[Autohome? In-depth review] "Separation of vehicle and electricity" has always been a hot topic in the field of new energy vehicles. However, in the actual operations and promotions of various car companies, ordinary consumers often The reader is confused. In fact, the so-called "separation of vehicle and electricity" means that the vehicle and battery are regarded as two completely independent products and are sold and operated separately. This includes separation at the physical level, which is what we often call vehicle battery swapping, and separation at the commercial level, which is the separation of users' rights to use and own the vehicle and battery. After paying the cost of the entire vehicle, consumers generally obtain the right to use the battery through separate leasing or installment payments. So regarding the "separation of vehicles and electricity", what is the specific operating situation of various domestic car companies? What else are worth looking forward to in the future market? Is the future of "vehicle and electricity separation" going to the left or right? How to move forward? Let’s take a closer look at related issues.
■? The pain point for new energy vehicle users is not just the difficulty of charging. Judging from the recent stock market conditions, new power companies such as Tesla and NIO have performed well, and their stock prices have skyrocketed, constantly breaking historical records, while the capital market has The pursuit and enthusiasm have also injected a "boost" into the development of the entire new energy vehicle industry, providing it with a superior capital environment and opportunities for rapid growth. For any car company, obtaining capital support is only the first step. In the real market, car electrification is inherently a protracted battle. Can it continue to dig deep and grasp the user needs and consumption pain points of the Chinese market, so as to advance in technology? Systematic and targeted innovation and progress on the product side will undoubtedly be directly related to the final success or failure of this battle. Judging from recent data, behind the high attention in the new energy market, the main pain points for users to purchase electric vehicles are concentrated on inconvenient charging, low battery life, high first purchase (battery) cost, electric vehicles not retaining their value, and rapid battery decay. Anxiety over issues such as poor battery safety performance. In response to the pain point of low vehicle battery life, Gu Huinan, general manager of GAC New Energy, once said that product battery life itself is no longer a big problem. Many models have exceeded 600km. Users’ worries about battery life are more of a psychological concern. . As car companies continue to invest in technology, they introduce new products, and the comprehensive range of models continues to improve. Based on the recent data of new products released by various car companies and representative models on the market, the pure electric cruising range has reached 500km and above. products have become quite common. In other words, the single mileage of an electric vehicle is very close to the mileage of a fuel vehicle with a full tank of fuel. Problems such as inconvenient charging and low residual value of electric vehicles are relatively complicated to solve due to their wide scope. For example, in order to improve the convenience of charging for users, the construction and popularization of charging piles in the community will involve the interests of property companies and the safety of residents. Concerns and other constraints make it difficult to coordinate and implement the plan, which will remain difficult to overcome in the short term.
■ With policy encouragement, "vehicle and battery separation" is growing again. Facing the pain points of consumers, the battery swap model cleverly solves the problem of long charging time and low efficiency of new energy vehicles. At the same time, since the battery usually accounts for more than 40% of the overall cost of the vehicle, in the commercial operation model, separating the use rights and ownership of the complete vehicle and battery can greatly reduce the initial cost of purchasing a car and provide consumers with "Burden reduction" was carried out. "Vehicle and battery separation" means richer business models, higher battery usage, and more centralized battery monitoring and management for OEMs and battery companies. This can not only better ensure battery life and prevent Battery failure also brings more profit growth points to multiple participants. Based on this, regarding the "separation of vehicle and electricity", Bai Hua, a second-level researcher at the Automotive Development Division of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said bluntly that new energy vehicles are still in the early stages of industrial development. We maintain an open attitude on technical routes, encourage car companies to explore and develop various methods, and actively improve relevant supporting policies.
National Development and Reform Commission
National Energy Administration
Accelerate the construction of infrastructure such as charging and swapping, hydrogenation, information communications and road transportation, and improve the level of interconnection and interoperability. Use efficiency, encourage business model innovation, and create a good usage environment for new energy vehicles.
Strengthen the construction of new infrastructure, develop new generation information networks, expand 5G applications, build data centers, add charging piles, battery swap stations and other facilities, promote new energy vehicles, stimulate new consumer demand, and assist industrial upgrading.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that “it will continue to vigorously promote the construction of charging and swapping infrastructure, encourage companies to develop battery-swapping mode models according to applicable scenarios, support pilot promotion in Beijing, Hainan and other places, and promote the high quality of the new energy vehicle industry. Development. A review of the recently released policies related to "vehicle and battery separation" (especially battery swapping) shows that the state attaches great importance to "vehicle and battery separation". The new policy on subsidies for new energy vehicles promulgated in April this year pointed out that " With the development of new business models such as "vehicle and battery separation", there is no subsidy threshold of up to 300,000 yuan for electric vehicles using battery swapping technology. The State Council's "Government Work Report" proposed that the new infrastructure includes the addition of battery swapping stations and other facilities. In the "New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" just released in October this year, "battery exchange" was mentioned 11 times, and the frequency of hot words was much higher than that of high-power charging and wireless charging. , the first national standard for battery swapping, the recommended national standard GB/T "Safety Requirements for Battery Swapping for Electric Vehicles" has passed the review, ensuring the healthy and standardized development of the battery swapping model. "Vehicle and battery separation" has ushered in multiple benefits. In the new era, it is expected to become the next trend.
■ With hundreds of car companies competing for market share, the pioneers can take the lead in overseas markets. The American company Better Place is the most well-known in the field of battery swapping for electric vehicles. However, due to the relatively single brand of customer service (only Renault) and the high investment cost of battery swapping stations, it eventually fell into the dust; Tesla had also previously made inroads in battery swapping and super charging pile technology. After going round and round, but considering the input-output ratio and the preferences of American consumers, we finally gave up on the battery replacement route. Looking back to the domestic market, Chinese brand companies such as BAIC, Dongfeng and NIO were the earliest in the field of battery replacement. Entrants. Regarding battery swapping, in the early stages of development, many car companies worked independently, building battery swapping stations themselves or cooperating with third-party companies, and a single battery swapping station only served a single series of models within its subordinate car brands, such as Beijing Aodong is a joint-stock company of BAIC, and its early service battery swap models are limited to BAIC New Energy EU series. Dongfeng's partner Spacetime Electric only services Junfeng E11K and other battery swap models.
『BAIC. New energy EU? 2018 model? EU Quick Swap Lotto Edition.' At the same time, most of the users of battery swap products of traditional car companies are taxi operating companies on the B-side, while there are very few individual and household users on the C-side. Only NIO has many battery swap products. For C-end users, the positioning and pricing of corresponding battery-swap models are relatively high. Times have changed. With the rapid development of the domestic new energy market and the incentives from policy and other factors, companies such as SAIC, Geely, GAC, and Changan have entered the market. They have also followed up and accelerated their catch-up in terms of battery-swap models and operating models. First of all, on the product side, in August this year, the battery-swap version of GAC New Energy Aion?S was officially launched. At the same time, according to According to the information released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the battery-swapping versions of SAIC Roewe Ei5 and Roewe R Auto ER6 have also been declared. Geely's Maple Leaf 80V, Changan Eado New Energy and BEIJING-EU5 and other battery-swapping models have also been declared offline. Multiple exposures.
『GAC New Energy Aion? The pure electric range under NEDC operating conditions reaches 510km and 620km respectively, which is significantly higher than the 300-400km of early battery-swap models. At the same time, combined with the model products and positioning, these new battery replacement products are also obviously more "high-end". In other words, while various car companies are improving product performance for B-end users, they are also gradually beginning to target C-end home consumers. Secondly, at the operational level, starting from the second half of this year, the cooperation projects between Changan, GAC and Aodong New Energy have gradually been implemented. At the Aodong New Energy new generation 4.0 battery swap station promotion conference in August, GAC New Energy, BAIC and Changan Electric models were unveiled at the same time. The subtext is that the battery swap products of the three brands are expected to be widely used in battery swap stations. In addition, FAW is also expected to join this camp in the future.
This year, Geely has also entered the field of battery swapping services by registering the "Yiyi Battery Swap" trademark, and plans to rely on the existing Caocao travel online car-hailing platform to gradually launch new energy online car-hailing models that can be recharged and swapped. , providing users with full-process services from battery swapping products, online car-hailing, and battery swapping stations; NIO has released the battery rental service BaaS (Battery as a Service) based on its existing battery-swappable full product lineup. That is to say, in addition to only providing battery replacement services to users in the early days, it also launched battery rental, rechargeable, replaceable and upgradeable services. In addition, in terms of business operation models, representative companies of new car-making forces such as Xiaopeng, WM Motor and Nezha have not yet launched battery-replacement products. However, compared with the traditional full payment or installment car purchase methods, they have also successively launched free-to-use car purchases. New methods such as purchasing the battery together, leasing the battery separately, and paying the battery separately in installments have significantly lowered the sales price of the vehicle.
The crux of product battery generalization and standardization has always been difficult to solve. At the same time, in the past, battery swapping stations had a relatively single operation model with a relatively low input-output ratio, and the promotion and development of the battery swapping model has been seriously delayed for a long time. However, it is undeniable that the "vehicle and electricity separation" model has obvious advantages in view of the pain points such as difficulty in charging for consumers, the purchase cost of electric vehicles, and the low image of the price guarantee, especially in application scenarios such as electric taxis and online ride-hailing. Obviously, each car company needs to go further, such as first standardizing batteries in the field of operating electric taxis, or by strengthening alliances and expanding the "circle of friends" among car companies, first among some models. Fully share technology and resources, so as to achieve compatibility with battery swap products of multiple car brands under a unified battery swap station network. Use this as a model to continuously accumulate operational data and experience, and then explore the "vehicle and battery separation" Create a benign and brand-new development and business model. (Text/Autohome commentator? Che Yong)