If Tesla succeeds in “hands-on” Ningde era, it means that China’s hi-tech enterprises represented by the Ningde era are entering the international industry competition.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “Fuzhong Finance” (ID: thecapital), author: leaves.
Two days ago, a raging fire burned in New Jersey, USA. The cause of the fire came from Tesla’s super-charged pile.
The investigation revealed that the fire broke out in a US convenience store and gas station Wawa, which cooperated with Tesla to provide a super charging station. In August this year, it was announced that by the end of 2020, the number of convenience stores with Tesla super charging stations will increase from 16 to more than 30.
Wawa spokesperson said in an interview with CNBC that Tesla’s electrical control cabinet had problems and had cut off the power during the investigation. However, the convenience store operation was not affected because the charging pile used an independent power source. In this regard, Tesla has not yet responded.
It is worth noting that there have been fires in the Tesla Super Charging Station, but most of them are related to the auto-ignition of the car, not the super-charging station itself. The fire at the Wawa convenience store is likely to be a “first” super-charged pile fire.
New energy battery holding the “throat”
In fact, new energy vehicles have been developed so far, and technology can be said to be more and more mature. However, there is always a fatal problem that plagues car producers and car consumers. That is the power problem, of course, the battery problem. .
According to the data of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in October, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China were 95,000 and 75,000 respectively, down 35.4% and 45.6% respectively over the same period of the previous year. Among them, from July to October, the decline in sales volume is still expanding. The main factor in the decline in sales of new energy vehicles is the power battery in auto parts.
According to the understanding, most new energy vehicles are now using square hard-shell batteries. Except for Tesla, more than 90% of new energy vehicles use this battery. Tesla’s charging methods mainly include home charging, destination charging stations, super charging stations, and so on. According to the Tesla website, the company currently operates 1,637 super charging stations in North America with 14,497 charging posts. And Tesla has always chosen the power battery is actually produced by Matsushita, Japan.
Tesla is the world’s largest consumer of lithium batteries. From Tesla RoadsAfter the launch of ter, Panasonic has been its main supplier. Since 2009, Tesla has cooperated with Panasonic in the 18650 model battery. Later, during the preparation of the Model 3 production work, the two parties reached a cooperation with the Nevada Super Factory. Panasonic was responsible for the production of batteries, while Tesla assembled the battery pack at the same location. . It can be said that Tesla has always regarded Panasonic as an “exclusive” battery supplier.
However, a few days ago, Panasonic announced its fourth-quarter data (July 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019) data, revenue shows that Panasonic is losing money in the quarter, and Tes The battery business of the cooperation is still losing money.
In fact, with the continuous increase in Tesla’s deliveries and revenues, Tesla’s relationship with Panasonic began to become subtle.
In November 2018, Musk said that in order to meet the demand in time, the batteries supplied to the Tesla Shanghai Super Factory will be produced in China. The suppliers are likely to come from a number of companies, but Panasonic was not Exclude this list. At the same time, he added, “The price is crucial, the lower the better.”
And recent media reports indicate that the relationship may be “cold winter.” According to informed sources, there is a huge controversy in the cost of batteries and factory investment. Panasonic told Tesla that once Tesla achieves sustained profitability, Panasonic will plan to raise battery prices. At the same time, Tesla is gradually turning to self-produced batteries, which makes Panasonic’s battery competitiveness decline, and the relationship between the two sides faces more challenges.
Even overnight, the battery seemed to hold Tesla’s throat, making it desperate to “struggle.” Of course, Tesla will not sit still.
Gambling in ChinaField
Since the beginning of this year, Tesla announced that it has been paying attention to the development of its super-factory in Shanghai.
On November 6, Bloomberg quoted sources as saying that Tesla has reached a preliminary agreement with China’s battery leader “Ningde Times”, the first Ningde era will supply Tesla for China from 2020. battery. In addition, the two sides are also discussing the possibility of cooperation in the world. If true, Tesla will have a great price advantage in the Chinese market in the future.
Although the internal staff of Tesla told the media that they had not received relevant news, the Ningde era was not convinced. But In fact, the news of the cooperation between the two sides has been raging since the beginning of this year.
In March this year, some media reported that Tesla was negotiating with the Ningde era. The domestic Model3 is very likely to use the batteries of the Ningde era. The news that two heavyweight companies may come together has caused numerous concerns.