At present, there is a large gap in overseas charging piles, high prices and relatively scattered competition patterns, and mainland charging pile companies have significant advantages in supply chain, technology, cost and other aspects.
With the gradual tightening of emission regulations in Europe and the United States, it is unstoppable for countries to promote the transformation of vehicle electrification. While the global new energy vehicles are rapidly penetrating and popularizing, the construction of energy supplement infrastructure in some overseas regions has not been able to keep up. Many industry insiders pointed out that at present, the gap of overseas charging piles is large, the price is high and the competition pattern is relatively scattered, and the mainland charging pile enterprises have significant advantages in supply chain, technology, cost and other aspects.
Domestic advantages are significant
It is understood that at present, the new energy vehicle charging market in the United States is mainly occupied by Tesla, ChargePoint, Blink, EVgo and other companies, and in the European electric operation market, Shell, bp, Schneider, ABB and other giants occupy a dominant position.
According to the data of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, in 2023, 31 European countries will achieve 3.009 million new energy passenger vehicle registrations, a year-on-year increase of 16.2%, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is 23.4%, and the association predicts that by 2030, 3 out of every 5 cars in Europe will be new energy vehicles, and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will reach 60%, far exceeding the global penetration rate of 26%.
However, even so, Liu Kai, deputy director of the technical department of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and director of the China Charging Alliance, told the China Energy News: "The mainland car pile ratio is about 2.4:1, of which the car pile ratio of public charging piles is about 7.5:1, according to public information calculations, the car pile ratio of public charging piles in Europe and the United States is about 15:1, and the gap is much larger than that in China." ”
Seeing the vast overseas market, in recent years, Shenghong Co., Ltd., Daotong Technology, Juhua Technology, Yingjie Electric and other mainland DC/AC pile companies have successively deployed in the European and American markets.
"The supply chain of the charging pile industry in mainland China is relatively complete and has obvious cost advantages. The quality of charging piles in mainland China has been fully verified in a variety of scenarios, and the quality and reliability are better than those of overseas brands. Zhang Hong, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes.
In Liu Kai's view, after more than 10 years of development, the supply chain of the mainland charging pile industry is becoming more and more mature, and the products have been applied on a large scale in China, in multiple scenarios and for a long time, and have significant production cost advantages.
The research report of Industrial Securities pointed out that European and American customers are less sensitive to the price of charging piles, and the price of charging piles is higher. The price of overseas charging piles with the same power is several times the price of domestic charging piles, taking 120kW DC charging piles as an example, the price of an overseas 120kW charging pile is converted into about 464,000 yuan, which is significantly higher than the domestic price of 30,000-50,000 yuan.
The certification cycle is on the long side
In Liu Kai's view, with the rapid development of the charging industry, a large number of enterprises with power modules, PCBA (control motherboards) and other key components of charging piles and complete machine R&D, assembly and production capacity have emerged in mainland China. After the full inspection and technology iteration of the domestic market, many enterprises have independently developed core technologies and patents and carried out intellectual property layout overseas, and the advantages in DC charging technology are particularly obvious.
However, due to the different market environment and demand, mainland charging pile products are also facing considerable challenges when going overseas. Zhang Hong mentioned: "The export of charging piles is similar to that of pure electric vehicles, and is restricted by the policy of the export location. In addition, localization services also bring challenges, accounting for 60% to 70% of overseas private piles, customers will be more dispersed, and service costs are higher. ”
It is worth noting that the interviewees all pointed out that at present, the requirements for the certification of charging piles at home and abroad are different, and the mainland charging piles must first meet the overseas market standards in the technical certification process.
"Overseas requirements for the safety of charging piles are very strict, and the interface standards are also different, which has the characteristics of high cost, difficulty and long time. Liu Kai took the product certification link as an example, for example, charging pile products exported to the EU need to obtain CE certification, to go through the certification application, data preparation, product testing, submission of review and other processes, the certification cycle is about 3-5 months, and the certification fee is about 500,000 yuan. Exports to the United States need to pass UL certification, the certification cycle is about 9-10 months, and the certification fee is about 1 million yuan. In the case of utility-side projects, additional certification of suppliers is required, and even government access permits are required.
In addition, the research report of Industrial Securities also pointed out that the export products of domestic pile enterprises are mostly mature products based on the national standard, first of all, they are inconsistent with the communication standards of overseas charging piles, and there are incompatible problems of vehicle piles, piles and operating systems, and secondly, European standards and American standards have higher requirements for the environmental reliability and mechanical strength of products.
"Eat through" overseas markets
Because the market demand is less than expected and corporate profits are declining, the current attitude of European and American companies towards electrification transformation is slightly "hesitant". At the end of last year, Ford Motor, General Motors and many other European and American auto giants and supply chain companies have announced that they will postpone some investment plans related to the electric vehicle industry, and some companies have even decided to extend the sales time of fuel vehicles.
However, in the opinion of the interviewees, the demand for charging infrastructure is still strong, and the strategic choices of enterprises in the short term will not shrink the overseas charging market. "The electrification and intelligent networking of automobiles is a major trend in the development of the automobile industry, although different companies make different investment strategies based on their own factors, and also have a fluctuating impact on the layout of infrastructure, but in the long run, the demand for infrastructure is still very large. Liu Kai said.
In the face of the complex overseas market environment, Liu Kai reminded that domestic charging pile companies must understand the policies, technologies, standards, regulations, certifications and after-sales requirements of overseas destinations, and formulate overseas strategies based on their own characteristics and advantages. "This requires companies to keep track of the policies of the target countries in real time and adjust their business strategies in a timely manner, such as building factories in the local area or cooperating with local companies to provide key components. ”
Zhang Hong said: "The charging pile industry is experiencing rapid technological iteration, and for enterprises themselves, they can accelerate R&D investment in high-power charging technology and wireless charging technology to improve charging efficiency and user experience." In terms of overseas layout, pile enterprises need to focus on a certain market in the short term according to their own strength, combined with on-the-spot investigation and understanding of overseas markets, and do not cast a wide net. ”
Original title: Charging piles overseas gold rush
Text丨Reporter Yang Zi