Title Picture | Visual China
"Three good years, three bad years, three years if not bad".
This is a phrase widely used by practitioners in the commercial vehicle industry to ridicule themselves, but it actually hides a deeper implication that if we invent an index for commercial vehicles, then it must be closely related to the macroeconomy.
As the link of the physical industrial chain, logistics involves the connection of raw material mining, procurement, production, processing and other links of all physical commodities. According to statistics, the cargo transportation volume of commercial vehicles accounts for 75% of the total cargo volume in the country.
In other words, the transportation system built on the commercial vehicle industry is like the economic artery of our country, and if it can run better and faster, then the efficiency and quality of society will also improve; On the contrary, thousands of industries downstream will be affected, or even cut off supply.
However, such an important economic artery still hides many problems.
Technology solves the efficiency dilemma of economic arteries
Many people are fascinated by the life of truck drivers in the car, and they are like lonely knights in the movie, driving along the north-south traffic artery, from the northeast plain all the way to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
But such a romance does not belong to the driver himself, and no matter how beautiful the scenery outside the window is, it can't compete with the delivery time. Not only trailer drivers running on the highway, but also container drivers and fleets in the city face the same problems: fuel consumption, overtime fines, empty vehicles looking for goods, traffic jams... Each of these variables affects their income. Therefore, for a long time, freight practitioners are "relying on the sky to eat", cargo stations, logistics companies, express delivery brothers and other practitioners are trapped by it.
From a macro point of view, the rapid development of China's economy has given birth to a boom in the freight industry, but in the process, it has also formed a dependence on the demographic dividend, which has caused the industry to fall into a dead cycle of manpower to solve problems. However, there is always a limit to the problems that can be solved by manpower, and the most effective way to solve the problem is undoubtedly through technological progress, while improving efficiency, the lives of practitioners can be improved.
This is not only for the welfare of the driver group, but also to meet the further needs of Chinese society for logistics efficiency.
In fact, in the answer to reporters' questions from the National Development and Reform Commission a few years ago, it has pointed out the industry problems and directions:
“…… The outstanding problems are that the effective supply and connection of logistics infrastructure is insufficient, the overall operation efficiency of logistics is not high, the level of standardization is low, the industry concentration is low, the infrastructure is not connected, and the information interconnection and sharing is not smooth. ”
In other words, we need a logistics system with a higher degree of modernization, higher informatization and intelligence, and stronger anti-risk ability.
And the most important of these is the car in the hands of the drivers.
In fact, the reliability and economy of vehicles have always been a "clear" account, such as SF Express, the world's leading head logistics company, initially used hundreds of thousands of overseas high-end models, from today's point of view, this investment has brought a good return.
In the past two years, with the continuous improvement of China's commercial vehicle technology, the proportion of China's high-end commercial vehicles has also continued to rise. Technology is also bringing more help to practitioners, with the blessing of Internet of Vehicles technology, vehicles and goods will achieve accurate matching, reduce idling time, and with the help of intelligent driving, drivers can drive two to one driver.
For example, Foton Motor, relying on the deep cultivation of intelligence, has begun to lay out the Internet of vehicles in 2016. Up to now, more than 2.6 million vehicles have been connected, using original factory data to provide hardware equipment, software platforms, data services and other solutions for vehicles, suppliers, dealers, service providers and customers. This approach to opening up data has the opportunity to connect previously disconnected systems to each other, and to minimize the phenomenon that each link of logistics is like an island seeking to maximize efficiency and even bring mutual influence, forming a connected logistics network. With the blessing of artificial intelligence, the improvement of the operational efficiency of the entire system in the future will not be the same.
At the level of intelligence, Foton Motor is not lagging behind the current intelligent war of passenger new energy vehicles: it has realized the autonomous and controllable dozens of core key technologies such as intelligent cockpit, assisted driving functions, automatic driving decision-making and drive-by-wire chassis. When this system is mature and controllable, drivers will have the opportunity to enjoy a more comfortable cabin during busy driving, and with the help of assisted driving, they will not have to be nervous all the time to relieve fatigue.
In addition to intelligence, electrification technology has always been the most concerned technical direction in the commercial vehicle industry. Frankly speaking, China's commercial vehicles have a global first-mover advantage in the field of electrification, and have formed a diversified and all-round power technology route. At present, the industry has taken a number of routes in the exploration stage: for example, some companies have taken the pure electric route, and some companies are taking the hydrogen fuel route. Foton Motor did not put its eggs in one basket, but embarked on a three-line parallel route of "pure electric + hybrid + hydrogen fuel", and launched a diversified product portfolio on the basis of "oil to electric / hydrogen + new platform".
Behind the emergence of these new technologies is the firm R&D investment of China's commercial vehicle industry. Foton Motor alone will invest as much as 1.895 billion yuan in R&D in 2022 and more than 2 billion yuan in 2023, which is the investment in the industry during the recession under the epidemic. From the world's first liquid hydrogen heavy truck to China's first commercial vehicle autonomous driving road test license, these new technologies of electrification, intelligence and networking represent that China's commercial vehicle transformation is at the forefront of the world.
With the strong investment of the commercial vehicle industry, the entire freight industry is undergoing profound changes.
How many accounts do you have to calculate when you drive a good car
In the field of passenger cars, the ultimate goal of technology upgrading is to improve the user experience, while in the field of commercial vehicles, the goal of technology is to reduce TCO, the so-called TCO refers to the cost of the whole life cycle of the user from the purchase of the car to the scrapping of the vehicle, including the cost of car purchase, fuel cost, maintenance and other processes such as second-hand car transactions.
It can be said that in the past few years, domestic commercial vehicle companies have mainly lagged behind in TCO accounting.
At present, the mainstream ways to reduce TCO in the global commercial vehicle industry are as follows: one is to reduce fuel consumption, the second is the gas engine, which is often seen as natural gas commercial vehicles, and the third is full electrification. The first three are all forms of energy, and the fourth is the cost reduction of the whole life cycle of the vehicle.
What's more complicated is that each scenario in the field of commercial vehicles has its own energy technology route, for example, light trucks are mostly pure electric drives, and medium and heavy trucks are mostly driven by internal combustion engines.
In 2023, the domestic sales of new energy commercial vehicles will reach 396,000, with a penetration rate of only about 12%, far less than 30% of passenger cars, especially in the field of heavy trucks, the advantages of electrification are not obvious, and gas engines (natural gas commercial vehicles) are the "sweet spots" of users.
In the past year, the number of domestic natural gas tractors increased from 33,000 in 2022 to 148,000 in 2023. According to the average market price, a natural gas heavy truck is about 8-100,000 yuan more expensive than a diesel heavy truck, but the price of natural gas is cheaper than diesel, and the price difference is expanding year by year, plus the average annual mileage of the tractor is long. Therefore, users of natural gas heavy trucks can return to their costs in one year or even less, so the market will naturally choose gas machines.
In general, when it is difficult to make major changes in the form of energy, the core of commercial vehicle TCO now falls on the whole life cycle.
Therefore, in addition to key energy technology routes such as electrification and natural gas, in order to further reduce TCO, Foton Motor has proposed a full life cycle integrated solution from car purchase, car use, car management, car maintenance to car replacement, to help the fleet reduce operating costs and improve efficiency.
Relying on strong data and algorithm capabilities, Foton Motor can provide customized services in the key links used by users, such as in terms of car maintenance, it can provide customers with maintenance and accessories, which ensures the reliability of parts and reduces TCO in disguise. For users to replace their cars, leading companies like Foton Motor will also provide customers with second-hand car replacement, auction, brand certification and warranty services to ensure efficient, transparent and safe vehicle disposal and purchase.
In fact, this kind of service idea has many similarities with the "Internet of Vehicles" mentioned above: car owners will inevitably encounter various problems in the car process, and it is difficult for car owners to control TCO in the best possible way without the help of professional institutions.
Manufacturers like Foton can provide services for car owners from a longer-term perspective, and the isolated car use link is opened, and car owners have the opportunity to seek better solutions with the help of a global vision. In the end, the turnover efficiency of the whole link is higher and the cost of using vehicles is lower.
From technology upgrade to TCO ecology, it can be said that Chinese commercial vehicle companies represented by Foton Motor have explored a "Chinese model" with a moat.
A new pattern of internationalization
For a long time, the domestic commercial vehicle industry has continued to roll up technology, fight products, and re-innovate, which has jointly promoted the benign development of the commercial vehicle industry, and this benign development has also promoted the mainland commercial vehicle industry from traditional vehicles to electrification, intelligence, networking and other new quality productivity, and has embarked on a new path of "empowering TCO ecology with new technologies".
In the case of the increasingly mature domestic market, going out is the inevitable choice of China's commercial vehicle industry, but in the overseas market, China's commercial vehicle companies are still facing challenges such as a weak foundation and trade barriers.
"Advance layout and continuous increase" is an important support for China's industry, especially China's high-end manufacturing industry, to gain a foothold overseas and even seize the market in the future. At present, Foton Motor has established 22 KD (knock down) factories overseas, and its products and services have covered 130 countries and regions around the world, and have ranked first in China's commercial vehicle export sales for 13 consecutive years.
In fact, the output of the "China model" is not a simple "paste and copy", nor is it a single enterprise's "going to sea alone", it is a collaborative operation of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to jointly build a giant ship to go to sea. Take Foton as an example. It not only successfully promoted its products to the international market, but also accelerated the global layout of China's automobile industry chain, took the step of internationalization of the whole chain from manufacturing to technology, and promoted the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain including technology, ecology and service to "go global". In addition, through cooperation and technical exchanges with the international market, we will continue to absorb foreign advanced technology and management experience, so as to promote the upgrading and structural optimization of the domestic industry, and promote China's commercial vehicle industry to move towards deep globalization.
Behind such investment, the domestic commercial vehicle industry naturally has some "noise", some contrary to the facts of the media reports, unconfirmed rumors, for the domestic commercial vehicle industry has a negative impact, this voice not only to ordinary users, but also to affect the reputation of the domestic commercial vehicle industry. Fortunately, Foton Motor responded positively, through domestic third-party testing institutions, falsified rumors, and clarified the facts to the public and the media in a timely manner, which is beneficial to China's commercial vehicles to better go overseas.
In any case, this logistics network, which has supplied China's economy in the past few decades, has developed countless amazing economies, which are deeply integrated with the industrial chains of various industries, forming an infrastructure that supports the entire industrial ecology. Now, the logistics industry is experiencing a reverse supply of economy and technology, which heralds the development of a new infrastructure beyond what we currently know.
But, despite these grand blueprints, there is a simple truth behind it: with the advancement of technology, we are able to receive parcels conveniently. Practitioners in the logistics industry, as individuals who support the entire system, deserve a better life and rewards.
It is builders and product service providers like Foton Motor that the value they create is valuable and irreplaceable, providing solid support for the development of the logistics industry, and bringing such achievements overseas to bring more inclusive value.
This content is the author's independent view and does not represent the position of Tiger Sniff. May not be reproduced without permission, please contact [email protected] for authorization
People who are changing and want to change the world are all in the Tiger Sniff APP