"My new energy vehicle index is valid for 12 months, but now it will take 6-7 months just to pick up the car." Zhang Kun, who lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing, has been worried about buying a car recently. The troubles of him and tens of thousands of consumers suggest that the new energy vehicles that have been advancing all the way seem to have encountered some "blocking points". On the one hand, since 2022, due to the superposition of factors such as declining subsidies and rising raw material prices, many enterprises have "lined up" to raise the sales price of new energy vehicles. According to incomplete statistics, nearly two-thirds of the top 30 new energy vehicle models sold last year have announced price increases this year. This wave of violent collective price rise has made many consumers and insiders worried about the development of new energy vehicle industry. On the other hand, since 2021, due to the global chip shortage, the vehicle market, especially the delivery delay of new energy vehicles, has occurred from time to time. According to the Public Opinion Research Report on safeguarding the rights of domestic automobile consumption (2021) jointly released by Beijing Sunshine consumption big data research institute and the research center of consumer protection law of the University of foreign economic relations and trade, the "non delivery on time" has been juxtaposed with quality problems, service problems and false publicity, and has become a common problem in safeguarding the rights of domestic automobile consumption. New energy vehicles are "booming", and industrial chain coordination still needs to go together "From the third quarter of last year to this year, the price of raw materials upstream of power batteries has risen rapidly, resulting in the whole new energy vehicle industry chain to share the pressure of rising costs." Recently, at Weilai's Q4 financial report teleconference in 2021, Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of Weilai, said that at present, Weilai has no plan to increase the price. Next, it will judge whether to adjust the price strategy according to the cost changes such as raw material prices and market conditions. Public data show that Weilai delivered 9985 intelligent electric vehicles in March, a year-on-year increase of 37.6%. In the first quarter of 2022, Weilai delivered 25768 intelligent electric vehicles, with a year-on-year increase of 28.5%, realizing positive growth for eight consecutive quarters. Among them, Weilai intelligent electric flagship car et7 was delivered on March 28, and 163 units had been delivered as of March 31. "Weilai not only has stable sales, but more importantly, considering that the average selling price of Weilai products exceeds 420000 yuan, the positioning and image of its high-end intelligent electric vehicle brand continue to consolidate." Some analysts believe that Weilai values its share in the high-end new energy vehicle market, and its products are relatively easy to absorb the pressure of rising costs. The cost pressure comes not only from power batteries, but also from chips, aluminum, copper and other commodities that affect the level of automobile intelligence. In particular, automotive chip is considered to be the "brain nerve" of intelligent electric vehicles. Whether its supply chain is smooth affects the hearts of almost all employees. Whether it is the 2022 es8, ES6 and ec6 equipped with the latest intelligent cockpit hardware expected to be released in late May, or the first SUV model ES7 born on the second-generation technology platform NT2 of Weilai, automobile chips play an indispensable and important role behind a series of product offensives of Weilai. "We use more than 1000 chips in each car, and about 10% of them will have the problem of tight supply." For example, Li Bin said that last year, the company lost some gross profit because of the shortage of auto chip supply and rising prices. It is understood that the gross profit margin target of Weilai this year is set at 18% - 20%. Li Bin revealed that Weilai has long-term and stable strategic cooperation with NVIDIA, Qualcomm and other high-end chip suppliers, but there are still "blocking points" in the supply chain of some basic chips. He said that the overall vehicle production capacity will remain stable this year, but the volatility of the supply chain, especially the basic chip supply chain, will have a great impact on the new energy vehicle industry. According to the statistics of CICC, the current cost increase of new energy vehicles is 10% - 20%, and the cost increase of single vehicle is about 10000 yuan. Obviously, this is by no means a small number for small electric vehicles with low prices. "The price rise of raw materials for power batteries has lasted for a year, and the cost and price of some new energy models have been upside down, basically selling one for one." An insider of a car company who asked not to be named told reporters that in this case, the price rise of new energy vehicles is an inevitable trend. "If the price increase exceeds the level that consumers can bear, it is very likely that the production and sales of new energy vehicles decreased two years ago, which will affect the healthy development of new energy vehicles in China." Some industry analysts worry that this will have a huge negative impact on the shift forward of the industry after the decline of the subsidy policy. Considering that the price of new energy vehicles is originally higher than that of traditional fuel vehicles at the same level, this concern is not groundless. "In order to solve the current problem of rising raw material prices, in addition to moderately accelerating the development progress of domestic lithium, nickel and other energy metal resources and helping domestic enterprises steadily explore foreign raw material supply channels, we also need to strengthen the connection between upstream and downstream supply and demand of the new energy vehicle industry chain." The above experts said that the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain should work together to share the cost increase caused by the rise in the price of raw materials. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the whole industrial chain to win if only one link of the industrial chain can absorb all the rising pressure. Crack the "difficulty of picking up the car", and car enterprises should not let consumers pay the bill The shortage of chips and the rise in the price of battery raw materials have also led to repeated complaints from consumers about the delayed delivery of new energy vehicles. "The rise in costs such as batteries directly leads to the decline in the profits of car enterprises. Some car enterprises may wait for the price of raw materials to decline by lengthening the delivery cycle." Industry experts said that another major reason for the delay in delivery of auto enterprises is the shortage of auto chips. It is predicted that the automotive chip supply chain will return to normal in the third quarter of this year. However, if automobile manufacturers delay the delivery time due to the expectation of reducing costs, they are suspected of transferring their own business risks to consumers. Some experts on consumer protection suggested that consumers sign a contract with the enterprise when purchasing a car, and should agree in the contract the liability for breach of contract that the car enterprise should bear when the delivery of the car is delayed. In addition, the relevant regulatory authorities should also pay attention to the phenomenon of delayed delivery of vehicle enterprises and take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. "Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles are in the development stage. Some technical standards and industry norms are not mature, and relevant policies are also in the process of gradual improvement." Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary General of the Consumer Protection Law Research Society of the China Law Society and a specially invited researcher of the consumer protection law research center of the University of foreign economic relations and trade, said that relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of prominent problems reflected by consumers in the field of automobile sales, such as disguised price increases, hidden charges, compulsory tying, false publicity and vehicle safety, and take effective measures to ensure market order and crack down on illegal acts, so as to guide Regulate the healthy development of new energy vehicle industry. "Both vehicle enterprises and automobile sales companies should treat consumers in good faith, do not force bundling sales, do not make false publicity, honor their commitments in good faith, and put an end to bullying the weak, cheating and misleading, and illegal charges. At the same time, consumers should also improve their awareness of self-protection." Chen Yinjiang reminded that consumers should pay attention to the retention of relevant certificates such as car purchase and maintenance, and pay special attention to the oral commitments of merchants on returning car purchase deposit and insurance deposit. He suggested that consumers should pay attention to the retention of deposit or deposit receipts in the process of car purchase, record the oral commitments of merchants when necessary, and actively strive to sign a paper deposit or deposit refund agreement. According to the analysis of CICC, at present, the impact of battery price rise has been implemented, and the preliminary bad formed by car enterprises following up the price adjustment has been basically exhausted. It is expected that the continued high prospect of follow-up new energy will further alleviate market concerns. Therefore, the judgment that "the annual sales volume of China's new energy vehicle market will exceed 5 million in 2022" will remain unchanged. Novel coronavirus pneumonia, Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the national passenger car market information association, reminded that although many people were suffering from the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, many automobile companies were feeling very difficult. But in the world of "short core and short lithium" situation, the status of China's passenger car market in the world has increased substantially, reaching a new high. "In particular, the market share of China's new energy vehicles has recently accounted for 65% of the global market." He told reporters that in 2020, the proportion of China's auto market sales in global auto sales rose to 32%, remained at 32% in 2021, and increased to 36% from January to February 2022. Cui believes that consumers should not only see the rising price of new energy vehicles in China, but also recognize the rising prospect of new energy market. He also predicted that the current rise in raw material prices is unsustainable and will eventually return to rational market pricing. "I believe the sales data of new energy vehicles in March will give you a surprise. We also believe that China's new energy vehicles will still have a better market performance this year." (Xinhua News Agency)