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Xiaomi Su7 is really hot, and the number of locked orders exceeds 100,000 within 40 days of listing, which brings new vitality to the new energy vehicle industry and promotes the development of the charging pile industry.
According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in April reached 870,000 and 850,000 units, respectively, an increase of 35.9% and 33.5% year-on-year, respectively, and the market share reached 36%. According to data from the China Charging Alliance, there were 83,000 more public charging piles in March 2024 than in February 2024, a year-on-year increase of 48.6% in March.
New energy vehicles continue to soar, the market's requirements for charging pile technology and services continue to improve, and the innovation of charging technology and mode has become the focus of attention. At the same time, the common problems in the charging pile industry, such as "difficult charging", "slow charging", "high equipment failure rate" and so on, have been turned out for discussion and whipping again.
Obviously, new energy vehicles have entered the acceleration lane, the demand for charging piles will become stronger and stronger, and third-party charging pile operators will face more challenges and competition.
The first quarter report was mixed
The surge in sales of new energy vehicles in the new quarter is good news for third-party charging pile operators.
With the increasing popularity of new energy vehicles, the demand for charging facilities has also increased, which is good for charging pile operators. According to the data of the National Development and Reform Commission, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in 2023 will reach 9.587 million and 9.495 million respectively, an increase of 35.8% and 37.9% year-on-year, respectively; The production and sales of new energy vehicles in mainland China account for more than 60% of the world's total, ranking first in the world for nine consecutive years.
The corresponding phenomenon is that car companies and third-party charging pile manufacturers have accelerated the construction of charging "electric pile networks", and the number of charging piles has been rising. According to data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, the increase in public charging piles in 2023 will be 929,000 units, an increase of 42.7% year-on-year; It is estimated that 1.084 million new public charging piles will be added in 2024.
There is good news and bad news, car companies are accelerating their self-built charging and swapping stations, grabbing the market share of charging piles, and third-party charging pile operators are facing greater competitive pressure.
At the beginning of the birth of charging piles, the main operators of domestic charging piles were mainly third-party operators and third-party charging service platforms, and later Tesla, NIO and other new energy vehicle leaders successively built their own charging pile networks, battery swap stations, and opened to other brands, and the competition for energy replenishment became more and more fierce.
For NEV brands, there are many benefits to building their own charging network. First, improve the competitiveness of car companies and attract more consumers to buy their electric vehicles; Second, by providing charging services to users, it can bring additional profit opportunities to car companies; Third, by providing high-quality charging facilities and high-quality charging services, car companies can enhance consumers' favorability and loyalty to their brands.
With the passage of time, the construction of charging infrastructure has become a weapon for car companies to compete for sales, more and more car companies have announced their own charging network layout plans, and the pressure on third-party charging pile operators is also increasing.
According to incomplete statistics, Mercedes-Benz expects to install at least 1,00 high-power charging stations and about 7,000 charging piles in China by the end of 2026; Volkswagen Group plans to install 45,000 fast chargers worldwide with several partners by 2025, of which about 17,000 are in the Chinese market......
New energy vehicle companies are partners and competitors, and third-party charging pile operators need to respond flexibly, not only to actively cooperate with new energy vehicle companies, but also to enhance their own competitive advantages, in order to hope to maintain stable development in the new energy vehicle industry.
Star Charging focuses on supercharging and transforms into a comprehensive digital energy service
As one of the largest charging pile operators in China, Star Charging has experienced the rapid development of the charging pile industry, achieved rapid expansion and growth, and also deeply felt the full involution of the charging pile industry in the new era.
Ten years ago, the concept of new energy vehicles was on fire, but charging was one of the biggest bottlenecks. With the mission of solving the charging problem, Star Charging provides high-quality and efficient charging services for electric vehicle users, and gradually gains a firm foothold in the industry. With the passage of time, the market has ended its brutal growth state and entered the stage of refined competition, with better products, faster efficiency, and more efficient services becoming the new focus of competition, and "ultra-fast charging" becoming a new trend.
In order to comply with the development of the market, Xingxing Charging takes technological innovation as the driving force, increases R&D investment, strives to build a wide-ranging, efficient and reliable supercharging network, and announces the construction of digital infrastructure and energy infrastructure, broadens the service territory and improves its competitiveness, so as to widen the gap with other competitors.
In terms of products, Star Charging has created a diversified product matrix, and has completed the full product layout from 360kW to 960kW, from air-cooled to liquid-cooled, from single gun to double gun, which not only solves the problem of difficult charging, but also enriches new scenarios for supercharging applications.
According to public data on the Internet, the Star Charging Platform has covered more than 350 cities and regions across the country, with more than 20 million registered users, more than 15,000 partners served, and more than 80,000 charging stations operated by the platform. Star Charging also plans to build more than 10,000 super charging stations with liquid-cooled terminals across the country in the next ten years, and promote 126 cities across the country.
In terms of technology, Star Charging has devoted itself to the research of "supercharging technology", and has also integrated high-quality resources in the industrial chain to form a "battery life alliance" with a number of leading enterprises to jointly promote the research and development of supercharging technology. It is reported that the "supercharge" products of Star Charging all support 1000V high-voltage platform, with a maximum power of 960kW and a rated current of 600A and a maximum current output of 800A.
In terms of ecology, Star Charging innovates the operation model and creates a shared ecology of smart charging piles to promote the sustainable use of energy and environmental protection. Star Charging has established ecological cooperation with more than 50 well-known domestic and foreign car companies, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Jaguar Land Rover, Ideal, Dongfeng, Volvo and so on.
In short, by extending the charging pile business to digital energy services, Star Charging provides users with more comprehensive energy solutions to improve energy efficiency and user experience. This initiative can not only provide users with more convenient and intelligent energy services, but also provide more opportunities and potential for the development of Star Charging itself in the energy field.
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Special calls are deployed to the network and dig deep into the "charging +" integrated service body
It is also the leader of the charging pile industry, and Telai has also actively cut into the new energy industry chain from the charging pile business, and has achieved good results.
Recently, Teruide, the parent company of Telai, has handed over an excellent annual report card: in 2023, it will achieve a total operating income of 14.602 billion yuan, an increase of 25.56% over the same period of the previous year; The net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached 491 million yuan, an increase of 80.44% over the same period last year.
Among them, the revenue of "intelligent manufacturing + integrated services" of power equipment was 8.561 billion yuan, an increase of 21.25% over the same period of last year, and the gross profit was 2.081 billion yuan, an increase of 22.25% over the same period of last year; The electric vehicle charging network business (special call) achieved operating income of 6.041 billion yuan, an increase of 32.21% over the same period of the previous year; The gross profit was 1.33 billion yuan, an increase of 52.57% over the same period of the previous year, and the loss was reversed.
At a time when charging pile operators are generally worried about profits, Telai has successfully turned losses into profits, indicating that it has a certain competitive advantage and strength in the field of charging pile operation. The reason for this is that through the "pile-to-network" layout, the special call has realized the transformation from the pursuit of quantity to the pursuit of quality and efficiency.
First, the "pile transformation network" achieves wide coverage. Compared with the traditional single charging pile, the special call charging network has the advantages of wide coverage and large-scale charging, and can build charging piles in different locations to cover more charging demand points, which is more in line with the trend of more and more diversified new energy supplements.
According to the statistics of the Charging Alliance, in the field of public charging, by the end of 2023, Telide has operated 523,000 public charging terminals, including 313,000 DC charging terminals, with a market share of about 26%, ranking first in the country; In 2023, the company's charging capacity will reach 9.3 billion kWh, with a market share of about 26%, ranking first in the country.
Second, "piles into a network" to achieve high efficiency. Compared with traditional charging piles, the charging network technology mode of Telai can remotely monitor, dispatch and maintain charging piles through an intelligent management system, improve charging efficiency and reliability, and solve the impact of charging demand caused by the rapid growth of new energy vehicles.
Third, "pile-to-network" achieves high quality. There are some common problems in the service quality of charging piles, such as slow charging speed, high equipment failure rate, and untimely maintenance of charging piles, which bring certain troubles and inconveniences to the user's charging experience.
The special call reconstructs the technical route of the charging network, which can monitor the operation status of the charging pile in real time, find and solve potential problems in time, ensure the normal operation of the charging pile, and provide high-quality charging services. It is understood that around the charging network technology, Telai has overcome 20 core and key technologies in the world, and obtained more than 1,300 intellectual property rights.
It is worth mentioning that the company has united more than 100 ecological partners, covering finance, insurance, after-sales service market, battery energy, life services and other fields, deeply excavating the commercial value of "charging + X", and is committed to being the strongest and largest ecological operator of charging network in China." ”
It has to be said that with the development of science and technology and the promotion of applications, charging piles and other basic services will gradually be interconnected, forming an intelligent "energy supply network", making people's lives more convenient. Telai is deeply engaged in "Charging + X" to promote the deep integration of charging infrastructure and other fields, and will also obtain more business opportunities.
From the scale, technology to ecology, the volume is better than before
Domestic new energy vehicle brands are making great progress, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is increasing, and the charging pile industry will usher in a broader market and development space. At the same time, the competition of third-party charging pile operators has changed from fighting scale, technology to ecology, and the degree of involution is better than before.
In terms of scale, the huge number and coverage of charging piles can demonstrate the status and strength of third-party operators.
Through large-scale investment and layout, third-party charging pile operators can build a large and dense charging pile network, which can improve the coverage of charging stations and meet the charging needs of users in different locations, thereby enhancing their recognition and loyalty to charging pile operators.
In terms of technology, more advanced and intelligent charging technology can ensure the competitive advantage of third-party charging pile operators.
With the development of technology, charging pile technology is also constantly evolving, from traditional slow charging to fast charging, AC charging to DC charging, etc., third-party operators continue to follow up charging technology, which can provide faster and more stable charging services, meet the changing needs of users, and maintain market competitiveness.
In terms of ecology, a complete and open charging ecosystem can provide more opportunities and support for third-party charging operators to achieve sustainable development. Charging operators have established cooperative relationships with multiple car companies, energy companies, and charging equipment manufacturers to form a complete ecosystem, which can expand their business scope, provide more comprehensive and convenient charging services, and carry out more business models and service innovations.
To sum up, the construction of charging pile ecology is a tough and protracted battle. In the future, the charging pile market will develop in the direction of diversification, intelligence and networking, and the competition between third-party charging pile operators will be more volatile than in the past, and the sense of crisis and urgency of head brands such as special calls and star charging will also be stronger.