China's new energy vehicles have entered the post-subsidy era, and the growth rate has also slowed down, but still maintained a double-digit high growth. At the same time, according to market research agency IHS forecast, the number of new energy vehicles (hybrid, plug-in, electric vehicles, fuel cells) in the world this year will be 5.97 million, and it is expected to increase by nearly 3.5 times to 20 million by 2025. The prospects will remain infinite.
Facing the increasingly severe environmental problems and the traditional automobile industry whose development has slowed down in full, the new energy vehicle market is being further activated and has become an important direction for the transformation of the current and future automobile industry. In this context, more and more traditional parts giants are flexing their muscles, and they have been deploying new energy automobile parts.
M & A, a Shortcut to Enterprise Transformation
With the continuous invasion of new energy technologies, the traditional internal combustion engine technology is slowly being replaced by electric systems. Among them, the core technologies-batteries, motors, and electronic control technologies-have become important forces in the transformation of many traditional parts giants.
For example, the supplier BorgWarner, which has acquired Remy Electric in the United States and Sevcon in the United Kingdom in 2015 and 2017, has brought more new energy vehicle technology to itself to meet the current market demand. As such, BorgWarner has become a supplier that understands both internal combustion engines and electric motors.
Another example is that Bosch acquired Seeo, a California startup in 2015. It is reported that this company has leading battery technology, especially new solid-state batteries. Based on this, Bosch has stated that it will release a new solid-state electric vehicle battery by 2020 to help double the mileage of electric vehicles while reducing costs. Half to achieve rapid landing and rooting in the field of power batteries, and open branches and leaves.
However, it turns out that through independent research and development or missing the best market opportunities, the acquisition may also face many uncertainties. 2020 is approaching, but due to the high investment risks within Bosch, last year it announced that it had abandoned its established production plan and even began to divest battery-related assets, including the dissolution of two lithium battery technology joint ventures-lithium energy and PowerGmbH & Co.KG (LEAP ) And sold subsidiary Seeo.
M & A cooperation, investment and expansion, electric vehicles, new energy vehicles, transformation of traditional parts companies
Bosch China Hydrogen Fuel Cell Center; Source: Bosch
However, abandoning the production of power battery cells does not mean that Bosch completely abandons the development and manufacturing of battery systems. In April this year, Bosch formed an alliance with Swedish cell stack manufacturer Powercell. According to the cooperation agreement, the two parties will jointly develop proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology suitable for mass production to supply the global automotive market. On November 29th, the foundation stone of Bosch China Hydrogen Fuel Cell Center was laid in Wuxi, laying a solid foundation for large-scale mass production of fuel cells in the future.
For traditional parts companies, there are many ways to enter the field of new energy vehicles, such as increasing investment in research and development, reaching strategic cooperation with car companies, and acquiring new energy auto parts companies with mature technologies. Although Bosch's tentative trial in the field of power batteries has stopped, from the situation in recent years, through mergers and acquisitions, to gain an in-depth understanding of the new energy vehicle market and quickly extend its own technical route, it has become a Shortcut.
The strong capital strength has given Bosch trial and error conditions in the face of forward-looking technology research and development, but the industrial transformation is accelerating. How to limit the capital of the quasi-technical direction through limited capital investment and quickly seize the market to become every traditional component Enterprises have to practice a homework.
Holding a group for heating and sharing risks
For example, Bosch's "stop loss in time" in the field of power batteries, and instead rely on cooperation to jointly develop fuel cell technology. At a time when the global economic growth has slowed down, it has become a group report to warm up, becoming the best solution for companies to avoid risks and advance together .
Previously, Siemens announced in 2018 that it had cooperated with Northvolt to research and develop and produce high-quality lithium-ion batteries. After that, Denso and Aisin Seiki jointly invested in the establishment of a joint venture company BluE Nexus for the production of electric vehicle drive modules in April this year. ZF also signed a memorandum of understanding with Wolong Electric Drive Group Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, aiming to establish a joint venture company specializing in the production of automotive special motors and their components.
More and more component companies choose to hold each other together. At the same time, in order to improve the cohesiveness with vehicle manufacturers and share research and development costs, the collaboration between component companies and vehicle companies is also heating up.
For example, Hyundai Motor Company and Cummins Inc. announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in September this year to jointly evaluate opportunities for the development of electric and fuel cell power systems and the commercialization of such systems;
M & A cooperation, investment and expansion, electric vehicles, new energy vehicles, transformation of traditional parts companies.
For example, Ningde Times announced in July this year that it had established a comprehensive partnership with Toyota Motor in the field of stable supply and evolution of new energy power batteries. At the same time, the two sides also began extensive discussions in new areas such as new battery technology development and battery recycling ;
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The global automotive industry chain is undergoing rapid changes, and no one can guarantee when comprehensive new energy will be completely switched, but it is certain that letting the right people do the right thing is becoming a consensus across the industry. More and better partners, collaborative research and development, and win-win cooperation determine the "speed" and "height" of their respective transformations.
Speed up plant construction and seize future markets
When the technical context is basically accurate, the production capacity layout has become an important part of commercial realization. With the rapid spread of emerging technologies, how to use advanced technology and sufficient production capacity to quickly meet market needs, who can take the throne in the post-industrial era.
By the end of the year, the global auto market was not as optimistic as expected by companies at the beginning of the year, and more and more giant companies had to survive by breaking up and restructuring or even closing factories. With the shrinking of traditional production lines, a large number of new energy-related industry lines are constantly budding.
M & A cooperation, investment and expansion, electric vehicles, new energy vehicles, transformation of traditional parts companies
Webast opens new factory in Wuhan; source: Webast
In September this year, automotive sunroof supplier Webast announced that its Schierling plant in the Regensburg region of Germany has begun producing power battery assemblies. In China, in April of this year, Webast invested 400 million yuan to build a new energy battery system research and development center and manufacturing center in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. This project has a production capacity of 60,000 sets of power battery packs. It is planned to be in early 2020. It started production; in September, it invested 50 million euros (about 390 million yuan) to build a new factory based on its existing factory in Wuhan, which mainly produces automotive sunroofs, electric heaters, and charging solution products.
Like Webast, Denso is also accelerating the production of new energy. In May this year, Denso announced that it will build a new plant for new energy automobile parts in China. It is understood that Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co., Ltd. has officially signed the "Investment Cooperation Agreement on Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co., Ltd. South China New Plant Project" with the Nansha Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee. According to the agreement, Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co., Ltd. will invest no less than 2 billion yuan in two phases to build a new plant in South China with a land area of about 100,000 square meters in Huangge Town, and arrange new energy vehicle related industries in advance. Construction of the project will begin on June 28. It is expected to start production in 2021 and mass production in 2022.
In addition, Schaeffler established a new base in Taicang High-tech Zone to engage in the production of automotive engine parts and new energy automobile parts, and invested 80 million US dollars (about 560 million yuan) in Suzhou to build the first production plant. Delphi technology with combined inverter and DC / DC converter and much more.