Electric car industry renewed price increases

Due to the impact of the lead-acid battery industry rectification and the rising price of electric vehicle motors and other accessories, the prices of many electric cars have risen again in the near future. This is already the second time this year, electric car companies have increased their prices, but industry insiders said that electric car companies are not willing to raise prices for many times in order to protect the market.

On May 18, the Ministry of Environmental Protection further issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Pollution Prevention and Control of Lead-acid Storage Battery and Recycled Lead Industry", and put forward requirements for enterprises to meet the standards of pollutant discharge, implement protection distances, and establish a lifelong investigation system for heavy metal pollution liability. The new lead-acid battery industry standard is reported to be formally introduced in September.

According to industry insiders, of the more than 3,000 lead-acid storage battery companies in China, nearly 90% of the enterprises have not been ordered to close down, leaving only 200 companies to continue to supply the market. As lead-acid batteries are currently the supporting energy for most electric vehicles, lead-acid batteries have risen by 10%-30% in the past two months, which has led to pressure on prices for electric vehicles.

The reporters found that, in addition to giant brands such as Giant, most of the electric car prices have been raised, including the province's largest electric vehicle production ri Lida and Xinri, rose mostly between 200-300 yuan, while the Spyker and other brand models The big one even rose about 500 yuan. The reporter yesterday visited a number of electric vehicle stores near Zhujiang Road, and some stores have already experienced a shortage of lead-acid batteries. Lvyuan electric car store sales staff told reporters that the supply of lead-acid batteries is now relatively tight, the manufacturers have also been raised prices, Luyuan has also received notification from the battery manufacturers. The Taiwan-based General Manager of Nanjing Electric Store told reporters that there are currently two kinds of electric vehicle batteries on the market, one is a lead-acid battery and the other is a lithium battery. Usually the same size of the two kinds of battery difference is about 500 yuan. If electric vehicles companies collectively use lithium batteries, the impact on prices can be imagined.

In fact, not only the battery, but also the pressure on the rise in the cost of raw materials for electric vehicles in recent years, including the cost of motors and steel frames. Chen Kaiya, senior manager of Jiangsu Xinri Electric Vehicle President Office, told reporters that in fact, since last year, the price of rare earths has soared nearly five times, which directly led to a rise in the cost of cermet cylinders using rare earths as raw materials. He said that although companies have desperately reduced costs, Even the internal profits of the company have been reduced, but the entire industry has already become a “movement of the whole body.” Now it seems that it is difficult to avoid the third adjustment of the price of electric cars in Xinri, and the price increase may be around 10%.

Wu Zhijian, manager of Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd.'s Electric Vehicle Industry Department, received a telephone call and was conducting market research. He believes that since the beginning of last year, the rare earth price has begun to turn somersaults. From last year's 40 yuan a ton, to June this year rose to 195 yuan a ton, the recent price has declined, but also 165 yuan a ton, up 4 times. The tires and plastic materials related to electric vehicles are also all rising, and Wu Zhijian is very helpless with the price increase of the products. This is the second time that Rilita has adjusted the prices this year, and the companies have reduced their profits to a minimum. If all aspects of the cost increase, companies must consider whether it is learning the practice of car manufacturers, that is, to reduce the allocation to reduce costs, this move will be very difficult, the company is now in a dilemma.

However, although the market prospects for lead-acid batteries do not seem to be good because the manufacturers have been rectified, Wu Zhijian still firmly rejected the rumors that lithium batteries will replace the lead-acid battery-dominated electric vehicle market. He said that the domestic supply of lithium batteries is less than 500,000 units a year, and it only has 5% of the market share in the domestic market. The market influence is minimal, and it is simply unable to meet the demand for an annual growth of 30 million in the electric vehicle market. The current difficulties of electric vehicle companies come from two aspects. One is the battery supply, and the other is the increase in spare parts prices. If the country really wants to develop lithium batteries and constrain lead-acid batteries, then it is best to give subsidies to electric vehicle manufacturers and buyers, because if the average consumer wants to spend 6,000 yuan to buy an electric car, it's better to add some money to buy micro-sized batteries directly. The car.