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"Buy early, enjoy early and buy late, there is a discount" or is no longer applicable to new energy vehicles. Recently, due to the sharp rise in the prices of raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium for power batteries of new energy vehicles, as well as the global shortage of chips, a number of new energy vehicle companies have raised the prices of their vehicles. According to CCTV financial reports, on the morning of the 8th local time, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the futures price of nickel on the London Metal Exchange soared to 100%, breaking 60, 000, 70, 000, 80, 000, 90, 000 and 100000 US dollars per ton. the cumulative increase in the two trading days was 248%, which continued to set a new record, nearly double the all-time high since 2007. The London Metal Exchange was forced to suspend nickel trading for the day.

It is understood that nickel metal is an important material for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries for new energy vehicles. As Britain's escalating sanctions against Russia have pushed up global commodity prices, including metal nickel, according to the London Metal Exchange, as of 14:31 Beijing time on the 8th, the price of three-month futures nickel has risen 109.4% to $100680 per tonne. The rise in nickel price means that the cost of electric vehicles will rise. The surge in nickel prices has raised the cost of electric cars by about $1000, according to Morgan Stanley.

Russia plays an important role in the production of nickel, accounting for 6% of the world's nickel supply. Data show that Russia is an important producer and exporter of nickel, its nickel reserves rank fifth in the world, and nickel plate exports rank first in the world. However, after the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, many countries began to restrict and examine the passage of ships carrying Russian-related goods through the port, the trading and transportation of Russian nickel were hindered and delayed, and the spot stock of nickel in Europe became more and more tense. In addition, the British government has announced that it will ban the sale of fuel vehicles from 2035, after the ban on the sale of fuel vehicles, the demand for nickel by local carmakers will also rise sharply.

In fact, global demand for nickel has risen significantly since last year. In the domestic market, data show that the average price of nickel was about 120000 yuan last year, but now it has reached 210000 yuan. The rise in nickel, the raw material for batteries, has directly led to higher car-building costs. According to media reports, when the nickel price is 50, 000 US dollars / ton, the cost of Tesla Model3 (76.8kWh) rose 10500 yuan, Xiaopeng car P7 (80.87kWh) increased by 11000 yuan, and Lvlai EC6 (70kWh) increased by 9500 yuan. When the price of nickel is 100000 US dollars / ton, the cost of Tesla's Model3 bike increases by nearly 28000 yuan, the P7 of Xiaopeng car increases by nearly 30, 000 yuan, and the EC6 of Lailai rises by more than 25000 yuan.

It is worth noting that before the surge in nickel prices, a number of new energy vehicle companies had already announced increases in the prices of their vehicles. China is the world's largest market for new energy vehicles. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales of new energy vehicles in China completed 3.521 million units in 2021, an increase of nearly 1.6 times compared with the same period last year, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years. However, due to the global shortage of chips and fluctuations in raw material prices, many new energy car companies are facing tremendous cost pressure. on the 23rd of last month, CCTV Finance reported that prices rose across the board due to a serious shortage of chips. the original 20 yuan car chip was fried to 2800 yuan without tax, while from the beginning of January 2020 to the middle of January 2022, the prices of battery-grade cobalt and lithium carbonate also rose 119% and 569% respectively. It is understood that the lithium-ion battery of new energy vehicles has a total of three layers, of which the lithium cathode is made of lithium mixed with nickel and other minerals such as cobalt, manganese or aluminum. at present, lithium, nickel (ternary cathode) and aluminum (structures, parts) related to electric vehicles are at historic highs, especially lithium carbonate, which has risen from more than 50, 000 yuan per ton to about 430000 yuan in a year, more than seven times higher Nickel and cobalt also increased by more than 60%.

In this environment, in order to alleviate the pressure, a number of new energy car companies choose to raise prices or even stop taking orders for some "loss-making" models. According to the incomplete statistics concerned by the automobile industry, more than 10 new energy vehicle companies in the automobile industry have announced price adjustments, including Tesla, Xiaopeng Automobile, Nahan Automobile, GAC Ean, Zero and other new energy vehicle brands, involving more than 30 models, with prices ranging from 100000 yuan to more than 300000 yuan. Among them, the increase of models under 100000 yuan is relatively high, with an average price increase of about 4800 yuan. Dong Yudong, CEO of Euler car, said on February 24th that Euler black cat and Euler white cat suspended taking orders, not stopped production, and pointed out that Euler cars encountered difficulties, and that it was helpless to stop taking orders. Take black cats as an example, because after the sharp rise in the price of raw materials this year, Euler black cats lost 10,000 yuan for every one they sold.

However, with regard to the rise in the production cost of new energy vehicles brought about by the sharp rise in nickel prices, Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger Association, said that the sharp rise in nickel prices had little impact on domestic car sales, and he believed that the sharp rise in nickel prices was more of a hype in nature. prices may fall in the short term. Some people in the industry have also pointed out that although the price of nickel has risen, not all electric vehicles will be affected by this, such as car companies that use lithium iron phosphate batteries (including Tesla and BYD, etc.). The raw material of lithium iron phosphate battery is iron phosphate, so it does not need nickel or cobalt and the cost is lower. Last year, Tesla used lithium iron phosphate battery in his standard continued model. The installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate "blade battery" produced by BYD has reached the top five levels in the world. In addition, Volkswagen and other automakers are also working on other battery technologies that do not use nickel or cobalt, according to media reports.

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