China's New Energy Automotive Startups Need to Hold a Mixed Heating Production Platform

According to Reuters, a number of Chinese electric vehicle startups are currently considering whether to establish alliances to share resources, develop technologies together, and accelerate the development of electric vehicles.

In view of the increasingly stringent laws and regulations in China and the increasingly fierce competition in the industry, cooperation between electric vehicle startups has already begun. Shen Haijun, CEO and co-founder of Sentinel Motors, stated that SVD has been negotiating with the Car and Home, Red Star, AIWAYS, and Weimar Automobiles for several months.

Beijing plans to increase the sales ratio of new energy vehicles to 8% next year, and increase this ratio to 12% by 2020, so as to alleviate environmental pollution problems and reduce dependence on imported oil. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales of new energy vehicles in China are expected to reach 700,000 units this year, accounting for about 3% of the entire automotive market in China.

Shen Hailu revealed to Reuters that five electric vehicle start-up companies will complete the alliance plan by the end of September and plan to build a common electric vehicle platform by the end of the year. He said that as the automotive industry moves toward becoming intelligent, interconnected and electrified, it will be more and more difficult for car companies to show differences. Shen Hailu explained: “Like a smart phone, the core of many mobile phone brands is the Android operating system, but for smart electric vehicles, it should be based on user experience and services.”

The initiatives of China's electric vehicle startups to share resources and professional skills also indicate that they hope to save some time and money in the product development stage because they are also facing the pressure brought about by the global electric car companies going electric.

In addition, the Chinese government's approval of emerging electric vehicle joint ventures is also more stringent, mainly because many start-ups are technically cutting corners or wanting subsidies. The government is also verifying the approval process, or it will issue more stringent technical requirements next year.

Shen Hui, CEO and co-founder of Wima Motors, believes that the prospects for new technical requirements are becoming increasingly stringent. This has also become an important factor in stimulating start-up companies to form alliances.

Shen Hui told Reuters: “The Chinese government has concerns about some new start-up companies and believes that some of them actually have no technical and management capabilities to support it as a member of the new energy automotive industry. This also shows that start-up companies should Establish cooperation to face the competition brought by traditional car companies."

Ai Chi Yi Wei spokesperson David Jin said that it is more welcome to conduct industry cooperation within the scope allowed by Chinese laws, anti-trust laws and technology exchanges. After we get further news, we will make a corresponding decision.” Echevan CEO refused to respond to the topic of the start-up coalition.

Car and home news spokespersons and Red Star Motors officials refused to respond to the matter.

Sharing automotive parts

Although the cost of traditional fuel oil engines has been reduced through the use of common automotive platform technologies for many years, the major car companies are relatively independent in the development of their models.

Shen Haitao said: “The design of the petrol vehicle platform is relatively excessive, and what we want to do is design a high-end platform for plug-in vehicles. We do not want to make the use of this platform too restrictive.”

Weima Automobile Shen Hui said that he supports the idea of ​​the alliance, but for the time being it may not be one of them, mainly because the platform based on the first model of Weimar Automobile has been completed by its own research and development.

Shen Haiyi said that integrating resources will help the Alliance members develop more advanced automotive technologies and also help save money. He said: "If each member needs to invest 200 million yuan for the next-generation platform, and if each of the four members invests 100 million yuan, then we can not only save 100 million yuan, and the last-built platform will cost 4 million yuan. 100 million yuan, not 200 million yuan, the advantage is obvious.” He said that if the alliance is formed, a separate company can be established to manage the R&D of the platform, and global independent automotive engineering companies are required to participate in bidding to help develop advanced automotive technologies. In this way, the alliance members can share.

In addition to sharing technology, the alliance may also purchase basic automotive parts, such as axles and suspensions, from external suppliers. “We also plan to invite auto parts suppliers to join the joint venture,” Shen Haixi said.