Geely and Weilai's "Yangmou" holding hands has surfaced

Take the lead from the B-end into the outlet"

Author | Wang Lei

Edited by Qin Zhangyong

Suddenly, like a spring breeze overnight.

When people were still questioning the asset-heavy, long-term, and unhealthy model of the battery swap model, NIO almost single-handedly turned the situation around and reached cooperation with many companies in a short period of time.

Unlike the vague framework agreement signed by Chang'an, the cooperation between Geely and NIO has made people see more possibilities for battery swapping.

For example, at the signing site between Geely and NIO, it was not Li Shufu who signed on behalf of Geely, but Liu Jinliang, and Li Shufu himself witnessed it at the scene.

Liu Jinliang's tittle is the CEO of Yiyi Internet Technology Co., Ltd.

So far, through the cooperation between Geely and NIO, Yiyi Internet has also moved from behind the scenes to the front of the stage.

Like brands such as Zeekr, Lynk & Co, and Galaxy, Yiyi Internet is also affiliated to Geely Holding Group, with the goal of building the No. 1 brand of battery swapping and energy replenishment in the operating market, and completing 2,000 battery swap stations in the next three years.

This also makes people begin to realize that NIO is not the only one that can do a good job of battery replacement.

01 

Geely veteran led the team

When it comes to battery swapping, Geely is not a novice player, but a "veteran" of the battery swap track.

Geely's Yiyi Internet is a firm practitioner and active promoter of the automotive battery swap model, which has been deeply involved in the battery swap industry for 7 years, has accumulated leading industry experience, has more than 1,000 R&D personnel, and has invested more than one billion yuan.

In 2022, Geely established a new brand, Ruilan, focusing on the battery swap mode, and the company behind the battery swap system of the Ruilan brand is Yiyi Internet. With the launch of the CC60, a battery-swapping model under the Cao Cao brand in 2023, there will be more and more service objects for Yiyi Internet.

At present, the smart battery swap station is mainly oriented to the B-end operation market, and the goal is also very direct: to build the first brand of battery swap and energy supplement in the operation market.

Up to now, Yiyi Internet has laid out and operated more than 300 battery swap stations in more than 30 cities in China, providing battery swap services for 50,000 taxis and online car-hailing, with an average daily battery swap of 2 times and nearly one million kWh per day, covering battery swap models including Cao Cao 60, Maple Leaf 80v, Maple Leaf 60s, Ruilan 9, Ruilan 7, British TX5, etc.

In the next three years, Yiyi Internet plans to operate 2,000 battery swap stations across the country. Geely's ambition in the field of battery swapping has begun to make Yiyi Internet soar in a short period of time.

In fact, with Liu Jinliang in charge, it is enough to explain the strategic position of Yiyi Internet in the Geely system.

Liu Jinliang's position in the Geely system is very important, and in recent years, he has led Geely's travel business, and has been responsible for Cao Cao's special car, Yao travel, top hat travel and other B-end sectors, and is also one of the "four gentlemen" of Geely Automobile's entrepreneurship.

Veterans like Liu Jinliang led Yiyi Internet to develop the field of battery swapping, which also made Geely ambitious for the battery swap business.

02 

Take the lead from the B-end into the outlet

According to the signed agreement, Geely and NIO will work together to build two battery swap standard systems of "private cars" and "commercial vehicles" through the model of "co-investment, co-construction, sharing and co-operation", accelerate the connection and coordination of the vehicle, station, battery and operation ends, expand the scale of the battery swap network, and provide more convenient, safer and more complete services for users with different needs.

The reason why battery swapping can operate in the B-end market is also due to its own particularity.

The B-end business emphasizes timeliness and turnover, and rushing for time and slow charging are often the pain points of online car-hailing. The biggest experience of taxi or online car-hailing drivers who drive electric vehicles is to queue up for charging in the middle of the night, if they encounter peak hours, the charging efficiency is very low, and a lot of time needs to be wasted on replenishing energy.

Just like today's delivery riders, the current common mode is to share the battery, scan the code to take the battery, and immediately install it and go, the time efficiency of a few minutes is very fast, which does not affect the efficiency of the order, and will not let the user wait because of charging or the driver is forced to stop taking orders.

According to relevant statistics, compared with fuel vehicles, drivers use the battery swap mode to earn 33.1% more annual income, compared with pure electric vehicles, drivers will save one or two hours of charging time per day, can take more orders, and their annual income is about 13.8% higher.

This means that drivers can earn an extra 1300-1500 yuan a month, which is very intuitive to improve the income of B-end drivers.

For example, taking the latest third-generation battery swap station as an example, the mechanical battery swap part can be completed in 40 seconds at the earliest, which makes the number of battery swaps per day at a single station exceed 540 times, saving an average of 1~2 hours per day for each driver, so that the driver can take more orders.

In addition, battery swapping also has great advantages in terms of resource utilization. According to data, taking the service of 10,000 vehicles as an example, compared with the charging pile, the use of battery swap stations can reduce nearly 3,440 parking spaces, about 41,000 square meters, and save investment costs of 50 million yuan.

03 

How to maintain positive growth?

As we all know, battery swapping is an asset-heavy business, and the high cost of battery swap stations and the large amount of capital occupied by power battery packs for turnover are also problems faced by the entire industry.

Therefore, how to maintain the positive growth of the business model has become the key.

Liu Jinliang once said that the core barrier of battery swapping enterprises is not technology, but ecology. Only by forming a self-closed loop in the early stage of development can it continue to operate for a long time, that is, there are cars, stations, and operations.

For example, the battery swap cooperation between Yiyi Internet and NIO is only one of their own business lines, and it will not affect the current battery swap system of Ruilan and Cao Cao, and the battery swap of Ruilan and Cao Cao is still operating normally. In the future, the introduction of NIO's battery swap technology will not only enhance Geely's own battery swap service capabilities, but also further expand Geely's competitiveness in the B-end market.

In addition to the self-operated model, easyconnect also offers a partnership model and a custody model.

The partnership model is for the city partners to complete the investment in battery swap stations alone or in a joint venture with Yiyi. The custody model is that Yiyi Internet invests in the construction of battery swap stations, and the custodian is responsible for finding land plots, negotiating, signing agreements and station management.

Whether it is a partner or a trustee, the intention of Yiyi Internet is to quickly expand the scale and quickly mobilize people who are willing to join the new energy battery swap mode. The purpose is to be able to expand quickly and expand their circle of friends.

The battery swap station has an obvious flow effect, that is, if there are enough battery swap stations, more people will be willing to use the battery swap car, and only when more people buy the battery swap model, or there are enough battery swap cars on the road, the battery swap station can be operated.

In addition, compared with other companies, Yiyi Internet also has the natural advantage of battery replacement for operating vehicles. Cao Cao Travel, which also belongs to Geely, has already operated fleets in various cities, and has already paved the way in terms of demand. Geely also has a travel capacity service "Happy Millions", as well as Evergreen New Energy, which does battery recycling. In addition, Yiyi Internet also happens to realize the full ecological closed loop of "vehicle-battery-battery swap-operation".

However, it is foreseeable that the battery swap business has become more and more clear, and there will definitely be a place for related companies in China's new energy market in the future, and the players with earlier layouts will become an important driving force for this change.