Can the characteristic new energy technology route of methanol commercial vehicles work? What is the market potential in the future? The capital market was the first to respond.
On January 29, 2024, Alcohol and Hydrogen Technology, a subsidiary of Yuanyuan New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group, announced the completion of the first round of financing, with a financing amount of US$100 million and a pre-investment valuation of US$1 billion, which will be mainly used for continuous R&D investment and ecological construction of green methanol transportation capacity. The completion of the first round of financing marks the "12.3.3. The ecological strategy has completed the construction of the capital market from 0 to 1, and the upstream and downstream strategic cooperation industry alliance of alcohol and hydrogen ecology has been initially formed.
Unique business model
NEWSol-hydrogen Technology is the strategic main body of the alcohol-hydrogen business segment of Long-distance New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group, and its main business includes: "R&D, manufacturing and sales of a new generation of alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicles with alcohol-hydrogen electric technology as the core, development and application of new technologies for green methanol preparation, and layout of methanol energy filling guarantee system". The goal is to build a diversified green methanol transportation capacity ecology through the integrated design of alcohol, vehicles, goods, stations, and finance, and help the rapid promotion and application of methanol commercial vehicles.
Different from traditional commercial vehicles and other new forces, Yuanyuan New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group has a clear top-level plan for all new energy commercial vehicle businesses, no longer focusing solely on the vehicle business itself, but adopting an ecological strategic layout with more development potential and resilience. The same is true for alcohol and hydrogen technology, in which it has taken the "12.3.3 "ecological strategy, "1" refers to vehicle promotion as the core, "2" refers to the two-wheel drive around capital and product market, the first "3" refers to the trinity of green alcohol preparation, methanol filling, and alcohol-electric vehicles for coordinated development, and the second "3" refers to the three-step development of green methanol in energy development, and finally realizes the creation of a trillion-level value of green ecological industrial chain with Chinese characteristics.
Throughout the "12.3.3. The ecological strategy runs through the methanol industry chain and forms a mature business model. Different from the traditional fuel commercial vehicle format, the domestic methanol commercial vehicle market has just started, and in order to promote the application on a large scale, it is necessary to solve a series of problems such as methanol preparation and filling. For example, alcohol and hydrogen technology can provide users with green, economical, and convenient methanol fuel through a wide range of industrial chain layout; According to the characteristics of different application scenarios of users, we provide methanol commercial vehicle products with various technical applications. It can be seen that the profitability of alcohol and hydrogen technology will no longer be limited to vehicle manufacturing and sales, but also green methanol fuel business with more market potential. More importantly, in this ecological chain, the stickiness between alcohol and hydrogen technology and end users will become stronger and stronger, which is the moat to ensure the success of its business model.
The trillion-level market brought by fuel and vehicles
The green ecological industrial chain with methanol fuel and methanol commercial vehicles as the core will be a large market with trillions of value, which is also an important reason why alcohol and hydrogen technology has attracted the attention of the capital market this time.
From the perspective of practical application of commercial vehicles, methanol is considered to be the best fuel for vertical replacement of gasoline and diesel. Commercial vehicles are major consumers of oil in China, consuming more than half of the gasoline and diesel used in vehicles every year. The Alxa Green Methanol Energy Base, which is built with the participation of Alcohol and Hydrogen Technology, can produce 200 million to 300 million tons of green methanol annually by using 1.3 billion kilowatts of wind and photovoltaic resources. If half of the country's trucks use 300 million tons of green methanol, it will reduce imports by more than 200 million tons per year, which is equivalent to the output of five Daqing oilfields.
It is precisely because of the huge market potential of the green methanol industry that Geely and its subsidiary Yuanyuan New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group are accelerating the layout of related industries by joining forces with all parties. In February 2023, the world's first 100,000-ton green methanol plant, invested and constructed by Geely Holding Group, was put into operation, which is currently the world's largest CO2 hydrogenation to green methanol plant. In December 2023, Inner Mongolia Liquid Solar Energy Technology***, which is funded by alcohol and hydrogen technology, was registered and established in Alxa; On January 16, 2024, Yuanyuan New Energy Commercial Vehicle Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with multiple parties to jointly build a green methanol preparation project to promote methanol filling, transmission and distribution, storage, construction of ** system and the promotion and application of clean energy vehicles.
In the process of new energy transformation, methanol commercial vehicles also have the ability to vertically replace diesel vehicles. From the perspective of the technical route of new energy commercial vehicles, compared with hydrogen fuel, pure electric and other technical paths, methanol commercial vehicles have comprehensive advantages in low-carbon environmental protection, technical reliability, procurement and use costs, and scenario applicability.
Starting from the actual use scenarios of commercial vehicles, at present, the long-range new energy commercial vehicle group has developed a methanol AMT power chain, and the methanol engine achieves 1With full coverage of 8-15L displacement and 100-600 horsepower, and creatively combining methanol with electric drive technology, it has successively launched a variety of power types such as alcohol-hydrogen electric power chain and future-oriented alcohol-hydrogen electric integrated power chain. At present, the methanol heavy trucks launched by alcohol and hydrogen technology have been delivered in batches in many provinces and cities across the country, and are widely used in logistics transportation, highway short-falling, hazardous chemical transportation, urban construction muck, concrete transportation and other scenarios.
For commercial vehicle end users, the most important thing is the cost of vehicle procurement and use, which is precisely the core competitive advantage of methanol commercial vehicles. Taking fuel cost as an example, compared with traditional diesel heavy trucks, a long-range methanol heavy truck can reduce fuel costs by 18%-32% according to the existing diesel and methanol** calculations, which is equivalent to saving up to 1 yuan per kilometer, and according to the annual operation of 150,000 kilometers, one car can be saved in three years. Alcohol-hydrogen electric vehicles are more energy-efficient than fuel vehicles, and the operating cost advantage is more obvious.
It can be seen that the green methanol fuel and methanol commercial vehicle market focused on by alcohol and hydrogen technology is a large market with future growth space and imagination.