2022: The pattern of China's auto industry is expected to reshape

Saic passenger car is a typical representative. Saic Passenger Car focuses on the core business scenario, by building an efficient, pragmatic and accurate intelligent manufacturing system, and based on IPv6+, 5G network, IoT and other technologies, to create an efficient and collaborative digital factory, can achieve a 38.4% reduction in research and development cycle, product defect rate decreased 7.5%, production efficiency increased 22%, and promote the all-round upgrading of products and services.

Taking SAIC Lingang Factory as an example, the unmanned body workshop demonstration production line built by it realizes 100% automation of welding, comprehensive automation of gluing, unmanned distribution, unmanned production, online monitoring and so on.

The deep integration of digital intelligence technology and intelligent equipment has made SAIC Passenger Cars a leading intelligent benchmarking enterprise in the industry. At the "2021 World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference" held on December 8, 2021, SAIC Passenger Cars won the title of "intelligent Manufacturing Benchmarking Enterprise" at the national level, and it is also the only Chinese independent brand car enterprise to win this honor.

New energy vehicles have accumulated steadily

With the joint efforts of the whole industry, China's new energy automobile industry has ranked first in the world in terms of production and sales for six consecutive years, and the technical level of key components is in the forefront of the world. It can be said that the rapid development of the new energy automobile industry is becoming an important driver in reshaping the pattern of China's automobile industry.

"At present, only from a technical point of view, Chinese brands have achieved comprehensive transcendence in the field of new energy, whether it is styling design or battery, motor, electronic control and other core technologies, as well as intelligent networking, intelligent cabin and other intelligent technologies, have surpassed the mainstream level of foreign brands, we are leading the development trend of global new energy vehicles."

According to data released by South Korean market Research institution SNE Research, from January to October 2021, the total use of electric vehicle batteries registered in 80 countries/regions around the world reached 216.2 gigawatt hours (GWh), and Chinese companies occupied 6 of the top 10 battery suppliers. They are Ningde Times, BYD, AVIC Lithium, Guoxen High-tech, AESC Vision Power and Beehive Energy.

Measured by the number of batteries installed, China is in a dominant position in the supply chain of new energy vehicle batteries, but it must be pointed out that China still plays a "catch-up" role in the frontier technology of batteries. "Automotive power battery companies from Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea are five years ahead of us in the independent research and development of next-generation solid-state battery technology," said Ouyang Minggao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and vice chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Association.

Compared with the current mainstream ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, the new generation of solid-state batteries using solid electrolyte has the characteristics of non-combustible, non-corrosive, non-volatile and non-leaking. Its energy density and charge and discharge performance are also more than 1 times higher than the current ternary lithium battery. Traditional auto companies such as Toyota, Volkswagen and Nissan have said that they will mass-produce new energy models equipped with solid-state batteries in the next five to 10 years.

Due to the shortcomings of basic science and new materials research and development, China's research and development of solid-state battery technology has a certain lag, although many domestic companies, including Ningde era, have also carried out research in related fields, but from the current available patent technology is still significantly weaker than Japanese and Korean companies. According to the survey results jointly released by the European Patent Office and the International Energy Agency, Japan has been the country with the highest number of patent applications related to battery technology in recent years, and seven of the top ten companies in the number of applications are from Japan.

The relevant technicians of Chinese battery companies have also clarified this gap: "The difficulty of solid-state batteries is the research and development of composite electrolytes, electrode materials, and nanoscale coating processes, which belong to the basic science category, and China has not been competitive in this area." In this regard, Ouyang Minggao explained: "Do not rush the material, the need is to calm down to long-term accumulation, only to consolidate the foundation to achieve accumulation, and technology research and development is not a constant value, in the process of 'you fight for my catch', we are still expected to achieve subversive breakthroughs."