2022 Year-End Review: Ten New Trends in the Development of the New Energy Vehicle Industry

       According to the forecast of China Automobile Association, the total automobile sales in China in 2022 will be 27.5 million, of which the sales of new energy vehicles will be 5 million, up 47% year-on-year.With the expansion of market volume, the increasing penetration rate and the withdrawal of financial subsidies, the new energy automobile industry is gradually striding over the era of barbaric growth, and gradually entering a truly market-driven high-speed development period, becoming the core engine of automobile market growth.Recently, CBNData, together with Baidu Marketing, released "Insight into the Trends of New Energy Vehicles in 2022", which comprehensively analyzes the top ten trends of China's new energy vehicle industry development in 2022 from five aspects: policy, competition, users, demand and marketing.Policy sideKeywords: double carbon target, industrial upgrading, marketizationTrend 1: New energy intelligent networked vehicles have become the key to achieve double carbon and promote upgrading in the automobile industry."Carbon dioxide emissions will peak by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2060." The formal proposal of the "Double Carbon" goal has made the world see China's responsibility to cope with climate change, and also given all walks of life a starting point to explore sustainable development.According to the data of China Automotive Technology and Research Center, the carbon emissions of automobiles account for 80% of the carbon emissions in the transportation field. The development of new energy vehicles is an important means for the automobile industry to achieve the goal of double carbon.It is worth mentioning that intelligent networked vehicles represented by new energy sources have improved driving efficiency due to intelligent driving, and the networking of vehicles has reduced after-sales carbon emissions, which has gradually become the strategic direction of industrial upgrading in the automobile industry.

　　Trend 2: Subsidies and technological innovation drive the marketization of new energy vehicles to accelerate.In 2010, the state promoted the development of new energy automobile industry with subsidy policy, and the new car-building movement was in full swing, and the market sprouted in the policy dividend.By December 31, 2022, subsidies for new energy vehicles will be officially cancelled. In order to cope with the decline of financial subsidies, new energy vehicle companies have actively launched a limited-time quotation policy and improved vehicle configuration.On the other hand, on the market side, when subsidies are no longer available, the consumption enthusiasm of new energy vehicles remains undiminished. "Insight into the Trend of New Energy Vehicles in 2022" shows that the proportion of private consumption of new energy vehicles has continued to increase in recent years. In 2022, the overall proportion has reached 78%, and the degree of marketization has increased year by year.On the other hand, the technological innovation on the supply side is also accelerating the marketization process of the new energy automobile industry. In many innovative dimensions such as battery, electronic control and intelligent technology, the iterative upgrade of product function and performance has never stopped, which has become the only way for new energy vehicle enterprises to build their core competitiveness.

　　Competitive sideKeywords: mid-range models, intelligenceTrend 3: The market segments are dumbbell-shaped, and the mid-market will become the focus of future competition.Judging from the performance of market segments, "two extremes" have contributed to the upward momentum of new energy vehicles. The sales of entry-level and high-end models continue to grow, and the overall market presents a dumbbell structure.According to the data of the Federation, from 2019 to 2021, among the sales of pure trams at all levels, the sales of A00, B and C trams continued to increase, while the sales of A trams showed a downward trend.At the same time, the consumption willingness of mid-range new energy vehicles has shown an upward trend. According to the survey data of CBNData and Baidu Marketing, within the price range of 100,000-150,000 and 150,000-200,000 mid-range new energy vehicles, consumers' willingness to buy cars has increased significantly.Fundamentally, the contradiction between technology and cost leads to this mismatch between supply and demand. Because it is difficult to balance the dual needs of "high endurance" and "low price", the market supply of mid-range models is limited.Insight into the potential opportunities in this deficiency, many car brands began to lay out the mid-range market, such as Euler's A0-class model "Good Cat" and BYD's A-class model "Qin PLUS" to meet the market's growing demand for mid-range models.

　　Trend 4: The "intelligent" competition in the new energy automobile industry has intensified.At the beginning of admission, the cost-effective advantage opened up the market competition for many new energy car companies. This cost-effective advantage is not only driven by price, but also lies in the performance revolution and experience revolution brought by technological innovation.In the second half of the competition for new energy vehicles, the industry will further focus on "intelligence" in the two dimensions of products and scenarios.In the patent technology composition of intelligent networked vehicles, the intelligent patent technology represented by intelligent perception and the networked patent technology represented by vehicle networking have developed rapidly in recent years, promoting the product performance upgrade of new energy vehicles.United Technology Company's promotion of the brand's "smart" added value has also become a cross-border mainstream choice for many car companies. Changan Automobile jointly developed the Zebra Zhixing in-vehicle system with Alibaba, while Lantu Automobile cooperated with Baidu Apollo to carry out in-depth cooperation in automobile intelligence.In addition, car companies and platforms also create intelligent scenes through meta-universes and virtual communities to comprehensively enhance the user's sensory experience. Baidu Hirang Universe has launched the LINK&CO Digital Exhibition Hall for automobiles, providing users with a new experience of immersive and interactive car viewing in the virtual exhibition hall.

　　User sideKeywords: her users, younger, sinking marketTrend 5: Women and the younger generation boost the growth of new energy vehicles.In the gender distribution of drivers in China in 2021, although the proportion of women is only 33.68%, its growth rate is 6.67% year-on-year, which is 3.23% higher than that of men. Compared with fuel vehicles, the participation of female users is significantly higher when choosing new energy vehicles.From the age structure, the current owners of new energy vehicles are concentrated in the age of 21-35, while the potential buyers are younger, with 44% concentrated in the age group of 21-30.This group of car owners, mainly the post-90 s and Z generation, has become the main energy to drive the growth of new energy vehicles. Compared with traditional fuel car owners, they are interested in digital technology, metauniverse, animation and other emerging trends, have their own circle culture, and are better at self-expression on social media.

　　Trend 6: The sinking market will become a blue ocean for the growth of new energy vehicles.With the penetration of new energy vehicles in the first-and second-tier markets gradually stabilizing, the sinking market presents new growth opportunities. According to Insight into the Trend of New Energy Vehicles in 2022, in 2020-2021, the sales of pure electric passenger cars in small cities, counties and townships increased significantly.On the other hand, favorable policies for cars going to the countryside have been introduced one after another, further promoting car companies to overweight and sink the market. In the Opinions on Further Releasing Consumption Potential and Promoting the Sustainable Recovery of Consumption issued by the State Council this year, it is explicitly mentioned to encourage qualified areas to support new energy vehicles to the countryside.In order to win the competitive opportunity in the sinking market, brands such as Wuling Automobile and Euler have successively launched low-end models, and added the layout of third-and fourth-tier cities. Among the TOP10 brands that have attracted the most attention in the sinking market, * * *, Wuling Automobile, Lantu, Euler and Tucki rank in the top five.

　　Demand sideKey words: charging improvement, intelligent driving, space entertainment.Trend 7: Charging experience has become an important direction for new energy vehicles.In the purchase decision-making process of new energy vehicles, safety and cruising range have always been the number one consideration for consumers.According to the survey data of CBNData and Baidu Marketing, the charging experience is also an important factor. 63% consumers feel that the infrastructure is not perfect, and the lack of long-distance travel life is the main obstacle for them to buy new energy vehicles.Due to insufficient number of public charging piles, poor adaptability and uneven distribution, the charging experience of new energy vehicles has been criticized for a long time. In order to optimize the charging experience, car brands and related service chains have put forward diversified solutions to solve consumer concerns and release consumer demand.Building differentiated charging scenarios and matching intelligent operation are the core solutions. For example, slow-filling piles are provided in living and living places with a stay of about 8 hours, fast-filling piles are provided in activity places, and over-filling piles are provided in high-speed rest areas and gas stations.Brand names of enterprises such as * * *, Tucki and Weilai have accelerated their layout in improving the charging experience, among which * * * has 1,000 overcharge stations covering more than 360 cities.

　　Trend 8: Intelligent and automatic driving experience and entertaining car space have become the key to compete for potential people.Just like the impact of smart phones on traditional mobile phones, the "intelligent features" of new energy vehicles also show crushing advantages in performance and experience.According to the survey data of CBNData and Baidu Marketing, among the concerns of potential buyers of new energy vehicles, 42% users pay special attention to intelligent functions.Among them, women and young people prefer information auxiliary functions such as lane departure warning and reversing car side warning, while men and young people are more interested in autonomous driving, such as adaptive cruise and automatic braking.

　　As the "second home" of car owners, more and more young people also put forward higher-level demand for car space, calling for car space to become a "mobile entertainment space" that can be enjoyable anytime and anywhere.The demand for in-car entertainment such as in-car games, in-car KTV and in-car TV is constantly emerging, especially among young people aged 18-24, who have a strong voice for these entertainment scenes, which promotes the innovation of in-car experience of car companies and the evolution and upgrading of human-car interaction.

　Marketing sideKeywords: intelligent marketing, AI intelligent marketingTrend 9: Reach for the online planting of grass, diversify the channel content and innovate the form to promote the intelligent development of marketing.With the intergenerational replacement of people and the change of media communication patterns, the decision-making path of consumption has also undergone tremendous changes.For automobile consumption decision-making, it is mainly divided into two stages: the early stage of reaching for grass and the later stage of in-depth understanding. In the early stage of buying a car, people interested in new energy are more likely to be reached by online information, and the experience of planting grass has a very prominent influence on consumption decision.

　According to the survey data of CBNData and Baidu Marketing, 46% of the participants will carry out the link of "generating interest and collecting information" before buying a car. By searching on platforms such as Baidu, their affection for a certain brand or model has greatly increased; 56% pay more attention to "rational consumption", and finally form a purchase decision through the link of "forming a list and comparing configuration".In the specific form of content marketing, consumers have a higher acceptance of online advertising, especially the advertising of new energy vehicles on automobile vertical, social and video platforms. From the perspective of content preference, car functions, driving experience and AI/ technology-related content are more likely to arouse users' interest.

　　In the new scene of AI intelligent marketing, the most out-of-the-box scene is Metauniverse, which has been innovatively applied in the marketing of new energy vehicle enterprises. Baidu marketing has used virtual digital people, digital exhibition halls and other means to empower the marketing innovation of new energy vehicle companies and bring consumers an immersive pioneer experience.

　　With the differentiated advantages of "AI data capability+innovative technology+multi-product matrix", the full-effect growth strategy of Baidu's automobile industry is empowering more and more new energy automobile enterprises, building brand influence, completing the outbreak of sales, realizing the synergy between products and sales in the new era of AI marketing, and opening up a new path for sustainable growth of the new energy automobile industry.

文章来源：CBNData