Midea Gree entered the home appliance giant’s cross-border new energy vehicle segmentation field

　　Recently, Gree, Midea, Hisense and other leading home appliance enterprises have laid out heat pump related tracks for new energy vehicles, which has attracted the attention of institutions.

　　According to the agency research report, in the application field of new energy vehicles, heat pump air conditioners are gradually replacing traditional air conditioners. Traditional vehicle air conditioners mainly use PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient Thermistor) technology, which has the advantages of low cost, simple manufacturing process and rapid heating. However, the use of PTC to heat electric vehicles will seriously reduce the cruising range of vehicles. Compared with this, the performance of heat pump air conditioners is superior to that of traditional air conditioners, with the advantages of high efficiency and low temperature resistance.

　　In overseas markets, the penetration rate of heat pumps in European countries is relatively low. At the same time, the European Union and many European governments have issued a number of heat pump-related support policies this year, catalyzing the accelerated popularization of heat pumps in Europe. Leading household appliances enterprises covering heat pump products, such as Midea and Gree Electric, which have a high degree of business diversification, have begun to lay out overseas heat pump industries.

　　Enterprise-related accessories are accelerated to upgrade.

　　In the field of new energy vehicles, heat pump air conditioning is gradually replacing traditional vehicle air conditioning because of its high performance and low temperature resistance.

　　Haitong international research report shows that, compared with traditional PTC technology, heat pump technology has the advantages of better working performance in low temperature environment and higher coefficient of energy efficiency (COP). The highest coefficient of energy efficiency of traditional PTC technology can only reach 1, while the highest coefficient of energy efficiency of heat pump can reach 5. However, from the technical and market trends, because the heat pump air conditioning system of new energy vehicles needs the compressor to have high compression performance, and the "heart" of the air conditioning system is the compressor, because of its high technical barriers, At present, the global market structure is still dominated by mainstream compressor manufacturers, such as Denso of Japan, Sandian of Japan, Hanang of South Korea, etc., and the market share of the above three companies accounts for more than 80%. At the same time, domestic manufacturers such as Gree and Midea have also begun to actively cut into the field of vehicle heat pump air conditioning with the help of powerful electric compressor technology.

　　On September 8, the information sheet of Aotejia’s research activities showed that the total sales volume of the company’s automobile air-conditioning compressor business declined in the first half of the year, mainly due to the structural overall decline in traditional automobile sales, which led to the decline in compressor sales. At the same time, the capacity of electric compressor can not fully meet the market demand, and its increment can not make up for the gap of traditional compressor decline. With the gradual penetration of heat pump air conditioning into the track of new energy vehicles, enterprises are also actively deploying electric compressors to meet the needs of the development of new energy vehicles in the market. At the same time, the company also stated in the information sheet that this year, the company has obtained many new orders in the field of air conditioning systems for new energy vehicles.

　　On September 22nd, Midea Group’s investor activity record showed that Midea continued to deepen the layout of core components of new energy vehicles, focusing on cutting-edge technology of CO2 rotor automobile electric compressor to solve the pain point of low-temperature heating in the industry. In terms of production capacity, Midea built a new Anqing manufacturing base for new energy automobile parts in February, with a total investment plan of about 11 billion yuan, focusing on breaking through bottlenecks such as core basic components, mainly producing products such as power steering motors, electric compressors for new energy vehicles, driving motors for new energy vehicles, and creating a series of products such as thermal management for new energy vehicles.

　　According to the semi-annual report of Gree Electric, the company has introduced a new energy source, namely, China-Pakistan aluminum alloy variable frequency scroll compressor with high efficiency and strong refrigeration heat. In 2021, Gree plans to acquire 270 million shares of Dunan Environment and become the controlling shareholder of Dunan Environment. It is worth mentioning that Dunan Environment is a leading enterprise in domestic refrigeration valve business, and has obtained safety certification from many countries and regions such as CQC, UL and CE. Its products cover many key components such as electronic water pumps and electronic expansion valves in thermal management systems. Dunan Environment has established good cooperative relations with BYD, Tucki, Weilai, Yin Lun and other enterprises on automobile thermal management business.

　　Heat pump export continues to boom.

　　According to customs data, from January to August, China’s heat pump exports increased by 62% year-on-year, and the export value reached 800 million US dollars, of which the total export value of heat pumps in August was 120 million US dollars, up by 60% year-on-year.

　　According to the research report of China Merchants Securities, the sales volume of heat pumps in the European market may reach 5 million units in 2025, and the scale is expected to reach 35 billion euros.

　　On October 14th, the foundation stone was laid in Italy for the new production and R&D base invested by Midea Building Technology in Europe. The production base will invest 60 million euros, including heat pump production center and R&D center, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 heat pumps, which is expected to be put into production in the second quarter of 2024. After completion, the cycle from order to delivery of heat pump products will be shortened from 5 months to 1 month. In the first seven months of 2022, the overall export quota of heat pumps in the United States increased by more than 200%.

　　According to the semi-annual report of Gree Electric, in the industrial product sector of the company, the product technology of heat pump two-stage baking compressor has been upgraded. Gree has greatly improved the displacement and operating pressure ratio of the first-stage cylinder through innovative technologies such as two-stage compression of the first-stage cylinder and low oil spill design, and realized reliable heating in the ultra-low temperature environment of -40℃. This product has been widely used in the low-temperature heat pump market in China, North America, the European Union and other regions, with an annual sales increase of 140%. In the first half of the year, the company achieved a total operating income of 95.807 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.13%; The net profit of returning to the mother was 11.466 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.25%.

　　On September 30, Hisense Home Appliances said on the investor interaction platform that its product Hisense brand central air conditioner has newly opened up overseas heating products business and water machine business, and simultaneously listed heat pump products in Italy, Poland, Spain, Germany and France, effectively helping to seize the middle and high-end heating market in Europe.