Coldly received by the new policy subsidies, the route of lithium batteries may be changed

The release of a new subsidy policy, from the government's point of view, is to make the industry move towards a more standardized path, but for enterprises closely related to the policy, there are always many shortcomings
.

A new round of new energy vehicle subsidy policies has been issued by four ministries and commissions on September 17, and the restrictions on new material batteries issued by this policy have also caused confusion and confusion
among some lithium battery companies.

The reason is that the new subsidy policy has discriminatory subsidy treatment
for electric buses using new material lithium batteries.

According to the requirements of the Notice on Continuing the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles, the fixed subsidy for supercapacitors and lithium titanate fast-charging pure electric buses is 150,000 yuan, which is 350,000 yuan
less than the previous subsidy standard.

"After reducing the subsidy of 350,000 yuan, the advantages established by lithium titanate batteries on the basis of fast charging on electric buses will gradually be lost
due to price.
" Mr.
Tong Zhiming, general manager of Weihong Power System (Huzhou) Co.
, Ltd.
(hereinafter referred to as Weihong Power), told reporters that the uncertainty of the government's policies will have a great impact on upstream power battery companies, and even change the direction
of some power battery research and development to a certain extent.

The route conundrum under the new policy

"After the new round of subsidy program was issued, the pure electric bus of lithium titanate has lost its advantage
in market competition.
" Deng Ping, general manager of Chongqing Hengtong Electric Bus Power System Co.
, Ltd.
(hereinafter referred to as "Hengtong Electric"), said
in an interview with reporters.

It is understood that a lithium titanate pure electric bus, the price of the vehicle is about 1.
6 million yuan, and the subsidy of 150,000 yuan does not play much role compared with the high car price
.
Moreover, because the energy density of lithium titanate batteries is much lower than that of lithium iron phosphate batteries, the battery equipped with each vehicle cannot be lower than 80 degrees, according to the price of 9,500 yuan a degree, the price of an 80-degree battery is about 700,000 yuan, and the subsidy of 150,000 yuan is less than a quarter
of the battery price.

"But now that the subsidies have been reduced so much, it is difficult for us to promote this type of car
.
" Deng Ping explained
.

However, before the introduction of a new round of subsidy policies, fast-charging electric buses using lithium titanate batteries have always been the main model
of Hengtong Electric in Chongqing's green bus project.
For the fast charging mode pure electric bus using lithium titanate battery, Deng Ping believes that this is a valuable exploration
.
Although lithium titanate batteries have low energy density, they can be charged quickly and their cycle life is much higher than lithium iron phosphate batteries, which is a more suitable business model
for short-distance bus operations.

It is understood that Hengtong Electric's lithium titanate battery is produced and provided
by Micromacro Power System (Huzhou) Co.
, Ltd.
Up to now, more than 900 vehicles
have been put into the new energy bus project in Chongqing.

"Some time before the introduction of the new policy, both Hong Kong bus companies and British bus companies came to Hengtong Electric to understand the situation of fast-charging buses, and also expressed their intention to cooperate, and the fast-charging mode of electric buses began to be sought after
.
" Deng Ping believes that for short-distance electric buses, the fast charging model has a large market space, but the reduction of state subsidies may make this fast charging model unsustainable
.

"There are many times when the policies introduced by the government do not have a continuity or a systematic plan, so for our power battery enterprises to have their own rhythm, because you can't figure out the rhythm
of the government.
" Tong Zhiming also expressed similar concerns, and was puzzled
why lithium titanate batteries could not enjoy the same treatment in the new round of subsidies.

According to the previous new energy vehicle subsidy standard, all pure electric buses can enjoy a subsidy of 500,000 yuan, without obvious technical bias and route guidance
.
The new subsidy policy introduced this time has made separate restrictions
on batteries of individual special materials.

It is worth noting that a person in charge of SAIC Bus said that the new policy does compress the profit margin of lithium titanate fast charging mode pure electric buses, but it is also reasonable, because it further requires bus companies to work lightweight
.
"Fast charging mode should try to reduce the battery
.
"

"This is beneficial to the current mainstream battery industry, but it is bound to cause certain obstacles
to the exploration of other application models.
" The person in charge believes that lithium titanate batteries will be affected by policies in the short term, but he said that SAIC Bus still has a strong interest in lithium titanate fast charging mode pure electric buses, maintaining high-speed attention, and even believes that lithium titanate batteries still have a large application space
in the future.

Tong Zhiming also believes that due to the cost of lithium titanate batteries, a large number of subsidies have been reduced within a certain period of time, so that the advantages in the field of new energy vehicles are no longer there, but its high cycle life of more than 20,000 times will have great application prospects
in the field of energy storage.

The subsidy will not be renewed or will be changed

Although the shrinkage of subsidies in the new policy has made relevant car companies feel painful, it is some power battery companies
that develop and produce lithium titanate that are more injured.

"The characteristics of short charging time and long cycle life of lithium titanate have been fully demonstrated on short-distance electric buses, but the restrictions on targeted subsidies in the new policy have caused automakers to lose 350,000 yuan in price difference, which will inevitably lead to the weakening
of the competitiveness of battery manufacturers themselves.
" Tong Zhiming introduced
.

Tong Zhiming calculated an account for reporters, the original electric bus equipped with 300 degrees of electricity lithium iron phosphate, the market price is about 2 million yuan, Weihong lithium titanate car in Chongqing operation is equipped with 160 degrees of electricity battery pack, about 400,000 yuan cheaper than the car with lithium iron phosphate
.
According to the idea of the new round of subsidies, it is 350,000 yuan
less than the original.
In this way, compared with the use of lithium iron phosphate batteries, the price advantage of electric buses using lithium titanate batteries does not exist
.

The market is always chasing the optimization of price, because the price advantage of lithium titanate fast-charging batteries in the field of electric buses no longer exists, and under the impact of the new market competition pattern, new products or business models will also emerge
.

It is worth noting that in response to the crisis of subsidy reduction under the new policy, the trick given by Micromacro Power is to launch a new composite power battery
.

As the second generation of power lithium battery products developed and produced by Micromacro Power - multi-compound lithium battery
.
Compared with mainstream lithium iron phosphate batteries, multi-composite lithium batteries have low attenuation, can withstand high current and multiple charges, and have higher energy density and lower price
.

According to Deng Ping's introduction, this new type of battery is the hole card that Hengtong electric bus originally showed in the next round of new energy bus competition, and will be unveiled
in advance after the subsidy policy of new energy vehicles.

Among the 25 demonstration cities of the previous "Ten Cities and Thousand Vehicles" demonstration project, Hengtong Electric promoted more than 900 new energy buses
in Chongqing within two years.
Among them, there are 31 pure electric buses and nearly 900 plug-in hybrids, which not only create a domestic exclusive "ten-minute" fast charging mode, but also adopt non-mainstream lithium titanate battery technology
.

This once became a sample for many domestic experts and other cities, but with the unfairness of the new subsidy policy, the future fate of Hengtong Electric has become unpredictable
.

For the policy restriction of "lithium titanate fast charging pure electric bus fixed subsidy of 150,000 yuan", Deng Ping, general manager of Hengtong Electric, was obviously unexpected
.
"We also don't understand why the new subsidy policy should be technically restrictive
.
" During the reporter's telephone interview with Deng Ping on October 28, the voice on the other end of the phone was accompanied by a helpless sigh
.

"Since things have come to this point, we don't care
.
" Although Deng Ping showed helplessness about the injustice of the policy, he did not feel hopeless
.
The reason for this is that Hengtong Electric has made technical reserves
in advance.

"In the future, instead of the previous battery technology, we will use the multi-compound composite lithium battery technology
in advance.
This new technology, which we originally planned to start using after new energy vehicles entered the second wave of competition, can only be used
in advance.
”

It is understood that the ternary composite lithium battery technology is still provided by Hengtong Electric's former joint venture - Hongwei Power, and also adopts fast charging mode
.

"The energy density of ternary composite lithium batteries can reach 120kWh/kg, which is 1.
5 times that of lithium titanate batteries; However, under the same volume, the price of ternary composite lithium batteries is 1/3
lower than that of lithium titanate batteries.
Tong Zhiming introduced that the new multi-compound lithium battery will replace the application of
lithium titanate batteries in the field of electric buses.

According to Deng Ping, Hengtong has launched 340 new energy buses in the first half of this year, and will launch 170 more this year, and the target of 500 vehicles will not change, while the new energy vehicles withdrawn later will use multi-composite batteries
.

An exploration model has begun to take shape in the process of operation, but it is facing the dilemma of cutting back due to the reduction of subsidies, and this obstacle is most obvious
for new energy vehicle companies.

In response to this situation, Hengtong Electric began to try to use batteries of other materials to get rid of the adverse effects
of subsidy compression.

Deng Ping introduced: "In the case of lithium titanate losing a large number of subsidies, Hengtong Electric has cooperated with Weihong Power to launch the latest composite battery
.
There are already bus companies that want to try this model, so for our company, the problem of using lithium titanate batteries will not have too much impact, and the main impact is the lithium titanate fast charging model
.
”

Demonstration cities are initially determined

Recently, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Development and Reform Commission organized experts to review and evaluate the new energy vehicle promotion and application plans declared by various places, and confirmed 28 cities or regions as the first batch of new energy vehicle promotion and application cities
.

Chongqing was once again successfully selected as one of the first cities to promote the application of
new energy vehicles.

Although the new round of subsidy policies has put the fast charging mode of lithium titanate in trouble, the newly launched multi-compound lithium battery seems to make up for this market shortcoming
.

From the perspective of energy density and cost, multi-compound lithium batteries are more competitive than the original lithium titanate batteries, will Hengtong Electric quickly open up new markets?

In this regard, Deng Ping's answer is not certain, the reason is not that the ternary composite lithium battery is not competitive, but that Chongqing will change its policies in this round of demonstration cities
.
Since Hengtong electric bus is located in Chongqing, the initial launch of new products must be based in Chongqing, and the policies of Chongqing local governments have become an important influencing factor
.
This also makes the promotion of this new technology full of uncertainty
.

It is understood that the total number of cities or regions in the new round of declaration is close to 40, and the total number of declarations exceeds 330,000 vehicles, and in line with the principle of "wide entry and strict exit", most cities will enter the final demonstration list
.
Because of this, even cities that enter the model list will be eliminated if they fail to complete the target on time
.

In addition to central policies, demonstration cities will successively introduce local policies to support the development of
new energy vehicles.
According to the amount of central government subsidies, new energy vehicles still cannot be reduced to an acceptable level in price, and are not competitive
with similar traditional vehicles.
Therefore, in the future demonstration work, the support of local governments will largely determine the development speed of
new energy vehicles.

At present, relevant policies for new energy vehicles have been introduced outside Beijing, such as the Beijing Clean Air Action Plan 2013-2017
.
The Plan contains targets
for the development of new energy vehicles.
In the new round of demonstrations, Beijing reported a demonstration target
of more than 35,000 vehicles.
Shenzhen, which is second only to Beijing, has also reported a promotion target
of 35,000 units.
Compared with the above two cities, most cities or regions still have a declared bottom line of 5,000 vehicles
.

"I also have a lot of unclear understanding of the recently announced new energy vehicle subsidy policy, and I am preparing to take time to consult with the leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing
.
" He Xiulin, director of the automobile industry division of the Hangzhou Municipal Economic and Information Commission, told reporters that not only Chongqing, Hangzhou, as a relatively mature city for the promotion of new energy vehicles, this round of subsidy policies also needs to be reformulated
.

In the same way that Chongqing new energy car companies are confused, Hangzhou car companies that implement the "charging and swapping in parallel" model are also stuck in the process
of waiting for a new round of local policies in demonstration cities.

"At present, the first batch of demonstration cities (regions) has been preliminarily determined, and it is reasonable that Chongqing has once again successfully shortlisted the first batch of lists, but we cannot carry out the next step of product sales
until the local subsidy policy is introduced.
" Deng Ping pointed out that the next step is to wait for the introduction
of local subsidy policies.