Battery shortage drags down automakers' deliveries
The long delivery time of Xpeng Motors P7480 model has caused market controversy. The response is because of the lack of lithium iron phosphate batteries.
A few days ago, in response to the recent report that Xiaopeng Motors had a long delivery time, Xiaopeng Motors responded to the media that due to the impact of the epidemic, the industry was faced with the extremely tight supply of lithium iron phosphate batteries, resulting in the failure of the Xiaopeng P7480 model to be placed at the time of ordering. Timely delivery within the estimated lead time.
On December 9, the sales staff of many 4S stores in Shanghai told the reporter of International Finance News that the delivery cycle of Xiaopeng P7480 models (equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries) is 15-16 weeks, that is, the delivery cycle is about 4 month, but its P7670 model (with ternary lithium-ion battery) will be a bit faster, around 4-9 weeks.
Trapped in the "price increase" storm
Corresponding to Xpeng Motors' delayed delivery situation is its high sales volume.
According to the latest November new energy vehicle market data released by the China Passenger Car Association, among the companies whose wholesale sales exceeded 10,000 units, Xiaopeng Motors ranked fifth with 15,613 units. Among them, Xiaopeng P7 alone delivered 7,839 units. vehicles, accounting for about 50% of total sales.
It is reported that as of November, Xpeng Motors has achieved a monthly delivery of over 10,000 vehicles for three consecutive months, and has become the only new energy vehicle brand among "Weixiaoli" with a monthly sales volume of more than 15,000 units, an increase of 54% month-on-month and a year-on-year increase 270%.
Such a dazzling achievement should have won applause and praise from the public, but Xpeng Motors was unable to meet such sales in the supply chain.
Recently, a "Joint Statement of Xpeng Motors P7 480-kilometer Endurance Scheduled Owners on Xpeng Motors' Refusal to Deliver Vehicles" has been circulated on the Internet. The version order is fully arranged for the production and supply of cars, but the 480 version order is frozen and the car will not be allocated.
In this regard, Xiaopeng Motors responded that this was not discriminatory treatment, but because of the lack of lithium iron phosphate batteries.
In addition, or due to the shortage of production, Xiaopeng Motors also fell into a "temporary price increase" storm in November.
A few days ago, according to media reports, Mr. Chen, the owner of Xpeng Motors, went to Xpeng Motors Nanjing Jingfeng 4S store on November 11 to pick up a Xpeng P7 he reserved with a deposit of 5,000 yuan on October 23. However, the clerk asked to increase the price by 7,000 yuan to pay the price of the boutique package that was not confirmed by the owner in the contract.
In the face of Mr. Chen's complaint, the sales director of Nanjing Xiaopeng Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd. said that since new energy vehicles within 300,000 yuan enjoy state subsidies, they deliberately lower the contract price and make up for the cost when they are delivered. This is a unified operation. .
In this regard, netizens questioned, isn't this just using "yin and yang contracts" to "cheat compensation"?
On the same day, Xiaopeng Motors responded that the store clerk did not clearly understand the relevant promotion policies in November, which caused misunderstanding among customers. At present, the customer's request has been properly handled, and the store and related personnel have been dealt with seriously.
Regarding the price increase, the reporter also consulted two 4S stores in Shanghai, and they all said that the details were unclear, but they did not increase the price. If you encounter similar problems, you can go to the official website to complain.
Industrial battery shortage
In fact, with the soaring sales of new energy vehicles this year, the supply problem of power lithium-ion batteries has already begun to appear recently.
As early as July this year, it was reported that He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, did not hesitate to go to the front line of the Ningde era factory for a week in order to successfully obtain the batteries of the Ningde era. Although He Xiaopeng refuted the rumor afterwards, the situation of "battery shortage" is evident.
On the other hand, Zeng Yuqun, the chairman of CATL, also admitted at the shareholders' meeting, saying that the recent frequent urging of customers by customers has made him "unbearable."
The shortage of power lithium-ion battery sales has long been reflected in the capital market. The lithium battery industry once became a hot sector in the A-share market, and related stocks have doubled. Some analysts believe that this may be related to the long-term rapid growth of the industry brought about by the continuous shortage of lithium resources and the huge demand for upstream raw materials of lithium-ion batteries.
The two salt lake development projects planned by Tibet Everest in Argentina with a total investment of 1.7 billion US dollars were officially launched. The former Ningde era acquired the target lithium mine supplier, Millennium Lithium, which was cut off by the American Lithium Industry. It is not difficult to see the battle for mines that lithium resources are becoming a piece of cake that is being eaten by madness.
In this context, many car manufacturers said that they are currently facing the problem of shortage of power lithium-ion batteries, including Volkswagen, Daimler and Stellantis, etc., and executives of Korean battery manufacturer SKInnovation also revealed that, The shortage of power lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. auto industry will continue until at least 2025.
Lithium-ion battery makers are also feeling the pinch. Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde Times, believes, "At present, the production supply of the whole industry chain is relatively slow, and the effective supply is insufficient." Ganfeng Lithium also said that the production of lithium-ion batteries is relatively tight, and there are basically 28 days a month. production at full capacity.
It is worth noting that the shortage of power lithium-ion batteries belongs to the whole industry. Due to the ongoing epidemic in some countries and regions, a large number of factories are closed or unable to fully resume production, which has exacerbated the global battery shortage.
According to Barrenjoey's forecast in November 2021, the supply of lithium will continue to be tight in the next decade, and the supply gap will continue to expand. By 2030, the supply and demand gap will reach 1.2 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent.
With the tight supply of upstream lithium resources, the price of lithium salt is also rising. In terms of battery-grade lithium carbonate, the quotation at the end of November has exceeded 200,000 yuan / ton, and since August, the cumulative increase has exceeded 127%.
