Due to the continuous upgrading and innovation of production and assisted driving technology among new energy vehicle companies in China. The international competitiveness of products has significantly increased, and they are increasingly favored by overseas consumers. Chinese car companies have increased their efforts to expand their overseas markets. In recent years, the export scale of new energy vehicles in China has significantly increased. In 2022, China exported a total of 679000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 1.2 times, accounting for 21.8% of the total export volume of automobiles, an increase of 6.4 percentage points compared to 2021.
The significant expansion of the export scale of new energy vehicles has driven the entire automobile export volume to a new high. In 2022, the automobile export volume was 3.111 million units, successfully surpassing Germany and becoming the world’s second largest automobile export country after Japan. From the perspective of average export price, according to Chinese customs data, the average export price of pure electric passenger vehicles in China has increased from $0800/vehicle in 2018 to $21200/vehicle in 2022. In addition to the rapid appreciation of the RMB against the euro exchange rate, it also benefits from the improvement of China’s independent new energy vehicle brand technology and product performance, driving the increase in the average export price of pure electric vehicles in China, which is conducive to expanding market scale and driving the transformation and upgrading of the Chinese automotive industry.
There is huge development space for overseas new energy vehicles, providing fertile soil for China’s new energy vehicle exports to the sea
Since the Industrial Revolution, the global economy has developed rapidly, but there are also problems such as early depletion of non renewable energy sources such as oil and increasing pressure on ecological environment protection. Currently, energy and environmental issues have become two prominent issues that constrain the sustainable development of the world economy and society. In order to alleviate the energy and environmental crisis, countries have made energy conservation, emission reduction, and green development national strategies, and have begun to increase efforts to develop new energy. New energy vehicles are an important form of energy substitution, achieving the substitution of electricity for oil and achieving carbon neutrality. Currently, the development of new energy vehicles has become a consensus among countries around the world. In recent years, new energy vehicles have become the main direction for the transformation and development of the global automotive industry and an important engine for promoting sustained global economic growth. In 2022, the global sales of new energy vehicles exceeded 10 million units, reaching 10.824 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 61.6%, with pure electric vehicles accounting for 74% of the sales and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounting for 25.7%. Against the backdrop of global “carbon peaking, carbon neutrality” and the announcement of bans on fuel vehicles in multiple regions, the global new energy vehicle industry will maintain a high-speed development trend in the future, with sales expected to exceed 25 million vehicles by 2025. The development space of the overseas new energy vehicle industry is enormous, providing a good opportunity for China’s new energy vehicle to go overseas. In recent years, China’s new energy vehicle companies have accelerated their pace of going overseas to increase their international market share.
In recent years, with strong policy support and continuous increase in R&D and marketing efforts by enterprises, China’s new energy vehicle industry has developed rapidly, with a rapid increase in penetration rate. Since 2015, China has been the world’s largest new energy vehicle market. Especially since 2021, benefiting from factors such as policy support, significant improvement in industry technology level, and gradual enrichment of product matrix, China’s new energy vehicles have entered a stage of rapid development, with significant growth in production and sales. In 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China were 3.545 million and 3.521 million respectively, an increase of 1.6 times year-on-year; In 2022, oil prices hit new highs multiple times, further enhancing the development heat of China’s new energy vehicle industry. Production and sales increased by 96.9% and 93.4%, reaching 7.058 million and 6.887 million units respectively. China’s new energy vehicle sales accounted for 64% of the global total sales, an increase of 11 percentage points compared to 2021. In January 2023, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China were 425000 and 408000, respectively.
The penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China almost went up in a “straight line” from 2020 to 2022, with the penetration rate increasing from 5.4% in 2020 to 25.6% in 2022. In the future, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles will further increase, and it is inevitable that new energy vehicles will replace traditional fuel vehicles. More and more enterprises are joining the competition for new energy vehicles. New forces in car manufacturing and traditional car companies are continuously increasing their research and development efforts for new energy vehicles, launching more competitive models, and industry competition is becoming increasingly fierce. At the same time, the new energy vehicle market in China is gradually becoming saturated. In this context, The trend of new energy vehicles going to sea has become inevitable.
The international competitiveness of China’s new energy vehicle products has significantly increased, and exports have both increased in quantity and price
Due to the insufficient supply of overseas cars and the continuous upgrading and innovation of production technology and auxiliary driving technology by Chinese new energy vehicle companies, the international competitiveness of products has significantly increased, and they are increasingly favored by overseas consumers. Chinese car companies have increased their efforts to expand their overseas markets. In recent years, the export scale of new energy vehicles in China has significantly increased. In 2022, China exported a total of 679000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 1.2 times, accounting for 21.8% of the total export volume of automobiles, an increase of 6.4 percentage points compared to 2021. The significant expansion of the export scale of new energy vehicles has driven the entire automobile export volume to a new high. In 2022, the automobile export volume was 3.111 million units, successfully surpassing Germany and becoming the world’s second largest automobile export country after Japan. In January 2023, China’s automobile exports were 301000 vehicles, of which 83000 were new energy vehicles, accounting for 27.6%. The “internationalization” layout is not only one of the effective ways for China’s new energy vehicle enterprises to achieve profitability, enhance global influence and market competitiveness, but also the necessary path for China to move from a “major automobile country” to a “strong automobile country”. “Internationalization” has become one of the important trends in China’s new energy vehicle industry. Going overseas is both an opportunity and a challenge for new energy vehicle companies. Cultural differences between overseas and domestic markets, as well as differences in consumer usage habits, have increased the difficulty for Chinese new energy vehicle companies to go overseas, requiring them to adapt to local conditions and needs.
From the perspective of export destinations, regions with developed new energy vehicle industries such as Europe and America, and Southeast Asia such as Thailand are the main export markets for China’s new energy vehicle enterprises. With the strides of new energy vehicles going abroad, Europe and North America are becoming two major incremental markets for China’s automobile exports. At the same time, due to the low penetration rate of new energy vehicles in Southeast Asia, various countries have introduced policies that are favorable for new energy vehicles, with broad development prospects. Domestic independent brands are expected to seize the Southeast Asian market with high electrification and intelligence capabilities. The top three regions for China’s new energy vehicle exports in 2022 are Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines.
The export models of new energy vehicles in China are still mainly passenger cars, but both new energy passenger cars and new energy commercial vehicles have achieved a high-speed growth trend in 2022. In 2022, China exported a total of 650700 new energy passenger vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 119.8%, accounting for 95.8% of the total export of new energy vehicles and 25.7% of the total export of passenger vehicles; The export volume of new energy commercial vehicles was 28700 units, a year-on-year increase of 111.1%, accounting for only 4.2% of the total export volume of new energy vehicles and 4.9% of the total export volume of commercial vehicles.
From the perspective of export structure in 2022, in the fields of new energy passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles, pure electric vehicles dominate, mainly due to stricter environmental policies in countries such as Europe, while pure electric vehicles have better environmental performance. In 2022, the export volume of pure electric passenger vehicles and pure electric commercial vehicles in China was 583000 and 28000, respectively, with a year-on-year increase of 129.1% and 112.1%; The export scale of plug-in hybrid vehicles has also achieved a significant increase, with the export volume of plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles and plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles reaching 67635 and 612, respectively, with a year-on-year increase of 62.9% and 71.4%.
According to Chinese customs data, the average export price of pure electric passenger vehicles in China has increased from $0800 per vehicle in 2018 to $21200 per vehicle in 2022. In addition to the rapid appreciation of the RMB against the euro exchange rate, it also benefits from the improvement of China’s independent new energy vehicle brand technology and product performance, driving the increase in the average export price of pure electric vehicles in China, which is conducive to expanding market scale and driving the transformation and upgrading of the Chinese automotive industry.
In 2022, Tesla (Shanghai) ranked first in China’s new energy vehicle exports with an export volume of 271000 vehicles, accounting for 40% of China’s total new energy vehicle exports. Among them, Model Y exported 139800 vehicles and Model 3 exported 131300 vehicles, respectively ranking first and second in China’s new energy vehicle export list; As the largest new energy vehicle enterprise in China, BYD’s export scale in 2022 was 55916 vehicles (including fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles), with a year-on-year increase of more than three times. The main benefit was that the yuan PLUS was listed in multiple overseas regions such as San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, S ã o Paulo, Thailand, and Australia in 2022. In 2022, the yuan PLUS export volume reached 40014 vehicles, accounting for 71.6% of BYD’s total export volume; As a high-end pure electric brand under Geely Automobile Group, Geometry Automobile exported 10228 vehicles in 2022, all contributed by the Geometry C model.
In addition to vehicle exports and CKD exports, overseas factory construction has also become an important part of the overseas strategy of new energy vehicle companies. At present, most new energy vehicle companies in China are still in the stage of vehicle export, but some new energy vehicle companies with relatively strong financial and product strength have begun to try to establish factories in the hinterland of overseas markets through direct investment. Among them, BYD announced in September 2022 that it will establish a new energy vehicle production base with a production capacity of 150000 vehicles in Thailand; Tianji Automobile announced in December 2022 that it will establish a joint venture with local Sumou Holding in Saudi Arabia, jointly investing approximately $500 million in two phases to establish a production, manufacturing, and research and development base for new energy vehicles in Saudi Arabia. Chery Motors announced in February 2023 that it will invest $400 million to build an annual production base of 100000 vehicles in Argentina. Building factories overseas not only saves transportation costs and reduces costs, but also effectively responds to trade policies, avoids trade barriers, and avoids adverse effects of exchange rate fluctuations on car prices; In addition, targeted local research and development can be carried out to better meet the needs of local consumers, thereby increasing brand awareness.
China’s power battery enterprises are accelerating their export to the sea, with nearly 70% of ternary battery exports
In 2022, driven by both policies and the market, global new energy vehicles have entered a stage of rapid development, with rapid growth in production and sales, driving a continuous increase in demand for core components, especially power batteries. With the efforts of battery manufacturers, China has taken over Japan and South Korea, becoming the third country to dominate the lithium-ion battery market. Currently, China’s power battery industry is in a leading position and its influence is constantly increasing globally. In recent years, with the continuous expansion of overseas demand, the export scale of power batteries in China has increased significantly. In 2022, the export scale reached 68.1 GWh, and in January 2023, the export scale was 7.9 GWh. Like new energy vehicle companies, in addition to using packaged exports, battery manufacturers have also begun to directly invest and build factories overseas in order to supply local vehicle companies. Several battery manufacturers such as Ningde Times, Xinwanda, and Yiwei Lithium have announced plans to build factories overseas, with Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other regions with high development potential in the new energy market in Southeast Asia becoming key areas for China’s overseas layout of power batteries.
From the perspective of export pattern, the export scale of ternary batteries is larger, mainly due to the tendency of electric vehicles in Europe and America to use ternary batteries. Among them, more and more new models in Europe and America are using high nickel ternary materials. In 2022, the export scale of ternary batteries reached 46.9GWh, accounting for 69.2% of the total export scale of power batteries; The export scale of lithium iron phosphate batteries is 20.9 GWh, accounting for 30.8% of the total export scale of power batteries; The export scale of ternary batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries in January 2023 was 5.4 GWh and 2.6 GWh, respectively.
