Chapter 898: Peculiar Industry Conditions, More Such Happy Troubles

The hot sales of the Future S9 are not an isolated incident.

The entire electric vehicle industry has developed several years faster than the same period in history.

Especially in China, various independent brands have followed Future Auto to launch their own electric vehicles, and even set up new energy companies to produce electric vehicles.

Companies such as Yangcheng Aion, Didu New Energy, and Changan Automobile are among the best.

Most of the batteries of these companies' products use Nanshan batteries.

With the unexpected development of the industry, the supply pattern of the battery industry has also begun to change significantly.

"Mr. Cao, according to the latest production plans adjusted by each company, the production capacity of our battery factory is very tight."

"And the production capacity supply in the next two years is also in a very tight state."

Lin Cheng is now enjoying the troubles of happiness.

Insufficient production capacity is a relatively rare thing in all walks of life in China.

More often, the production capacity of each company is in excess, and everyone is thinking about how to expand the market and digest the production capacity.

The most obvious is the steel industry.

Many people may have heard of such an interesting ranking of steel production capacity.

China is first, Hebei is second, Tangshan is third, Japan is fourth, and the United States is fifth!

China has made steel very cheap, and even the price of a pound of steel is not as good as a pound of cabbage.

Even high-end products such as special steel are often less expensive than organic vegetables.

It really makes people wonder how to describe it.

Normally, power batteries will not have insufficient production capacity.

Because in recent years, China's power battery manufacturers have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

In the past few years, many battery manufacturers have been worried about their production capacity consumption.

However, if you really look at the specific production capacity, in fact, the annual production capacity of most battery manufacturers a few years ago was less than 1GWH.

What is the concept of this thing?

If it is placed on the S9, only more than 10,000 vehicles can be produced, and they will be used up in one month.

Of course, in recent years, under the leadership of Nanshan Battery, coupled with the rapid increase in electric vehicle sales of companies such as Yangcheng Aion and Changan Automobile, the production capacity of various domestic battery manufacturers has also increased rapidly.

Especially Nanshan Battery, which leads the world in production capacity and has long exceeded the important threshold of 10GWH.

However, compared with the production capacity of more than 100GWH in later generations, it is definitely far inferior.

Investing in a battery production line, if calculated from the acquisition of land, generally takes about 3 years to mass produce.

Even if it is slightly compressed, two years is normal.

Even if there is a ready-made production line, it will take about a year to get it done in the end.

This is when there is no problem with the supply of battery equipment.

In fact, because so many battery manufacturers are expanding production, the schedule for related equipment supply is also relatively tight.

"In China, the production capacity shortage in any industry cannot exist for a long time. At most, in two or three years, our battery production capacity will meet the requirements."

"I estimate that the new battery production capacity this year may be comparable to the cumulative production capacity of the country before last year."

Cao Yang's words are really not nonsense.

China's industrial industry is so crazy.

As long as everyone sees that a certain field can make a lot of money and the product is in short supply, they will definitely rush in.

Enterprises that do not have factories in this area will find ways to solve the relevant bottlenecks.

As for companies that are originally in the battery industry, they will not miss this opportunity.

Financing, loans, and building new factories.

In this case, all means will be used quickly.

Various places are absolutely very supportive of projects such as battery factories that can be linked to new fields such as the new energy industry.

If you invest in a traditional lead-acid battery factory, I guess many places will be a little disgusted.

But if it is a power battery factory, it will be completely different.

"Yes, but even if we can predict this situation, we still need to expand our production capacity quickly."

"Even if there is surplus production capacity at that time, it will be the surplus of other companies first, and our production capacity should still be controllable."

Lin Cheng is still very confident in Nanshan Battery.

As the largest and most technologically advanced battery manufacturer in the country and even the world, Nanshan Battery does not need to worry about its production capacity not being required by manufacturers in the future.

At least before the production capacity of other manufacturers is largely idle, there is no need to worry about the idle production capacity of Nanshan Battery.

Considering that the current electric vehicle industry is developing very fast, there is still a huge gap compared to ten years later.

So even if there will be changes in the supply and demand pattern in two or three years, there is really no need to worry too much.

Therefore, Cao Yang also agreed with Lin Cheng's expansion plan and said, "Nanshan Battery will invest boldly according to the project forecast quantity of each customer, and there is no need to worry."

"However, if the number of units given by some customers is exaggerated, you may need to consider how to avoid risks."

"Especially when the specifications of some customers' battery packs are special, and even the battery cells are dedicated, if we invest in special production lines or even factories for them, we must at least have a plan to ensure that we will not lose money, not to mention making a lot of money."

Cao Yang's concerns are not without reason.

Now you tell me that the demand for a project is 100,000 vehicles a year, which basically requires a production capacity of about five or six GWH, which can build a factory.

At this time, if I build a factory specifically for you, and you sell a few thousand vehicles a year, or even thousands of vehicles cannot be sold, what should I do?

Wouldn't my factory be built in vain?

Land is free? Well, it may really be free.

What about equipment?

Equipment always costs money, right?

And all kinds of labor recruited, these are all costs.

If there is no guarantee, it is obviously a bit abnormal for Nanshan Battery to bear all the risks.

That is why Cao Yang specifically reminded him.

This kind of thing is likely to happen, or it will happen in some projects, so we must pay attention to it.

"Mr. Cao, we are also considering this issue internally."

"There are mainly two methods now. One is to let the OEM invest in the equipment itself and pay the amount of the equipment in one lump sum. Our production line is built specifically for them."

"On the other hand, both parties sign a formal contract to restrict the number of units. If the specified number is not reached in the future, the other party will pay compensation."

"In short, we certainly cannot bear all the risks ourselves."

Lin Cheng is obviously not such an impulsive person. He rushed up without caring about anything when he saw the project.

Although he is a professional manager, he also has to consider long-term plans.

He can't make a living in the next few years just because he has been happy for the past two years. That is not his goal.

He is ready to work at Nanshan Battery for a lifetime and make Nanshan Battery a very famous company in the country and even the world.

Although Nanshan Battery is now the largest battery factory in China and even in the world, its popularity among ordinary people is actually relatively low.

What Lin Cheng needs to do next is to let more ordinary people know the name of Nanshan Battery.

This must be supported by brilliant performance.

"It's good that you have this consideration, but you should also pay attention to the methods and methods. There is no need to make everyone feel that Nanshan Battery is too overbearing."

"Of course, we must insist on what we should insist on. If some customers can't accept it, we don't have to force it."

Not all customers are worth serving.

Cao Yang is still quite touched by this point.

The business conditions of individual customers are really a bit exaggerated, and there is no need to compromise at all.

Otherwise, if you make a big compromise with a certain customer, this information is often impossible to keep completely confidential, and sooner or later other companies will know about this content.

At that time, the various impacts will be relatively large.

This is obviously not the situation Cao Yang wants to see.

Lin Cheng is also clear about this.

…

The demand for the battery industry is so hot that Nanshan Battery, as the industry leader, can get the biggest piece of the pie, but the overflow can also make other companies live a good life.

Guoxuan High-tech, which has been all-in on power batteries, has finally begun to usher in its own turning point.

"Mr. Li, although our second factory just started construction last month, I think the planning of the third factory also needs to start as soon as possible."

"Even the matter of the fourth factory can be included in the schedule."

Shi Junhui now finally has a feeling of being proud.

He has been in Guoxuan High-tech for so many years. In the past, it was really not easy to get an order.

It can be said that he begged for help, changed various plans, and explained various explanations.

The final result was not ideal.

As long as it can use their power batteries, they have no choice.

After this, although the business has been slightly developed, when it comes to making money, it actually did not make much money.

The situation has begun to change rapidly in the past two years.

More and more customers have taken the initiative to find Guoxuan to communicate about the situation of power batteries.

So the production capacity that they had been waiting for several years to use was all used in the past two years.

And the battery factory also changed from single-shift production to double-shift production, and even had to work overtime on weekends.

Now the second factory has also begun construction, and all work has quickly entered the right track.

"The development speed of new energy vehicles in the past two years has really exceeded everyone's expectations. This is a good opportunity for our development."

"In terms of factory capacity expansion, we will do as you said."

"But we still have to pay attention to customer development."

"Although the difficulty is much lower than before, our strength is not the most advanced in the industry. If the service cannot keep up, there will be fewer opportunities."

Li Zhen has been optimistic about the power battery industry for a long time.

However, the situation in the past few years was not so ideal.

Now spring has finally arrived.

"Well, I will personally run the project for the next period of time."

"Many OEMs are now gradually enriching their ideas."

"Although everyone's top priority is Nanshan Battery, they also hope to have some other options in their own supply system."

"As someone else's plan B, we actually have our own value."

Shi Junhui's attitude is very upright.

Now is not the time to compete with Nanshan Battery for the industry leader. Setting such a goal is meaningless.

It is actually very good to be able to eat some scraps from Nanshan Battery.

Otherwise, if the other party really goes too far, many battery companies will have a hard time.

After all, the production capacity has increased, and theoretically, the cost of others is also lower.

If you fight a price war with you, you may not be able to win.

You can't beat them in cost, and you are not as good as them in technology.

It is too difficult to compete with them for orders simply by relying on service.

Shi Junhui is confident, and Li Zhen is naturally happy to see it happen.

However, although the actions of various battery manufacturers are relatively fast, the overall tight supply of power batteries cannot be alleviated immediately.

For this situation, all OEMs are also clear.

"Mr. Cao, this year we have launched the Changan Star Electric Edition based on the original Changan MINI, providing a lower-cost solution for those who run transportation."

"According to our estimates, the sales of electric vehicles in the next two years are expected to reach more than 300,000, making Changan Automobile the company with the largest sales of electric vehicles in the Chinese market."

Yi Jia and Cao Yang are also old acquaintances.

In the past few years, Changan Automobile and Nanshan Automobile Group have been deeply tied together.

So Yijia communicates directly with Cao Yang in any situation.

When the big bosses communicate well, the people below have a clear direction to do things, which saves a lot of trouble.

The battery production capacity guarantee this time is also based on similar considerations.

Changan Automobile has now experienced the benefits of electrification of small cars.

Whether it is Changan MINI or Changan Star, the market feedback is very good.

Changan MINI focuses on the personal market, and Changan Star focuses on the commercial market.

Whether the owner buys it back for business or uses it as a black car, it is very convenient.

Especially in rural areas, every village has a small store, and Changan Star is the best choice for the store owner.

People can charge at home, which can greatly reduce the cost of using the car.

At the same time, the goods transportation of the store can also be used.

It can even occasionally act as a transport vehicle to send villagers to the county or town to earn some extra money.

After all, there are basically no buses in these places, and the popularity of vehicles is not to the point where everyone has a car.

This naturally gives black cars room to survive.

As the king of micro-cars, Changan Automobile has naturally realized this market a long time ago.

It's just that they used to make fuel vehicles, and now they are ready to test the waters with electric vehicles.

Anyway, most of these people are not traveling long distances, so mileage anxiety is not that serious for them.

The problem of inconvenient charging is not a problem for Changan Star owners most of the time.

In this case, they can't feel the shortcomings of electric vehicles, and the rest are all advantages.

Just launched last month, the sales of the Changan Star electric version have reached more than 5,000 units.

This is definitely a very remarkable number.

If it continues to improve in the future, there will be basically no big problem in the end that the sales will exceed 10,000.

This strategic model must be taken very seriously by Changan Automobile.

Otherwise, Yijia would not have called Cao Yang specifically to communicate about the battery supply issue.

Let the people below communicate directly with Nanshan Battery.

"Boss Yi, Changan Automobile is our important customer, and we will definitely prioritize your needs."

"However, the growth rate of electric vehicles has been very fast recently, and many cars have sold better than originally expected. Battery production capacity is relatively tight, which is an objective fact."

Although Cao Yang will definitely arrange people to do their best to ensure the supply of Changan Automobile, he can't pat his chest right away.

That makes the help seem worthless.

And it is not necessarily possible to get it done by patting your chest. If Changan Automobile's electric cars sell too well and Nanshan Battery can't handle it, it will be embarrassing.

So when it is time to mention the difficulties, you must still mention it.

"The changes in the electric car industry are indeed very fast, especially in the past year, many car companies' electric cars have begun to be listed one after another."

"The acceptance of electric cars in the entire southern market is changing rapidly, and the penetration rate in some cities has reached 10%."

"If it is specific to a certain market segment, it may be even higher."

"This is indeed a bit beyond everyone's imagination."

Yi Jia also knew that what Cao Yang said was true.

No one would leave business unfinished, and Nanshan Battery is no exception.

It's just that the current situation is indeed quite special. For Changan Automobile, their two star models are not expensive and are positioned at a relatively low end, but they are models that rush to sell.

When ranking car sales, people will not give you a discount to calculate sales just because you are a low-end model.

Whether Changan Automobile's overall ranking in China can continue to rise and whether it can break through the 1 million mark, the performance of these two electric vehicles is crucial.

It would be a pity if the sales volume could not reach the ideal level due to insufficient battery supply.

Cao Yang also expressed his understanding of this.

"Nanshan Battery is already considering a non-stop production mode for the whole month, with people stopping but equipment not stopping, and only retaining the minimum equipment maintenance time, and the rest of the time is used to produce batteries."

"Especially our factory in Shuangqing City will first adopt this mode."

"For insufficient production capacity, we will also process it in the Yangcheng factory and then transport it."

Yijia's phone call has already come, and Cao Yang must make some promises to them.

Otherwise, isn't this forcing Changan Automobile to develop more battery suppliers?

Even if developing new suppliers cannot immediately solve the current problem, it can at least make the future supply situation less troublesome.

This should be something that many OEMs are considering.

Nanshan batteries are good, and there is no problem with Nanshan batteries as the main battery supplier.

But if there is only one battery supplier, Nanshan batteries, then there will be problems.

At least one or two more companies should be introduced, especially for the OEMs that have already increased their production.

For example, Changan MINI and Changan Star, Changan Automobile is considering developing new battery manufacturers simultaneously.

At that time, whether it is used to negotiate price reduction or guarantee supply, it will be a very favorable plan.

For example, they can say to Nanshan Battery, if you reduce the price by 5% this year, I can guarantee that your share will not change.

If you do not reduce the price, then your share will be reduced by 30%.

Similarly, he can also say to manufacturer B, if you reduce the price by 10% this year, I will increase your share by 20%.

The final initiative will gradually be in the hands of Changan Automobile.

Of course, they certainly dare not do too much in this matter.

After all, Nanshan Battery is not just a supplier. Its relationship with Nanshan Engine, Nanshan Gearbox and Nanshan Auto Parts is something that Changan Automobile has to consider.

If you reduce the share of Nanshan Battery today, they will make you a problem of insufficient supply of other parts the next day, which will definitely be enough for you to drink a pot.

Even for other various restraining solutions, Nanshan companies still have a lot of cards to play.

These things are also known inside Changan Automobile.

With Cao Yang's promise, Yi Jia is relieved.

However, Yi Jia's call, combined with Lin Cheng's previous report, also made Cao Yang further realize that the current power battery production capacity is really tight.

So he simply called Pan Jinxing to go to the site of Nanshan Equipment to take a look at the production line of battery equipment.

As the world's most automated large-scale mass production line provider for power batteries, Nanshan Equipment is now an existence that all domestic battery manufacturers cannot avoid.

To expand production, you have to buy equipment.

Battery production equipment is not only provided by Nanshan Equipment, but also imported equipment from overseas such as Japan.

After all, they have formed a complete battery production equipment industry chain at an earlier time.

However, the price of imported equipment is definitely higher than that of Nanshan equipment. The key is that the delivery cycle is still relatively long and cannot meet everyone's requirements.

Not to mention that the overall production line efficiency is not as good as Nanshan equipment.

Therefore, any manufacturer that is not particularly fond of imported equipment will definitely give priority to Nanshan equipment.

If the price of Nanshan equipment is really unacceptable, they will combine their own needs, lower the requirements for the degree of automation of the production line, find other domestic manufacturers to produce part of the equipment, and then order part of the equipment from Nanshan equipment.

Anyway, no matter which solution is chosen, it is difficult to completely skip Nanshan Equipment.

As a result, Nanshan Equipment has a lot of orders on hand.

The production line of production equipment is generally not produced by large-scale assembly lines, as there is no such a large equipment market to support it.

More often, most of the equipment is assembled from parts produced by some manual production lines or production lines with a relatively low degree of automation.

The battery equipment production line of Nanshan Equipment is not much better.

This means that the number of battery production line equipment that can be provided each year is relatively fixed, and there is not much room for improvement.

Under normal circumstances, there is no problem.

But now China's new energy vehicle market is obviously not a normal thing.

Everyone is rushing into this field, and the subsidies from relevant departments are also relatively active.

This has led to some signs of overheating in electric vehicles, and everyone is very enthusiastic about investing in power batteries and other electric vehicle parts.

The reaction to Nanshan Equipment is that it has received orders for various battery production equipment, and the delivery cycle has been scheduled until next year.