This year’s cars are unaffordable.
Affected by international oil prices, domestic oil prices have risen continuously in the past month, reaching a new high in the past ten years. After the price adjustment, the price of No. 95 gasoline exceeded 10 yuan/L. The cost of using fuel vehicles continues to rise, and many people are beginning to consider electric vehicles with lower vehicle costs. But unexpectedly, due to rising raw material prices, most new energy vehicle companies have also raised the prices of their models, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands. For a time, consumers were caught in a dilemma.
A tank of gas costs 50 yuan more
In March last year, the price of 92 gasoline in Shanghai was 6.55 yuan/L, and 95 gasoline was 6.97 yuan/L, both less than 7 yuan. Now, these two prices have risen to 8.61 yuan/liter and 9.16 yuan/liter, an increase of more than 2 yuan/liter.
The rapid rise in domestic oil prices is actually closely related to changes in the international situation. After the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started, Western countries adopted unprecedented sanctions against Russia, the most severe of which was to kick Russia out of the SWIFT international settlement and transaction system. As the world's second largest crude oil exporter, Russia's international transactions have been severely restricted, and its crude oil exports have fallen sharply, leading to a rise in global oil prices. On March 8, international crude oil prices once exceeded US$130, reaching the highest level since the end of 2008.
As the main derivative of crude oil, fuel prices will naturally increase accordingly. Before the price adjustment in the early hours of last night, a large number of pictures of people queuing up to refuel began to appear online. If I were not under quarantine, I would be one of the people queuing up to cheer.
Take my own car as an example. The fuel tank capacity is 54L and it uses No. 95 gasoline. After this price increase, a tank of oil costs 34.6 yuan more, which is nearly 120 yuan more than the same period last year.
A car with high fuel consumption is even more unaffordable. Liu Feng (pseudonym) lives in Songjiang New Town, , and works in Caohejing, Xuhui. The daily commuting distance is 60 kilometers. His commuting tool is a Mercedes-Benz GLC . The average fuel consumption of this car in the morning and evening peaks reaches 12L/100km. After the oil price adjustment, Liu Feng's daily fuel cost increased from 1 yuan per kilometer to 1.1 yuan, and he had to pay nearly 50 yuan more to fill a tank of fuel.
"Last year, a day's commuting cost 90 yuan, but now the gas cost is 66, and the parking fee is 40, which adds up to more than 100, which is more expensive than a lunch. What else do you drive? I will take the subway to and from get off work starting next week. I will save it. Isn’t it delicious to buy ribs with money?” Liu Feng complained.
It is worth noting that in addition to fuel, derivatives of crude oil include rubber and lubricating oil. The rise in crude oil prices will not only make our refueling more expensive, but will also cause the prices of tires and lubricants to rise, and the maintenance costs of fuel vehicles will also further increase. Recently, brands such as Mobil, Shell, and Castrol have all issued price increase notices, with the highest increase being as high as 15%.
What is even more worrying is that this may not be the end of rising oil prices. The International Energy Agency said today that oil prices are likely to rise sharply in the coming months. Therefore, all oil truck owners, please save money and save money to maintain your car.
Electric Vehicles: From Leeks to Financial Management
I believe many people still remember that in 2020, the domestic Model 3 successively reduced prices, which triggered a lot of complaints from netizens on the Internet. Tesla owners were also dubbed "leeks" Number. However, Tesla has now become a "financial management product." In the past eight days, Tesla has raised the price of its domestic Model 3/Y three times in a row, with prices for the entire series rising by RMB 14,000-20,000.
Tesla is not alone in this price increase. From the beginning of this year to today, including Euler, Leap, Nezha, Aian, Feifan, BYD, Wuling, Volkswagen, Geometry, Ford, Weimar, Roewe, Chery More than 20 new energy vehicle companies have announced price increases, covering almost all mainstream models in the market. Even the facelift model of the cheapest Wuling Hongguang MINI EV has increased by 2,000 yuan. In addition to these brands, there is news recently that Xpeng will also increase in price on the 21st of this month. The price of Xpeng P7 will increase by up to 20,000 yuan.
The reason for the large-scale price increase of electric vehicles is firstly due to the 30% reduction in new energy subsidies this year.However, in the face of the subsidy reduction policy in previous years, car companies usually paid the difference out of their own pockets, and the selling price remained unchanged. However, this year, the skyrocketing prices of raw materials have made it impossible for car companies to bear the huge cost pressure.
In the cost composition of electric vehicles, battery packs account for about 30-40%, while raw materials such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium account for 80% of the cost of battery packs. Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network data shows that nickel has soared from 140,000 yuan/ton three months ago to 300,000 yuan/ton, and currently remains at a high of 220,000 yuan/ton, an increase of 50%. In addition, the price of lithium carbonate, the synthetic material of lithium iron phosphate , was only 10,000 yuan/ton a year ago, but now it has skyrocketed to more than 500,000 yuan/ton.
Cobalt, the most expensive among ternary materials, cannot escape the fate of rising prices. The current price of electrolytic cobalt is 560,000-577,000 yuan/ton, which is double the price at the beginning of 2021. The current price of cobalt powder is 640,000-650,000 yuan/ton, which is still reaching historical highs.
In addition, don’t forget that the chip shortage problem in the automotive industry has not yet been alleviated. The overall tension from chips to batteries has forced car companies to make the decision to increase prices. Moreover, some industry insiders said that the current consumer demand for new energy vehicles continues to rise, and the problem of insufficient supply of battery raw materials and high prices may not be alleviated in the short term.
