New energy vehicle innovation policy will push forward key technologies such as batteries

On July 4, Ma Kai, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, investigated the development of the new energy automobile industry in Beijing and held a symposium on the promotion and application of new energy vehicles.

Ma Kai said that the current development of China's new energy vehicles is still at a critical stage of climbing over and over and overcoming difficulties. We must always adhere to the national strategy for the development of new energy vehicles and unswervingly continue to follow the "market-driven, innovation-driven, key breakthroughs, and coordinated development." The requirements of the overall industry chain, industrial layout, development and safety of the three major co-ordination, do a good job of batteries, charging, vehicle and mechanism "four innovations."

New energy vehicle innovation policy will push forward key technologies such as batteries

Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated at the symposium that the development of new energy vehicles has entered a period of acceleration on a global scale and the competitive landscape has become increasingly fierce. China has made significant progress in the development of new energy vehicles, but the foundation is not solid and core technologies such as power batteries remain No fundamental breakthrough has been made, and there are still some problems in the promotion and application.

To this end, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is studying and formulating "Guiding Opinions on Coordinating the Innovative Development of New Energy Vehicles."

According to statistics, the promotion and application of China's new energy automotive industry started in 2009, 17,000 units were promoted and applied before 2012, 101,000 units were promoted and applied in 2013-2014, and jumped to 379,000 units in 2015, and produced 517,000 units in 2016. The two-year production and sales volume ranks first in the world, accumulating more than 1 million units, accounting for more than 50% of the global market.

Promote battery innovation

“In the four innovations of new energy vehicles that were requested by Deputy Prime Minister Ma Kai, innovation in batteries is particularly worthy of attention.” Zhang Chi, director of investment in cleantech at Silicon Valley Venture Capital, analyzed 21st Century Business Herald. The battery is the core component of electric vehicles. It is also the bottleneck of the economics of electric vehicles.

Specifically, Ma Kai called for an innovative R&D model and increased R&D efforts to ensure that by 2020, the goal of achieving a monomer 350 and system 260 watt-hours/kg would be achieved. Accelerate the development of new system batteries and fuel cells.

According to the data, at the end of 2016, the power battery cell energy density reached 270 watt-hours/kilogram, and the price was 1.5 yuan/watt hour, which was 1.7 times higher than the 2012 energy density, and the price dropped by 60%.

Li Ping, vice chairman of Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., said that in terms of energy density, currently 200-250 watt-hour-hour/kilogram batteries have been batch-matched to high-end models such as SAIC, Geely and Beijing Auto, 300-350 Wh/kg. The next-generation lithium battery has achieved breakthrough in R&D, and it can be mass-produced from 2019 to 2020.

In the aspect of battery system cost, Xin Guobin introduced at the symposium that since the beginning of this year, the cost of China's battery system has continued to decline. It is now around RMB 1.5/watt, even if it drops to RMB 1/watt by 2020, for loading 40-60 hours. The mainstream models of kWh batteries have a gap of 30,000 yuan or so from the traditional fuel vehicles. They still do not have sufficient market competitiveness. The prices of raw materials for power batteries have shown an upward trend recently, putting pressure on the cost control of vehicles.

To this end, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has proposed the implementation of a power battery upgrade project and will carry out joint research on key materials, single cells and battery management systems, and accelerate the achievement of the goal of performance and cost reduction of the power battery in 2020.

In terms of charging innovation, Ma Kai called for targeting standardization, networking, intelligence, and high-powered technologies to accelerate the development of advanced charging technologies. Strengthen the construction of facilities, innovate business models, and solve the problem of insufficient number of charging piles, transformation of old residential areas, and “incompatibility of charging interfaces of vehicle piles”.

In this regard, the chairman of the State Grid Corporation, Shu Yinyu, said that by 2020 it will invest 25.02 billion yuan to build 120,000 charging piles, and the intercity fast-charged network will cover 202 cities in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and all cities in the Yangtze River Delta region. The freeway is 36,000 miles, the service radius of the suburban county is less than 5 kilometers, the service radius of the downtown area is no more than 3 kilometers, and the service radius of the urban area is no more than 1 km.

Shuyin also disclosed that the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” plans to invest 12 billion yuan in building and transforming the relevant distribution network to provide power supply services for all types of social capital investment charging piles, and to minimize the flow of charging facilities to receive electricity, and to “enter only once Doors, only the last time, can handle all the electricity procedures."

In terms of mechanism innovation, Ma Kai called for a swift study of the follow-up policies and use-support policies after the withdrawal of subsidies, to eliminate local protection and create a good environment for the sustainable and healthy development of new energy vehicles.

According to the new policy of subsidizing new energy vehicles by the ministries and commissions, the subsidies for new energy vehicles in 2017 will be reduced by 20% compared with 2016, and local financial subsidies may not exceed 50% of the central bicycle subsidy. Individual subsidy for pure electric vehicles will be completely cancelled by 2020.

In this regard, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers proposes that the policy direction after 2020 should be studied, such as the adjustment of purchase subsidy policy to deduct consumer tax.

Xu Kunlin, deputy mayor of Shanghai, stated at the above-mentioned forum that the current exemption of new energy automobile purchase tax policy expires at the end of 2017. It is recommended to maintain the continuity of this policy. The relevant policies should be continued next year to avoid cancellation or reduction of tax incentives. Cause the market to cool down significantly.

Li Ping suggested that the purchase of new energy vehicles free of tax should become a long-term policy, and should immediately study the extension plan to prevent the market from falling. The proposed exemption continues until 2025, after which the tax rate is reduced by half until 2030.

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu also proposed that the exemption of new energy vehicle purchase tax policy should continue until 2025 and halve to 2030. It also suggested that the country should exempt the consumption tax from plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles.

In the new energy auto points system, many interviewees suggested that the 21st Century Business Herald should be enforced in 2018, establish economic punishment measures, activate the point trading market, stimulate enterprise enthusiasm, and establish a long-term development mechanism.

For this reason, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers proposed that in order to ensure the implementation of the points system, the local directory system should be resolutely eliminated. After the release of the new energy catalog of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, local governments must adopt unconditionally, and local subsidies should be honored at the same time as central subsidies.

Xin Guobin said that it will make clear as soon as possible the implementation of the new energy auto purchase tax exemption policy, stabilizing market expectations, and studying the optimization and integration of the “recommended model catalog” and “tax-free cart purchase tax catalog” to reduce the burden on the company and do a good job after the subsidies are withdrawn. The follow-up policy follows up and implements the “Measures for the Parallel Management of the Average Fuel Consumption of Passenger Vehicles and New Energy Vehicles”.