The news of Apple's withdrawal from the electric car project shook the world. Lei Jun exclaimed: Shocked.
Apple has invested heavily in building a car and has been developing it for a decade. How can you say that if you don't do it, you won't do it? And it was sudden.
In the U.S., it's not just Apple that has withdrawn from the EV market, but established automakers such as GM and Ford have also postponed EV investments and withdrawn production plans. Car rental giant Hertz has also announced plans to sell 20,000 electric vehicles, a third of its U.S. electric vehicle fleet.
Biden** will ease his 2030 goals to reduce tailpipe emissions and increase electric vehicle sales.
In his campaign, Trump explicitly supported the development of gasoline vehicles.
Europe is doing the same. Mercedes-Benz recently announced that it will adjust its established 2030 full electrification plan and decide to focus on the development of fuel vehicles in the next ten years. BMW has also announced that it has abandoned plans to produce only electric vehicles. Although Volkswagen did not make a clear statement, its tram project is loss-making.
Europe's plan to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 has also been scrapped.
Toyota, Japan's neighbor to the east, has been opposing electric vehicles, and the new products to be launched this year are all fuel vehicles, and none of them are electric vehicles.
Looking at the entire United States and Europe, it seems that only Tesla, a lone seedling, is playing with electric vehicles, which seems to have the taste of a lotus halberd wandering alone.
The reason why the United States and Europe are so "unanimous" to abandon the electric vehicle project and go back is that the electric vehicle technology is not mature, expensive, car companies are losing money, supporting facilities such as charging systems are not perfect, and the market recognition is low. Wait a minute.
But there is an obvious factor that they can't "roll" China in the field of electric vehicles, but they tacitly don't say it.
Electric vehicles are another beautiful business card in China after high-speed rail. Traditional fuel vehicles have been developed for hundreds of years, and the Western world has taken the lead in this regard, and the technology has been quite mature. We are the late entrants and catch-ups, and it is difficult to surpass it.
The opportunity for China to catch up in the automotive field and overtake in corners is electric vehicles. China is well seizing and seizing this opportunity.
In terms of policy support, new forces and traditional forces are rushing to join, and the whole industrial chain has been established. From the upstream raw materials, to the midstream manufacturing, to the downstream market, as well as charging and other supporting facilities, etc., it is the best in the world. No other country in this field is as complete as China.
There is also people's recognition of electric vehicles and a huge electric vehicle market that other countries cannot match.
So in the field of electric vehicles, China is the first in the world. Those car companies in Europe and the United States, including those world-renowned and powerful old car companies, want to "roll" with China, which is really difficult. It is precisely because they feel hopeless that they have to choose to give up.
Is this a boon to Chinese electric vehicle companies? Yes, definitely. So many foreign competitors have withdrawn, there are fewer competitors, of course, the competition is not so fierce, and the pressure will suddenly feel a lot less.
At the same time, the blank market left by foreign car companies after the withdrawal is just occupied by us, which expands our market share.
It's all a good thing.
But we can't rejoice too soon, or even rejoice. Why?
As the West withdraws from the EV market as if it had received a unified directive, will they watch this huge market lose and cede to China? Do they really not want to develop electric vehicles? I'm afraid it's not that simple.
It's scary to think about. Is this a "trap" they have deliberately set for Chinese electric car companies?
They can't compete with China, so they retreat and take the original oil truck route, which is their traditional advantage, and they can be caught with their hands, so as to form a united front and increase the best barriers. In particular, many countries in Europe and the United States have withdrawn from the "Paris Agreement" and no longer take into account the issue of carbon emissions, which makes the development of fuel vehicles have no restrictions.
Electric vehicles are to be charged, and without perfect and convenient charging facilities, the use of electric vehicles will be affected and will not be developed. If the world's top companies and car companies don't build such infrastructure, it is unimaginable that China will be asked to do this.
The range of electric vehicles themselves, the problems of being greatly affected by the weather, etc., will also limit people's desire to consume electric vehicles.
The result of this "operation" is that the Chinese family develops electric vehicles, and they do not follow, and in the end Chinese electric cars become "lonely", just like the Japanese hydrogen energy vehicles in the past. In this way, it is impossible to form an electric vehicle industry chain in the world, let alone form a trend of electric vehicle consumption, and the entire electric vehicle market is "locked" in China. In a word, the global market for electric vehicles is not big, but small.
After such an analysis, the withdrawal of European and American countries has actually set a "trap" for Chinese electric vehicle companies.
Fortunately, Chinese people are very receptive to electric vehicles, and China has a huge consumer market for electric vehicles. There is also strong policy support, relatively mature technology and a complete industrial chain, etc., which can resist risks.
However, the problem in China is that there are too many electric car companies, and they will "roll" badly, and if they want to gain market share, they must dilute their profits, or even sell cars at a loss. At present, except for a few companies such as BYD and Ideal that can make profits, most of the electric car companies, especially the new forces, are losing money, and some of them are still losing a lot.
Many domestic electric car companies originally planned to "roll" abroad, but the foreign market shrank. This cannot but be said to be a problem encountered by our electric car companies.
How to solve this problem is a huge test for our electric car companies.