With OTA, no need to buy a new car anymore?

Old "body"+brand new "soul"?

With a few times of "Kaka", the vehicle screen began to display real -time software update scctions. Sun Ming (pseudonym), who was sitting in the car for the first time in the car, was a little nervous. "I thought that the sound would be the car exploded, but I felt that the robot was about to be transformed again."

"When buying a car, it is told that companies will often upgrade the car through OTA and constantly unlock new technologies and functions, just like they have been driving a new car." Sun Ming ushered in the first time when the car bought the car for the first time OTA, the most obvious change in the upgraded vehicle is that there is an additional music software in the program.

OTA (Over-The-AIR) refers to remote management of the automotive parts of the car through the mobile communication network (2G/3G/4G or WIFI). In recent years, with the popularity of new energy models, OTA has gradually become the "standard" of the new car.

When Sun Ming, who was originally driving a traditional fuel vehicle, faced his first OTA in the face of his new energy model, his emotions were a bit complicated: on the one hand, it was very nervous. The accidental upgrade on the street caused the vehicle to "lie on the nest" and got hot search; on the other hand, there were high expectations. After all, I bought it for less than two months to enjoy the new function. "Maybe it is like changing it. a car".

In fact, even if OTA has been used in the car for ten years, the impact on the vehicle itself is still relatively limited. "Sometimes there is no obvious feeling after upgrading, and it is not surprising every time the upgrade. Sometimes riders will vomit. Some versions of the screen are not good -looking or the function is not practical."

But this does not affect OTA to become a "killer" for new energy models. Although many fuel vehicles are also equipped with the OTA function, it is still far from the OTA frequency of new energy models. The addition of OTA has also made second -hand new energy vehicles be beginning to get rid of the embarrassing situation of no one.

Recently, the "Research Research Report on the Research on the Research of China Automobile in July 2022" (hereinafter referred to as the "Value Report" in July 2022) showed that many new energy vehicles retention rates even surpass fuel vehicles.

In July, Tesla Model Y, Cleway Clever, and Roewe RX5 EPLUS all rose slightly. At the same time, Tesla's value preservation rate is higher than traditional luxury brands such as Infiniti and Jaguar. The electric vehicle brand Weilai ranked in the "Autonomous Brand's TOP15", and the preservation rate exceeded multiple traditional brands.

Image source: China Automobile Circulation Association

The "Report Report" mentioned that OTA has become a "weapon" of new energy vehicles. "You don't need to change your car to improve the use experience, which is one of the important reasons for the increase in the preservation rate of new energy vehicles."

In the second -hand car market, new energy vehicles that have been neglected for many years can we usher in the blessing of OTA?

OTA, let the car "grow"?

To some extent, with the existence of OTA, smart electric vehicles have begun to become a "life form" that can grow. Assuming that there are only dozen functions that users can use when they just buy a car, but through the continuous push of OTA, hundreds of functions may be unlocked after a few years. At the same time, the small problems that appear in the vehicle can also be fixed through OTA, and the system upgrade of the mobile phone to a certain extent.

"OTA can make a product commonly used." The relevant person in charge of Tesla told China News Weekly, "For traditional cars, the day when the vehicle stops use is the oldest day; and for the special special day under OTA blessing As far as Sla, the day the day of purchase is the oldest day. "

At present, OTA has not only become one of the basic functions of new energy vehicles, but many fuel vehicles have also begun to have such functions. However, most of the OTA functions of fuel vehicles can only be upgraded simply on the entertainment system and cannot improve the performance of the vehicle through OTA. The OTA of smart electric vehicles can change the control system, battery management system, autonomous driving, repairing bugs, and even improve efficiency. Of course, some vehicle functions can also be turned off.

With the pursuit of the market, the assembly rate of new car OTA has increased significantly in recent years. The "2022 Smart Motor OTA Industry Research Report" (hereinafter referred to as "Research Report" "released by Zosi Vanity shows that from January to May 2022, the OTA OTA assembly of Chinese passenger cars is 3.12 million units, and the overall assembly rate It was 44.6 %, an increase of 16.2 percentage points from the same period in 2021. It is estimated that by 2026, the OTA assembly rate of Chinese passenger cars is expected to reach 88 %, and the assembly volume is about 21.937 million units.

The "Research Report" shows that as of July 15, 2022, the 49 car brands within the scope of the above report have accumulated about 427 OTA upgrades. Among them, 10 new power brands have implemented a total of 208 OTA upgrades, 26 traditional independent brands have implemented 151 car OTA upgrades, and 12 joint venture brands have implemented 68 car OTA upgrades.

Picture source: Xiaopeng Automobile

At present, car companies including Tesla, Xiaopeng, Weilai, and Weilai are the main forces of OTA. According to data, as of the end of June this year, Xiaopeng Automobile has pushed 30 major versions for P7, P5, G3, and G3I through OTA for more than three years. item. Earlier, Weilai also stated that when Weilai ET7 was upgraded for the first time, more than 60 functions were optimized and added. It can be said that models with OTA functions can achieve continuous "growth", which is in sharp contrast to the older experience of car products. Favorite new energy used cars?

Because the OTA function can make vehicles commonly use new, after entering the second -hand car market with the OTA function, the second car owner can even experience more advanced functions than the first owner. The "Report Report" believes that this has also become one of the extra points for new energy intelligent vehicles.

At present, new energy vehicles have shown a good development trend in the new car and used cars. In the new car market, from January to July, the cumulative retail sales of new energy vehicles reached 2.733 million, an increase of 121.5%year-on-year. The second -hand car market also shows the same trend. Data show that from January to June, the volume of new energy used cars in the country was 156,000, an increase of 36.4 % year -on -year, which was 24.5 percentage points higher than that of traditional fuel vehicles. New energy used cars accounted for 2.06 % of the total trading volume of used cars in the country. Although the overall proportion is still small, the development momentum is rapid.

However, from the overall market, OTA currently has limited impact on the preservation rate of new energy used cars. Wang Xiaoyu, vice president of Guazi used car, told China News Weekly: "Big Data of Guazi second -hand car consumption shows that the direct pull effect of this function on the preservation rate of new energy used cars is not obvious."

"The OTA function has also gradually improved in the past two years, but most of the new energy vehicles currently flowing to the used car market are still older models a few years ago, and new vehicles have relatively few new vehicles." Wuhan used car industry practitioners Jia Peng (pseudonym) told China News Weekly that it has no clear feeling for whether the OTA function affects the price of used car. In Jia Peng's view, even if the new energy used car is upgraded to the latest system, the fact that the hardware "old" cannot be changed. "Battery costs account for more than 40 % of the entire vehicle cost. The battery attenuation generated during the use of new energy vehicles is a problem that consumers are more concerned about at present."

At the same time, whether it is a new car or a used car, it will eventually flow to the use link. New energy vehicles are currently unevenly used in various places. For example, in super -first -tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, "more convenient power is more convenient than refueling" is not just empty words; but in many fourth -tier cities Implement the convenience of charging. For example, the news of charging in the popular high -speed service area for a long time still stimulates user anxiety.

However, Wang Xiaoyu also said, "With the popularity and maturity of the OTA function, between different new energy vehicle brands in the future, the intelligent level, data accumulation, update frequency, and charging standards of OTA functions will be different. The direct impact of the use experience will make this function gradually become one of the important factors that affect the value of vehicle in the future. "For new energy used cars, there are still many constraints that need to be solved by the market recognition. However, it is certain that OTA has become an important bonus item for new energy vehicles.

Author: Liu Shanshan

Edit: Zheng Yu

Operation editor: Wang Lin

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