Lithium-electric "veterans" initiated a battle to reshape the status of the industry to enter Germany

The power battery giant Ningde era is about to go public. The lithium-electric "veteran", Tianjin Lishen, who was once on the frontline camp, also launched a tough battle to reshape the industry's status.

On April 23, some domestic media sources said that the Chinese battery maker Tianjin Lishen Co., Ltd. plans to open a sales office in Germany, while the company is negotiating with local automakers including Volkswagen and Daimler to provide batteries for the electric vehicles of the above-mentioned automakers.

In order to confirm the news, the Times Weekly reporter contacted a number of senior and middle-level executives in Tianjin, and no reply was received as of the date of release. However, according to previous media sources, Tianjin's new office in Germany will be located near Wolfsburg, where Volkswagen's headquarters is located, and sources close to Volkswagen also revealed that Volkswagen is conducting in-depth negotiations with Tianjin's Lishen. However, no final agreement has yet been signed.

Under the background that European countries have vigorously developed new energy power batteries, due to the lack of local battery manufacturers in Europe, this market has become a market for power battery companies such as China, Japan, and South Korea. It can be seen that Tianjin Lishen, which intends to set up a sales office in Germany, also aims at this market opportunity.

But unlike in the era of Ningde, which already has a first-mover advantage in the European market, insiders believe that Tianjin's move into Germany has a more multilayered meaning for boosting its performance and reshaping its position.

Merko, the chief analyst of real lithium research, said to reporters: "I'm glad to see that God has ambitions again. Lishen is the earliest established lithium-ion battery company in China. It is the Huangpu special Academy of Lithium-electric power in China. It is very profound. As long as the institutional mechanism is straightened out, Lishen has the conditions and ability to do well. "

Entered Germany to boost performance

In the past month or so, the news that domestic power battery manufacturers have won international singles has continued to spread, and the first crab to eat is currently in the era of Ningde in the A-share IPO "Lightning".

On March 13, Volkswagen Group CEO Mullen revealed at the Group's annual meeting that as of now, Volkswagen's battery purchase orders for cooperation between Europe and China have reached 20 billion euros, and the company's first Chinese battery partner is Ningde era; In addition, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz Daimler also stated that Daimler has signed a contract with the Ningde era. In the future, Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles will use Chinese electric cores in China and the world.

It is reported that in the automotive industry into the new energy vehicle R&D and manufacturing competition, including Volkswagen, Daimler, and other multinational car manufacturers are vigorously promoting the transformation of the power car industry. Among them, Volkswagen Group launched the "RoadmapE" electric strategy in 2017. The strategy plans to produce 3 million electric vehicles per year by 2025 and launch 80 new electric models. At present, Daimler, which is zero in new energy car points, is also working with new and old partners in China to jointly promote the layout of the new energy car industry and has announced the investment and construction of battery plants in Thailand and China.

The expansion of the above two major automotive companies in terms of power vehicles directly brought about a significant increase in upstream power battery demand. According to the Volkswagen group's previously announced global tender for batteries, its order is worth as much as 50 billion euros. In addition, the German automotive industry plans to invest 40 billion euros in electric vehicle research and development by 2020, according to a statement released by the German Automobile Industry Federation.

Under the prevailing situation of overcapacity of domestic power battery companies, the European market of 10 billion euros is undoubtedly an attractive cake, but compared with the Ningde era where the momentum of development is fierce and successful in cutting into this market, Once ranked first in the industry, Tianjin Lishen faced a decline in the status and performance of the industry.

It is understood that as a veteran state-owned enterprise in the domestic lithium industry, Tianjin Lishen ranked third in the domestic power battery shipping rankings after BYD and Ningde era with about 1.2 GWh of shipments in 2015. However, by 2017, Tianjin's Lishen's ranking has fallen to sixth place, while Wotema, Guoxian Gaoke, Bic Power and other backward companies have caught up.

What is even more serious is that on the one hand, Tianjin Lishen's 2017 performance shows that its total operating income in 2017 was reduced by nearly 100 million yuan from 2016, and net profit was a significant loss: from 2016's profit of 28.3 billion yuan to a loss of 348 million yuan; On the other hand, the market share of the industry has further gathered to the leading companies. Among them, the market share of the Ningde era has risen from 30 % in 2017 to more than half of the most recently announced March installed capacity.

When the situation in the industry shifted from "two-handed squeeze" to a single major, the heightened crisis of shuffling prompted many companies, including Tianjin Lishen, to seek changes. Moke, chief analyst of real lithium research, said that if Tianjin could seize the opportunity, it would do much to boost its morale and confidence in the company's development.

Adjusted and set off

In fact, checking the power battery customers of Tianjin Lishen shows that it mainly supplies domestic or Sino-foreign joint venture brands such as Dongfeng, FAW, Beiqi, SAIC, Wuzhou Long, Chang 'an, Geely, etc., and it still needs to be expanded in terms of international car company customers. If the negotiation with Volkswagen or Daimler is successful this time, it will become a real step for Tianjin Lishen directly to the international market.

Moko said to the Times Weekly reporter: "I am glad to see that God has ambitions again. Lishen is the earliest established lithium-ion battery company in China and the Huangpu special Academy of lithium-electric power in China. It is very profound. It is not sure how likely it is to talk about these two customers, but it is certainly there. As long as the institutional mechanism is straightened out, Lishen has the ability to do it well. "

According to an industry analyst who did not want to be named, the main factors behind Tianjin's poor performance in the past two years are its internal decision-making, poor incentive mechanisms, and serious brain drain. "The company's operations are not efficient. It is very fatal for the ever-changing lithium power industry. "

However, judging from the adjustment measures of Tianjin Lishen and its shareholder company since 2017, it has begun to realize these problems and launched a series of direct flights.

According to Zhou Chunlin, chairman of Tianjin Lishen Shareholders Co., Ltd., Zhou Chunlin, released in March, “The second economic growth pole of the Group’s power generation company”, the company’s organizational structure will be adjusted to create “four 1+N” basic business entity architecture, and in the two core business segments of military power supply and power battery, the division of force products is divided into military business and civilian battery business, in which military business is injected into the listing platform.

According to the market developments disclosed by the Lishen Department in the past year, March 26, 20.18 million, * in the major asset reorganization plan announced by ST Jialing, As the trading parties, China Electric Power God and Tianjin Lishen are the targets of the space power supply and Lishen Power's equity in their special power business and are sold to * ST Jialing. This also means that while * ST Jialing completed the business transformation through this reorganization, the adjustment of the Lishen Department also completed one of the steps.

In addition, as Zhouchunlin emphasized in the above article, the company's adjustment is to deepen the group's strategic layout in the new energy industry, and Tianjin Lishen, which is positioned as a highly lithium-ion supplier, has also increased the power in addition to the consumer electronics business. Battery business layout, the company's production capacity has gradually expanded.

According to statistics, in May 2017, Lishen's 2 billion WH power battery base in Qingdao was started. In July, Lishen's total investment was 2.1 billion yuan. The 21700 power battery project with an annual output of 4Gw was put into production first, and the first domestic 21700 product was launched. Custom production line; In November, with the completion of the new automation plant (six phases) in Tianjin, the annual production capacity of Lishen reached 10 billion watts. According to previous media reports, Tianjin Lishen expects its production capacity to reach 20 billion watts/year in 2020 and its production capacity to reach 50 billion watts/year in 2025.

However, whether the new opportunities for the development of the power battery industry can help Tianjin Lishen to reshape the industry status is yet to be tested by the market. It is understood that with the expansion of the power battery business in Tianjin, the company's debt ratio and other financial data have also fluctuated.

What's more, it's worth noting that the industry analyst, who didn't want to be named, said that while Tianjin was looking at the world, it was still a representative Chinese company in terms of battery technology and manufacturing capabilities, but in the European market. Tianjin also faces strong rivals from Japan and South Korea.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.