Who is the mysterious "Customer No.1" who visited Foday Battery, and who wants to hold hands with BYD?

On September 5th, related media reports quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that on September 2nd, accompanied by He Long, vice president of BYD Group and chairman of Foday Battery, and Zhong Sheng, general manager of Chongqing Foday Lithium Battery Co., Ltd., Foday Battery's senior "Customer 1" visited the production process of Foday Battery Factory, and got a deep understanding of the planning blueprint of Chongqing Foday Lithium Battery Co., Ltd., the principle of leaf battery acupuncture experiment, and the technical characteristics of Pack workshop and assembly workshop.

It is worth noting that Foday Battery did not disclose the details of the "Customer 1" visited this time, but only emphasized that "Customer 1" is a century-old automobile enterprise and ranks among the top brands in Interbrand (global 100). The high-level visit of "Customer 1" aims to deepen cooperation and strengthen alliance with Foday Battery to build a new chapter in the development of new energy vehicles.

According to the information inquired by Car Prophet, in the latest Interbrand Global Top 100 list, two car brands entered the top ten, namely Toyota and Mercedes-Benz, but Toyota was founded only 87 years ago. Therefore, it is widely believed that the top people who visited Foday Battery "1" or the top people of Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz.

Foday battery is an independent battery production business segment of BYD in early 2020, and the blade battery promoted by BYD is Foday battery production. Daimler also set up a joint venture with BYD as early as 20 10, creating Tengshi, the first high-end pure electric brand in China.

Is the so-called "customer 1" a Mercedes-Benz? Why does Foday regard "customer 1" as an important customer? What is the background of visiting Foday battery? These problems need further study.

1

What exactly does "customer 1" stand for?

According to sources, the visit of "Customer 1" was accompanied by He Long, Vice President of BYD Group and Chairman of Foday Battery, and Zhong Sheng, General Manager of Chongqing Foday Lithium Battery Co., Ltd. ..

Relevant information shows that He Long graduated from Peking University and joined BYD Industry in July. 1999. Long-term quality manager of the first and second divisions, and vice president of BYD Group. In 2020, after BYD's independent battery business focused on blade batteries, He Long was also the chairman of Foday Battery as the vice president of BYD Group, and was fully responsible for the development of BYD's battery business.

"The fact that the chairman and the general manager accompanied the tour at the same time explained the problem." People in related industries believe that the fact that the top management of the enterprise accompanied the whole tour has actually explained the importance of customers.

However, Foday Battery is extremely entangled in the visit of this important customer.

On the one hand, Foday seems willing to let the outside world know that important customers have visited Foday. After all, the news of the visit was deliberately revealed by Foday (if it was a private event, the outside world could not know); On the other hand, Foday takes the name of "customer 1" as an important customer, and seems unwilling to let the outside world know who visited Foday, just as industry observers commented.

According to people close to BYD, BYD used to treat a customer as a sensitive customer before, mostly based on the sensitivity of customer's specific information disclosure.

According to media reports, the visiting "Customer 1" is one of the world famous automobile manufacturers. Established 100 years ago, with leading technical strength and huge customer base, it ranks among the top 100 global brands of Interbrand.

In the latest Interbrand Global 100 list, two automobile brands have entered the top ten, namely Toyota and Mercedes-Benz, but Toyota was founded only 87 years ago. Therefore, it is widely believed that the top people who visited Foday Battery "1" or the top people of Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz.

According to reports quoted by the media, 1 senior customers visited Foday, aiming at deepening cooperation and strengthening alliance with Foday battery, and building a new chapter in the development of new energy vehicles.

2

What are the advantages of Foday battery?

No matter who the "1" customer is, it is certain that internationally renowned automobile manufacturers have shown strong interest in Foday batteries.

According to relevant information, Foday Department is a component supply sector established under the background of BYD's transformation to a "smart car supplier", covering five enterprises: Foday Battery Co., Ltd., Foday Vision Co., Ltd., Foday Technology Co., Ltd., Foday Power Co., Ltd. and Foday Mould Co., Ltd.

Among them, Foday Battery Co., Ltd. was registered on May 5, 20 19, and its predecessor was BYD Lithium Battery Co., Ltd., which was established as early as 1998. The company has 100% independent R&D, design and production capacity in the battery field, and its products cover consumer 3C batteries, power batteries and energy storage batteries, cascade utilization and other fields. In the research field of new materials and technologies, many scientific research achievements have been developed and industrialized, and the application fields involve IT, automobiles, new energy and light rail transportation.

Blade battery is an important product of Foday battery power battery business.

In March 2020, BYD officially launched lithium iron phosphate blade battery, announcing that its cruising range has reached the level of ternary lithium battery. At the same time, BYD also published the "needle test" of blade batteries online, successfully challenging the "Everest" of power battery safety testing.

BYD said that the core advantage of the blade battery made of lithium ferrous phosphate is safety. After the release of the blade battery, BYD also called a domestic battery supplier specializing in ternary lithium batteries on the safety of the blade battery.

Different from the previous "battery-module-whole package" battery assembly mode, the "blade" blade batteries can be arranged in an array and directly inserted into the battery pack. This technology is similar to CTP of contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., but CTP of contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. integrates small modules into large modules, while blade batteries completely cancel the module link.

This has two advantages: on the one hand, reducing redundant components in the battery module can appropriately reduce the weight of electric vehicles, thus improving the handling performance of electric vehicles and reducing energy consumption to a certain extent.

On the other hand, it changed the biggest disadvantage of lithium ferrous phosphate in the past-low energy density per unit mass. Under the innovation of blade battery structure, the volume utilization rate of battery pack can be increased by more than 50%, that is to say, with the same size battery pack, blade battery can assemble more batteries, avoiding the previous short board.

Relevant analysts pointed out that compared with the current ternary lithium battery technology, lithium iron phosphate blade battery is actually a new choice in the new energy vehicle market, and there are no obvious defects compared with ternary lithium batteries. For vehicle manufacturers, there needs to be some contact and cooperation.

three

Multinational car companies compete for power batteries.

At present, China is the country with the fastest development of electric vehicles in the world, and the layout of multinational car companies grabbing power battery resources in China is very fierce.

According to incomplete information, after Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., Yiwei Lithium Industry will become BMW's second power battery supplier in China; After cooperating with Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., Volkswagen spent about 1 1 billion euros to acquire 26.74% equity of Guo Xuan Hi-Tech, becoming its largest shareholder. Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, not only cooperated with Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and Yiwei Lithium Energy, but also invested 905 million yuan in Funeng Technology.

"Overseas car companies will come to China market, and China car companies will also go to overseas markets". Relevant persons pointed out that localization, including batteries, must bring competitiveness, and automobile manufacturers must adopt different battery products and master them skillfully in order to achieve supply guarantee.

As the experts commented: "Multinational car companies have more or less realized the' marriage' with China power battery companies, and the relationship between car manufacturers and power battery suppliers is moving from a simple buying and selling relationship to a deep binding relationship of capital investment." Obviously, multinational auto companies are no longer satisfied with only establishing supply relations with China power battery manufacturers, but rely on abundant capital investment to urgently reserve grain and grass and complete the deep binding with them.

In the final analysis, the driving force is above business logic.

According to previous data, nearly 40% of the cost of new energy vehicles is concentrated on power batteries, which makes the cost of pure electric vehicles at the same level about 30% higher than that of fuel vehicles. The high cost is obviously not conducive to the adjustment of the price of new energy vehicles, which in turn affects market expansion. The era of electrified civilian use must mean the cost control of power batteries. If car manufacturers don't control the cost of power batteries, their electric products will no longer be attractive.

Another more important issue is the demand for production capacity. Tesla once fell into a "productivity hell" due to insufficient power battery capacity, and Audi and Mercedes-Benz also faced the problem that power batteries were in short supply. Obviously, "putting eggs in multiple baskets" helps to alleviate this dilemma.

It is no exaggeration to say that the power battery, as the "heart", determines the development level of new energy vehicles to a certain extent. It can be said that whoever has mastered the core power battery technology and supply will have mastered the pricing power and initiative. The seats of automobile manufacturers in the future automobile industry will also be determined by the chips currently cast.

So, which "customer 1" doesn't covet BYD's power battery business?

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.