Car dealers do not touch buyers do not recognize, the second-hand market into the development of new energy vehicles "blockage point"

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"The battery is not durable, go see if you can get rid of it." Zhang Lifeng is ready to try his luck at a second-hand car market again. In late January, the cold in Shanghai was overwhelming, and his mood was equally gloomy.

The problem zhang Lifeng faced is the epitome of the current experience of the early "early adopters" of new energy vehicles. The china securities newspaper reporter found that car dealers do not touch and consumers do not recognize, making the new energy second-hand car market a desert, laying hidden dangers for the long-term healthy development of the industry. The battery life determines the life cycle of the whole vehicle, which will cause a great waste of resources. Industry insiders called for promoting the remanufacturing of high-value components based on new energy vehicles to help the development of circular economy.

Deserted used car market

Zhang Lifeng's pure electric vehicle was purchased in November 2015, and the mileage of the new car is 260 kilometers. "At that time, I wanted to experience the new product, but the subsequent navigation capacity of the use of a few years has declined seriously, and the power loss is especially obvious when the weather is cold." He said.

Zhang Lifeng has repeatedly gone to the second-hand car market to inquire about the market, unfortunately, there are very few second-hand car dealers who intend to acquire, and the price given is lower than his expectations. It was a shame to use, and the cost of replacing the battery was almost half of the purchase price of the car at that time. "If you really can't do it, you will admit it." Zhang Lifeng looked helpless.

Zhang Lifeng's experience is a microcosm of the situation of the first batch of new energy vehicle owners. Liu Yu, head of a small online ride-hailing platform, told China Securities News, "Our early batch of self-operated new energy vehicle batteries have been scrapped and are currently idle, and no one has collected them." Fortunately, there are not many of them. "Some car rental companies treated early new energy vehicles as metal waste.

Since 2012, Beijing Huaxiang Used Car Market has been continuously selected by the China Automobile Dealers Association as the first of the "Top 100 List of China's Used Car Trading Markets", and its listing volume can basically reflect the overall situation of the second-hand car market. As of February 9, of the more than 9,200 used cars for sale in the market, only more than 40 pure electric vehicles were listed five years ago.

In shanghai's largest used car trading market in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, it is not easy for a reporter from China Securities News to find a "touch of green" in a "blue" license plate.

According to Xu Lei, the person in charge of a second-hand car city in Shanghai, from the perspective of turnover, fuel vehicles can generally be sold in more than half a month, while new energy vehicles are less than one or two months, and more than three or four months may not be able to find a buyer.

The high cost of battery replacement is an important reason why new energy vehicles are not popular in the second-hand car market. The project director of a domestic head power battery manufacturer told China Securities News that the current average prices of ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries are 1.08 yuan / Wh and 0.5 yuan / Wh, respectively. If you replace the lithium iron phosphate battery, it will cost about 40,000 yuan; if you replace the ternary lithium battery, it may exceed 60,000 yuan.

Xu Lei said that taking pure electric vehicles of 100,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan as an example, the maximum use in 3 years will be half of the original purchase price. According to the "December 2021 China Automobile Retention Rate Report" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association and Jingzhen Estimate, the average retention rate of pure electric new energy vehicles with a 3-year age is about 42.9%, compared with the minimum retention rate of 60% for 3-year-old fuel vehicles, and the gap is not small. Many new energy vehicles have a 3-year retention rate of less than 30%.

Work together to open up the "blockage"

With the development of intelligence, electric vehicles have been endowed with more scientific and technological attributes, and automobiles have slowly moved closer to electronic consumer goods from the original mechanical products. The continuous improvement of the mileage, the continuous improvement of the level of intelligence, and the shortening of the product iteration cycle have also accelerated the decline in the residual value of second-hand cars. Technological leaps seem to have become a "double-edged sword.".

As an important part of the automotive industry chain, revitalizing the second-hand car trade can drive new car consumption, but the instability of the residual value makes car dealers dare not rush into the second-hand new energy vehicle market. The depreciation is too fast, which makes the owner reluctant to sell it, and there are few resources flowing into the second-hand car market. As a result, new car sales are rising, and the second-hand car market is a cold strange phenomenon.

Wu Liangliang, a second-hand car dealer who has been in the industry for 7 years, told China Securities News that of his more than 50 second-hand car sources, only 2 new energy vehicles. "After carefully testing the state of the battery, and then thinking about it twice, I dare to collect it, and whether I can sell it smoothly in the end is really bottomless." Many merchants have never even touched a new energy used car.

The lack of valuation system has become another major reason for the poor circulation of new energy used cars. Compared with fuel vehicles, electric vehicles have huge differences in core structure. The core components of traditional fuel vehicles are engines and chassis, while the core components of new energy vehicles are batteries, motors, and electronic control systems. At present, the second-hand car testing and evaluation system is mainly built around fuel vehicles, and a complete set of second-hand electric vehicle evaluation and pricing system has not yet been formed. The commercial path is not thorough, so that the second-hand car dealers are worried that the goods received are "smashed in the hands".

"The construction of a new energy used car evaluation system is a key factor in promoting the development of the industry." Huang Chunhua, general manager of Aodong New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. Shanghai Company, believes.

In order to alleviate this embarrassing situation, some new energy vehicle manufacturers have taken the initiative to intervene in the second-hand car market. SAIC, Weilai and other car companies have successively launched second-hand car business to replace new products of their own brands. However, for car companies, this move is more of an after-sales service based on new car sales. "OEMs don't have enough incentive to carry out trade-in business, which is more of a marketing tool." Zhang Zhigang, chairman of the Shanghai Qiming Strategic Emerging Industry Technology Promotion Center, said that the current competition in the new energy vehicle market is fierce, and car companies do not have enough "surplus grain" to provide high-quality purchase services.

According to data released by the Ministry of Public Security, by the end of 2021, the number of new energy vehicles has reached 7.84 million. With the increasing number of ownership, the smooth and orderly second-hand car market is of great significance for the iteration of new energy vehicle products and the healthy development of the industry.

In the view of Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, this needs to be exchanged for space with time, and it may take two or three years for the new energy used car market to really start.

For how to smooth the transaction of new energy second-hand cars, Zhang Xiang believes that the cancellation of some restrictive measures or relatively efficient methods at this stage. Previously, Jiangsu Province clearly stipulated that the registration place of new energy vehicles enjoying provincial financial subsidy funds was limited to the scope of the province, and could not be transferred or transferred within 5 years. But in April last year, Jiangsu lifted the restriction, which provided ideas for some provinces and cities with relevant constraints.

In addition, OEMs usually only target the first owner of the vehicle warranty, and used car buyers have greater concerns. Ye Lei, an expert in the automotive industry, suggested that the oem's guarantee for the whole vehicle should be changed from "following people" to "following the car", and providing quantitative rules for the protection of core components such as batteries and motors, so that second-hand owners have a bottom in mind.

Avoid wasting resources

Compared with fuel vehicles, the service life of new energy vehicles is shorter when they are scrapped, and if the battery life determines the life cycle of the whole vehicle, it will cause a great waste of resources. Industry insiders call for the promotion of the basic high-value parts of new energy vehicles to extend the service life project, remanufacturing into strategic emerging industries, so that new energy vehicles can become truly green products and help the development of circular economy.

Huang Chunhua said that once the power battery is scrapped, the service life of the vehicle will end, and some key components will be disassembled and disposed of. The early batch of new energy vehicles in the field of public operation has faced this problem.

"The frequency of use of new energy vehicles in the public sector is high, and the power battery has entered the retirement period in just a few years, but key components such as motors, electronic controls and aluminum body skeletons still have reuse value, and it is a pity if they are disposed of according to scrap metal." Zhou Dinghua, deputy general manager of Chery New Energy and president of the research institute, told China Securities News that the current market pays more attention to the recovery of power batteries, in fact, the design service life of key components such as electric drives, motors and aluminum body skeletons is more than 10 years, which should also be paid attention to.

Lin Yi, general manager of Mass Mobility under Mass Transportation, called for greater policy efforts to support the development of the circular economy and improve the remanufacturing and recycling system for new energy vehicle parts.

Remanufactured parts into the field of automobile maintenance may be an optional path, motors, electronic controls and other parts can be used again with a little modification and maintenance, and more cost-effective. Ye Lei introduced that remanufactured products are prohibited from entering the production of automobiles and only after-sales service. There is a certain deviation in consumers' perception of remanufactured parts, and the quality of remanufactured parts is not recognized.

"Consideration should be given to the introduction of support policies to allow vehicle manufacturers to recycle low-endurance new energy vehicles, which are treated as new vehicles after upgrading and transformation, and at the same time allow the recycling of aluminum alloys, composite bodies, motors, electronic controls and other parts." Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Automobile, believes that the application of recoverable green manufacturing of core durable parts of electric vehicles should be explored as soon as possible.

The healthy and vigorous development of the new energy automobile industry requires synergy between industrial chains. Ye Shengji, chief engineer and deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, believes that to promote the development of the new energy automobile industry, we must pay attention to every link of the industrial chain, and only when each link is strong, the entire industry will be strong.