[Introduction: Recently, there have been a number of blockbuster incidents in the domestic energy supplement field: Changan and Geely have joined NIO's battery swap network before and after;BMW Brilliance and Mercedes-Benz China in the luxury car camp set up a 50:50 battery swap company to operate a supercharging network in China. In the field of energy supplementation, both domestic automobile brands and foreign brands have joined forces, which has attracted a lot of attention from all parties. 】
Written by |Zhang Dachuan, editor|Grass.
Mercedes-Benz and BMW initiated the establishment of a joint venture, as well as NIO's opening of the battery swap network, are still closely related to the current stage of electric vehicle development.
At present, the pure electric range of the new generation of electric vehicles on the market generally exceeds kilometers, and even some models can reach 1,000 kilometers, which has far exceeded the mileage of fuel vehicles. From a cost perspective, in the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough in battery energy density, stacking batteries to increase the range of electric vehicles will only make the cost of the whole vehicle higher and higher.
The so-called range anxiety of electric vehicles has changed from worrying about the lack of mileage of a single vehicle to anxiety about the energy replenishment experience. Charging times and waiting in line for charging have begun to become new pain points for consumers. Therefore, giving the brand's electric vehicle users a better energy replenishment experience has become an important reason to support the increase in electric vehicle sales. For example, NIO's BaaS battery swap service not only brings users a better energy replenishment experience, but also greatly reduces the threshold for car purchase by using the separation of vehicle and electricity, and also helps users save various problems around the battery in the process of using the car to the greatest extent.
Energy replenishment is an area that pays attention to scale effect. Whether it is overcharging or battery swapping, only by entering a positive feedback can the energy replenishment business be done well. That is, there is a certain scale of energy replenishment infrastructure, and then the use of more and more customers, a single charging station battery swap station begins to make a profit, and then there will be more and more capital into this market, to build more energy replenishment infrastructure, so that the user experience will be better.
But whether it is overcharging or battery swapping, in the final analysis, it is an asset-heavy investment. According to data, the total cost of building an A480+5 120kW charging pile supercharging station is about 1.12 million yuanThe construction of a second-generation NIO station requires 1.25 million yuan, plus ground rent, labor and other costs. In particular, battery swapping not only lays out the same infrastructure as supercharging in the early stage, but also turns the power battery pack that can be sold at one time into a cost that needs to be leased in the form of rent over a few years. Self-built supercharging networks or battery swap networks require a lot of investment. Once there are not enough vehicles to charge or replace batteries in the later stage, it will fall into a situation of continuous losses, which will become the profit bleeding point of the car company's own business.
Therefore, in the field of energy supplement, the group heating of car companies is a shortcut to reduce the early investment and achieve later profitability at the same time. In addition to the joint ventures initiated by Mercedes-Benz and BMW, as well as the battery swap alliance led by NIO, there are also many cases of open energy replenishment networks around the world
Tesla opened its charging network in 2021, and it has opened more than 350 Superchargers and more than 250 destination charging stations in China, which can support more than 30 models of 30 non-Tesla brands. In the U.S. market, Tesla has also reached cooperation agreements with almost all mainstream brands to open up its own supercharging network.
And in July, the world's seven largest automakers, including General Motors, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, said they would jointly invest at least $1 billion to set up a company to build an electric vehicle charging network that expects to install at least 30,000 fast-charging stations worldwide by 2030.
With the opening of the network, a large number of new customers will inevitably pour in, which will inevitably have a certain impact on the existing user experience. And how to take into account the experience and interests of old customers, relevant car companies have also made arrangements. According to the information released by Mercedes-Benz BMW, although the charging network of the newly established joint venture will be open to the public, they will retain some VIP treatment for their own brand customers and provide some exclusive services: such as plug and charge, online appointment and other seamless digital charging experience.
Coincidentally, NIO is introducing other brands into its battery swap service, and it is also limiting the scope of external sharing to the next generation of mass-market supercharging and quick-swapping battery packs. In other words, the battery swap experience of NIO brand users will not change in any way due to NIO's opening up of the battery swap network, but the Alpine brand with a lower positioning may be a different story. In other words, NIO brand owners may use the battery swap service network shared by NIO in the future, but the opposite will not work.
At present, the vast majority of the world's car companies' electric vehicle business is in the process of losing money. Like General Motors, Ford, and Volkswagen, they all need to rely on the fuel vehicle business to subsidize electric vehicles. Therefore, in the entire electric vehicle business, finding new income for themselves to subsidize part of the losses caused by the sales of electric vehicles has also become the focus of attention of domestic and foreign manufacturers.
The situation is not the same for Tesla, which has already made its electric vehicles profitable. Recently, as Tesla has opened up the charging connector design, almost all mainstream electric vehicle brands in the North American market have reached a cooperation agreement with Tesla to use Tesla's supercharging network. And Tesla's charging standard has almost become the main standard in the North American market. This result is inseparable from Tesla's leading supercharging network layout in North America. According to relevant reports**, with the opening of the supercharging network, the entire electric vehicle energy replenishment business will bring Tesla a very considerable revenue. Charging revenues from non-Tesla owners could reach $3 billion by 2030, and that number will increase to $5.4 billion by 2032.
Therefore, for car companies, the layout and coverage of the energy supplement network can be achieved to the greatest extent in the shortest possible time through the group, and they will be able to get a share of the huge potential energy supplement market. At this time, all parties are competing for speed. Tesla's supercharging network can attract almost all car companies in the North American market to join, in the final analysis, because it has a first-mover advantage, both in the number of charging stations and in the layout of charging stations. Therefore, other car companies can only watch Tesla earn charging fees at the moment. Otherwise, their own car owners may be inconvenient to charge, which will affect the sales of their electric vehicles.
Comments. In addition to the new competition in the field of electric vehicles, the field of energy supplement will also become a new battlefield for all parties to compete. Since the field of energy supplement is a field that pays more attention to scale effect, all kinds of vertical and horizontal cooperation will inevitably emerge in endlessly, and it is not even ruled out that there will be a situation in the future where Internet capital like Didi and Uber will strongly intervene and fight a big war. As long as this market competition is sufficient, electric vehicle users can get greater benefits.
This article is the original of "Heyan Reading Cars", and it is not allowed to be unauthorized **).