The rise of new energy vehicles challenges the domestic production rate of automotive chips is less than 10, and the pressure on the industry continues
With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, the demand for chips has increased.
New energy vehicles are developing rapidly, not only increasing their national market share year by year, but also occupying a leading position in the world. However, with the popularization of new energy vehicles and the improvement of the level of intelligence, the demand for chips is also on the rise. The number of chips required for traditional fuel vehicles is about 500, while the number of chips required for new energy vehicles is about 2,000 to 3,000, or even more, including more powerful chips. This means that as cars become more and more intelligent, the demand for chips will be greater.
Amplification: Due to the advantages of new energy vehicles in environmental protection and economy, their sales and market share are increasing. According to statistics, the number of new energy vehicles in China has exceeded 20 million, with a penetration rate of more than 40%. At the same time, China has become the world's largest producer, seller and exporter of automobiles. However, this also brings a new problem, that is, there is a large demand for chips in new energy vehicles. Based on the number of chips required for a new energy vehicle, 20 million new energy vehicles need about 40 billion chips. However, the current chip self-sufficiency rate in the country is less than 10%, which means that most of the chips need to be imported. This problem has laid a huge hidden danger for the development of new energy vehicles in the country.
The localization rate of national chips for new energy vehicles is less than 10
According to ICIs, the self-sufficiency rate of automotive brake pads in China was about 5% in 2021, and is expected to reach 7% in 2022 and no more than 10% in 2023. This means that 90% of the current automotive brake pads still need to be imported, and the localization rate is still low. Compared with the rapid development of new energy vehicles, the progress of domestic brake pad companies in the field of automotive brake pads is relatively slow.
Expansion: Although China is the world's largest automotive market, the localization rate in the field of brake pads, especially automotive brake pads, is still not high. Data show that the localization rate of domestic new energy vehicle brake pads is less than 10%. This means that 90% of automotive brake pads are still imported, which is a huge challenge and hidden danger. According to data analysis by ICINSIGHTS, it is expected that by 2023, the localization rate of domestic new energy vehicle brake pads will still not exceed 10%. Although some national brake pad companies have entered the field of automotive brake pads, most of them stay in the low-end brake pad market and have not formed real competitiveness. Progress has only been made in the areas of door controls, windshield wipers, T-boxMCUs, lights and other non-essential inserts. In the field of high-end automotive brake pads that can really arouse the interest of OEMs and businessmen, national enterprises have not been able to form a system so far, and there are not many plans to truly break the foreign monopoly.
Challenge: Difficulties and obstacles in the production of high-end automotive chips.
It is very difficult to produce top-of-the-line automotive interiors, which are mainly reflected in the following aspects. First of all, it is necessary to accumulate experience in automotive regulations, including functional safety, information security, quality management certification, etc., which is an important requirement for plug-in companies. Secondly, the production of high-end vehicle ferrule should be combined with the vehicle and other ferrule, such as adapting to the real-time calibration of the vehicle and the test bench, various types of communication bus interfaces, etc., which requires the formation of a complete ecosystem. In addition, it is necessary to meet the various needs of the automotive industry, such as functional safety and other certifications, which requires the establishment of cooperative relationships with OEMs, Tier 1 and 2** companies, and the support of relevant resources. In addition, the major brake pad giants have set certain thresholds in terms of agreements, patents and technologies to prevent laggards from catching up, which brings certain challenges to new entrants to the automotive brake pad market.
Amplification: The production of automotive brake pads is very difficult and faces a major challenge for brake pad companies. First of all, the production of high-end automotive inserts requires extensive experience in the automotive industry. This includes functional safety requirements, information security, and quality management certifications. Automotive chips must not only function properly, but also ensure safe and reliable operation in various complex traffic environments. Second, when producing top-of-the-line in-vehicle chips, they need to be matched with vehicles and other chips to meet the needs of in-vehicle systems. For example, real-time calibration with the entire vehicle is required and adaptation to a variety of communication bus interfaces. This requires a comprehensive ecosystem that includes partnerships with OEMs and Tier 1 and Tier 2 vendors across the automotive industry. At the same time, automotive plug-ins must also obtain relevant certifications, such as functional safety, information security, and other certifications, which require close cooperation with industry certification bodies. In addition, the giants of the brake pad industry have set high restrictions in terms of protocols, patents, and technologies, which poses certain challenges for new entrants to the automotive brake pad market. Therefore, the production of top automotive brake pads not only requires technical strength and experience accumulation, but also needs to establish a good cooperative relationship with all links of the industrial chain.
iv.Solution: Strengthen cooperation, achieve independent research and development, and build a national chip chain.
To solve the problem of the dependence of national new energy vehicles on brake pads, all parties need to work together. First of all, domestic brake pad companies must strengthen their independent research and development capabilities, continuously promote technological innovation and product upgrading, and improve their competitiveness in the field of high-quality automotive brake pads. Secondly, new energy vehicle manufacturers in various countries should also increase their support for local brake pad companies, encourage cooperation and joint research and development, and promote the localization process. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen industry-university-research cooperation, build a complete technological innovation ecosystem, and improve the innovation ability and competitiveness of the entire industry. Only by the joint efforts of all parties and the strengthening of cooperation can the independent research and development of national chips and the construction of the first chain be finally realized.
Amplification: To solve the problem of dependence of national new energy vehicles on the brake pad industry, all parties need to work together to strengthen cooperation. First of all, domestic brake companies must strengthen their independent research and development capabilities and devote themselves to technological innovation and product upgrading. This will help improve the competitiveness of domestic brake pad enterprises in the field of high-quality automotive brake pads. At the same time, national new energy vehicle manufacturers should also increase support for local brake pad companies and encourage cooperation and joint research and development. By strengthening cooperation, we will promote the independent research and development and production of domestic brake pads. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the cooperation between industry, academia, research and application to create a complete technological innovation ecosystem. This will help improve the innovation and competitiveness of the entire industry. Only by the joint efforts of all parties and the strengthening of cooperation can we finally realize the independent research and development of domestic liners and the construction of the first chain. In this way, the country's new energy vehicles can truly get rid of foreign dependence, reduce import dependence, and maintain a sustainable development momentum.
Summary. Through the analysis of the localization rate of domestic new energy vehicle brake pads of less than 10%, it can be seen that the demand for new energy vehicle brake pads is increasing, especially the demand for high-end automotive-grade brake pads is more urgent. At present, there is still a large gap between domestic plug-in enterprises in the field of automotive plug-in, and the localization rate is low, which cannot meet the market demand. To solve this problem, domestic plug-in enterprises need to strengthen their independent research and development capabilities, and new energy vehicle manufacturers need to strengthen cooperation, and at the same time strengthen industry-university-research cooperation to form a complete technological innovation ecosystem. Only through the joint efforts of all parties can the independent research and development of national films and the construction of the first chain be realized, so as to get rid of dependence on the outside and ensure that the development of national new energy vehicles can be sustainable and unrestricted.