It’s not cost-effective to “change power” in Weilai

In the past five years, the first battery rental service for individual consumers in China was born. On August 20, Weilai launched the battery rental service baas, which provides the service of vehicle electric separation, battery rental, rechargeable, replaceable and upgradable. Under the background that the policy is inclined to the mode of power exchange, Weilai wants to create a new growth pole of performance through both vehicle and power supply. However, the first mock exam is whether the battery rental service is worthless, the replicability of the mode of electricity exchange, and whether more companies will accept the model. < / P > < p > it is understood that under baas mode, users who purchase Weilai automobile do not need to buy battery pack when buying a car. The price of battery pack is not included in the invoice price of vehicle sales, and the price calculation of battery pack has been removed from the down payment and monthly repayment of financial loan of users. The relevant person in charge of Weilai told the Beijing Business Daily that baas users can choose to rent battery packs of different capacities according to their actual use needs and pay service fees on a monthly basis. Baas users, like battery purchase users, can enjoy the electric power exchange service and battery upgrade service of Weilai, and can obtain the national new energy vehicle purchase subsidy and purchase tax exemption policy support. < p > < p > as a new energy vehicle enterprise in China, Weilai has started to lay out the power exchange mode since its establishment in 2014. As of August 20, this year, Weilai has obtained more than 1200 patents related to power exchange, and has completed more than 800000 power exchange services for customers. < p > < p > as to why the battery rental service was officially launched five years later, Li Bin, founder of Weilai automobile, said frankly: “it is very difficult to land the battery rental service. At the technical level, it needs to invest a lot of R & D funds for the design of on-board BMS, the design of power station and the development and design of cloud services. It is also very troublesome at the property rights level, and needs policy support from multiple departments.” < / P > < p > previously, China’s new energy subsidies were directly linked to the vehicle’s driving range, so the vehicles need to be bound with the battery when they are sold, and the battery cannot be sold separately. In this context, Weilai realized the purpose of selling battery separately by financial staging. But Li Bin said that the battery staging business also occupied a lot of Weilai’s own funds, which brought great pressure to the company. < / P > < p > in the past two years, relevant departments have begun to give more support to the power exchange mode. In April this year, the state issued a new policy on subsidies for new energy vehicles, which made it clear that electric vehicles with a price of more than 300000 yuan must have the ability to change electricity before they can enjoy the subsidy. In this year’s government work report, the power station for the first time was included in the category of “new infrastructure”. < p > < p > Li Bin disclosed that with the support of the industry authorities, Weilai models without battery sales have completed the certification and announcement, and the first car purchase user who chooses baas mode has also completed all the purchase processes including loan, insurance and license plate. < / P > < p > for users, the most direct benefit of choosing baas lies in the lower threshold of car purchase: the price of baas users will drop by 70000 Yuan directly; if they choose 70kwh battery pack, the monthly service fee will be 980 yuan; otherwise, the non service carefree users will have to pay an additional 80 yuan of battery guarantee fee per month. Take Weilai ES6 performance model as an example, the price of the model after subsidy is 383600 yuan, the purchase price under baas is 313600 yuan, and the battery rental service fee is 980 yuan. < / P > < p > although the benefits are obvious, baas has caused controversy among users of Weilai. Some users think that baas does not bring real benefits to users, because the purchase threshold under the battery staging scheme is lower. After choosing the battery stage when purchasing the car, the starting price of Weilai ES6 is only 258000 yuan, with a drop of 100000 yuan. In this regard, Li Bin said that the battery staging scheme has great limitations. Once the user chooses this scheme, the remaining part of the vehicle after deducting the battery price can only be paid in full, and the installment can not be processed. Baas users can purchase the car by stages. The down payment of Weilai ES6 performance version is only 9408 yuan, and the monthly supply is 6645 yuan, and the cycle is 36 months. However, some users still think that the charging of baas mode is too high. In contrast, the battery staging plan needs to pay 100000 yuan for the battery, and after the five-year installment, the battery belongs to the user; under baas mode, the battery is only worth 70000 yuan, which is equivalent to 30000 yuan higher for the vehicle without battery, and the rent for five years is 63600 yuan, which requires a total of 93600 yuan, but the battery does not belong to the user. < / P > < p > it is worth noting that baas users will not only have to pay 980 yuan of monthly battery rent, but also pay the electricity exchange fee. According to the latest official policy, users who pay for Dading before October 12 this year and have normal production scheduling and vehicle collection will have no change in their rights of free electricity exchange. However, users who pay Dading after October 12 only have the right to change electricity for free six times a month. At the same time, the flexibility of baas mode is relatively limited. Weilai said that if the vehicle does not open for several months, users can theoretically suspend the lease of batteries, but if the electric vehicles are not equipped with power batteries, it may cause damage to some parts of the vehicle, and Weilai does not recommend users to suspend battery rental. < / P > < p > for the use of vehicles, some users are also worried that the vehicles purchased under baas mode are difficult to sell as second-hand cars. It is understood that after Weilai users choose baas mode, they do not support subsequent direct battery buyout. In this regard, some users said that it is difficult to sell second-hand electric vehicles without batteries to second-hand car dealers, only to the official channel of Weilai. However, it is difficult to determine whether the government can give a good price at that time. < / P > < p > “the separation of vehicle and electricity helps to increase sales and heat, but the disadvantages are also very obvious.” Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the auto industry, said that the separation of vehicle and electricity needs to invest a lot of batteries, which is a matter of great emphasis on scale effect. At the stage of relatively limited sales, it will bring great financial pressure to enterprises. < / P > < p > in order to avoid too much capital pressure, Weilai chose to carry out battery rental service together with its partners. On August 18, Wuhan Weineng battery assets company (hereinafter referred to as “Weineng”) was registered and invested by Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Hubei science and Technology Investment Group Co., Ltd., Guotai Junan International Holding Co., Ltd. and Weilai (Anhui) Holding Co., Ltd. As the owner of battery assets, Weineng is an important part of baas. Weineng will purchase battery pack and entrust Weilai to provide battery rental operation service for users. Weineng is an open company and may have new shareholders in the future. At the same time, if other car brands want to cooperate with Weineng, it is OK. However, if Weineng wants to attract more brands to join and become the leader of power exchange mode, it needs to solve the problem of inconsistent standards. At present, various brands of electric vehicles use a variety of power battery models, parameters vary greatly, different types of power batteries can not be universal. < p > < p > on this issue, Li Bin said that as the first drafting unit, the first national level electric vehicle replacement standard formulated by Weilai in conjunction with the China automobile center and several automobile enterprises has been approved. The standard mainly defines the safety standards related to power exchange, including the frequency of replacement and the definition of various interfaces. In the view of Cheng Anxiang, director general of MEIZHE Hua (Shanghai) Investment Management Consulting Co., Ltd., in addition to the standard problem, there is also the risk of unclear legal liability in the power exchange mode. Once a battery replacement accident happened in the power station, it was determined that the fault was caused by a trouble. < / P > < p > in addition, the implementation of power exchange service is inseparable from the improvement of power exchange facilities. Zhang Xiang said that different from the charging pile, the power station needs to store a large number of power batteries, and the storage and use of a large number of power batteries involve safety issues. Therefore, the construction and operation of the power station are very difficult and costly, and the progress of the construction of the domestic power station is far less than that of the charging pile. < / P > < p > in terms of the construction of the replacement power station, even Weilai, which is in the forefront of the industry, has not made optimistic progress. In 2017, Weilai had planned to build 1100 power stations by this year. However, as of August 20 this year, only 143 replacement stations have been built in Weilai. In this regard, Li Bin said frankly that the construction speed of Weilai replacement power station is not as expected, and the completion time of 1100 replacement power stations will be delayed.