The cold chain logistics market demand has entered an explosive period, and refrigerated trucks have taken off.
“People’s demand for meat, fruits, vegetables, medicines, etc. is getting stronger and stronger. At the same time, the rapid rise of e-commerce has also changed people’s consumption habits, and the requirements for timeliness and end-to-end precise transportation are more stringent. At present, China The cold chain market is about 600 billion yuan and will grow at a rate of 16% in the future.” When talking about why he entered the new energy refrigerated truck market, Xinya Technology founder Liu Yuqiang told TMTpost Media App.
Market demand has entered an explosive period. As a key link in the cold chain logistics system, new energy refrigerated trucks have also become popular.
According to the terminal licensing data of the China Internet of Things Cold Chain Committee, the cumulative sales of refrigerated trucks in 2022 are 52,000, a year-on-year decrease of 34.9%, which is the first decline in the refrigerated truck market in recent years. However, by the first quarter of 2023, the cumulative sales of refrigerated trucks in my country were 13,445 units, an increase of 10.3% compared with the first quarter of 2022, and began to recover.
Diesel vehicles are still the mainstream, but the trend of electrification has emerged
Refrigerated trucks are mainly divided into diesel, gasoline, pure electric, hybrid, etc. according to the power source. According to data from the China Internet of Things Cold Chain Committee, among the various power sources of hot-selling refrigerated trucks in 2022, diesel refrigerated trucks account for more than 83%, and gasoline-based trucks account for 11%.
In other words, in the refrigerated truck market, traditional fuel vehicles still occupy a dominant position, and new energy refrigerated trucks are still relatively a “niche market.”
However, in Liu Yuqiang’s view, there is still huge room for new energy refrigerated trucks. First of all, in some cities such as Xi’an and Shenzhen, new energy refrigerated vehicles can enjoy convenient transportation, such as taking bus lanes and parking for two hours for free. Therefore, drivers of fuel vehicles in these markets are gradually converting fuel vehicles into new energy vehicles. .
Secondly, as chain companies hope to reduce inventory, the demand for half-day cold chain distribution increases, which requires refrigerated trucks to be able to enter the city, and the advantages of new energy refrigerated trucks are increasingly apparent.
From the perspective of the broader policy background, after the introduction of the “dual carbon” strategy and the “14th Five-Year Plan” Cold Chain Logistics Plan, new energy refrigerated trucks have received more and more attention.
Among them, the “14th Five-Year Plan” Cold Chain Logistics Plan specifically emphasizes accelerating the improvement of the layout of new energy refrigerated vehicle charging facilities and expanding the coverage of urban cold chain networks; accelerating the development and manufacturing of light and micro new energy refrigerated trucks and refrigerated containers; accelerating the development and manufacturing of light and micro new energy refrigerated trucks and refrigerated containers; Eliminate high-emission refrigerated trucks to meet the needs of urban green distribution development, encourage new or updated refrigerated trucks to adopt new energy models, and further promote the development of new energy refrigerated trucks.
In addition, data show that from January to February 2023, against the backdrop of the cancellation of new energy purchase subsidies, sales of new energy light refrigerated trucks were still nearly 300, a year-on-year increase of nearly 100%.
Therefore, in general, under the combined influence of many factors such as changes in market demand, room for growth in market share, and policy drivers, the trend of converting refrigerated trucks from oil to electricity has gradually become apparent.
The market is “fragmented” and there is huge room for penetration
From the perspective of car companies, the number of companies deploying new energy sources has also increased significantly. In 2022, 43 companies will have new energy refrigerated trucks for sale, an increase of 6 companies from the previous year.
However, the current new energy refrigerated truck market has not formed a scale effect, but only presents a “small and fragmented” competition pattern.
At present, the main players of new energy refrigerated trucks include Guangxi Automobile, Dongfeng, Yutong, SAIC Light Truck, Beiqi Foton, etc. These companies all have a certain market share, but there is not a big gap between them. Even the long-range commercial vehicle with the largest sales has a market share of only 17.56%. In other words, compared with the sales volume of new energy logistics vehicle companies, which can easily reach hundreds or even thousands, there is still huge room for penetration of new energy refrigerated vehicles.
This is why veteran commercial vehicle players continue to expand refrigerated truck models and even set up dedicated new brands. For example, Foton Motor’s new energy commercial vehicle brand Zhilan Automobile, Yutong’s new energy light truck T series specially built for the cold chain market, Jiangling Motors has launched its new pure electric platform light truck Jiangling Lexing E Road, etc.
Of course, there are also start-up companies that sense business opportunities.
Xinya Technology is an emerging company headquartered in Singapore, focusing on the commercial vehicle field. The founder, Liu Yuqiang, has been in the natural gas field for many years. In 2021, he was quarantined with a friend who was a hot pot company. After learning that the other party’s cold chain expenses were 600 million a year, he smelled a business opportunity, so he started a big business After in-depth research on the scale, we decided to establish Xinya Technology.
Not long ago, Cynergy Technology just completed its first round of financing of US$20 million. Investors include Cynergy Global Investment, an investment company registered in Singapore, and TuSimple, which is known as the first autonomous driving stock.
On September 19, Xinya Technology launched a new product-new energy cold chain vehicle S1. According to the official introduction, the vehicle is equipped with a 106kWh battery pack, which can provide a driving range of 300km. Fast charging from 0 to 80% takes only 40 minutes, and the supported battery swap mode can complete quick battery replacement in 5 minutes.
In the energy replenishment section, in addition to ordinary fast charging, Xinya Technology also released a new energy automatic charging vehicle E1, which can be quickly charged through a one-click call through the mobile phone APP.
At the press conference, Liu Yuqiang also announced Xinya Technology’s “135 Plan”, which is to achieve mass production within the next year, sales of 10,000 taels in three years, and sales of 50,000 taels in five years.
In the landing market, in addition to China, Xinya Technology will also focus on Southeast Asia and the Middle East market. “Another characteristic of the Southeast Asian market is that it is summer all year round, and there is a great demand for refrigerated trucks, which are frequently used and used in many scenarios.” Liu Yuqiang said.
However, although as a segment of the commercial vehicle field, new energy refrigerated vehicles have been favored by the industry in recent years and have frequently received policy support. However, in the short term, new energy refrigerated vehicles still face shortcomings in battery life, high prices and market acceptance. Realistic dilemmas such as improvement.
Liu Yuqiang also admitted that at the current stage, compared with fuel vehicles, new energy refrigerated trucks do have a high price problem. But he believes that the price issue is also gradually being resolved. “With the gradual decline in battery prices and better performance, and Xinya Technology’s own efforts to control costs, use new materials, and reduce the weight of the car body to reduce energy consumption, new energy refrigerated trucks will become a competitive player in cold chain logistics. Powerful options.”
Data shows that my country’s cold chain circulation rate is 35%-69%, which is far lower than the 95% level in Europe and the United States. It is foreseeable that if this gap is to be narrowed and more players enter the market, the new energy refrigerated truck segment may also becom
