Since this year, the successive battery spontaneous combustion accidents of new energy vehicles have begun to undermine the confidence and purchase desire of potential consumers.
According to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 50 cases of spontaneous combustion or explosion of new energy vehicles caused by batteries in China.
In this context, in order to boost new car sales and dispel consumer concerns, some car companies have started to offer a "lifetime warranty" on the power lithium battery.
For example, the Weimar announced a free lifetime warranty on the car battery from July 1.
Prior to that, the Link 01pHEV also offered a lifetime battery warranty when it was launched in July 2018. The Azure ES8 also proposed a lifetime warranty at the time of its launch, and it was not limited to the battery.
So, is the "lifetime warranty" a "high quality service" for consumers, or is it just a "marketing gimmick" that stays on paper?
"High quality service" or "marketing gimmick"?
As the new energy market is in a high-speed development stage, the iteration rate of models is fast, basically remaining at 1-2 years, which also leads to many car owners to buy new cars quickly obsolete and depreciate, most in 3-5 years will choose to replace the car.
Kung Fu Auto believes that the lifetime warranty is mostly for private cars, and as long as the car cycle and frequency, as long as the 8 years or 150,000 km is basically equivalent to "lifetime", so the concept of a lifetime battery warranty may not make much sense.
In addition, the battery lifetime warranty policy each manufacturer has its own meaning, much the same, there will be quite a certain range of restrictions.
This means that new energy vehicles are important to meet the conditions of the lifetime warranty there is a certain threshold.
For example, the vehicle must be maintained and repaired in 4S stores for life; the vehicle will no longer enjoy the lifetime warranty after the accident and replacement of large parts; only limited to home, even business can not be, etc..
In addition, kung fu cars to clarify a point of view, that is, "lifetime warranty" and "free lifetime battery replacement" there is a relative difference, the normal decay of the power lithium battery is not in the scope of the warranty.
In other words, unless your battery "abnormal decay", or any accident, to seek the manufacturer to replace.
However, there is no unified standard for the definition of power lithium battery failure, and now each battery failure cases and design methods are not quite the same, the causes of the problem are not the same, and most manufacturers will not issue a perfect analysis report.
Therefore, even within the warranty period, how the meaning of "abnormal decay", is still a fishy area.
There are two sides to everything
From the current stage, the battery lifetime warranty service proposed, there are both positive and negative effects.
On the positive side, whether it is the leading company or a new force in car manufacturing, the proposed lifetime warranty service will invariably give other new energy companies in the industry more "invisible pressure" to further establish a new standard of maintenance of new energy vehicles.
On the flip side, a true lifetime warranty on power lithium batteries is basically impossible to achieve because of the high cost.
At the same time, the battery lifetime warranty pre-conditions are too much and harsh, and each maintenance testing standards are determined to be different and difficult, so it is difficult for consumers to benefit from it.
Undeniably, there are two sides to everything, in the new energy vehicle industry as a whole is not mature, the battery lifetime warranty service seems to be some "chicken ribs" meaning.
But behind the scenes, the battery lifetime warranty service behind the battery "price is difficult to reduce" the problem.
Perhaps, along with the lower cost of lithium batteries, consumers' concerns are naturally "self-evident".
According to Kung Fu Auto, the current mainstream battery ternary lithium-ion batteries, for example, the current production price in 2017 was reduced by 30%, about 1.45 yuan / wh, which is calculated for a 40kwh battery price of about 58,000.
According to the automotive industry consultant Wilson predicts that with the expansion of the company's production scale, battery technology advances, battery system costs will remain about 10% to 20% per year before 2020, and after 2020, the rate of reduction is about 5% to 10%.
The country also clearly proposed to reduce the battery production price to 1 yuan/wh in 2020, if realized, the future 40kwh battery price is around 40,000, and also can enjoy the state's battery recycling subsidy, which is eventually expected to be around 20,000.
