Weilai Baas Model Is Finally Implemented: Can Power Exchange Be Commercialized?

On August 20, Weilai automobile officially released battery as a service. Baas provides a new way to purchase a car by separating the vehicle from the electricity and renting the battery: when purchasing the Weilai automobile, the user can not buy the battery pack, but rent the battery pack with different capacity according to the actual use demand, and pay the service fee on a monthly basis.

According to Li Weibin's introduction, the service charge of the battery is RMB 980 thousand per month, which is related to the battery capacity of the car. According to Li Weibin's introduction, the service charge of the battery pack is not related to the service cost of the battery.

As a result, the cost of esa28000 yuan for ESAs and Weilai cars will be reduced to 380000 Yuan for ESA and Weilai, respectively. Li Bin stressed that the price of the car has not been reduced, but we have given a better balance between the purchase cost and the car cost.

To a certain extent, Weilai baas can enhance the price competitiveness of Weilai automobile in a flexible way. The more important purpose of baas is to open up a key part of the business model of separation of vehicle and electricity. Baas mode will also systematically solve the problems that affect the popularity of electric vehicles, such as battery attenuation, unable to upgrade batteries, and large changes in vehicle value preservation rate.

"Weilai has finally promoted the sales of pure electric vehicles, and has run through the whole process of purchasing electric vehicles, including registration, insurance and financial loans." Li Bin said.

At the same time, on August 18, Weineng battery assets company, initiated by Weilai and Ningde times, was officially established. Weineng will be an important support for the operation of Weilai baas to solve the capital problem of battery operation.

From the perspective of theory and logic, Weilai automobile has sorted out a complete business model of "separation of vehicle and electricity". However, fundamentally speaking, power exchange is still a way of heavy assets operation, and the high cost of batteries and the construction of power station are still the problems to be faced.

With the blessing of baas mode, can Weilai run through the power exchange mode that Tesla once gave up? How to generate greater business value in the future is the problem that Weilai needs to consider next.

Baas commercial closed loop to be formed

Weilai has accumulated a lot of time in power exchange technology and service. Since its establishment, Weilai has been adhering to the continuous research and development of power exchange technology and the construction of power exchange network. "Separation of vehicle and electricity, battery rental, rechargeable, replaceable and upgradable are Weilai's Thoughts on the system in 2015, the logic established from the bottom, and the foundation for building products and services." Li Bin told reporters of the 21st century economic report.

Li Bin said that at present, Weilai a power station can change electricity for 96 vehicles at most every day. In some cities, Weilai power station is operating at full capacity, and users need to queue up. In the future, the deployment of power station replacement will be accelerated.

In fact, although the construction speed of Weilai power station is not slow, it is still lower than Li Bin's optimistic estimate. In January 2018, Li Bin once said that he planned to build 1100 power stations by 2020. However, 143 power stations have not been completed in China since August. However, Li Bin said that after the formation of the closed loop of baas mode, the goal of building 1100 exchange stations will certainly be achieved in the future.

The construction speed of the replacement power station is slower than expected due to multiple factors. On the one hand, a large amount of capital is required for the construction of the power station, but the capital chain of Weilai is not abundant before; on the other hand, although Weilai has launched the battery leasing business before, the battery still belongs to the users, so it only realizes the separation of vehicle and power in technology, and does not realize the separation of vehicle and electricity in property rights. And, at that time, Weilai needed to bear heavy battery costs.

To a certain extent, if Weilai automobile wants to adopt the mode of power exchange, its heavy assets must be reduced. Otherwise, Weilai will not have enough funds to promote the electricity replacement business model.

According to Li Bin, it is not easy to put the baas model of battery rental service into practice. He concluded that four prerequisites should be met: first, the design of vehicles with replaceable electricity; second, the operation and service system for electricity exchange; third, policies to support the separation of vehicle and electricity property rights; fourth, independent battery asset companies.

These four conditions have been preliminarily completed in Weilai. At present, the three types of vehicles listed in the market of Weilai support rechargeable and replaceable; the operation service system of Weilai power exchange has been initially established, covering 64 cities in China, and has completed more than 800000 power exchange services for users.

In terms of policy, since this year, a number of relevant departments have given policy support for electricity replacement. In 2020, the "government work report" for the first time will be included in the construction of new infrastructure. The Ministry of industry and information technology has clearly put forward a plan to encourage the separation of vehicle and electricity, and more than 300000 electric vehicles supporting power exchange can obtain new energy subsidies. Recently, the recommended national standard GB / T "safety requirements for electric vehicle replacement" drafted by Weilai, BAIC new energy and China Automotive Center has passed the review. The policy and standard of power exchange mode are gradually forming.

In addition, the establishment of an independent battery asset company has been completed, and the four prerequisites for the commercial closed-loop of baas mode in Li Bin's mouth have been realized. However, Weilai still has to face many challenges if it wants to open the power exchange mode.

The service experience of Weilai automobile is one of its main competitiveness. Soon after baas goes online, Weilai's "life-long free electricity change" service will come to an end.

On August 20, Weilai announced on app that it would pay Dading (20000 yuan deposit) before October 12, and the rights and interests of free electricity exchange would remain unchanged for normal production scheduling and vehicle collection users; from October 12, it could change electricity for 6 times free, and from the 7th power change, it would charge the full power exchange fee.

From the commercial point of view of baas, if we continue to exchange electricity for free, it is obviously difficult to get through. However, according to official Weilai, 70% of its users have installed private charging piles. In fact, free is an important reason why Weilai's electricity exchange mode attracts users. If you can't enjoy the service of "lifetime free electricity change", how many users will choose to change electricity instead of charging is unknown.

From a purely user perspective, baas model is more like a "financial solution" that can reduce the cost of buying a car. However, from the perspective of use, there are still some difficulties, such as the site is not dense enough and the time cost is high. Whether baas mode will let more people choose to change electricity, so as to realize the value of scale of power exchange mode remains to be seen.

How to excavate the value of Weineng

Li Bin got a battery invoice of RMB 30.2 million at the company's presentation, which was a separate battery invoice of RMB 70 million.

As the owner of battery assets, battery asset management company is also an important part of baas. For Weilai, the additional battery assets of 70000 yuan per vehicle will undoubtedly bring greater pressure on the company's financial management. The battery asset company will purchase battery packs and entrust Weilai to provide battery rental operation services for users.

Wuhan Weineng battery assets Co., Ltd., a battery asset company established by Weilai and cooperated with Weilai, was registered on August 18 with a registered capital of 800 million yuan. It is jointly invested by Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Hubei science and Technology Investment Group Co., Ltd., Cathay Junan International Holding Co., Ltd. and Weilai (Anhui) Holding Co., Ltd. From the perspective of current shareholders of Weineng, it has covered the government, main engine plant, battery factory and social capital, involving the main participants in battery production and operation.

"Each of the four companies has invested 200 million yuan and each holds 25% of its shares. There will be new investors in the future. Battery asset management is an independent company with an independent team. " Li Bin told reporters of the 21st century economic report.

The service mode of Weilai baas mainly includes three participants: Weilai, users and Weineng. The battery is not included in the battery. The user pays the battery rent to Weineng, while Weineng entrusts Weilai to provide power exchange operation, upgrading and other services for users. Thus, a commercial closed-loop of battery rental is formed.

"Weineng is certainly not just a company that provides financial services and makes money by" battery rent ". The real value baas wants to create is to tap the value of the whole life cycle of power battery. There is a great business prospect in this link, but there is no clear business model to explore. " Some people in the automobile power battery industry told the reporter of the 21st century economic report.

Li Bin believes that Weineng is not only a 2 trillion revenue business in terms of battery rental fees, but also has many other value-added points. It will restructure the battery industry and become a very large battery purchaser, asset owner and retired battery supplier, and a technology company for improving battery life.

In fact, exploring battery echelon utilization is also a topic that battery manufacturers such as Ningde era have been facing. With the first batch of domestic electric vehicles gradually reaching the service life, the recycling of retired batteries is regarded as a potential value point to be explored in the industry.

However, it is worth noting that the battery property rights of Weilai baas belong to the battery asset company, and consumers only own the property rights of vehicles without batteries. However, in the objective use of the scene, no electric vehicle can not do without the battery, the physical car and the battery are in one. In other words, in the process of second-hand car circulation in the future, it may be necessary to take the official way.

"The standard practice is that when a baas user sells a used car, he or she will buy the car in his hand and take the contract and obligation of battery service fee from him. Weilai will play a greater role in the second-hand cars. First, it will grasp the whole life cycle status of smart cars and provide detailed information support for buyers and sellers. Second, we hope that Weilai can gradually play a role as a platform in the middle. " Wei Lai automobile president Qin Lihong told reporters of the 21st century economic report.

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