Faced with Tesla, which has completed the integration of the entire industry chain, Chinese new energy vehicle companies collectively shuddered

February 5th, the first day of the Chinese New Year, was a day for families to gather together across the country. However, this day was not a good day for China's new energy vehicles. On this day, Tesla announced that it would acquire Maxwell at a 55% premium of $218 million. Last year, Tesla had confirmed that it would produce Model 3 and Model Y models in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone factory. A series of news like the warm sunshine in winter came, but it made Chinese new energy vehicle brands shudder collectively.

Fuse <br /> Let's talk about Tesla's factory construction in China first. As mentioned in previous articles, China's new energy vehicle market will be extremely broad in the future. In 2018, China's new energy vehicle production and sales reached 1.27 million and 1.256 million respectively, up 59.9% and 61.7% year-on-year. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles reached 986,000 and 984,000 respectively, up 47.9% and 50.8% year-on-year.
In comparison, Tesla's sales in the Chinese mainland market in the first three quarters of 2018 were only 6,710 vehicles, and in October the sales were as low as 211 vehicles. Despite this, China has become Tesla's second largest market since 2017.
According to relevant data, Tesla's revenue in the US market was US$6.22 billion in 2017, and its revenue in the Chinese market was US$2.03 billion. Therefore, it is urgent for Tesla to expand into the Chinese market.
So what efforts has Tesla made to achieve this? In my opinion, there are two points:
1. Price reduction: In late November 2018, Tesla reduced the prices of all its models by 12% to 26%. In mid-December 2018, Tesla reduced the prices of Model S and Model X by 3.4% to 9.5%. It cannot be ignored that the tariff has not changed, and the tariff on imported cars is still 40%. It can be said that Tesla loses money for every Tesla product sold.
2. Opening a factory in China: Tesla is building a wholly-owned factory in Shanghai. On the one hand, Chinese consumers will be able to buy Tesla models at a cheaper price. It is reported that the price of Model 3 will be less than 400,000 yuan. On the other hand, in China's new energy market, Tesla will act as a "catfish" and form a catfish effect. The localization of Model 3 and the new Model Y will inspire many Chinese new energy vehicle companies to develop rapidly.

Tesla's battery selection and technology support <br /> In addition, Tesla has also done the most important thing, which is to integrate the industrial chain on a global scale. Just as almost all major fuel vehicle manufacturers have built their own engine factories, Tesla has also begun to seek its own global position in the field of new energy power.
The biggest cost of new energy vehicles comes from battery costs. Before the scandal with Tianjin Lishen broke out, Tesla's battery partner has always been Japan's Panasonic.
As the exclusive supplier of Tesla's automotive batteries, Tesla recently broke up with Panasonic. The reason is that Panasonic can no longer keep up with Tesla's pace.
Tesla needs to increase the production speed of Model 3, which caught Panasonic, as the exclusive supplier, off guard. And to keep up with Tesla, Panasonic will have to send more engineers and invest more money to increase battery production, which requires more investment. For Panasonic, this will not only increase the risk sharply, but also put itself in a situation where it is completely at the mercy of Tesla, so it is naturally not very willing to significantly increase investment.
In addition, Panasonic's operating profit has been declining. Once Tesla and Panasonic form a community of shared destiny, it can be said that if Tesla sneezes, Panasonic will catch a cold. This is definitely something Panasonic does not want to see - in April 2018, Tesla had a car accident in San Francisco, and Panasonic's stock price plummeted by more than 9%.
Panasonic is not stupid and will not put all its eggs in one basket. It quickly started flirting with Toyota. According to reports, Toyota Motor of Japan will jointly establish a joint venture with Panasonic to produce automotive batteries in 2020. Panasonic will transfer all its automotive battery production capacity except for Tesla batteries to the new company.
Business is business after all, and the breakup between Tesla and Panasonic is reasonable. With Tesla building a factory in China and the "breakup" with Panasonic, it is natural for Tesla to look for a new partner.
As we all know, Tesla Model 3 currently uses Panasonic 21700 batteries. Coincidentally, Tianjin Lishen has already released five products in three series of 21700 in 2017. At that time, a total of 10 well-known domestic and foreign vehicle companies signed a letter of intent for strategic cooperation with Lishen, with an intended purchase amount of more than 5 billion yuan.
By mid-2018, Tianjin Lishen's daily shipments of 21700 batteries had reached more than 400,000, with an estimated annual output of 160 million. On the other hand, China's leading battery companies CATL and BYD are both square battery manufacturers, and rarely engage in cylindrical products. In this way, Tianjin Lishen may really be a very suitable partner for Tesla.

But in the end, Tesla gave up Tianjin Lishen and acquired Maxwell instead. It is reported that Tesla was attracted by Maxwell's process efficiency, which is significantly higher than that of other battery manufacturing processes in the industry. Even compared with the most efficient battery manufacturing process on the market, Maxwell's process can significantly reduce the production cost of electric vehicles. This is consistent with Tesla's concept of reducing battery costs.
In addition, there is Maxwell's supercapacitor technology, which can effectively extend battery life. These technologies can give Tesla even more power.

Tesla is about to be localized, and with its excellent battery technology, it is hard to believe that China's new energy vehicles are not in a tight spot, especially for domestic veterans such as BYD and BAIC New Energy. Once Tesla's brand premium drops to a level acceptable to consumers, coupled with the support of luxury brands, for domestic new energy vehicles with gradually decreasing subsidies, Tesla, which used to watch from the sidelines, has quickly come to the point of close combat. This is, of course, very scary.
But for us consumers, these actions of Tesla are bound to stimulate the rapid development and iteration of the industry. After all, only with competition can there be product progress, and the beneficiaries will definitely be our consumers.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.