Recently, Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) and Qingshan industry signed a cooperation and investment agreement to establish two joint ventures of pack and cell in Liuzhou, Guangxi, and build a power battery cell and system project with an annual output of 20gwh.
It is reported that this is the first time that Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) has established a battery joint venture with a third party company after establishing a joint venture with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) in 2017. The battery project will be supported by SAIC GM Wuling, and the current battery suppliers also include Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) .
More than a month ago, the Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) capital increase of 2.43 billion yuan, which had long been focused on the supply of 3C consumer batteries, attracted extensive attention in the market. The reason is that the leading investor suddenly appeared ideal and Xiaopeng’s affiliated companies, and Weilai’s affiliated companies are also among the investors. You know, Xiaopeng and Weilai were once “loyal” customers of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) .
Since this year, the process of “getting rid of” or weakening the voice of “ningwang” seems to have accelerated. There are two main reasons why the whole vehicle factory wants to “get rid of Ning”. The Puritanism, Secretary General of Beijing Centergate Technologies (Holding) Co.Ltd(000931) new battery technology innovation alliance and director general of battery hundred people’s Association, told the first financial reporter that the risk of battery suppliers being dominant is too high; Second, with the expansion of market space, vehicle manufacturers do not want to only “work” for the upstream, but also try to change the monopoly situation of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and compete for the corresponding pricing power.
Today, the “tug of war” between Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and the vehicle factory has been fought from the shadow of the sword to the light.
automobile enterprises “support” the second echelon
“It’s not easy to challenge the position of ‘ningwang’,” Fang Yu, an executive of a power battery company, told reporters. According to the data of China automotive power battery industry innovation alliance, the market share of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) has been more than 50% for two consecutive years, accounting for half of China Shipbuilding Industry Group Power Co.Ltd(600482) batteries.
Fang Yu pointed out that Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) the object of this cooperation is Qingshan industry, which is at least the same order of magnitude as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) .
It is reported that castle peak industry is one of the protagonists of lunni’s “epic air war” some time ago. Castle Peak industry ranks 279 on the list of Fortune 500 companies in 2021. More importantly, Castle Peak industry has mastered many upstream related resources of lithium batteries such as nickel, cobalt, lithium and manganese all over the world. It is reported that in 2020, Castle Peak industry has a global nickel market share of 18%, known as the “nickel king”, and nickel plays an important role in the raw materials of ternary lithium batteries. In 2017, Qingshan industry began to strategically lay out the new energy industry, intended to establish the whole industrial chain from mining of mineral resources to battery application, and established Ruipu energy, a power battery enterprise that year.
In November 2021, Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) and Castle Peak Industries officially signed an agreement to reach cooperation. Subsequently, in February this year, Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) participated in the industrial round financing of Ruipu energy of 2.2 billion yuan, becoming its largest external strategic investor.
Ruipu energy mainly makes lithium iron phosphate batteries. According to the data of China automotive power battery industry innovation alliance, its total installed capacity was 0.18gwh in the first two months of this year, accounting for 0.6% of the market, ranking 12th.
Fang Yu pointed out that the volume of Ruipu energy is still limited, and it needs Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) to make endorsement.
The reporter learned from an insider of Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) that Saic Motor Corporation Limited(600104) investment in Ruipu energy is in line with the principle of QSTP (supplier procurement). Ruipu energy starts from SAIC GM Wuling and then has a listing plan.
The above insiders pointed out that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) will worry about the loss of its market share if the vehicle factory “supports” or switches suppliers, but from the perspective of the vehicle factory, it is not willing to see the dominance of suppliers.
” Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and the whole vehicle factory have a delicate relationship, which is restricted and balanced.” Fang Yu also told reporters.
Yu qingjiao pointed out that the current “tug of war” between the vehicle factory and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) may be an opportunity for the power battery manufacturers in the second tier. Because the enterprises in the second tier have comprehensive strength in quality, brand, technology, technology and other aspects, coupled with the “support” of the vehicle factory, they have the basis of “grabbing food from the mouth of the tiger” from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) .
Previously, the “dark horse” of power battery, China Innovation airlines, relying on Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.Ltd(601238) to fight a “turnaround”, made a strategic transformation to focus on the passenger car market in July 2018, and soon Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.Ltd(601238) turned to cultivate this new force. By mid-2019, China Innovation Airlines has replaced Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) as the first supplier of power batteries in GAC’s independent system. China Innovation airlines also ranked in the top 10 in installed capacity in that year, and then it entered the top three, after Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and Byd Company Limited(002594) .
It is reported that before 2020, almost all of Xiaopeng’s batteries come from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) , which used to be the third largest customer of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) and Weilai is the second largest customer of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) after Tesla. But these “loyal” customers have begun to cultivate new forces.
In February this year, “Wei Xiaoli” jointly invested Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) . Subsequently, in March, Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) stepped up the “horse racing enclosure” and invested in the construction of Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) new energy production base project in Zhuhai, Guangdong. The total investment of the project is 12 billion yuan. After completion, the annual capacity of power battery and energy storage battery will be 30 GWH.
At present, Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) also belongs to the second echelon. According to the data of China automotive power battery industry innovation alliance, in the first two months of this year, Sunwoda Electronic Co.Ltd(300207) installed capacity was 0.46gwh, accounting for 1.55% of the market, ranking ninth.
In addition, the top ten enterprises in the power battery industry are basically deeply bound with the vehicle manufacturers, such as Byd Company Limited(002594) and Great Wall Motor Company Limited(601633) under which Freddy batteries and honeycomb energy are self distributed respectively. Freddy batteries are also opening to the outside world, Gotion High-Tech Co.Ltd(002074) deeply binding Volkswagen cars, Farasis Energy (Gan Zhou) Co.Ltd(688567) locking Daimler and Geely. At present, the second tier power battery manufacturers are not “eyeing”.
“ningwang” how to fight
In addition to the deep binding of non “Ningde series” power battery enterprises, the vehicle factory is also planning to build its own battery capacity.
On March 27, Gu Huinan, general manager of gac-e’an, told the media that the trial production line of e’an battery will be put into operation by the end of this year. The goal is to master the core technology and will still maintain cooperation with the upstream lithium battery company.
Last March, Geely technology also built a power battery project with an annual output of 42gwh in Ganzhou Development Zone, Jiangxi Province, with a total investment of 30 billion yuan. At the end of 2020, Geely technology and Farasis Energy (Gan Zhou) Co.Ltd(688567) established a joint venture to build a power battery production plant. It is expected that the total capacity of the joint venture and the company will reach 120gwh. The two sides also agreed that Geely series power batteries will also be purchased from the joint venture.
In addition, Tesla has already built its own battery plant, and Volkswagen has also announced that it expects to build six Super battery plants with a total annual capacity of 240gwh in Europe by 2030.
Since this year, the market share of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) has indeed declined. According to the data of China automotive power battery industry innovation alliance, in February this year, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) city accounted for 48.02%; In the first two months of this year, its market share also fell below 50%, to 49.22%.
” Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) actually smelled the signal for a long time. Now its idea has changed. It used to bind downstream customers and now binds upstream resources, which undoubtedly broadens Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) ‘s anti risk ability and bargaining power.” Fang Yu said.
At present, the upstream resources and materials of lithium battery are facing the situation of rising prices and tight supply, which has become the bottleneck of the development of lithium battery industry.
Since last year, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) accelerated the layout of upstream resources, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, etc. According to statistics, it has invested more than 10 billion yuan in all parts of the world, including China. In terms of lithium alone, last year Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) laid out Manono, one of the largest lithium mines in the world, a lithium mine project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, and invested no more than 13.5 billion yuan in Yichun, Jiangxi, the “lithium capital of Asia”, to build a new lithium battery production and manufacturing base and corresponding upstream material production base such as lithium carbonate.
In order to get rid of the “neck” problem of upstream resources, at present, many car enterprises have also begun to layout upstream. Recently, the memorandum of understanding on the joint development of nickel resources with Volkswagen in Indonesia was announced Byd Company Limited(002594) also plans to make strategic investment Chengxin Lithium Group Co.Ltd(002240) , and the two sides will carry out long-term cooperation in the field of lithium products.
However, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) as the downstream of power battery production, there is a leverage effect in investing in the upstream. Fang Yu said that the actual investment effect of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) on upstream resources may far exceed 10 billion yuan Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) with its financial strength, industry status, brand awareness and other advantages in the industry, it can often obtain good local resources, while other power battery manufacturers correspondingly face high-energy evaluation requirements and low resource replacement, “this is the intangible advantage of Ningde.”
Cai Wen, who is close to Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) , also expressed a similar view to the reporter, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) going to build factories locally can drive the local economy and employment and get more high-quality resources.
However, there is still a certain gap between the capital strength of the second tier power battery enterprises in investing in the upstream and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) there. Recently, Zhang Feng, senior vice president and Secretary of the board of directors of Farasis Energy (Gan Zhou) Co.Ltd(688567) admitted to the media that there is a gap between its financial strength and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) , Byd Company Limited(002594) and Farasis Energy (Gan Zhou) Co.Ltd(688567) upstream layout mainly through strategic cooperation and equity participation.
In Fang Yu’s opinion, for a long time, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) will account for the majority in both the upstream resources and the “cake” of the power battery market. The power battery enterprises in the second tier have indeed obtained more opportunities, but it is very difficult to challenge the position of “ningwang”.
Cai Wen also holds a similar view. He pointed out that what vehicle manufacturers want is vehicle specification products. At present, there is a certain gap between some second tier batteries and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) in product technology, consistency and stability. In fact, the power battery market is a structural shortage, that is, the lack of high-quality production capacity. “As far as I know, many batteries now make do with being able to use.”
Regarding the phenomenon that auto enterprises build their own production capacity and cultivate new forces, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) relevant people told the first financial reporter, “We always believe in the advantages of professional division of labor. Car companies have rich experience in vehicle R & D and manufacturing, and the technology, talents and experience accumulation involved in the R & D and production of power batteries are very different from that of vehicle R & D and manufacturing. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) has been deeply cultivated in the battery industry for many years, and the quality advantages, cost advantages and service advantages brought by innovation ability, manufacturing experience and scale will become more prominent all over the world.”
