Source: Beijing Business Daily
The number of vehicles has passed the tens of millions of vehicles, the cost of energy replenishment is low, it is intelligent, and the purchase tax is exempted… The halo above the head of the new energy vehicle is blindfolded. However, for car companies and consumers in the transformation chain of the automobile industry, new energy vehicles, which are defined as “new species”, are constantly subverting and refreshing various traditional cognitions, such as maintenance and insurance. “I have never seen such a high maintenance fee for a fuel vehicle.” “The repair fee is higher than the price of a new car.” Yuan’s “intimate contact” made new energy vehicle owners and “eat melon” netizens ask such questions, and called out: “New energy vehicles can’t afford to hurt.” A new energy vehicle after-sales practitioner admitted frankly that although new energy vehicles The penetration rate of automobiles has gradually increased, but the number of vehicles is still lower than that of fuel vehicles, resulting in the high cost of spare parts and the corresponding maintenance costs will exceed consumers’ imagination. In addition, the improvement of intelligence and the upgrade of manufacturing process also make the replacement cost of a single vehicle not in the same order as that of a fuel vehicle. “The high cost of maintenance is difficult to predict, so that the annual insurance cost also needs to be recalculated to avoid potential risks.” An insurance company claims adjuster said.
Replacement parts are expensive
Two of the three friends around Mr. Zhang, a citizen, have become owners of new energy vehicles. In the face of fluctuating oil prices, he is also tempted and is ready to replace the fuel vehicles in his hands with new energy vehicles. However, Mr. Zhang hesitated after seeing the report that “a Polestar 2 crashed and the battery was damaged, and it cost 540,000 yuan to replace the battery pack.” “The ticket price for a new car is only 249,000 yuan, and the maintenance cost is more than double the price of a new car, which is unimaginable.” Mr. Zhang said that before, friends only said that the daily maintenance frequency of new energy vehicles is low and the cost is not high, ignoring the cost of car repairs. , Now it is necessary to reconsider whether to sell new energy vehicles.
Mr. Zhang’s concerns are not isolated cases. An independent brand new energy vehicle salesperson revealed that before, consumers basically only inquired about the price, mileage and discounts of the new car when they visited the store, but in the near future, they will basically inquire about the maintenance price. In fact, the problem of high maintenance costs for new energy vehicles has also appeared. Previously, a Tesla Model Y owner crashed into a corner due to a reversing error. The right rear of the vehicle collapsed, and the tailgate and taillights were damaged. The final repair price was nearly 200,000 yuan, and the price of the car was only 28 10,000 yuan, and the maintenance cost accounts for 71.4% of the vehicle price. Not only Tesla, but a repair order posted by a Xiaopeng owner on the Internet shows that the maintenance cost of a single lidar is as high as more than 9,000 yuan.
A number of new energy vehicle owners told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that after the accident of a new energy vehicle, the maintenance cost of replacing spare parts is more than 10,000 yuan, and if it involves battery maintenance, the cost will be higher. “The maintenance price of new energy vehicles has caught up with luxury brand fuel vehicles.” said a new energy vehicle owner.
According to a report released by data agency We Predict, a study of the service and maintenance of about 19 million vehicles between 2016 and 2021 found that the current maintenance cost of electric vehicles is 1.6-2.3 times that of gasoline vehicles.
Low cost of accessories
Behind the sky-high maintenance costs is the high cost of a single vehicle for new energy vehicles.
“The maintenance of new energy vehicles is expensive, which has a certain relationship with the high cost of spare parts.” A salesperson of an independent brand told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that, for example, if a power battery is completely damaged in a collision accident, the maintenance cost will also cost at least 100,000 yuan. . “I have encountered the owner of the car before going back to the store for repairs, but because the chassis battery of the vehicle was broken down, it needs to be replaced as a whole. The repair cost for the final insurance mileage claim amounted to 120,000 yuan, and the price of the car was only 90,000 yuan. Even the power battery pack If a single battery is damaged, the maintenance cost will also cost about 10,000 yuan.” He said.
The power battery is the power source and an important part of the new energy vehicle. At present, the batteries carried by the new energy vehicle are mainly lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium. At the first World Power Battery Conference in 2022, Zeng Qinghong, chairman of GAC Group, once said that the current price of power vehicle batteries has skyrocketed, and the cost of power batteries accounts for 40%-60% of the total cost of vehicles. The above-mentioned salesperson said: “The price of car owners when purchasing new energy vehicles is the price after the mass production of car companies diluted various costs, and even in order to seize market share, some car companies sell cars at zero profit or even lose money, but after-sales When repairing, spare parts are quoted at market prices, which leads to higher replacement costs.”
In fact, the still relatively low absolute ownership of new energy vehicles is also one of the reasons for the high prices of spare parts. Data show that in the first seven months of this year, the sales of new energy vehicles reached 3.194 million, a year-on-year increase of 1.2 times. Although sales continue to rise, the proportion of new energy vehicles is still relatively low compared to the overall sales of 14.477 million vehicles in the auto market in the first seven months.
“The sales growth rate of the new energy vehicle market is very fast, but it has not yet formed a large scale. Therefore, the cost control of spare parts is not as good as that of fuel vehicles. At the same time, there are only a few suppliers of some parts and components. High.” A person in charge of a third-party maintenance center told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the relatively low number of fuel vehicles has made the number of third-party parts suppliers supplying new energy vehicle parts not many, so “the deputy factory” items” is also less. In addition, some parts of new energy vehicles have high technical requirements, and it is difficult for third-party suppliers to imitate them. The relatively single source of parts also makes the pricing power of new energy vehicle parts in the hands of a few suppliers.
Not only the core spare parts such as batteries, the continuous improvement of intelligence and the application of new manufacturing processes, but also the maintenance cost of new energy vehicles. A new energy vehicle after-sales person said that, for example, the integrated die-casting technology used in Tesla models can reduce the number of parts and make the body structure stronger. However, in the event of a crash or damage to the vehicle, it may involve extensive replacement of body panels, which means higher repair costs.
In addition to the integrated die-casting technology, the body-battery integration technology used in some models of BYD, Leapmotor and other brands can reduce the thickness of the battery pack package, increase the vehicle space, and improve the body stiffness, although the battery pack is integrated with the vehicle chassis. , but if the vehicle chassis is hit, the battery may be damaged, and the maintenance may face the double cost of the chassis and the battery.
“Unlike fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles have more sensors, and more advanced body design, chassis structure and batteries are also increasing maintenance costs.” Yan Jinghui, a member of the Expert Committee of China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that new energy vehicles involve more Many precision parts, such as millimeter-wave radar and lidar, if there is a rear-end collision, it may not only involve replacing the bumper, but also the radar and assembly embedded in it, and the maintenance cost will also increase.
Increase premiums to avoid risks
The relatively low ownership and high maintenance costs also make insurance companies more cautious about the premium calculation of new energy vehicles.
Recently, many consumers have reported that this year’s auto insurance premiums have risen despite no accident last year. It is understood that by the end of 2021, Tesla, Xiaopeng, Ideal and BYD and other car companies will have their new energy vehicle commercial insurance adjusted to varying degrees. “Without a year of insurance, the premium has risen by 1,000 yuan this year.” An owner of a self-owned brand new energy vehicle said that the main increase was car damage insurance.
“The adjustment of premiums is mainly calculated based on the accident situation of the year, but new energy vehicles are still in the development stage, and the risks of later maintenance costs are relatively high. Therefore, insurance companies will often re-evaluate and re-assess the premiums based on previous claims and various factors. Pricing.” An insurance company claims adjuster admitted to a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the sky-high maintenance fees recently exposed on the Internet do exist in daily insurance claims. Although the probability is low, the high maintenance cost of new energy vehicles is also an industry consensus. .
According to data released by China Banking Insurance Corporation, from 2016 to the first half of 2020, the overall accident frequency of new energy vehicles was 3.6% higher than that of non-new energy vehicles, and the accident rate of household new energy vehicles was 9.3% higher than that of non-new energy vehicles. In addition, the average single-vehicle compensation amount for household new energy vehicles is also 2.7% higher than that of non-new energy vehicles.
A sales person in charge of a new energy vehicle 4S store revealed that in the early days of new energy vehicle development, both large and small insurance companies carried out new energy vehicle underwriting business. “Because of expensive repairs and high compensation, many small insurance companies cannot afford the higher compensation costs, so they give up the underwriting business of new energy vehicles, while large insurance companies choose to increase premiums to avoid risks,” he said.
In addition, the premium increase of new energy vehicles will also be judged according to different models. The above-mentioned insurance company claims adjuster said that models with high prices and small ownership have relatively higher insurance premiums, because these models have fewer spare parts and higher maintenance costs. In addition, the more intelligent the model, the greater the increase in car damage insurance, which also considers the maintenance cost after the accident.
However, in the view of Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Passenger Vehicle Market Information Association, both high maintenance costs and auto insurance costs are temporary phenomena. As the sales of new energy vehicles continue to grow, maintenance costs will gradually fall. In this regard, the above-mentioned insurance company claims adjuster said that insurance companies make judgments on insurance premiums based on the overall market and big data. If maintenance costs are reduced, insurance costs will also be adjusted accordingly.
Is the “Small Shop” Reliable for Car Repair?
In the face of high maintenance costs and rising insurance premiums, some consumers began to choose to “take out of warranty” in the third year after purchasing a car, and save costs by going to a third-party repair shop for repairs.
Mr. Han, a citizen, told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily: “The value retention rate of new energy vehicles that have been purchased for three years is not high, and I am considering not taking commercial insurance. If there is a scratch, I can go to a street repair shop for repairs, which is better than repairing in a 4S shop. It’s cheaper, which is what I’ve done with gas cars before.”
There are not a few new energy vehicle owners who have the same idea as Mr. Han. A person in charge of a third-party repair shop told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that many new energy vehicles will choose to come to the store for maintenance after the warranty period is out, which can indeed save a certain amount of costs in maintenance and small repairs. However, a new energy vehicle after-sales person said that the maintenance threshold of new energy vehicles is higher than that of fuel vehicles. New energy vehicles are a complex of batteries, machinery and information technology. The professionalism requirements for maintenance personnel are higher, and it is necessary to master three At present, third-party repair shops cannot meet the requirements of various technologies such as electricity and software.
In this regard, the person in charge of the above-mentioned third-party repair shop said that there are indeed many third-party stores that cannot solve the three-power problems involved in the maintenance of new energy vehicles, and the same batch of maintenance personnel repairs fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles in the store. Maintenance personnel who specialize in repairing new energy vehicles. At the same time, due to the lack of the choice of “auxiliary parts”, the cost of purchasing spare parts is not low. Therefore, it is difficult for the store to solve vehicles that have major accidents and damage core spare parts such as batteries. Even if they can, the cost is not low. If there is no commercial insurance, the higher maintenance costs can only be borne by the owner.
“At present, it is still necessary to provide commercial insurance for new energy vehicles and go to 4S stores for maintenance.” Industry insiders said.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Liu Yang and Liu Xiaomeng/Photo by Wen and