New energy vehicles revolutionize the countryside, and villagers favor extended-range vehicles

During the Spring Festival holiday of family reunion and car water, the reporter visited some villages and learned that new energy vehicles are setting off a wave of going to the countryside.

  Some analysts say that with the upgrading of rural power grids, the layout of power supply facilities such as charging piles, charging stations, and replacement stations will continue to improve, providing strong support for new energy automobile companies to cultivate the vast rural market.

(File picture)

  The new energy bus is running

  On the eve of the Spring Festival, people who work outside the country take the high-speed rail to return to their hometowns one after another. After getting off at the high-speed rail station, they also have to take rural buses to return home. In the past, due to the high operating costs of fuel buses, the number of rural buses was small, the number of shifts was small and the waiting time was long. Now, thanks to the low cost and convenience of new energy buses, the number of rural buses has increased significantly.

  In Guoyang County, Anhui Province, new energy buses have replaced fuel buses and become a new era "Huimin bus" for going to the countryside; in Pingchuan, Gansu Province, taking rural new energy buses can be paid by Alipay and WeChat; in Dezhou City, Shandong Province, the bus station of new energy buses has opened charging piles to provide shared services for social vehicles; in Pingnan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the arrival of new energy buses has ended the history of rural bus fares rising every festival; in Bazhong City, Sichuan Province, the large space and clever design of new energy buses have amicably accommodated all kinds of agricultural materials and agricultural products, making them a must for local farmers to go to the market; and Pingjiang County, Hunan Province is not only an agricultural county, but also a large county for migrant workers. Economic, environmentally friendly and convenient new energy buses have become convenient for people to go to the market and work Car.

  Wang Nianxiang, general manager of Hunan Pingjiang Huateng Jialu Highway Passenger Transport Co., Ltd., one of the rural public transport companies in Hunan, calculated an account for the Securities Daily reporter: "If it is a fuel bus, the fare will rise by at least 30% on the basis of the existing price to achieve break-even. After we adopt new energy buses, the operating cost per kilometer will be reduced by 50%. Not only will there be room for lowering fares, but it will bring benefits to the rural people and convenience to rural tourists. It will also provide relief services for the elderly, the disabled, veterans and school-age children. We plan to replace all existing fuel buses with new energy buses, and increase the operating frequency to facilitate the travel of rural people."

  CRRC Era Electric Vehicle Joint Stock Company (hereinafter referred to as "CRRC Electric"), as one of the enterprises producing new energy buses, relies on the technology accumulated by CRRC in the field of electric systems to develop a variety of new energy buses suitable for rural roads and traffic conditions. These buses are not only used in suburban and rural areas, but also exported overseas, and have been widely praised.

  Huang Guiyuan, senior marketing manager of CRRC Electric, told reporters: "The mandatory scrapping of fuel buses is generally 6 to 8 years. At present, fuel buses operating on rural roads in various places have entered the mandatory scrapping period one after another. It is expected that the peak period for scrapping fuel buses and purchasing new energy buses will come in 2026. On the one hand, we will pay close attention to the sales work in the rural market, strive for financial subsidies, bank loans, implement after-sales leaseback, and lower the threshold for purchasing cars. On the other hand, we will pay close attention to the development of new models, increase the capacity of the car body, and facilitate the rural people to carry a large number of living materials and large agricultural materials. At the same time, we will actively explore the needs of rural garbage recycling, school and family round trips, and rural scenic spots.

  In addition to CRRC Electric, BYD, Ningde Times, Jinlong Bus, and Yutong Bus have also expressed concern about the potential huge demand for rural public transportation and the replacement cycle of fuel buses. They have launched corresponding models of vehicles and supporting charging and replacement devices, which can be quickly deployed and provide a package of solutions.

  Extended-range cars are popular

  New energy buses to the countryside bring welcome changes to the rural public transportation system. And new energy cars to the countryside bring more convenience and benefits to villagers.

  On the fifth day of the new year, in the Zhipeng New Energy Vehicle 4S store in Changsha County, Hunan Province, Chery, Great Wall, BYD, Wenjie and other new energy cars were laid out, welcoming many villagers to visit and purchase.

  Guan Leyi, a car salesperson at the store, told reporters: "We have replacement subsidies, interest-free car purchases, and door-to-door after-sales services. It is expected that the sales of new energy cars will be better this year, especially the number of car viewing visitors for extended-range cars has increased satisfactorily. On the fifth day of the new year alone, I received more than 30 calls from potential customers for inquiries."

  On February 8, the statistics released by the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Committee may support the above trend. In January this year, the overall sales trend of new energy passenger vehicles was strong, and the performance of extended-range vehicles represented by brands such as Cyrus, Li Auto, Changan Automobile, and Zero Run Car was particularly eye-catching. In January, there were 91,000 wholesale extended-range vehicles in the country, an increase of 262% year-on-year. Extended-range vehicles have accounted for 13% of the total wholesale of electric vehicles in the country, a significant increase of 7 percentage points over the same period last year.

  Why are extended-range cars favored by villagers? Some car buyers told reporters that compared with other new energy cars, the main advantage of extended-range cars is the fuel generator system, which breaks the anxiety of battery life. In rural areas where charging piles are scarce, power grid voltage is unstable, and susceptible to low-temperature ice and snow interference, mainstream extended-range cars on the market have better battery life than pure electric cars. They can run 600 kilometers on a single charge, which is lower than the operating cost of pure fuel vehicles. The operating cost per kilometer is only 0.3 yuan.

  Infrastructure needs to be strengthened

  In addition to range-extending cars, cost-effective pure electric cars have also been well received by villagers. SAIC-GM-Wuling internal research data show that our country’s fourth-tier cities and rural areas are becoming the focus of pure electric cars. The company’s newly launched pure electric car Macaron third generation achieved good results in monthly sales of nearly 30,000 units, of which 40% of the sales contribution came from fourth-tier cities and rural areas.

  Why can SAIC-GM Wuling pure electric cars achieve such good results in the rural market? Zhang Yiqin, director of SAIC-GM Wuling User Online Center, analyzed the reasons for this to reporters: "The country has vigorously promoted’village access’, and the road hardening into the village has been put into place, achieving’road access’, which has opened a window for the consumption upgrade of rural cars. Our models are priced at about 30,000 yuan, with strong power and spacious bodies. They can just replace’old man music ‘, miscellaneous cars, obsolete cars, and fuel-powered motorcycles. They not only meet the consumption upgrade needs of villagers, but also cover the 20-kilometer centralized commuting range between the county and the countryside, achieving’car is not expensive’. Our service outlets have sunk to the first-level market in the county seat, and one-stop services such as car purchase and registration, maintenance insurance, replacement evaluation, and mortgage subsidies are in place, achieving’affordable ‘. We also designed a household charging head, which is convenient for household sockets to charge, and there is no need to install additional charging piles, achieving’convenient charging’. "

  Valin Cable, Jinbei Electric, TBEA, Keliyuan and other listed companies said in an interview with reporters that they have paid attention to the business opportunities contained in the boom of new energy vehicles going to the countryside. Among them, Valin Cable and Jinbei Electric’s products can be used to increase the capacity of rural power grid lines, TBEA small transformers can be used to improve the quality and efficiency of rural power grid transmission and transformation, and Keliyuan can quickly deploy advanced energy storage devices and shared charging piles. The above companies all said that they will jointly help new energy vehicles run smoothly on the avenue of rural revitalization.

  Professor Cao Erbao, deputy dean of the School of Economics and Trade at Hunan University, suggested: "New energy vehicles represented by new energy buses and cars go to the countryside, bringing new variables to invigorate the rural economy, and also bringing new markets to domestic new energy vehicle companies. At present, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the rural market is relatively low, mainly due to the shortage and backwardness of charging facilities. If we can speed up the construction of charging piles and the quality improvement and transformation of supporting rural power grids, and gather the central and local finances to provide a more complete power supply foundation, I believe that the huge enthusiasm for consumption in the rural market will be released." (Reporter, Xiao Wei)