New energy vehicles: prosper due to policies but fail due to charging

　　"Should I buy a new energy vehicle ? Which one is suitable? How much is the car subsidy? Can I get a license plate through lottery? Is there any trouble using the car?" These are the questions that have been bothering Xiao An recently. Let's follow the editor of the Automobile Chairman to learn about the relevant content.

　　Xiao An, a migrant worker in Beijing, decided to buy a new energy vehicle to solve the problem of commuting to work . "I don't want to squeeze into the subway. It takes more than two hours to go to work every day. There are too many people in the subway and I often can't squeeze in. It's too uncomfortable." Xiao An told reporters.

　　In addition to these issues, the types of electric vehicles on the market include pure electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles. Which models are better, which policy subsidies are better, how to build charging piles, how to get insurance, and what the after-sales service is like are also things that need to be considered.

　　Unlike Xiao An who wants to buy a new energy vehicle , Lin Lin from Handan, Hebei, has been driving new energy vehicles for two years. Lin Lin's complaints about a certain brand of new energy vehicles are mainly focused on the charging problem.

　　Lin Lin told Pintu Business Review that since there are no fixed parking spaces in the community, it is impossible to install charging piles, so she can only connect a wire from home to charge. "Fortunately, the floor is not high, and there is an open space under the window for parking. The first thing I do when I get home every night is to charge my car. Even if I charge it overnight, sometimes the battery is only 80% the next day. But if I go to a public charging pile, I have to wait in line for a long time, which is a waste of time and inconvenient."

　　"High" results driven by subsidy policies

　　At present, many cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Tianjin, and Guiyang are implementing the "license plate restriction" policy for ordinary cars. However, for new energy vehicles, most cities can increase the winning rate through a separate lottery system or directly obtain license plate quotas. Therefore, buying new energy vehicles has become the first choice for people to solve the lottery license plate problem.

　　Xiao An also said: "I have been participating in the lottery since 2014 but have not won the lottery until now. The increase in new energy vehicle quotas this year has made me more determined to buy a new energy vehicle. This way, I can drive the car on the road in June."

　　Since the rise of new energy vehicles, the government has started to implement high subsidies. Some experts say that China's subsidies for new energy vehicles may be the highest in the world. According to last year's standards, most pure electric vehicles can get subsidies of about 40,000 to 50,000 yuan each; and there is also a chance to get subsidies at the provincial/municipal/county level.

　　For buyers, the temptation to reduce the car purchase budget is too great. In addition, according to the data, the main purchasing power of new energy vehicles is concentrated in first- and second-tier cities, which is also due to the fact that third- and fourth-tier cities do not have such high car purchase subsidies.

　　Of course, it is precisely because of the huge temptation of huge subsidies that some companies "take risks" and engage in policy arbitrage, which is why we often see cases of car companies "cheating subsidies" - applying for subsidies in advance when the vehicles have not been sold. Previously, The Paper also reported that a salesperson at a 4S store of a new energy vehicle brand in Shanghai defrauded 62 car buyers of nearly 3 million yuan in subsidies from 2016 to April 2017.

　　Moreover, some companies have launched so-called new energy vehicles under attractive subsidies. The time from research and development to manufacturing of these vehicles is shockingly short. Compared with the large number of tests that traditional cars have to go through before they are put on the market, is the safety of new energy vehicles produced under such circumstances really guaranteed?

　　"Puffy" car prices

　　In fact, during the investigation, the reporter found that many consumers who want to buy new energy vehicles or have already bought them are complaining that the prices of the cars are too high. Although there are considerable subsidies, from the perspective of car buyers, the actual price is actually the value of the car itself, and there is really no talk of a discount under the subsidies.

Price list of several new energy vehicles

　　At present, my country's new energy vehicles have not yet formed a unified pricing system and pricing standards. We are not clear about the specific costs of each car company and each model, and it is difficult to measure whether the price of each car is really worth the money or just a false alarm. Therefore, we cannot give a clear definition for the problem of inflated prices of most electric vehicles. In addition, the new energy vehicle industry is not yet fully market-oriented at this stage, so it is not surprising that the prices of cars are inflated. However, the statement that the high government subsidies have objectively pushed up the pricing of new energy vehicles is affirmed by many people in the industry.

　　At the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China issued the subsidy standards for new energy vehicles in 2018. From February 12 to June 11 is a transition period, during which new energy passenger cars and buses registered will be subsidized at 0.7 times the 2017 standard, and trucks and special vehicles will be subsidized at 0.4 times. According to this, the subsidy amount for new energy vehicles will generally decrease, and micro pure electric vehicles will be hit hard. Only mid-to-high-end pure electric models with a range of more than 300km can benefit from the new policy. Perhaps as the industry develops and becomes more standardized, the pricing of new energy vehicles may gradually become healthier in the future.

　　Batteries become a major concern for users

　　According to the 2017 China Auto Consumer Survey Report, users' biggest concerns about purchasing new energy vehicles are issues such as charging, battery life, and technical stability. Lin Lin told reporters, "Charging every day is already annoying, and the car often has various faults while driving."

　　Few charging stations: Many car owners have encountered the situation where their car is running out of power while driving. It is too late to go home to charge, so they can only quickly find a public charging station. After a lot of effort to find one, they find that they don’t have the charging card or the charging card is not compatible. At this time, it is too late to find the next charging station. "There is no choice but to call for vehicle rescue."

　　Although the new energy vehicle industry has experienced a boom, the construction and development of charging piles and other basic charging facilities have not kept pace with it. By the end of 2017, there were 446,000 public and private charging facilities in China, of which 214,000 were public charging piles, a year-on-year increase of 51%. However, the number of new energy vehicles in use was about 1.729 million, with a ratio of about 3.9:1. The growth rate of charging piles is far from enough.

　　At the same time, as for private charging piles, the charging voltage is higher than the residential electricity voltage and the current is stronger. Many community property management companies are skeptical about whether installing charging piles will have an impact on residents' electricity consumption, fearing that it will affect residents' normal lives. Even if the charging piles avoid some safety hazards at the beginning of the design, the property management company is still worried about the inconvenience of management, and the fire department is also worried about safety accidents.

　　Inconvenient charging method: In the choice of charging method, charging cable has always been the main charging method for users. Among users, 60%-80% of users mostly use slow charging with wires at charging locations such as homes and company parking lots, and fast charging at charging locations only accounts for 20%-40% of users. It is understood that in some county-level cities, although the new energy vehicle sales market is booming, there is almost no public charging pile in the entire town, and the so-called new energy vehicles are all charged by pulling wires.

　　Lin Lin said that since there are no fixed parking spaces in the community and charging piles cannot be installed, she can only connect an electric wire from home to charge. This method is also jokingly called "flying wire" charging by new energy vehicle owners.

　　Poor battery life: The characteristic of new energy vehicles is that they save fuel and energy, but because of this, many vehicles have poor battery life. Generally, problems are prone to occur when going to places that are a little far away in the city. This is also one of the fatal problems of new energy vehicles.

　　Survey data shows that among the complaints involving new energy vehicles, problems related to power batteries have accounted for 40% to 50%. Problems such as "false mileage" leading to insufficient mileage, rapid battery degradation, power "jumps", and severe reduction in battery life in winter have caused considerable trouble for new energy vehicle users.

　　Lin Lin was driving her electric car when the battery level suddenly dropped from 40% to 20%. A few minutes later, the car ran out of power and was forced to stop on the road. According to Zhihu netizens, the problem of sudden jumps in the battery level of new energy vehicles often occurs when there is not much battery left. For the majority of users, this means that the car needs to be charged more frequently and the electricity cost is higher.

　　Maintenance/after-sales service is also a big problem

　　At present, there are relatively few new energy vehicles that people can accept, and there are not many repair shops. Basically, you can only go to 4S shops for maintenance and upkeep, and the cost will naturally be relatively high.

　　Shi Feng from Beijing said that she bought a new energy vehicle in 2015, and had repairs to the battery, brakes and other parts just after the mileage exceeded 10,000 kilometers. Among them, the battery could not be charged and could not accelerate several times. Once during driving, the battery suddenly dropped to zero and the car stopped suddenly in the middle of the road, seriously hindering traffic. When it was pushed to the side of the road, the car lost its brakes and hit the wall, almost injuring someone. After receiving the complaint, the 4S store only unilaterally replied that it could be repaired, but did not give any substantive feedback in time.

　　In addition, the iteration speed of new energy vehicles has surpassed the 18-month cycle of electronic equipment. Although the gradual increase in the number of vehicles in use seems to have made manufacturers and consumers see the dawn of the new energy vehicle market, the value retention rate of new energy vehicles in the used car market is the worst in history - like a disposable item.

　　Mr. Liu bought an electric car in 2013, and in early 2016 he wanted to buy a new one. But when he was dealing with his old car, he found that this pure electric car, which cost about 120,000 yuan, was rejected by most car dealers in the second-hand market, and those who were willing to buy it were only willing to offer about 10,000 yuan. In less than 4 years, it had depreciated by nearly 100,000 yuan, which was unacceptable compared to the residual value of traditional cars. The reporter also found through a second-hand car platform that the depreciation of new energy vehicles was indeed very serious.

　　The power of new energy vehicles is directly linked to the power of batteries. On the one hand, after multiple charges and discharges, the battery capacity decays, and the value of electric vehicles is naturally reduced; on the other hand, the batteries of many cars need to be repaired or replaced after 5-8 years of use, which means that new energy vehicles purchased since 2012 may usher in a wave of battery "elimination" this year. In addition, many new energy 4S stores in Beijing have posted signs saying "second-hand car replacement". It is understood that the residual value rate of many electric vehicles after 5 years of use is only about 10%. In this way, it is understandable why most people are reluctant to buy second-hand electric vehicles.

　　Final Thoughts

　　It is undeniable that driven by policies, the new energy vehicle industry has blossomed in an all-round way, and many car companies have already occupied a place in the market. However, while new energy vehicles have made people's lives more convenient, new cars have also begun to show shortcomings in terms of quality, use, and after-sales maintenance. Although many buyers choose new energy vehicles just for a license plate or not being subject to the odd-even number restriction, after all, they have spent a lot of money to buy them for convenience, and it is really unpleasant to add some trouble to yourself from time to time!

　　It actually takes a long time for new energy to replace traditional energy, and it is impossible for new energy vehicles to replace fuel vehicles overnight. At this stage, new energy vehicles are still a relatively new technology, and the industry is in its infancy. Problems and disputes in various links are also an inevitable stage of development. Problems arise and they are solved, so that the industry can present a natural and healthy development trend.

   The above is an introduction to new energy vehicles in automotive electronics: they prosper due to policies but fail due to charging. If you want to know more related information, please pay more attention to eeworld. eeworld Electronic Engineering will provide you with more complete, detailed and updated information.