Three times compensation, the dispute over the new energy battery leader

On July 21, 2021, the Ningde Times announced that it would prosecute the patent infringement of China Innovation Airlines in the court. The patent involved in the case, the patent of the patent, the bodies, and the explosion -proof device were claimed to China Innovation Airlines 185 million yuan.

In less than a year, when China Innovation Airlines released a 2021 financial report and submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Ningde Times increased the claims to three times, and increased significantly from 185 million yuan to 510 million yuan.

During the Ningde era, the lion was suddenly open, which was inseparable from the IPO of the innovation of the innovation in the short term. From the perspective of long -term interests, this may also mean that the shipments of the huge product shipments of China Innovation Airlines have effectively affected the interests of the Ningde era. The increase in the war of lithium battery head enterprises may bring a threat to each other, and it may also bring the glory and damage of the entire industry.

Fuel exit, battery upgrade

At the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ningde Times, Ni Jun has claimed that from the perspective of new energy vehicle planning issued by major countries and governments around the world, in 2030, at the latest to 2035, there will be no more markets in the market. Fuel vehicle sales.

Data from the Federation of Federation also supports this offering. In the first quarter, domestic new energy vehicles sales were 1.07 million, an increase of 146.6%year -on -year, while traditional fuel vehicles were sold of 3.845 million units, a year -on -year decrease of 18.4%. In the context of the decline in the sales of fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles have grown strongly, and the predictions of Ningde Times are not accurate.

The era of electric vehicles has arrived. Whether it is the "Carbon Peak Action Plan before 2030" launched by the State Council, or in early April, BYD announced that the production of fuel cars will be stopped. Hybrid vehicle business.

As an energy storage device, power batteries can be called the most important part of electric vehicles, which is equivalent to the status of the heart to the human body. Among the cost of electric vehicles, it can account for as high as 30-40%.

The future growth rate of the power battery industry depends on the growth rate of the downstream new energy vehicle industry. The sales volume of domestic new energy vehicles has maintained a high -speed growth since 2020, which provides vast possible space for new energy battery manufacturers.

It is not difficult to see from the annual report data that the profitability of new energy battery vendors rises with the penetration rate of new energy vehicles. China Innovation Airlines' revenue last year was 6.8 billion yuan, which was 2.4 times in 2020 and net profit was 110 million yuan. In 2019 and 2020, it was still in a loss of losses, with losses of 156 million yuan and 118 million yuan, respectively.

The performance of the industry boss Ningde Times was even more proud. It achieved operating income of 130.356 billion yuan in 2021, with a growth rate of 159.06 %; the net profit of home mother was 15.931 billion yuan, and the growth rate reached 185.34 %. Show double -profit growth.

However, the Ningde era was not worry-free. From January to April this year, the domestic power battery installation volume in the Ningde era still ranked first, but the market share fell by 3%compared to the same period last year; and China Innovation Airlines was installed in 2021. The proportion is 5.9%, and this number from January to April this year rose to 7.89%.

The overall development momentum of the downstream new energy vehicle industry has made the development of battery manufacturers smoothly, and the market share of batteries fluctuates sharply.

It can be said that it is the importance of car companies to the diversified supply of power batteries that more and more emerging battery companies have the opportunity to rise rapidly. The leading status of the Ningde era is always challenged.

Ningde Shouxun, AVIC attack

The rapid development of the industry has brought about the increasingly fierce market competition pattern. The Ningde Times has become more difficult to hold the leading position. The most arduous is the struggle with AVIC innovation.

From the perspective of competitive status, China Innovation Airlines, which was established in 2007, mainly produced lithium iron phosphate batteries in the early years. Customers are mostly new energy passenger car companies. The sales volume and income scale are very limited. However, after 2015, China Innovation Airlines began to increase the ternary lithium battery and new energy passenger car market, and thus developed a stronger competitive relationship with the Ningde Times.

In 2021, China Innovation Airlines ranked second in the Sanyuan Lithium Battery Market Industry, and was the largest competitor in the Ningde era.

From the perspective of the customer group, the prospectus shows that from 2019 to 2021, China Innovation Airlines obtained the total income from the largest customer GAC Euan's revenue, respectively, 39.6%, 55.1%and 51.9%, respectively. In 2019, China Innovation Airlines replaced the Ningde era and became the largest supplier of GAC passenger vehicle power batteries. In 2021, China Innovation Airlines supporting GAC Ean's installed capacity accounted for 65%of the total shipments, far exceeding the Ningde era.

Among the new vehicles, as of 2022, customers of China Innovation Airlines have included first -line car companies such as GAC, Changan, Geely, and Dongfeng, which is highly re -reunited with the customer base of Ningde.

From the perspective of the profit model, in the past three years, the rapid development of China Innovation Airlines has benefited from a low -cost strategy of small profit -making sales to a certain extent. This low -cost strategy has objectively weakened the market competitiveness of Ningde Times products, forcing the Ningde Times to reduce prices and sales, making a certain gross profit margin.

Annual report data shows that the unit price of innovation air batteries in mid-2019-2021 is 0.87 yuan /WH, 0.64 yuan/WH and 0.65 yuan/WH; in the first half of 2019-2021, the unit price 0.89 yuan/Wh and 0.79 yuan/wh, even if consciously reduced the unit price, Ningde Times was still forced to retreat by Zhongchuang Nun Air in the battery sales price. It is more critical to promote Ningde Times to treat China innovation as a rival. From the perspective of capacity, the threat of China Innovation Airlines to Ningde Times is not only in front of it.

As of the end of 2021, the production capacity of Ningde Times was about 220GWH-240 GWh, and the capacity of China Innovation was only 11.9GWh. However, in 2025, the production capacity of Ningde Times was planned to be 670GWh, and the capacity of China Innovation was planned to be 500GWh. At that time, the production capacity of the two would be at the same level.

The rise of domestic power battery companies such as China Innovation Airlines made the Ningde era feel crisis. In particular, China Innovation Airlines, the battery vehicle volume of battery installed 5.09GWh from January to April this year, has doubled compared with the same period last year.

Change of market changes, patent disputes

The market dispute between Ningde Times and China Innovation Airlines was a microcosm, reflecting the warming of the game of the entire power battery industry. The patent dispute that has begun in 2021 has proved that the power battery industry is still to be standardized and integrated.

In July 2021, a total of five battery -related patents prosecuted in Ningde Times to CITIC infringement, involving technologies such as orthopedic poles, batteries, explosion -proof devices, etc., requiring China Innovation Airlines to stop the manufacturing and sales of the above infringing products, and claim 185 million to them 185 million Yuan. At the same time, China Innovation Airlines was also required to pay 3 million yuan to undertake the expenses of Ningde Times to stop infringement.

In May 2022, the Ningde Times suddenly announced that the claim amount was increased to 518 million yuan, which was three times the original claim amount. At this time, China Innovation Airlines submitted the IPO prospectus for less than two months. At this node, the Ningde Times chose to further expand the situation. This makes it inevitable that this is a precise sniper for the listing of China Innovation Airlines.

The lawsuit will have a great impact on China Innovation Airlines, which is planned to be listed, and even affects the listing process; and 518 million yuan compensation is nearly five times the net profit of China Innovation Airlines last year. Its financial impact will be devastating.

Even if it has nothing to do with the IPO, the plaintiff in the patent litigation increases the claim amount, which means that the increase in infringement patent increases and the increase in product shipments of infringement patents.

No matter what the situation can be reflected, the Ningde Times believed that the losses and threats caused by China Innovation Airlines to themselves were greater than before. The competition between the two companies has been upgraded from the market battle to the front confrontation between enterprises.

On the one hand, if China Innovation Airlines wants to complete the production of production, it needs to get more financing; on the other hand, the Ningde Times wanted to keep the domestic power battery leader and maintain half of the market share.

However, the converting market share competition into a counterpart on the lawsuit is probably not a wise choice.

On the one hand, the trend of self -built battery factories in car companies has risen in recent years, and giants such as Volkswagen, Mercedes -Benz, BMW, Toyota, Honda, GM, and Ford have intended. The key core component field of power batteries is still the blue ocean. If the Ningde era has always adopted the strategy of pursuing and blocked, I am afraid that there is insufficient power.

On the other hand, as a technology -leading industry, the gap between power battery companies is constantly narrowing with the increase of R & D investment. How to achieve technological breakthroughs may be the key to the occupation of power battery companies.

More importantly, the upgrade of technology can promote the development of the entire battery industry. For example, the "chocolate" power replacement launched at the beginning of the year has given new development ideas for the industry, improving the efficiency of battery utilization, reducing the total demand for batteries, and suppressing upstream resource prices to a certain extent.

China Innovation Airlines has increased rapidly in recent years, and the customers of Ningde Times may also be one of the important reasons for the patent disputes between the two parties. But how to take customer disputes as a challenge to make a big cake instead of the crisis of cakes, perhaps the Ningde era must jump out of the strange circle of "patent warfare".

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