Forming a New Energy Vehicle Industry Cluster and Integrating the Development of New Energy in the Yangtze River Delta | Hour | Automotive Industry
This is a 4-hour "journey" to produce a new energy vehicle——
In Shanghai, we provide a "brain" composed of chips, software, and other components; Provide power batteries as the "heart" to Changzhou, Jiangsu, about 200 kilometers west; More than 200 kilometers south of Ningbo, Zhejiang, we provide an integrated die-casting machine to complete the "body" process
In the Yangtze River Delta, through the coordinated development of industrial clusters, a new energy vehicle factory can solve the supply of necessary supporting parts within a 4-hour drive, forming a "4-hour industrial circle" that reflects the characteristics of a modern industrial system.
Industrial agglomeration
Automobiles are one of the important indicators of a country's manufacturing strength, and new energy vehicles have become the main direction for global automotive industry transformation, upgrading, and green development.
China has broken through the key core technology of new energy vehicles, established a complete industrial system, and ranked first in the world in production and sales for 8 consecutive years. The 4-hour industrial circle is a microcosm of the rise of new energy vehicles in China.
In 2022, China's production of new energy vehicles was 7.058 million, of which the production of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui in the Yangtze River Delta was about 2.9 million, accounting for more than 40%.
Changzhou, Jiangsu, on the bank of the Taihu Lake Lake, accounted for 1/5 of the country's power battery production and sales last year.
"If we calculate that each new energy vehicle carries 50 kilowatt hours of electricity, the power batteries produced in Changzhou each year can support more than 1 million new energy vehicles. Based on this calculation, in 2022, one out of every 10 new energy vehicles worldwide will be equipped with batteries produced in Changzhou," said Yan Dequn, Director of the Changzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology.
There are 32 main links in the production of power batteries, of which 31 are covered by Changzhou, and the completeness of the industrial chain is as high as 97%. This city currently has multiple production bases for leading domestic power battery "chain owners", driving the rapid development of more than 130 supporting enterprises above a certain scale, including positive electrodes, negative electrodes, separators, and structural components.
The agglomeration of the industrial chain extends to the manufacturing of complete vehicles.
During interviews in Changzhou, reporters often hear locals proudly talk about the "Dream Team": there is "BYD" in the north of the city, and "Ideal" in the south. The two car factories are less than 40 kilometers away in a straight line, and their production in the first half of 2023 reached 270000 vehicles.
Through strengthening, supplementing, and extending the supply chain, the Changzhou new energy vehicle industry chain has covered more than ten fields, including transmission systems, braking systems, steering systems, electrical instrument systems, lighting fixtures, car bodies, and automotive accessories. More than 3000 related manufacturing enterprises have gathered here, forming a production value scale of 300 billion yuan.
Agglomeration effect is a prominent characteristic of the development of the automotive industry.
In the 1980s, Volkswagen entered China and first settled in Shanghai. After years of effort, the localization rate of components for the first model of Santana has increased from less than 4% to over 90%, and a group of component manufacturing enterprises have grown and developed.
Now, the new energy vehicle industry cluster within a 4-hour drive range is in line with the principle of local procurement, which can significantly reduce the transportation cost of parts and endow the supply system with fast and flexible response capabilities. Factories can adjust the parts of surrounding enterprises according to production plans at any time.
"Thanks to this industrial chain foundation, Tesla's Shanghai super factory has achieved construction, production, and delivery in the same year," said Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference.
At present, Tesla's Shanghai super factory has achieved a localization rate of over 95% for components, driving 360 upstream suppliers, 100000 job opportunities, and a cumulative order of 700 billion yuan. 60 Chinese suppliers have entered Tesla's global supplier system.
Song Tingting, Chief Researcher of the Automotive Industry at Huatai Securities Research Institute, believes that the "4-hour industrial circle" has gradually formed with the development of Shanghai's new energy vehicle industry. Currently, there are more than 10 new energy vehicle brands in the Yangtze River Delta that have established vehicle production factories.
In Jiangsu, which is located in the "4-hour industrial circle", there are over 140 key enterprises in the field of power batteries and supporting equipment, and leading enterprises in key components such as motors, electronic controls, and electric drive assemblies are constantly increasing.
In Zhejiang, the new energy vehicle industry cluster around Hangzhou Bay is accelerating, and the coastal automotive industry belts in Wenzhou and Taizhou are undergoing transformation and upgrading.
In Anhui, the entire industry chain of whole vehicle, battery, motor, and electronic control has been formed, and the integrated layout of whole vehicle, components, and aftermarket has been fully implemented.
"The advantages of the development of new energy vehicles in the Yangtze River Delta lie in having a complete industrial chain, huge market demand, and export convenience," said Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of BYD Co., Ltd.
Advanced Manufacturing
Within the "4-hour industrial circle", Beilun District of Ningbo City has gathered over 110 automotive and key component enterprises with an industrial output value exceeding 100 billion yuan last year.
In the booming new energy vehicle lightweight "body revolution", Beilun plays an important role.
According to traditional technology, automobile manufacturing includes four stages: stamping, welding, painting, and final assembly, with component assembly being the most complex and time-consuming.
In 2020, a new energy vehicle company announced the adoption of an integrated die-casting rear floor assembly, shifting the assembly from stamping and welding components to one-time die-casting molding. After adopting integrated die-casting technology on the rear floor of a certain car model, more than 70 parts were reduced to one part, reducing weight by 13%.
"Thanks to the advantageous foundation of the casting industry, Beilun has competitiveness in the field of lightweight components for new energy vehicles, and multiple companies have entered Tesla's supply chain," said Huang Shaojie, Deputy Director of the Economic and Information Bureau of Beilun District, Ningbo City.
A few years ago, Tesla found a "specialized, refined, and innovative" enterprise in Beilun, and the two sides worked together to create a dedicated giant die-casting machine in over a year.
"The Tesla team comes to us every once in a while to ask if this can be done, and if that can be done. Every time they make changes, our machines also need to cooperate with them," said the person in charge of the company.
Now, a group of automotive companies such as NIO, Xiaopeng, Changan, and Volvo are all following up on integrated die-casting technology. Experts believe that integrated die-casting technology is bringing manufacturing changes to the automotive industry.
The formation of the "4-hour industrial circle" is effectively promoting the overall improvement of the manufacturing level in the Yangtze River Delta.
At Jiangsu Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., which is affiliated with Ningde Times, reporters wear shoe covers and do not carry any electronic products. They can only enter the long corridor outside the workshop and observe every process of battery production through glass windows.
This factory filters air 25 times an hour, and its cleanliness is comparable to that of a heart bypass surgery room. The production line is almost fully automated, with only about 50 workers on a 900 meter long production line.
"A car power battery contains hundreds of battery cells. To ensure performance standards and sufficient safety, it is necessary for these 100 cells to have extremely high consistency. We have introduced artificial intelligence and big data into the quality inspection process," said Hua Xia, the factory manager.
Each detail constitutes the "password" of advanced manufacturing. When cleaning equipment, the workers in this factory use anhydrous ethanol, while some battery manufacturing companies use high concentration alcohol. The moisture content of high concentration alcohol is 5%, while the moisture content of anhydrous ethanol does not exceed 1%, which can reduce the moisture in the environment and improve the stability of laser welding and other equipment during operation.
Yield is the most direct indicator of manufacturing capability. It is widely recognized in the manufacturing industry that one defective product per million is a world-class manufacturing level. But the manufacturing standard of CATL is a defect rate of 1 in 1 billion, which means that only one faulty battery cell is allowed in 10 million vehicles.
"Power batteries have extremely high safety requirements, and we propose the goal of extreme manufacturing. We use sensing technology, intelligent modeling, closed-loop control, and other full process control to control safety hazards and reduce product defect rates." said Zeng Yuqun, Chairman of Ningde Times. The company has established a Chief Manufacturing Officer, led by Ni Jun, who has been engaged in advanced manufacturing research for more than 40 years. He is also the Dean of Puyuan Future Technology School at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Guobin, stated that China's power batteries have established a complete industrial chain, with intelligent factories and zero carbon factories becoming advanced manufacturing benchmarks. He will continue to promote technological innovation in power batteries, enhance the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and enhance the level of green development.
Collaborative innovation
The Yangtze River Delta Research Center of the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is located at No. 1, Zhongguancun Avenue, Liyang, Jiangsu Province.
Five years ago, the research center settled in this county-level city, where multiple academicians and researchers led a team to tackle research and development. The focus was on "being close to the industry" and on the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the development of cutting-edge technologies.
"Here, we can get through to production, study and research," said Dr. Luo Fei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A few years ago, he came to Liyang to focus on the research and development of new nano silicon carbon negative electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Later, technological achievements were directly transformed into products, and many users were local enterprises.
"On Zhongguancun Avenue in Liyang, we can find more than ten suppliers from our company, all of whom we followed after settling in Liyang." Huaxia said that integrating into a "4-hour industrial circle" is more likely to produce innovative results.
Compared to traditional fuel vehicles, the replacement cycle of new energy vehicles has been significantly reduced, with small modifications to the entire vehicle project every year and medium modifications every two years. The development cycle is around one and a half years.
Innovative supply chain is also a major advantage of the "4-hour industrial circle".
"This puts higher demands on the speed and synchronous development ability of component enterprises to respond to new demands. In a 4-hour industrial cluster, communication costs, collaborative design, and testing efficiency will be improved for vehicle manufacturers and suppliers." Song Tingting said.
"During the period of unstable industrial supply chain, Jiangsu, as the largest automotive parts industry base in China, actively helped SAIC Group and Tesla's automotive parts supporting enterprises in Jiangsu to open up logistics transportation channels." said Xiong Binqian, Director of the Industrial Transformation and Upgrading Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology.
Taking the data from over half a month in the spring of 2022 as an example, Jiangsu has sent over 600 vehicles for transporting parts to SAIC and Tesla, solving the logistics transportation problems of over 450 red light suppliers for the two companies, accounting for 90% of the total number of red light suppliers for the two companies.
Compared to electrification, the transformation of automotive intelligence and networking involves more fields and a deeper degree, and the imaginable space is also larger. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that in the next step, the development of the new energy vehicle industry will adhere to the integration of "vehicle energy road cloud" development.
Expert analysis shows that the automotive industry chain is long, with a multiplier effect of 1:10. That is, every unit of output from automobiles can drive an increase of 10 units in output from various sectors of the national economy. The integrated development of the new energy vehicle industry is expected to bring greater driving effects.
In the summer of 2023, at the high-level forum on integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta, the region outlined a new goal: to build a world-class industrial cluster for new energy vehicles. The 4-hour industrial circle will continue to demonstrate innovative vitality.
