When faced with problems such as car owners’ anxiety about battery life and budget constraints on car purchases, “separation of car and electricity” seems to be another solution offered by many car companies.
On August 20th, NIO announced the long-warmed “vehicle-electric separation” program; then Nezha Auto also reported that it has cooperated with power battery manufacturers such as Ningde Times and China Ting Guolian to establish a “battery bank” and launched The “car-electric separation” car purchase plan; at the same time, Roewe also announced its involvement in the “car-electric separation” power exchange model.
In layman’s terms, the so-called “separation of car and electricity” means that when car owners buy a pure electric car, they only spend the money for the car (not including the battery), and then form a “power bank” with manufacturers and battery companies on a monthly basis. Rent power batteries.
As we all know, power batteries are the most important part of the cost of pure electric vehicles. Through leasing, car owners can purchase a pure electric vehicle at a relatively low price, reducing the burden of buying a car. Some insiders pointed out that after removing the power battery, the terminal price of most pure electric vehicles is even cheaper than that of fuel vehicles of the same grade.
In addition, the “separation of vehicle and electricity” scheme is beneficial for car owners to rent power batteries with different capacities according to different car needs. If you commute frequently in the city, you can rent a small-capacity battery, and you can rent a long-life power battery for frequent long-distance travel.
In this way, the property rights of the power battery belong to the car company, and users no longer have any worries in the process of replacing the battery, worrying that the “good battery” in their car will be replaced with the “old battery” in other cars. At the same time, it also solves the problems that the original car owners cannot upgrade or replace the higher energy density power battery.
Can the seemingly “profit and harmless” program set off a wave of new energy vehicle consumption? In the actual implementation and application of the pure electric vehicle “car-electric separation” program, can it really be as good as imagined?
Battery leasing may be difficult to profit
“The separation of car and electricity will become a trend, but there is still a long way to go to perfect landing.”
Like most people in the industry, Peng Yu, an auto media expert, is also very optimistic about the “car-electric separation” plan. He believes that “separation of car and electricity” will help lower the threshold for consumers to purchase pure electric vehicles.
Different from the previous “thunder, heavy rain and little rain”, the advantage of “separation of vehicle and electricity” is that car owners lease a single power battery for a long time, avoiding hidden dangers caused by differences in the management level of the power station during frequent power changes. risk.
“Even if there is a short-term travel demand, the frequency of battery replacement will not be too high.” He told understand that all aspects of the program seem to be good for consumers and new energy vehicle terminals, but there are still voices questioning—— Who should pay for the cost of manufacturing, management, and maintenance of leased batteries?
At present, whether Weilai or Nezha or Roewe, the public power battery leasing business is cooperating with battery manufacturers to establish asset institutions similar to the “financial leasing” model. Therefore, Peng Yu guessed that there should be a large number of institutions that are optimistic and invest Related leasing business.
“Like some car rental platforms, the car is subscribed by investors, and the platform is only for operation.” But he is also worried that the power battery leasing program provides batteries with different versions of capacity to meet the needs of car owners for on-demand leasing and short-term leasing. The battery will definitely have a surplus, that is, the reserve and lease of power batteries are greater than the sales volume of a single model under the brand.
Especially for long holidays, car owners’ travel demand surges, and the demand for long-term battery leases and battery replacement will also increase. “In order to meet the needs of a large number of car owners for battery replacement, a large number of batteries need to be stocked.”
But on weekdays, most car owners commute in the city and do not need efficient battery swapping services. As a result, part of the reserve battery is idle, which will also lead to waste in maintenance and management costs. “Any big data or intelligent scheduling cannot be accurately solved. This question.”
Peng Yu told Understanding Notes that the principle is the same as the car rental platform. On weekdays, a large number of vehicles are often idle and waiting to be rented. Only when there is a surge in travel on holidays can they be fully rented. Operators also only rely on peak periods to amortize the costs incurred during weekdays to users who rent cars on holidays.
“Now I only know the approximate rental cost of the leased battery, not the price of the short-term lease.” Based on the current “monthly rent of 1,000 yuan” for the power battery, the cost of the owner’s lease for six years is equivalent to the battery price. Such a low rent seems impossible to smooth out The cost of battery logistics, maintenance, and idleness, and related asset institutions and investors may find it difficult to make a profit in battery leasing.
Some operating taxi company personnel revealed to Understand Notes that in order to meet the needs of vehicle replacement, the current ratio of car batteries to backup batteries is about 1:1, but it is still difficult to meet operational needs. If you want to meet the demand for power swapping in private cars, the ratio of car power to backup power should be at least 2:1, and it should be reasonably distributed to power swap stations across the country.
In addition, as the number of car companies launching the “separation of car and electricity” business increases, the problem of incompatibility and commonality of power batteries between car companies will inevitably lead to an increase in the inventory of idle power batteries. Some analysts pointed out that before more landing details are launched, it is not unclear how this account is calculated.
It’s easy to rent electricity, but it’s difficult to exchange electricity
“As long as you have seen a power battery, you will know that changing the battery is not a simple matter.”
Talking about “separation of car and electricity”, Master Zhang, who is engaged in maintenance work at a new energy vehicle 4S shop in Shenzhen, sighed, “separation of car and electricity” is based on battery exchange, and the most difficult thing to exchange is the storage of backup power batteries.
He told understand notes that many car owners have driven pure electric cars for tens of thousands of kilometers, but they still don’t know what the power battery looks like. Except for minicars, pure electric vehicles with a cruising range of more than 400 kilometers have power batteries weighing several hundred kilograms.
“Put the power battery on the ground, it covers an area of nearly two square meters, you can say that it is not big.” Master Zhang explained, because the power battery weight and floor space are not small, so the power station can only store a small amount of Backup power battery.
His repair workshop covers an area of nearly two hundred square meters. He usually balances the battery packs. He only dared to disassemble the power batteries of three pure electric vehicles at the same time. Five or six power batteries.”
Master Zhang told me to understand the notes that if such a reserve of power batteries can still meet the car owners’ power replacement needs during non-holidays, and a large number of car owners travel during long holidays, it will be a drop in the bucket. High logistics costs.”
“When traveling during long holidays, sometimes the gas stations on the highway are full of cars waiting to be refueled, not to mention the one-station swap station.” He explained that although the speed of power swapping is not slow, it wants to achieve the efficiency of a gas station. Basically impossible.
Unless the swap station has a larger storage space and more than three stations that can swap electricity at the same time, but in that case, the swap station requires a larger area, and many of the current service areas on the highway do not have the corresponding conditions.
The key is that car companies also need to invest a lot of money for this. According to data reported by the media, Weilai, which once claimed to be building 1,100 swap stations, currently has only 143 swap stations. For more than 40,000 Weilai car owners, it is inevitable that there will be too many people.
Some car owners ridiculed “changing the battery for three minutes and queuing for an hour.” In fact, this is only the case of a single-brand power station swap. If the number of car companies launching “car-electric separation” and power swap services surges, it is hard to imagine that there will be several brands of power station swaps in high-speed service areas.
“Unless the power batteries of various brands can be interchanged, but the possibility is quite low. Car companies need to compromise and invest in redesigning the chassis.” Master Zhang also emphasized that the power battery pack solution is currently becoming a car The focus of the competition.
Because of this, it is difficult to see the emergence of GM’s power batteries in the short term. It also makes battery swap and “separation of car and electricity” businesses a gimmick for car companies to reduce terminal prices and boost terminal sales. At the same time, it may also cause negative brand reputation. influences.
Not cost-effective, full of disputes
“If (car companies) push the cart or separate it, (sales) terminals will suffer a lot.”
Xiang Ying, who is engaged in sales at an automobile 4S shop in Huiyang, Huizhou, is very hesitant to follow the trend of automakers in promoting the “separation of car and electricity” business. She told me that understand notes, because Huizhou is not restricted, many consumers will tend to buy gasoline cars. The reason is that gasoline vehicles are cheap, while pure electric vehicles are relatively expensive.
At the beginning, in her opinion, if car companies launch a “separation of car and electricity” car purchase plan, consumers only need to pay for the “car shell money” when buying a car, then the price will be very advantageous. “Lower the barriers to buying cars, while promoting the sales of pure electric vehicles in second- and third-tier cities.”
But after carefully calculating an account, she began to worry about whether car owners who just need cars other than first-tier cities would choose the “separation of car and electricity” car purchase plan.
Although the price of a “car shell” is lower than that of a gasoline car, the monthly cost of renting a battery is as high as 1,000 yuan. The average car owner uses a car every month, and the gas fee is only a few hundred yuan less. Moreover, the charging fee for renting a power battery is also charged separately.
What worries her even more is that if car companies follow the trend and launch a “car-electric separation” car purchase plan, it will also cause a series of cascading effects among the original car owners, leading to dissatisfaction with early car owners. “The power battery is more selective, but also Can be rented on demand.”
In the car forum, I understand the notes and saw the Weilai ES6 owner who just mentioned the car, posting a message about “separation of car and electricity”, saying that the new car purchase plan is unfair to the car owners who have already purchased the car, because the rental electricity purchase plan. It is more cost-effective for owners of short-term vehicles (within five years).
“Don’t talk about launching a new car purchase plan. Some car owners think it’s cost-effective, and some think it’s not. Even if the battery life of the same model is increased, it often arouses dissatisfaction with car owners.” Xiang Ying said that Xiaopeng Motors had a battery life problem last year. , Was collectively defended by car owners.
Some dissatisfaction is more obvious in second and third-tier cities. New energy is developing rapidly. It is normal for model changes, battery life upgrades, and marketing plans to introduce new ones. However, early car owners often go to the channel terminal to discuss their opinions because of the upgrades, marketing and staging plans.
“As a sales company, I only hope that car companies don’t often change their marketing strategies. No matter how you explain them, there will be early car owners who feel that they have bought too early and they have lost their rights. They have to complain to defend their rights.” Xiang Ying revealed that car companies launched three-year interest-free loans for car purchases in May , There are two years of interest-free car owners said to return the car.
Although car companies have launched new marketing plans to boost the sales of new cars in the terminal, it is understandable, but for the sales terminal, the dissatisfaction and even excessive behavior of early car owners will more or less affect the brand’s reputation and make the frontline The salesperson feels embarrassed.
Perhaps, the purchase plan of “separation of vehicle and electricity” has lowered the threshold for purchasing pure electric vehicles, but there is obviously still a long way to go before the owner’s “freedom of replacement of electricity”. In terms of long-term car use, the option of “separating car and electricity” to buy only “car shells” does not seem to be cost-effective.
Concluding remarks
Obviously, whether the “separation of car and electricity” will eventually become a hollow marketing gimmick or a boon for car buyers, it remains to be concluded after the relevant car companies announce the details of the new step.
As the number of car companies launching “car-electricity separation” swap services increases, the cost of swapping hardware will also increase significantly. Whether the players can make money, how efficient, and whether they are safe are new challenges for early adopters.
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