Pre-editing: The emergence of the "cemetery" of new energy shared vehicles has undoubtedly exposed the current status of the shared travel industry that has no successful profit model. Compared with traditional fuel vehicles, pure electric vehicles are almost difficult to transfer at the end of their life cycle. Battery replacement, cascade utilization and recycling of old batteries, sinking to the third- and fourth-tier automotive market, are still a "way out" for the current new energy shared cars. The difficulty of recycling new energy used cars is the direct reason why new energy shared cars are parked in the countryside for a long time.
Chery EQ, Roewe E50... one after another pure electric shared cars, are numbered and parked in an extremely secret empty field. It is difficult to find its traces without careful searching. Counting down its number, there are more than 2,400 vehicles. The huge number and run-down scenes are shocking.
Why are these cars idle? How will it be handled in the future? On December 26, 2019, when reporters walked into Wanmin Village, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, these questions came to mind.
Hidden car-sharing "cemetery"
"Master, do you know that there is a car-sharing "cemetery" in Wanmin Village?" Take a local taxi in Jiaxing, Zhejiang. A reporter from "China Automobile News" asked the driver master At the destination of this trip, the driver's master replied: "I know, the news has been searched these days, but the specific location of the'cemetery' has to go to the village to ask the villagers." After a 20-kilometer journey, the reporter When I arrived at Wanmin Village, after many inquiries, I finally found a "car-sharing'cemetery'" exposed by the media in an extremely secret place. The reporter observed that this is not a parking lot, and there is no such a strong demand for parking in the local area. On the surface, it looks more like an abandoned driving school. The half-slope starting bridge is also full of abandoned shared cars. .
Careful observation reveals that all of these vehicles have the "EVCARD" logo affixed to their bodies, which belong to Universal Car Rental Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Global Car Sharing"). Almost none of these vehicles are intact. Most of the front covers of the vehicles have been opened, and there are many missing parts. It is worth noting that the batteries of some vehicles have been removed and left to the sun. Local residents familiar with the matter revealed that starting from the end of 2018, these shared cars have been transported by trailers one after another, at most 6,000 to 7,000.
came to the end of the car sharing "cemetery", a suspected Global Car Sharing staff was preparing abandoned and idle vehicles. "Are you the media? If you are a media, please do not take photos. If you have any questions, you can directly ask our Shanghai headquarters." A staff member of , , told reporters, but he refused to disclose whether he was a staff member of Universal Car Sharing. "It's really a pity that these cars are abandoned here. Some tires are good tires and can be used even if they are dismantled." The fellow driver said it was a pity. After the car-sharing "cemetery" was exposed by the media,
has caused great attention from the whole society, and the media has been visiting Wanmin Village, Jiaxing, where the "cemetery" is located, to learn about the situation. In the face of media doubts, Global Chexiang made an explanation and statement to the outside world. These vehicles are among the first-generation operating vehicles of EVCARD, which have lower driving range, greater wear and tear, and are not suitable for continued operation. Unified shutdown decision. A staff member of Global Car Sharing said that these vehicles are no longer online, and the centralized storage is to facilitate secondary processing such as vehicle evaluation and auction work.
Are these vehicles really at the stage where they should be treated as used cars? A former employee of Universal Car Sharing, Li Ming (pseudonym), who left his job recently, revealed to reporters: “This is not the real situation. Most of these vehicles have been in operation since 2016. They only have about three years of operating time and the mileage used is also It's far inferior to taxis, and there is no deadline to be eliminated." Why did
be taken offline after only three years? "In fact, the real reason is that after the users have used these vehicles for a period of time, the loss is very large. The users do not like to rent, and the income that can be produced is reduced." Li Ming said, "Every car needs a parking space. Some people’s daily maintenance and depreciation have become a very heavy burden. In this case, the company would rather replace a new car."
"Currently, every single cost of shared travel is uncontrollable, and often costs.More than income, it is difficult to restrict users' behavior. Without focusing on some suitable scenarios such as airport round trips, university towns, and business parks, car sharing cannot become an effective supplement to public transportation. "In Li Ming's view, the company used to blindly pay attention to scale expansion and run blindfolded. Only when the tide goes away will we know who is running naked. The lead time of
is not better than the large-scale appearance of
car-sharing companies in 2016-2017. Shanghai The municipal government issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of New Energy Vehicle Time-sharing Leasing Industry in this Municipality" in February 2016; in August 2017, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Regulations on Promoting the Healthy Development of Small and Mini Bus Leasing “Guiding Opinions” (hereinafter referred to as “Guiding Opinions”), the “Guiding Opinions” clearly stated that it is necessary to fully understand and play the role of time-sharing leasing. With the help of policies, a large wave of car-sharing companies have emerged, and participants The identity of the company is also diverse. Not only startups, Internet companies, but also vehicle companies, real estate developers, etc., are trying to get a piece of the pie. The most representative company is Universal Car Sharing. Public information shows, May 2016 , EXiang Tiankai, a time-sharing leasing company under SAIC Xiang.com, integrated with EVCARD, an electric car leasing company under Shanghai International Automobile City, to form a joint venture to establish Universal Chexiang Car Leasing Co., Ltd., and use the EVCARD brand uniformly. At present, EVCARD has invested in electric vehicles. There are more than 42,000 vehicles, more than 13,000 car-return points in operation, more than 4 million members, and an order every 1.2 seconds on average. If you look at the strength of resources you have, the scale of vehicles in operation, and the network of operations. Global Car Sharing is an undisputed leader in the industry. Although there have been car sharing companies that have closed down or withdrawn from the market in the past two years, there has never been news of poor management of Global Car Sharing. "Global Car Sharing is shrinking its outlets, The management has also changed. In order to meet the operating performance standards, the company has leased thousands of its vehicles. The leased vehicles are used to run special vehicles. It can be said that the operation depends on the license plate resources. "Li Ming revealed. It is not uncommon for
to resemble a "cemetery"
In fact, long before Universal Car Sharing, there have been cases of car sharing "cemeteries". In March last year, one was found in a rural village in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. In the shared car "cemetery" where the number of parking vehicles is even more alarming, about 5,000 shared cars are parked along the Qiantang River. According to local villagers, the vacant land was rented by a car company in July 2018, and the annual parking fee is 30,000 ~50,000 yuan, the vehicle is unmanaged, and the vehicle mileage is only 80 kilometers.
In addition, according to incomplete statistics, in addition to Zhejiang Hangzhou and Zhejiang Jiaxing, similar sharing has also occurred in Zhejiang Tonglu, Shandong, and Chongqing. Car "cemetery." In fact, the emergence of shared car "cemeteries" is not unrelated to the previous fiscal subsidy policy for new energy vehicles that implemented the Generalized System of Preferences. An insider from a car company told a reporter from China Automobile News: "According to the statistics we have obtained, private consumption contributes about 30% to the sales of new energy vehicles, and corporate users account for about 70%. Seventy percent of
corporate users means that the main force driving the growth of new energy vehicle sales comes from operating companies. However, a large number of corporate users are not equivalent to the rigid needs of the market. Especially under the temptation of high financial subsidies, a considerable number of auto companies have played the "left-handed and right-handed" game by establishing or investing in car sharing companies.
"Take a look at the large-scale car sharing companies. Almost all car companies are behind them. Of course, it is not ruled out that they have sincere operations. However, a considerable part of them are kidnapped by car companies. Selling a car is a performance. Sell more Vehicles can get more subsidies.” A car-sharing practitioner at said that many vehicles are left idle when their operating mileage exceeds the prescribed subsidized mileage. According to the "Notice on Adjusting the Financial Subsidy Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four ministries at the beginning of 2017, new energy vehicles purchased by non-individual users must apply for subsidies, and the accumulated mileage must reach 30,000 kilometers. The subsidy standards and technical requirements It is executed in accordance with the year when the vehicle obtains the driving license. In March 2019, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Notice on Further Improving the Fiscal Subsidy Policy for the Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles". wantIf the vehicle does not meet the requirements of 20,000 kilometers within 2 years from the registration date, no subsidy will be given.
Follow-up treatment of abandoned vehicles to be solved
Why are these vehicles not prepared? "The main reason is that the current residual value rate of new energy vehicles is too low to be refurbished at all, especially the pure electric vehicles produced in the past few years. The battery has a short driving range and fast performance degradation. It is basically worthless. Now replace it. The cost of the new battery is higher than the value of the old car.” said an industry insider . If these vehicles with batteries do not continue to be used, the fate facing them is only to be dismantled and recycled. At present, all the shared cars parked in Wanmin Village have been transported away. According to a car-sharing staff member, at the end of December 2019, all vehicles parked in Jiaxing have been towed away. Now the company has completed the secondary disposal of the batch of offline vehicles. At the same time, a new shared car model was also upgraded.
It is not known how these offline vehicles will be handled. According to the "New Energy Vehicles" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the National Energy Administration in February 2018. The relevant provisions of the Interim Measures for the Administration of Power Battery Recycling and Utilization emphasize the implementation of the extended producer responsibility system and require automobile manufacturers to bear the main responsibility for power battery recycling. The measures have been implemented on August 1, 2018. If
is disassembled, it is still unknown whether the power battery on the vehicle is used for secondary use or scrapped. It is reported that power batteries retired from new energy vehicles still have more than 70% energy remaining. After selection and testing, they can be further used in energy storage, distributed photovoltaic power generation, household electricity, low-speed electric vehicles and many other fields. After that, it can be further scrapped, and metals such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium, iron, and aluminum can be extracted from waste batteries. If it cannot be reused or scrapped and dismantled, it will cause a great hidden danger of waste battery pollution.
scene-based operation or a way out The development and changes of
car-sharing economy in recent years can be said to be "its prosperity is also booming, and its decline is also sudden." Relevant government management departments have given all the policy support they can give, but operating companies are still unable to make a profit, and shared travel is still a niche travel demand. The emergence of today's situation has aroused continuous reflection among industry professionals. According to Yang Yang, CEO of car-sharing technology supplier Yiweixing, there are many reasons for the status quo. For example, operating companies use Internet thinking to operate asset-heavy operations, coupled with car companies behind the scenes, leading to excessive asset expansion and management capabilities that cannot keep up; for example, the investment ratio is unscientific, and operating companies invest most of their funds in asset-heavy assets. Purchasing and independent development of software and hardware have resulted in disproportionate amounts of funds and assets used to improve service quality and optimize operation and management; another example is the wrong market positioning and time-sharing leasing is not the demand of big cities, and these companies focus on big cities. The traffic pressure in big cities is huge, parking resources are tight, and labor costs are high. However, the traffic in big cities is developed, and users do not need an additional timeshare rental to supplement travel. Yang Yang also pointed out that time-sharing leasing is an emerging industry in China, and it will inevitably go through a long process from point operation to line operation and then to surface operation. At present, companies have low technical reserves, experience reserves and talent reserves. , Crossing the points and lines, and directly conducting surface operations, is definitely more difficult.
"Providing a wide range of services to the society leads to uncontrollable risks, costs, and service quality. The national new energy vehicle development strategy pushes auto companies, and auto companies push operating companies, leading to impetuous advancement of operating companies." Yang Yang suggested, operating companies We should change from socialized operation to scenario-based operation, adjust the investment ratio, and invest more money in improving service quality and improving operational efficiency. Z5z
reporter said that the future generations of
are sad, don’t fail to see that
trial and error is the price that must be paid for success. We cannot deny the industry contributions made by car-sharing companies that have successively closed down or exited. Any industry has pioneers and trial-and-error, which is in line with the law of industry development. From the perspective of car sharing, the value and significance of its development is beyond doubt. Chen Qingtai, chairman of the China Electric Vehicles Association of 100, said that shared travel is expected to reconstruct urban transportation. He believes that the urban transportation system centered on traditional private cars has become a major chronic disease of big cities. The combination of electric vehicles + Internet + autonomous driving and shared travel shows new prospects for rebuilding the urban transportation system. A number of studies have shown that electrification, connectivity, and intelligenceModernized electric vehicles will reduce the "person-kilometer cost" of shared travel by about 40%; in the future, self-driving shared vehicles can move to travel demand points on their own and achieve seamless connection; people, vehicles, and roads share traffic information in real time, so that Improve travel efficiency.
In China, many consumers live on the Internet every day, and they are increasingly accepting the concept of "owning less, sharing more". For example, in 2018, Didi Dache alone provided users with about 10 billion trips in more than 400 cities across the country, an average of about 30 million trips per day, and it still maintains an average annual double-digit growth. Car-sharing meets the travel needs of different groups of people in different ways, which will weaken the desire of private cars to buy and drive. With the development of shared travel, it will become the largest single seller of auto manufacturers, with a strong voice. In response to this development trend, auto giants such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Toyota have begun to deploy shared travel services.
It can be said that car sharing still has good prospects, but how to realize commercial operation under ideal conditions still needs to continue to explore and continue trial and error. The fallen companies have used their blood to warn latecomers the brightest red. The author believes that relevant companies involved in the operation of car sharing business first think about how to avoid large-scale waste of resources, learn to live within their means, and secondly return to the essence of business services. Do not focus on asset operations on the one hand, and on the other There is another unrealistic Internet platform dream in his mind. The experience and lessons of the predecessors should not be learned by future generations.
Text/Picture: Zhang Zhongyue Editor: Guo Chen Format: Liu Xiaoye
