Edit | Wei Jia
Motorcycles are becoming a new battlefield.
On June 12, Hellobike, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and Ant Financial announced that the first phase of * * * jointly invested 10 billion yuan to set up a joint venture company, launched "Hello Power Exchange Service" and positioned the basic energy network of two-wheeled electric vehicles. Yang Lei, co-founder and CEO of Hellobike, also serves as CEO of the joint venture company. Prior to this, Hello has launched a new retail platform for electric vehicles, which integrates long-term rental, short rent and sales. "The mode of changing electricity is similar to that of a gas station," Yang Lei said.
/kloc-in June of 0/7, Didi released an internal email about the adjustment of the organizational structure of two-wheeled vehicles. Didi said in the mail that the bicycle division (internal code name "Haitang Bay") and the motorcycle division (internal code name "Dark Horse") will be formally integrated and upgraded into a two-wheeled division (internal code name "Haima").
However, compared with the bicycle war that started three years ago, the momentum of capital, giants and entrepreneurs entering the motorcycle industry is much smaller.
* * * The cycling war began on August 20 16. Mobike and ofo, as the representative companies of * * * bicycle sharing, both completed the E-round financing in the following eight or nine months, with a total financing of nearly $2 billion. The investor lineup is luxurious-almost all star investment companies and giants have entered this battlefield, and countless bicycle sharing companies have closed down in the process.
* * * Enjoy the madness of the bicycle market, which has spawned many * * * enjoyment modes. * * * Enjoy motorcycles here. However, the development of motorcycle industry has not been smooth since then.
Strict policy supervision, difficult security and high operating costs are all difficult problems faced by Lemo entrepreneurs. It is far more severe and complicated than the market situation of * * * enjoying bicycles.
/kloc-The "Technical Specification for Electric Bicycle Safety" (commonly known as the "new national standard") officially released in May/0/8 has brought new hope to entrepreneurs. The new national standard was implemented from April 5, 2009 to April 5, 2065438, which was called the "strictest" new national standard for electric bicycles by the market, which also marked the withdrawal of the national standard for electric bicycles that had been used for 20 years.
According to the new national standard, more than 90% of electric vehicles will be classified as electric motorcycles, which need to be managed according to motor vehicles. This major change means new opportunities for entrepreneurs in the motorcycle industry.
But in fact, most of the practitioners interviewed by Ran Caijing said that they did not want to be publicly reported, and they hoped to develop their business silently first. The * * * understanding they have drawn is that the motorcycle industry is still in the early stage of development, and it is only possible to usher in an outbreak in the next 3-5 years.
Practitioner Hui Liang told Burning Finance: "Because the struggle of * * * to enjoy bicycles has messed up the industry, we are afraid that many people think that * * * enjoys motorcycles, but in our view, the industry has just started. "
"What are you afraid of?"
"Being afraid of something completely uncertain is like a stress response," Hui Liang said.
However, this invisible two-round war will not advance slowly because of the uneasiness of the participants. An underwater battle is being staged quietly.
On June 12, at the strategic cooperation conference of Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., Ant Financial and Hellobike, Yang Lei, co-founder and CEO of Hellobike, defined China as "a big country on two wheels". According to his data, nearly 500 million people in China travel 0- 10 km in two rounds every day.
In Yang Lei's view, * * * only meets the travel demand within 1-2km, and the greater industrial opportunity is two-wheel traffic.
"The two-wheel travel market is higher than the four-wheel travel market", Xiangran Finance analysis, "Europe and America are vast and sparsely populated, and automobiles are its mainstream industry, but the overall national condition of China is congestion, and only the two-wheel market can solve the problem of travel congestion".
Hui Liang believes that in the transportation industry, two-wheel travel is the highest flow outlet in the field of travel, which is determined by the frequency of two-wheel travel. From this perspective, two rounds of travel will inevitably be placed in a higher strategic position by the giants-for them, it means seizing more traffic outlets.
* * * The struggle to enjoy cycling has come to an end. Didi, Meituan and Ali have integrated major bicycle companies respectively. In addition to riding, motorcycles are also an important part of the field of two-wheeled travel.
"Bicycles are like express trains, while motorcycles are more like private cars. The motorcycle experience will be better and more comfortable." In Hui Liang's view, motorcycles have more imagination than bicycles, because in the future, intelligence can also be combined with motorcycles, and many smart car technologies can be transferred to motorcycles.
Practitioner Zhou Xi told Ran Caijing (ID:rancaijing) that motorcycles travel longer than bicycles, so compared with bicycles, motorcycles have larger charging capacity, wider range of activities and higher passenger capacity. As a time-sharing business, the higher the capacity of motorcycles, the more money they earn. Although the cost of motorcycles is relatively high, under reasonable operation, the fare is enough to make the company profitable.
Hui Liang also believes that after enjoying the hustle and bustle of the bicycle industry, the industry and the capital market are relatively calm. There is no need to smash the market and compete excessively. You can optimize the service model a little, and the pricing will be more reasonable. "Return to the essence of business."
On the other hand, according to the data given by Hello, there are nearly 2.8 billion trips in China every day, of which 654.38 billion trips are completed by two rounds. The main service of these 6,543.8 billion trips depends on motorcycles. China's motorcycle inventory is 350 million, and the annual sales volume of battery cars is about 40 million.
In their description, there is a huge market waiting to be filled.
Different from the fierce competition for bicycles, different practitioners cut into the motorcycle market from different angles.
"County-level cities have developed well in all aspects in these decades, but public transportation has always been a market that needs to be supplemented," Zhou Xi told Combustion Finance.
According to public information, there are currently more than 2,800 county-level cities in China. Electric vehicles are very important means of transportation in counties and towns. Robin, who lives in Houxiang Town, Danyang City, Jiangsu Province, told Burning Finance that he had three electric cars at home.
In Zhou Xi's view, there are many problems in enjoying motorcycles at present. Government supervision, theft and loss, and operating costs are all problems they need to solve. "Government decision-making is a very long process. Internet companies in China have no experience in dealing with grassroots governments in China." In addition to government relations, companies in Zhou Xi have also spent a lot of energy on continuous optimization in technology and operation. "So this market must be very slow."
On June 20th, You Yong Zhixing, which just announced that it has won tens of millions of Series A financing, mainly develops two-wheeled electric vehicles and power exchange cabinets that meet the "new national standard". Gong Jiele, its co-founder, told Burning Finance that the market they are currently entering is a county-level city under the 5 th and 6 th lines. However, they mainly aim at the existing motorcycle stock market, and upgrade the battery base kit for two-wheeled electric vehicles in the market, so as to use the power exchange service of Youyong Star.
Although Chen Jun, the head of Hellobike's power exchange service business, said that the power exchange joint venture company established by Hello is aimed at two-wheeled electric vehicle users who have the needs of the whole society, in Gong Jiele's view, what Hello does is different from their essential logic. "Hello, more is to use * * * to enjoy the logic of the motorcycle for electricity. For Hello, changing electricity is an auxiliary strategy in its grand strategy-reducing the operating cost of bicycles through infrastructure construction. "
In an interview with Burning Finance, Gong Jiele was talking about business in a small county, "running around every day." He also believes that doing this market is a slow process-there are too many corresponding policy factors and many departments involved, "one by one."
Gong Jiele believes that the reason why * * * enjoys motorcycles has not been developed is because there is no base station, that is, the infrastructure construction of power exchange cabinets.
"When the problem of changing electricity is solved, the operating cost will drop, and enjoying motorcycles will become a good business. * * * Enjoy the previous operating mode of motorcycles, the operating cost is too high, the financing ability is limited, and the business model does not work. " Gong Jiele said that if other big companies also want to enter this market, cooperation will not be ruled out.
In fact, Didi Chuxing hatched the motorcycle project "Street Rabbit Motorcycle" from June 2065438 to June 2008. Mobike, which was acquired by Meituan, also launched its own electric moped in July of 20 18, but there has been no big move so far. Hello motorcycle 2065438+launched in September 2008. Combustion Finance asked Didi and Meituan about the current layout in the motorcycle market, and both sides said it was not convenient to respond now.
Gong Jiele believes that Didi and Meituan are now in a wait-and-see state: "Everyone thinks this track is very good, but it is still in the stage of fragmentation."
Chen Jun said that according to their analysis, China's 350 million electric vehicle stock market is distributed in more than 40% of second-and third-tier cities, so hello exchange will be done in second-and third-tier cities first.
In Zhou Xi's observation, large companies are now more in the prefecture-level cities for layout, and there are not many opportunities for confrontation with them. "There is no good or bad market, everyone can enter, but we will think that we can't use the previous Internet thinking to do transportation."
"Now everyone's whole idea is still quietly entering the village. I may have done a lot in the county, so I won't say it, because so many people are fighting at the same time when enjoying bicycles, and it is really embarrassing in the end. " Gong Jiele said.
The hidden battlefield does not mean easy, but it may mean more difficulties-because the threshold is high enough and the market has not yet broken out. For those who come first, great opportunities are accompanied by greater challenges.
Judging from the development of motorcycles, this market has been facing many difficulties and uncertainties.
On June 20 17, No.7 motorcycle was put into operation in Shenzhen, but it was stopped only 1 day, and 400 vehicles that had been put into operation were ordered to take back. In mid-February, Xiaomi Gong's electric bicycle appeared on the streets of Haidian District, Beijing. Only two days later, I was interviewed by the Haidian District Traffic Detachment and asked to recover all of them. On March 28th, Tianjin was launched only 12 days ago, and * * * Motorcycle Deer stopped using the car and withdrew from the Tianjin market.
2065438+On May 22, 2007, the Ministry of Communications issued a draft for soliciting opinions on bicycles, clearly stating that "the development of internet rental of electric bicycles is not encouraged". 2065438+In August 2007, many ministries and commissions jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Encouraging and Regulating the Development of Internet-rented Bicycles, clearly pointing out that motorcycle development is not encouraged.
2065438+In March 2009, Didi Street Rabbit was interviewed just after it was launched in Quanzhou. Hello, compared with the bicycle business, motorcycles only cover one third of the city.
The implementation of the new national standard for electric vehicles is obviously beneficial to the motorcycle industry.
In the new Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of National Standards for Electric Bicycles issued in March this year, the cleaning standards for electric bicycles have become based on whether they meet the new national standards, that is, electric vehicles that meet the standards are no longer within the scope of government cleaning.
The new national standard divides electric vehicles into electric bicycles, electric mopeds and electric motorcycles, among which electric bicycles are classified as non-motor vehicles; Electric mopeds and electric motorcycles are classified as motor vehicles.
According to the new national standard, electric bicycles that meet the national standard must have pedaling ability, the maximum speed is not more than 25km/h, the vehicle mass is not more than 55 kg, the motor power is not more than 400W, and the battery voltage is 48V. Lack of any of the above items will be regarded as an "over-standard car".
After the new national standard eliminated a large number of unqualified enterprises and over-standard electric vehicles, which accounted for nearly 90% of the original market, facing the contradiction between large user demand and low purchase desire, * * * enjoying electric vehicles may become an effective solution.
But there are still more problems to be solved.
Ran Chuang, a travel industry analyst at iResearch, believes that motorcycles require high initial investment and need sufficient capital; Reoperation also means challenges for many companies. He also believes that consumers' acceptance of * * * enjoying motorcycles is also limited: "Although the county is suitable for electric vehicles, it is basically available in every household, and the proportion of choosing * * * to enjoy motorcycles remains to be seen."
Robin also thinks that if he has a motorcycle, he is willing to try it, but more often he prefers to use his own motorcycle. "Because of the high usage rate, it will be more convenient to have one."
According to Guo Huanan, the founder of "Looking for an Electric Donkey", the lithium battery of electric vehicles can basically be used for 3-5 years after the new national standard is put into practice. For consumers, if the cost of buying an electric car is shared equally every year, it remains to be seen how much consumers accept and spend on enjoying motorcycles.
Zhao Nan, a partner of Xiangfeng Investment and an early investor in mobike, told Burning Finance that he was not optimistic about enjoying the motorcycle industry, because the operating cost was much higher than that of the bicycle industry, and the maintenance, power exchange and operation were very complicated, and the man-made destructiveness was much higher than that of the bicycle industry. "Take this concept to tell the story of new money and see if it can be circled, but I personally don't like it."
Hui Liang believes that the problems encountered by motorcycle enterprises in the past are normal. Under the correct industrial trend, every company will have its own development model. It is normal for internal management, funds and teams to have problems, but this does not mean that there are problems in the industry itself. "I can only say that this industry is moving forward. It is the focus of this industry to do things around the industry foundation, improve operational efficiency and return to the essence of business. In addition, we must be cautious about capital and make good use of it. "
Gong Jiele is obviously more optimistic than all of them: "This will be another big show. The play hasn't started yet, so please buy tickets and wait. "
* The title map is from vision china. At the request of the interviewee, Hui Liang, Zhou Xi and Robin are all pseudonyms.