Just on December 12, the world's first Bee speed ultra-fast charging lithium iron phosphate short knife battery was launched on the 4th Battery Day, and 10 days later, it took the initiative to withdraw the IPO application that had been inquired twice by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, terminating its listing journey to the Science and Technology Innovation Board. Although the current domestic capital market environment is indeed different from the past, a new star in the industry who has just achieved a breakthrough in growth is always worth looking forward to.
Source: Shanghai Stock Exchange).
However, looking back at the history of SVOLT's development, it is not so surprising that it has made such a prudent choice. In 2018, it entered the battery field with trepidation, and in 2023, it will achieve an important leap in commercialization with a global short knife, but it turned its head and bluntly said that next year, "the pressure is very huge".
In 2019, SVOLT proposed to "enter the narrow door, see the glimmer, and go the long way" on the first battery day, and since then, it has been steadily impacting the breakthrough point in the product field, which has now led to the grand scene of "short knife + flying stack + fast charging" out of the sheath together.
When the hybrid trend and fast charging trend of the new energy market grow to the point where it cannot be ignored, SVOLT Energy has crossed the node of "from 0 to 1". The wind and waves of entrepreneurship have come over, and the vitality and resilience of SVOLT Energy will only become stronger and stronger in the market.
The underlying logic of technological breakthrough meets the structural opportunities of new energy
New energy is no longer a blue ocean, but a red ocean, but it does not mean that the red ocean does not have opportunities. In terms of the market, if there is a segment that is large enough and influential enough, then it will also give the head enterprises room to grow. The area where expectations are higher is technological breakthroughs. The reason why the Red Sea is "red" is often because the enthusiasm of players to reinvent the wheel is too high, and there is no breakthrough technology and products to meet the market demand. Without these elements, it is difficult to make reliable returns.
Now, based on the above understanding, SVOLT and the domestic new energy market can form a pair of special growth models.
As of November, the domestic new energy sales volume reached 83040,000 vehicles, breaking through the 10 million mark is close at hand. Under the huge scale, there are regional differences and demand differences to guide the flow of consumption, so there is enough room for the development of products with different technical routes. Grasping one of these key levels is enough to achieve an effective breakthrough, which is an explanation of the structural opportunity.
For example, in terms of product structure, the outbreak of the PHEV market segment is an opportunity that many car companies did not expect before. In October this year, PHEV sales accounted for 32 percent of new energy vehicle sales4%, breaking through 30% for the first time. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger association, pointed out that in the first three quarters of this year, the battery demand for plug-in hybrid passenger cars in China increased by 114% year-on-year, significantly exceeding the 25% growth rate of battery demand for pure electric passenger cars.
Different technical routes, different vehicle structures, and naturally different requirements for battery pack components. There is a high positive correlation between their growth. PHEV has a more compact space structure and has high requirements for the form and function of the battery. Especially at present, the demand for fast charging and the original structural demand are fused, which further promotes the change of batteries.
On the route of the long and thin laminated battery such as the blade battery, the traditional 960mm cell width belongs to the "long knife" battery, which on the one hand has requirements for the wheelbase of the whole vehicle and is equipped with clear restrictions, unlike the short knife, which can more easily avoid components such as exhaust pipes. On the other hand, due to structural reasons, the internal resistance of the long knife is more significant, and increasing the charging power generates more heat, so the heat dissipation design of the battery pack is a problem. Especially if you want to do fast charging, it will be more difficult.
In response to this demand, it is worthless to roll up one size. SVOLT has previously pursued a "category innovation strategy" to enhance the overall value of blade cells and battery packs through new designs.
Yang Hongxin, chairman and CEO of SVOLT, said: "(Before) because we wanted to create a new category of short-knife laminated batteries, which is not available in this industry, and we wanted to create it from 0 to 1, which is the stage of creating a new category." ”
In 2023, the successful mass production of SVOLT's 600mm short knife battery marks the achievement of its goal of "from 0 to 1". At the beginning of this plan, it was a big gamble to start a road of process, equipment, and customer adaptation from scratch. But technological innovation is like this, and in 2022, SVOLT will rank first in the power battery industry in terms of the number of R&D patent applications and published patents.
As the only manufacturer in the market to achieve fast charging on short-knife cells, SVOLT has also mastered the advantages of higher PACK volume utilization, better temperature uniformity, and higher adaptability to CTC design, making it more attractive to customers. And, Yang Hongxin said that Honeycomb Energy will be fully popularized next year2C, mass production of 3C, 4C, pre-research of 5C products, the advancement continues.
Source: Honeycomb Energy).
It is worth mentioning that in order to firmly embed their own products in the industrial chain, in addition to R&D capabilities, production is also as important. The R&D efficiency of the whole new energy industry chain has been improved, and the cycle has been shortened, which has put forward higher requirements for the best businessmen. In this regard, the "flying stack" technology in SVOLT's "short knife + flying stack + fast charging" is improving the quality of production capacity in continuous iteration.
In addition, for L400 short knife battery, a large single product with a large number of customers and production lines, the production efficiency advantages and cost savings of large-scale manufacturing will be more prominent, which in turn strengthens customer recognition. At this stage, the yield rate of SVOLT has reached 98%, the equipment investment can be reduced by 10 million GWH, and the operating cost can be reduced by 8 million GWh.
In 2023, SVOLT's batteries will be installed in a total of 40 models on sale. In 2024, it still has higher requirements for itself.
The walls have increased and become city walls, and Honeycomb Energy continues to do the difficult but right things
In terms of the goal of 2024, SVOLT hopes to have more than 11 strategic customers, more than 6 overseas strategic customers, more than 40 new models, a 40% reduction in manufacturing costs, and a 20% reduction in procurement costs + technology costs. These goals are not separate, but part of an ecosystem.
Source: Honeycomb Energy).
But if there's one area of progress that's the most interesting, it's the customer. Being able to bring an innovative product to market is just the beginning, and the more customers recognize, the flywheel of growth can turn. In 2023, SVOLT has won new customers such as SAIC-GM-Wuling and GCL. Commercialization capability is a key factor in determining the future lifetime value of a technology.
In this huge customer team, the overseas market is undoubtedly the top priority to enhance the height of SVOLT energy barriers and strengthen its commercial value. The leading penetration rate of China's new energy market determines that its subsequent growth will slow down, but overseas is still an incremental market, and the expectation is higher than that of China. If it can truly grow into a world-class businessman, it will grasp the high voice at the standard level in the industry and accelerate the fight against involution.
Although this cannot be a short-term process, SVOLT has adopted a highly native development mode, and the globalization of the brand is based on the globalization of production capacity and the globalization of the industrial chain. From the very beginning, it set a global layout strategy.
In Germany, the battery module and pack plant in Saarland is expected to be completed in mid-2024. On December 20, the first battery pack of SVOLT Thailand factory was officially rolled off the production line, and the supply of core customers has been put on the agenda.
This layout can also make better use of local advantages to meet the needs of specific customers, for example, when Stellantis Group reached a partnership with SVOLT in 2020, it asked to reduce costs. If there is a geographical advantage and the cost advantage of relying on the local ** chain and reducing the intermediate links, the overall input-output ratio will be more impressive. The larger the scale, the stronger this positive cycle effect becomes.
At the product level, in addition to the ace products that have been implemented to continue to deepen the application, SVOLT has also laid out the layout for those products that may subvert the existing development route and belong to the "next decade": the second-generation jelly battery of prismatic semi-solid-state batteries has achieved mass production, the installation of cobalt-free batteries has exceeded 13,000 vehicles, and the L600 short knife power sodium-ion battery has completed all reliability tests.
Source: Honeycomb Energy).
Statistics from the China Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance show that in the first 11 months of this year, SVOLT ranked seventh in China in terms of cumulative power battery loading. In the fast-paced street battle in the battery industry, this achievement and the technical products favored by customers behind it undoubtedly prove the competitiveness of SVOLT.
There is also a background to this, the collective launch of new processes, new production lines and new products in 2023 has temporarily increased the comprehensive cost, which is why it proposes to significantly reduce costs in 2024. And when larger-scale manufacturing starts in 2024, SVOLT may perform better in the proving ground than this year.
*: Songuo Finance.