In describing how the domestic new energy vehicle industry "from zero to one" to achieve rapid development, many news reports often appear on such a set of production data: On July 3 this year, China's 20 millionth new energy vehicle in Guangzhou GAC 'an production line; From the first car to the 10 millionth car, China took 27 years; It took only 17 months for China to break through 20 million units from the 10 million.

Indeed, over the past ten years, the evolving figures objectively show the speed of China's new energy vehicles all the way. So how exactly is this speed perceived? Probably, so fast that even the car company is a little behind the pace.

"Ten years ago, when I first entered the industry, new energy was still a very new concept, and the industry felt that new energy vehicles were the future direction, but the topic was still far away from us." "What's interesting is that the future is coming so fast and we are so caught off guard," said Lin Chang, who works for a Chinese leading car company. 

You know, ten years ago, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in China has not yet exceeded 1%. Perhaps no one would have thought that in just a decade, that number has now exceeded 30%. Moreover, the development of the industry has also exceeded the imagination of the world: in the first quarter of this year, China's car exports surpassed Japan for the first time, ranking first in the world.

On this race track, after several rounds of "reshuffling" over the past decade, a series of independent brands with local characteristics have emerged, including the transformation and upgrading of traditional car companies, such as BYD, Geely, Changan, Chery, etc.; There are also known as "new car building forces" GAC 'an, Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, Nezha, zero Run and so on. In the past two years, even Huawei, Ali, Baidu, millet and other Internet manufacturers have also laid out the layout of the car.

In the face of extremely fierce competition in the domestic market, the vast overseas market has gradually been regarded as a "good medicine to break the volume" by many car companies. Therefore, to find new opportunities in broad overseas markets has gradually become the consensus of car companies. "We should be firm in our strategy to go to sea, aiming for the medium-term goal of three years and the long-term goal of five to 10 years." Yang Kai, head of Geely Auto in Kazakhstan, is adamant.

At a number of international auto shows this year, China's new energy vehicles have come to the "C position" and attracted the world's attention. However, behind some bright data, how can China's new energy vehicles achieve a sudden rise in the international market? In the process of rushing to the world, what opportunities and risks are car companies facing? These will be the problems that China's new energy car makers must think about and face.

Lane change

"From manufacturing the first new energy vehicle to the millionth, it took 13 years; It took one and a half years to go from 1 million to 3 million. It took just nine months to go from three million to five million."

Another group of data comparison by the industry with relish, from the "new energy vehicle sales champion" BYD Automobile, the "acceleration" behind its data is undoubtedly a microcosm of the rapid rise of China's new energy automobile industry in recent years. On August 9 this year, BYD Group announced that the 5 millionth new energy vehicle produced by the company had rolled off the assembly line, becoming the first car company in the world to reach this milestone.

"This is a highlight moment for BYD, but also a highlight moment for Chinese car brands... I believe the era of Chinese cars has arrived." Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Co., LTD., said at the launch of the 5 millionth new energy vehicle on the evening of August 9. It is worth mentioning that the night is not BYD "a single show", at the conference site, also exhibited SAIC, Dongfeng, Changan, Geely, the Great Wall, NiO, Xiaopeng and other Chinese independent brand sample cars.