Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

The latest customs data released by the General Administration of Customs shows that a total of 1.49 million vehicles were exported from January to April, a year-on-year increase of 76.5%. Customs data shows that among them, 514000 electric vehicles were exported, with a promising increase. At the same time, this has also driven the growth of overseas demand for Charging station, and China's charging equipment is expected to become an important part of China's export trade.

Overseas charging equipment gap brings export opportunities

According to customs data, in 2022, global sales of new energy vehicles reached 10.824 million units, a year-on-year increase of 61.6%. With the rapid growth of production and sales of new energy vehicles, the demand for charging infrastructure is also growing rapidly, which provides opportunities for the export of charging equipment in China. It is understood that in 2022, the overseas demand for Charging station on Alibaba International Station will increase by 245%, and the foreign trade export has maintained a rapid growth for three consecutive years.

According to the customs data, the demand for Charging station on Alibaba International Station is mainly from the European and American markets, among which the UK, Germany, Ireland, the United States and New Zealand are the top five countries in the search for Charging station. According to customs data, in the first week of March of this year's peak foreign trade season, the overseas demand for Charging station at Ali International Station increased by 218% year on year, continuing the high growth of the past year. For this reason, Ali International Station has set up a special area for Charging station for the first time, and 295 domestic Charging station enterprises have collectively settled in.

At this year's Canton Fair, new energy vehicles and Charging station have also become an important part of attracting foreign investors. While the number of Charging station has increased, many new products have also appeared, such as GAC's new A480 overcharge pile, Xiaopeng, Ideals and Huawei's 800V overcharge pile technology, which comprehensively demonstrated China's latest charging technology and products to Chinese and foreign customers.

China Merchants Securities pointed out that under policy subsidies in 2023, the construction of charging stations in the European and American markets has entered an acceleration period. After years of rapid development, the domestic Charging station industry has now formed a complete supply chain, with strong competitive advantages in modules and the whole pile, and some enterprises have passed the certification of European and American standards. With the high growth of overseas orders in 2023, the Charging station sector is expected to replicate the market of the energy storage sector in 2022.

The research institute predicts that the market size of new energy vehicle Charging station in Europe will increase from 5 billion euros in 2021 to 15 billion euros in the next 10 years. President of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (EMA) David de Mayo once said that the installation progress of electric vehicle Charging station in EU member states was "far from enough". To support the transformation of the automobile industry to electrification, 14000 Charging station need to be added every week, while only 2000 charging piles are actually installed at this stage. According to the plan, by 2030, the proportion of electric vehicles in new car sales in the United States will reach at least 50%, and 500000 Charging station will be equipped. To this end, the US government plans to invest $7.5 billion in the field of electric vehicle charging facilities. It is worth noting that the current penetration rate of electric vehicles in the United States is less than 10%, and the vast market growth space provides a development opportunity for domestic charging equipment exports.

Tong Zongqi, Deputy Secretary General of the Charging and Exchange Branch of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and Deputy Secretary General of the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance, stated in an interview with China Automotive News that in the past two years, many charging equipment companies in China have been exporting to overseas markets such as Europe, America, and Southeast Asia. This is mainly due to the rapid growth of the overseas new energy vehicle market, which has driven the demand for charging infrastructure growth. As countries accelerate the promotion of new energy vehicle markets, the demand for charging infrastructure is also increasing. The rapid development of new energy vehicle markets in countries and regions such as Europe, America, Southeast Asia, and India has also driven the growth of charging facility demand. These countries and regions have become the main markets for China's charging equipment exports.

China's charging equipment has advantages in developing overseas markets with good quality and low cost

Chinese charging equipment enterprises have strong manufacturing and supply chain management capabilities, low cost and good quality of charging equipment, and have significant advantages when exporting overseas. Compared to domestic markets, overseas markets also bring higher profits to related enterprises, which has led many enterprises to strengthen their overseas market layout and build overseas sales networks.

Chinese charging equipment has certain advantages in terms of technology and products, which can adapt to the different needs of different overseas markets and provide various products. Tong Zongqi said that the certification of overseas standards such as European and American standards is not too difficult in terms of technology. Therefore, many Chinese equipment companies are also developing and producing European and American standard products to better expand overseas markets. At the same time, the export of new energy vehicles in China also needs to meet the charging needs of consumers overseas, which also requires the cooperation of charging equipment manufacturers to export together, which has to some extent driven the export of charging equipment in China.

According to the person in charge of Shuangjie's overseas business, in 2019, Shuangjie's Charging station business was exported to the Saudi Arabian market for the first time. Since then, it has continuously expanded its export scope. At present, it has realized the export of Charging station in India, Indonesia, Singapore, Germany and other overseas markets. In 2022, the overseas market sales reached 100 million yuan. It is expected that there will be a great increase this year. According to Wang Kunpeng, Vice President and General Manager of the Brand Center of TEDA, TEDA is also developing overseas markets and utilizing its overseas partners to export to markets such as Russia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Faced with fierce domestic market competition, more charging equipment manufacturers are starting to explore new blue oceans in overseas markets.

To continuously enhance competitiveness

Although there is a strong demand for charging equipment in overseas markets and Chinese equipment also has a strong competitive advantage, the export of Chinese charging equipment is not without worries. In addition to the need for standard coordination and service network support, there are also other challenges to be faced. The Infrastructure Act recently released by the US government requires that subsidized Charging station be produced locally and the document takes effect immediately. At the same time, relevant enterprises must adopt the main charging connector standard in the United States, which is the "Joint Charging System". The policy constraints of export destinations have brought certain challenges to China's export of charging equipment. However, in the face of new policy challenges in the United States, relevant companies have also made predictions.

Relevant personnel of Shenzhen Daotong Technology Co., Ltd. said that at present, its orders for Charging station in the North American market are mainly from local commercial customers, and government subsidies account for a small proportion. When setting sales targets for 2023, the impact of the US New Deal has been taken into account, so its impact on the company is relatively small. However, in the long run, policy restrictions will gradually become stricter, especially with regards to requirements for domestic manufacturing in the United States. It is understood that Daotong Technology has planned to build a factory in the United States, and the new factory is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2023. The project is currently progressing smoothly. There are also Charging station equipment enterprises. In order to better develop overseas markets, they have moved their headquarters to Europe and other places, so as to layout the global Charging station market and deal with international trade barriers.

In Tong Zongqi's view, the export of charging equipment will also face some challenges in the international trade market, just like Chinese products such as new energy vehicles and power batteries. This requires enterprises to make predictions and make plans based on their own characteristics and different requirements of the target market. "China's charging equipment exports need to continue to reduce costs and increase efficiency, continuously improve the competitiveness of their own products, in order to continue expanding overseas markets," said Tong Zongqi.

It should be noted that as a charging device closely related to the use of new energy vehicles, compatibility with the vehicle model is very important. Although there is no great barrier to the versatility of the Charging station, in different markets and for different models, in order to fully meet the charging needs of various models, the Charging station needs manufacturers to do a good job of adaptation to improve the convenience of consumers. It is understood that software affects the development of charging equipment overseas to a certain extent. In different overseas markets, manufacturers need to meet the needs of users in terms of payment security, information security, vehicle charging security and experience improvement according to local requirements. (Translated from: China Automotive News - Reporter Wang Jinyu)