Recently, many automobile import brands have abandoned the new energy track and turned back to the traditional fuel comfort zone, and there are different opinions on the reasons for this, but in the final analysis, the answer is probably "can't afford it" in the landlord game. Indeed, for China, which has a vast land and a vast amount of resources and shoulders the mission of environmental protection, the green upgrading of the automobile industry has many advantages such as policies, resources, and markets, and has also been riding the dust on the new energy track.
When it comes to new energy, there are not only pure electrics, but also hybrid, hydrogen, alcohol, ammonia and other energy technology routes. Among them, hydrogen combustion produces only water and has a higher calorific value, so it has become the "ideal fuel" in people's minds. However, the development of hydrogen fuel is relatively slow due to objective problems such as refining, storage and hydrogen refueling station construction.
In 2023, a new energy vehicle company called Proton Automotive Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Proton Vehicle) will silently achieve half of the sales of hydrogen fuel vehicles and electric vehicles. Although it has been established for more than two years, there may still be many people who are not familiar with this new energy "dark horse" company. Next, the new truck force will present you with more hole cards of this new energy "dark horse".
Hole card one: brand background endorsement
Everyone is not familiar with proton cars, but people who talk about the automobile industry of Shaanxi Automobile Group are familiar with it. As a military background, Shaanxi Automobile Group relies on military quality to enter the civilian market, whether it is heavy trucks or light trucks R & D, production and manufacturing technology are in the first echelon of the industry. The production of proton automobile products is completed by the factory of Shaanxi Automobile Group, which perfectly inherits the military quality of Shaanxi Automobile, and backed by the big tree of Shaanxi Automobile Group, Proton Automobile has no worries about the quality of the whole vehicle.
Hole card two: strong technical foundation
If Shaanxi Automobile Group has built a quality hard power for Proton Vehicles in production and manufacturing, then the strong technical research and development team behind Proton Vehicles has carried out the core blessing of technical research and development. As the chairman of Proton Motors, Wang Zhao is not only a doctor of Tsinghua University, but also a former secretary of the Party Committee and director of the Technology Center of Shaanxi Automobile Group. In the early stage of the exploration of hydrogen fuel technology route in the automotive industry, its team began to carry out the technical research and development and application of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which can be said to be the first batch of car companies in China to enter the hydrogen energy track.
Hole card three: the product route is clear
Although it has not been established for a long time, Proton Motors already has a relatively complete product line layout and customized product applications for subdivided scenarios. In 2022, the sales of proton vehicles' hydrogen fuel products and electric products will be halved, showing that it is one step ahead of others in the hydrogen energy track. At present, Proton Motors specializes in hydrogen energy and pure electric technology, and has a full range of new energy commercial vehicle products such as Dijiang, Chilun, Baijing, Chiguang, Qingxiao, etc., covering a variety of transportation scenarios such as medium and long-distance, short-distance urban distribution, coal muck transportation, special vehicles, and port towing short.
Hole card four: the upstream and downstream ecology is perfect
In addition to the application and upgrading of automotive technology, such as hydrogen raw material manufacturing enterprises, hydrogen energy storage tanks and other parts enterprises, hydrogen refueling station infrastructure, relevant channel empowerment and financial and other industries, the joint efforts of upstream and downstream industries can promote the rapid layout of hydrogen energy, an ideal fuel application. Relying on the advantages of the group, Proton Motors has established an innovative enterprise alliance with upstream and downstream enterprises in many industries, focusing on vehicle research and development, and at the same time deeply cooperating with innovative enterprises in the fields of fuel cell systems, battery swapping systems, autonomous driving systems, and new material monitoring equipment.
Hole card five: It can really make money for users
In the comparison of higher costs, the promotion of hydrogen fuel commercial vehicles has been facing great difficulties, and the actual increase in vehicle operating income is the key factor for users to pay. In response to the pain points of new energy vehicles, such as self-weight, high purchase costs and maintenance costs, Proton Motors controls the weight of the tractor within 8.8 tons through a variety of lightweight designs and material applications. As for the "high car price", Proton Auto also adopts a direct sales model to integrate the transportation capacity platform, vehicle management, financial leasing and site construction, etc., to bring higher asset returns to users. At the same time, Proton Motor also proposed to reduce the terminal price of pure electric vehicles by 20% and the terminal price of hydrogen fuel cell tractors by 40% by 2026, vowing to "bring down" the price of new energy commercial vehicles and let users make real money.
At present, the field of hydrogen fuel commercial vehicles is still in its infancy, and many car companies can be said to be still wandering in the "novice village", and there is no "unicorn" leader. In the stage of technical barriers and changes in the market environment, who can settle down, stabilize the footsteps, and practice the "internal strength" at the current stage, who will be able to rise under the spring breeze of the future policy The hydrogen energy track will be one step ahead. At present, it seems that the proton car, which integrates brand, technology, product and ecological advantages, has been accumulating strength as a "dark horse", and it will be interesting to see whether it can lead all the way in the future.