Smart electric vehicles are still in a period of rapid growth, but this has not allowed the entrepreneurs who started with skateboard chassis to taste the sweetness. “The more we wait for the industry to settle down, the more we will have commercial value.” When Li Peng, the founder and CEO of Yopao Technology, participated in the “China Electric Vehicle 100 People’s Association-Commercial Vehicle Forum” last weekend, he did not feel this situation. Pessimistic, “When the industry is very impetuous, there is a lot of capital, everyone has raised tens of billions, and everyone will develop the whole stack on their own. In fact, we have no chance.”
01
capital cold
The skateboard chassis was first proposed by General Motors in 2002. By introducing wire control technology, the battery, motor, electric control, steering, brake, suspension and other components were integrated on an independent chassis in advance to realize the separation of the body and chassis. Subsequently, internationally renowned automakers and suppliers such as Tesla, Bosch, Schaeffler, and ZF all rushed to do related research and development, but in the end they failed to go into mass production.
Later, with the listing of Rivian and Canoo and the financing of Yopao Technology, the concept of “skateboard chassis” aroused heated discussions in the market again. Especially in 2021, when Rivian, an American pickup electric car start-up company, goes public, the skateboard chassis is the company’s nirvana. up. There are also many domestic companies announcing the layout of skateboard chassis technology. In addition to the power battery giant Ningde Times, start-up companies such as PIX Moving and Gecko Technology, as well as component suppliers such as Tuopu Group, also have layouts. Among them, Yoopao Technology, established in April 2021, released the UP super chassis in early 2022, claiming that it will greatly reduce the threshold for car manufacturing. A car that used to cost 40 billion can be completed with 4 billion.However, the good times didn’t last long. In less than half a year, Rivian, dubbed the “Tesla Killer”, saw its share price drop by more than 80% from its listing high. Similarly, Canoo, an American electric vehicle start-up company, has independently developed a skateboard-style electric vehicle platform, but its production capacity is insufficient, and its stock price is even less promising. It was once rumored that its capital chain was broken and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Naturally, similar domestic companies like Yopao Technology are also inseparable, and have also been looked down upon by the capital market. Everyone knows that starting a business is very difficult, but what puzzles the “Li Pengs” is that even projects that can meet customer needs and prospects are not favored. The research report of Haitong International gave the answer. This is because the OEMs pursue software and hardware interaction and product differentiation, which makes it difficult to standardize the chassis and hinders the promotion of skateboard chassis.
02
commercial test
OEMs are worried that, due to the high degree of system integration, Yoopao Technologies will enter the skateboard chassis as a supplier, which will inevitably involve the core chassis and vehicle development authority of the car company, which may be a difference between the car company and the supplier. The dispute between “soul and body” was triggered.The same is true for changing the chassis. At that time, the OEM will not even be able to protect the “body” such as the chassis. Although the chassis of new energy vehicles today is not as important as it was in the era of fuel vehicles, chassis R&D and tuning capabilities have always been the main selling points of traditional car companies. The vehicle platforms that Chinese people are most familiar with, such as the Volkswagen MQB platform, have gathered countless classic models in the era of fuel vehicles. After that, GM’s Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon platforms, and then Toyota’s TNGA architecture, were followed by global giants. Even in the era of electric vehicles, Volkswagen’s MEB platform and GM’s Autopower platform hope to continue the platform strategy of the era of fuel vehicles. The domestic self-owned brand Geely also spent a lot of effort, spending 18 billion madly, and spent several years developing the vast architecture of the pure electric platform SEA. The models under this architecture will be very extensive, such as Jikrypton 001.To be reasonable, the skateboard chassis is no longer a single piece of hardware, but needs to integrate a series of components such as batteries, motors, electronic controls, and suspensions, and then deliver them to car companies. The “three electric” components involved are all The lifeblood of car companies. At the same time, compared with more cost-intensive projects such as autonomous driving, the chassis has little impact on investment. Car companies that can survive in the market have sufficient product volume and models to absorb the cost of self-developed chassis. Therefore, large-volume car manufacturers must choose to use their own platforms.
It is not difficult to understand why Li Peng is so eager to convince OEMs that in the era of smart electric vehicles, the traditional concept must first be discarded, that is, consumers’ demand for hardware differentiation. “In the era of internal combustion engines, the difference in hardware itself is the most important. Every car factory must make its own hardware well. It is necessary to repeat the wheel and build the car behind closed doors. Like the sound of the engine and the feeling of pushing the back, these hardware are brand cars. The soul of the enterprise,” Li Peng emphasized in an interview with Cheyun.com and other media the day before his speech, “but in the era of smart electric vehicles, the hardware itself is standardized, and users pay less attention to motor and battery suppliers. Standardization has already happened. If every car factory has to develop a full-stack self-developed, how much value will it generate for the entire industry?” He continued to ask, just like in the era of smartphones, except for Huawei’s special reasons, the chips used by everyone They are all owned by Qualcomm, does it affect the differentiation of brand building? not at all. In his mouth, the inevitable result of electrification is the standardization of hardware. Only the standardization of hardware and interfaces can make the differentiation and personalization of software easier. Ultimately, customers must accept standardized solutions.
03
Take the lead in running through China?
Right now, Li Peng has to work hard to promote his own products.
“On March 7 this year, we released the full-wire control UP super chassis to the industry. Due to the decoupling of the upper and lower hardware of the full-wire control, it allows the car factory to separate the chassis from the whole vehicle. This design can shorten the vehicle development cycle.” He said. Introduced during the speech. Li Peng emphasized that the most extreme value of the application of skateboard chassis is to reduce costs and increase efficiency, which mainly comes from two aspects: on the one hand, it can reduce the research and development cost by up to 60%, and shorten the research and development cycle of 6 to 12 months; on the other hand, the skateboard The chassis can also be made into a standard platform, so that the entire industry no longer has to reinvent the wheel, that is, the pre-integration of electrification. Because it is different from the traditional “integrated vehicle development”, the integrated intelligent chassis is developed independently, so that the chassis and body can be decomposed into two separate development units to achieve relatively free matching, thus realizing “freedom of car manufacturing”.
However, these advantages of skateboard chassis are the lifeblood of traditional car companies. Chassis technology, one of the traditional “three major parts”, has always been the core competitiveness of traditional OEMs. Some emphasize handling performance, while others focus on driving comfort… As mentioned above, once this “see The standardized chassis of the third party is handed over to the third party’s “indigenous skills”, and the differentiated competition with the opponent will be greatly reduced. In other words, the technology of the current skateboard chassis is not a problem, but the key is to face the competition for development dominance. Therefore, in the business model of providing skateboard chassis to OEMs, their willingness to cooperate is not strong. This also caused Yoopao to suffer setbacks in the passenger car market. However, Li Peng did not let him back down and turned to commercial vehicles instead. Yoopao’s first model, Super VAN, based on the UP super chassis, will be delivered at the end of this year. This car is a commercial vehicle jointly built by Yoopao and a commercial vehicle brand under a certain car company. It has a load and loading space that is 15% higher than that of the same class, but its dead weight is greatly reduced.
The reason for launching the complete vehicle product, Li Peng explained to the media, including Cheyun.com, is that any company that aspires to be a platform system and operating system must complete the final product form. If it is not completed, there is no way to verify the product. “Just like when Google launched the Android platform, it also released a mobile phone product. Every iteration of the software needs hardware support. The same is true for us. The iteration of the skateboard chassis itself actually needs to be verified by the whole vehicle. The performance is unmatched.” He said, “In addition, customers actually want our products to be as complete as possible, which is the customer’s requirement.” The first product starts with a commercial vehicle, which by no means means that it is only positioned for commercial scenarios. “It’s not just about commercial vehicles. We have even removed the boundaries between commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles within the company. Customer demand in this market is more prosperous. Commercial vehicles have a relatively short cycle and relatively little investment, so they can be the first to land.” He said.Li Peng also firmly believes that the model of the skateboard chassis will definitely be ahead of the United States and take the lead in running well in China. The U.S. skateboard chassis industry took the lead in introducing electrification, bringing hardware standardization, which can be pre-integrated. Unlike American companies, Yoopao’s logic in making skateboard chassis is to pay more attention to intelligent technology while paying attention to electrification. It is not only the pre-integration of electrification, but also the intelligent technology base. “We have enough and good enough customers in China, the world’s largest number of traditional car manufacturers, and the largest number of so-called new forces entering the smart electric vehicle industry. These are potential customers,” he said, “Youpao only On the B side, it provides capabilities to people who want to make cars. The whole business model is “build cars for the scene”, whether it is a car factory, a logistics company, a travel company, or a brand owner. As long as you grasp a specific scene to build It’s possible to win. So, I think it’s easier for China to get through.”
epilogue
Indeed, there are still many controversies about the business model of skateboard chassis, and it is still a niche professional track at the moment, and can only serve small batches and customized models. It is not seen by traditional car companies, and the applicable models and business scenarios are also limited.
In particular, it cannot be ignored that major traditional car companies and Tier 1 are developing skateboard chassis, which poses considerable technical and commercial challenges to skateboard chassis start-ups. In the face of more powerful competitors, Yoopo may not be able to go far with only “commercial vehicles” walking on one leg. It is more important to expand application scenarios and find key benchmark customers, which is also the basis for survival.
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