilities. In November 2021, BYD and the intelligent driving joint venture Momenta jointly created a high-level intelligent driving solution, it is revealed that BYD will launch a model equipped with low-level auxiliary driving functions within this year, and high-end intelligent driving products are also gradually planning.
In the next few years, the competition in the domestic new energy vehicle market will continue to be white-hot, and it remains to be seen whether BYD can quickly achieve the level of intelligence of featured products with the help of external forces.
In addition to the level of intelligence to be improved, BYD's brand high-end road is also obstacles and difficulties.
At present, BYD's models are divided into the Dynasty series and the Ocean series. As the current main sales core, the Dynasty series covers the new energy market of 100,000-300,000 levels, such as Qin, Han, Tang, Song and Yuan, while the Ocean series undertakes the mission of bydiring the BYD brand rejuvenation, and dolphins, seals and other models will appear one after another.
For the high-end market of new energy vehicles, BYD is currently hoping to cooperate with Daimler to create a "Denza brand", in 2015 BYD and Daimler set up a joint venture company in a 50:50 ratio, and launched the Denza brand two years later, but at present, the development of the Denza brand is not as expected, in 2021, BYD issued an announcement, and Daimler intends to increase the capital of Denza by 1 billion yuan in a monetary manner.
During the same period, BYD and Daimler signed an equity transfer agreement on adjusting the structure of the joint venture company, and after the successful transfer, BYD and Daimler will hold 90% and 10% of the equity of Denza respectively.
It is reported that three high-end new energy models will be launched in two years, involving MPVs and SUVs. As for the strength of future products and how the market response will be, it will take some time.
Engineer culture, continue to develop
BYD Wang Chuanfu's technical male style, but also let BYD form an engineer culture, "technology is king, innovation-oriented" development concept, this year's 55-year-old Wang Chuanfu, is Wuhu Wuwei County, Anhui Province, he has always said that he is BYD's chief engineer, 60% to 70% of the time in specialized research on technology, the rest of the time on management.
(BYD Founder, Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu)
However, judging from some public reports, Wang Chuanfu began to have a more comprehensive understanding of consumers and the market side.
The editor has something to say:
In the era of great automobile change, BYD chose to abandon the "partial" fuel vehicle and became the world's first traditional car company to officially announce the suspension of fuel vehicles.
With the continuous advancement of the global new energy process of automobiles, more and more car companies will inevitably join the ranks of fuel vehicle suspension in the future, BYD is the first, but it will never be the last.
Today's BYD is seizing a new round of change and moving towards marketization, and TOD today pays more attention to competitive culture.