The European energy crisis affects the electric vehicle field! Tesla Announces:Overcharging Stations Will Raise Prices in Europe
2022-09-22 07:52:46 21st Century Business Herald
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The European energy crisis affects the electric vehicle field! Tesla Announces: Overcharging Stations Will Raise Prices
The energy crisis in Europe has spilled over to the electric vehicle sector.
According to news on September 19, Tesla sent an email to European car owners saying that due to rising energy prices, it is adjusting the price of Supercharger (Supercharger) in Europe.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Passenger Federation, told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter: "Due to the energy crisis, the European market is currently showing a serious situation of high electricity prices, which is further transmitted to the public charging field."
According to data from Nord Pool, a pan-European power exchange, at 18:30 on September 21, the average price of the European power system was 249 euros/MWh, down significantly from 400 euros/MWh in mid-to-late August, but compared with the same period last year. Compared with the price of 101 euros/MWh, the year-on-year increase is still 146%. At present, the electricity delivery price in France and Germany is still hovering around the high level of 380 euros/MWh.
The European Union is making great efforts to promote the process of electric vehicles. In June, the European Parliament voted in favour of the European Commission's legislative proposal to ban the sale of new combustion vehicles (passenger cars and light commercial vehicles) from 2035. Will the current energy crisis stand in the way of the EU's ambitious electric vehicle transition?
Charging station price hike
With the intensification of the energy crisis, the electric vehicle sector in Europe is being dragged down.
Tesla recently sent a price increase notice to European car owners, saying that "due to rising energy prices, we are adjusting the price of super charging stations". It is reported that the price of each supercharging station is different. On average, the price has increased by 0.12 euros/kWh. After this price increase, the price of most supercharging stations in Europe will be more than 0.6 euros/kWh. It should be noted that Tesla’s price increase this time only includes super charging stations, and does not affect household charging piles that are used more frequently.
In addition to Tesla, other public charging stations in Europe have also seen price increases. British electric vehicle charging company Osprey also previously announced that from July 25, the company's charging price will rise to 66p/kWh. Osprey explained that the price the company pays for electricity supply has tripled this year, and price adjustments are necessary to safeguard operations amid rising costs.
"We are aware that this is a difficult time, and we are now actively lobbying the government with our public charging counterparts to reduce the VAT rate on public charging from 20% to 5%," Osprey said.
In this energy crisis, the price transmission mechanism of natural gas-electricity-consumption side in Europe is actually affecting consumers.
From the perspective of natural gas-electricity, the price of electricity in Europe is basically determined by the price of gas due to the marginal cost pricing mechanism. Lin Boqiang, Dean of the China Energy Policy Research Institute of Xiamen University, explained to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, "Europe has a high degree of marketization of electricity, and it mainly adopts marginal cost pricing, that is, in the spot market, the transaction price is settled at the marginal electricity price, and when the marginal When the cost is high, the price of electricity is also higher, and natural gas, as the usual marginal supplier of electricity, basically determines the price of electricity.”
European gas and electricity prices have fallen recently, but they are still at historically high levels. As of press time, the October futures price of TTF natural gas in the Netherlands, the “wind vane of natural gas prices” in Europe, was quoted at 200 euros/MWh, a sharp drop from the previously broken 300 euro mark, but still a price increase of nearly 5 times compared with the same period last year. In terms of electricity prices, the delivery price of electricity in France and Germany was quoted at 380 euros/MWh, and the UK was quoted at 245 euros/MWh. The prices in these countries were only around 150 euros/MWh in the same period last year. After the electricity price rises, the cost pressure of charging station operators as downstream enterprises increases, and the price increase has also become a countermeasure for some charging station enterprises.
Is the cost advantage fading?
With the rise of electricity prices, is the cost advantage of electric vehicles in Europe weakening?
An investor in the asset management industry told 21st Century Business Herald: "First of all, Tesla's price increase mainly affects public charging piles. Overall, most of the demand for public charging networks comes from operating vehicles and commercial vehicles. The cost of home charging piles, which are more commonly used by individual consumers, is significantly lower than that of commercial charging piles, and for them, the cost advantage is still there.”
Secondly, from the perspective of the oil-electricity price difference, the increase in the charging price cannot be concluded that the oil-electricity price difference has been "smoothed out". Analyst Li Peipei told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, "Fuel vehicles need to take into account the vehicle's displacement and fuel consumption, and electric vehicles also need to consider whether it is peak, flat or trough electricity, because the difference in electricity prices is still very large in different time periods. of."
But at the same time, Cui Dongshu also reminded: "The biggest core of the development of new energy vehicles is electrification, and the core of electrification is the price difference between oil and electricity. In the case of high electricity prices in Europe and low (international) oil prices, European consumers' There may be a decline in the desire to buy electric vehicles.”
For charging operators, in the face of rising cost pressures, are there any other countermeasures besides price increases? Some analysts believe that Tesla may increase its investment in solar energy and supercharger energy storage in the future to help control energy costs and ultimately control the price of superchargers. An insider told 21 reporter: "Tesla, as a high-end manufacturing industry, is involved in solar energy and charging pile energy storage, which will be biased towards investment in energy infrastructure. It is expected that the initial investment will be high. Energy infrastructure is an asset-heavy investment. In the short term, assets The rate of return is low, and the actual investment remains to be examined.”
"However, for consumers, the positive significance of super charging pile energy storage is indeed obvious." The industry insider said. It is worth mentioning that there have also been new developments in European energy storage charging stations recently. It is reported that Atlante Co, a subsidiary of Taiwan Cement subsidiary NHOA, is responsible for the development of electric vehicle fast charging infrastructure. 215 fast charging stations for electric vehicles will be built in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. The charging stations use 100% green electricity and combined with energy storage to provide more than 1,400 fast charging parking spaces.
Another question is, will there be a similar “rising price of electric vehicle charging” in my country? Cui Dongshu believes that "the stability of China's entire power system represented by coal power and the self-sufficiency of coal determine the stability of electricity prices for electric vehicles in China and promote the development of electric vehicles in China."
Su Wenjie, manager of Harvest Resources Select Fund, also believes that from the supply of charging pile infrastructure to China's energy prices, it is expected that China's electricity prices and charging costs will remain stable as a whole. He pointed out: "In 2021, the number of charging infrastructure in my country will reach 2.617 million units, a year-on-year increase of 70.1%. In addition, my country has also made it clear that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, a moderately advanced, well-balanced, intelligent and efficient charging infrastructure system will be formed. , able to meet the charging demand of more than 20 million electric vehicles. The stability of the supply side will help the price to stabilize.”
The EU's electric car 'ambition'
Electric vehicles are also an important part of Europe's drive towards green goals.
In June this year, the European Parliament cast a key support vote for the European Commission's legislative proposal to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles from 2035, including hybrid models. This means that after 2035, in the field of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, pure electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will cover the EU car market.
Judging from today's data, the market share of electric vehicles in Europe is not very high. According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), pure electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for just 9.1% of total new passenger vehicle registrations in the EU last year.
On this basis, to achieve the complete withdrawal of fuel vehicles by 2035, is the EU too aggressive? Li Chao, assistant director of the European Institute of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter: "I personally think that the EU's plan is obviously too radical, not only in terms of electric vehicles, but also in the EU's entire green transition, carbon neutrality and other goals. There is no room to deal with geopolitical changes.” He believes that many EU countries represented by Germany have a major advantage in the field of traditional fuel vehicles. If they give up fuel vehicles too quickly, it will definitely hurt the corresponding companies and even the country. Competitiveness impacts.
Moreover, whether the EU can meet the rising electricity demand is also questioned. A researcher at market research firm Cornwall Insight has warned: "Electric vehicles are critical to reducing emissions to achieve net zero. However, the extent to which the technology will impact the power system should not be underestimated."
Regardless of the intensity of the transformation, according to the experts interviewed, abandoning fuel vehicles and moving towards net-zero emissions will be a firm goal for Europe. "If the energy transition can make significant progress, even if the resistance is not small, electric vehicles will still be the main trend in the transformation of the European auto industry." Li Chao said. Lin Boqiang believes that "the high price of traditional energy today is actually conducive to the development of new energy and the early withdrawal of fuel vehicles."
It is worth mentioning that Tesla is also seeking a larger European market share. Taking Germany as an example, in 2021, Tesla will sell more than 39,000 vehicles in Germany in 2021. Recently, a Tesla executive revealed that Tesla's goal this year is to double its car sales in Germany to 80,000.
