Since 2022, more than 20 car companies have announced price increases for their products, involving nearly 40 models, including Tesla, BYD, Xiaopeng, Leapmotor, Nezha, Great Wall Ora and other brands. ranging from several thousand dollars to ten thousand dollars.
Under this circumstance, representatives of the government, car companies and battery companies have expressed their views on the price increase of power batteries.
At the just-concluded China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum (2022), relevant government departments spoke out against the phenomenon of power battery price increases, saying that relevant measures would be introduced to guide the price of battery raw materials to return to rationality.
Wan Gang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, pointed out that since the second half of last year, the price of power battery materials has increased rapidly, which has deviated from supply and demand, resulting in abnormal growth.
For example, battery-grade lithium carbonate has skyrocketed from about 50,000 yuan/ton in early 2021 to about 500,000 yuan/ton recently. In addition, battery raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, and copper have also risen significantly.
Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that the reason for the price increase of power battery materials in this round is basically the same as that of lithium resources in 2016-2018. Compared with the previous round of fluctuations, due to stronger demand and expected growth, and the impact of the epidemic, the Prices are more volatile.
In this regard, Wan Gang said that the trading market of raw materials such as lithium and nickel should be managed, and international logistics channels should be unblocked to ensure the global supply of power battery materials. Ouyang Minggao also mentioned that in order to deal with supply security, government departments should introduce relevant policies and take effective measures to combat hoarding and curb short-term sharp fluctuations in prices.
The gradual "out-of-control" rise in the price of upstream lithium resources has attracted attention at the policy level.
Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that China will moderately speed up the development of domestic resources, resolutely crack down on unfair competition such as hoarding and speculation, and guide upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain to strengthen cooperation and promote the return of key raw material prices to rationality.
The price increase of power batteries is directly transmitted to downstream vehicle terminals, and OEMs have said that this wave of power battery price increases is "very outrageous and beyond imagination".
Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Motors, said that the current round of price increases for new energy vehicles is mainly due to the outrageous increase in battery costs, and more car companies will announce price increases one after another.
He said that the car companies that have announced price increases so far are all brands that have confirmed the price increase of batteries in the second quarter with battery manufacturers. Most of the car brands that have not announced price increases are because the price increase of batteries in the second quarter has not been negotiated, and they will generally increase prices immediately after the negotiation. The increase in battery costs in the second quarter is very outrageous.
He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, believes that the tight supply of power batteries will still be a big challenge for Chinese car companies this year. Judging from the current communication between Xiaopeng Motors and suppliers, the proportion of power battery price increases is beyond imagination.
Dong Yudong, CEO of ORA brand, admitted that although the ORA brand has advantages in the industrial chain, this car still brought huge losses to the company. Taking Heimao as an example, after the price of raw materials rises sharply in 2022, Heimao will lose more than 10,000 yuan per unit. To this end, black cats and white cats have previously stopped taking orders.
Li Bin, CEO of Weilai Automobile, said that at present, Weilai has no idea of raising the price of products, and will see whether the pricing policy will be adjusted according to market conditions. In his view, there are more speculative factors in the recent price increase of lithium carbonate, and there is not such a big gap between supply and demand.
However, in the face of "criticism" from the policy and market side, power battery companies feel aggrieved, saying that this round of power battery product price increases is really helpless.
In fact, battery companies have already absorbed and digested most of the upward pressure on raw material costs in 2021. Entering 2022, the shortage of upstream raw materials and price increases have not only not been suppressed, but have intensified, resulting in a sharp increase in the manufacturing costs of battery companies.
A number of power battery company executives told Gaogong Lithium that the price of power batteries has generally risen by more than 15%, and some customers have increased by 20%-30%.
In fact, under the pressure of upstream raw material price increases, the leading power battery companies can't bear it.
CATL publicly announced that due to the sharp rise in upstream raw material prices, the company dynamically adjusted the prices of some battery products accordingly.
Zhang Feng, senior vice president and secretary of the board of directors of Funeng Technology, revealed that at present, except for a very few major customers, the price adjustment has been completed. Since January 1 this year, it will be supplied at the new price, with an increase of more than 25%.
With the further rise of raw material prices this year, Funeng Technology is currently negotiating with some customers to share the price increase from January to the end of March this year with customers, and is now negotiating the second round of price increases.
At present, due to the continuous rise of raw material prices, the previous business cooperation model has changed. Battery companies generally adopt real-time update of product quotations, clear price increases, shorten the account period, and renegotiate prices for existing orders to transmit some raw material price increases downstream. pressure.
On the whole, the supply chain of new energy vehicles in 2022 is not optimistic, the price increase of power batteries is still spreading, and both OEMs and battery companies are facing great pressure and challenges to reduce costs.
