Favor + benefit, "borrowing electricity" from Wei, Xiaoli and Li Auto, Lei Jun and his Xiaomi Motors made another good move

There are no eternal rivals in the automotive industry. As long as the interests are in place, competition and cooperation can be transformed at any time.

Recently, Xiaomi Auto announced that it has officially started charging and energy replenishment network cooperation with NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto (NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto).

Lei Jun later wrote on Weibo: 14,000+ NIO charging piles, 9,000+ Xpeng charging piles, and 6,000+ Ideal charging piles are included in the Xiaomi charging map.

What does Lei Jun's speech mean? I believe anyone with a discerning eye can see that Xiaomi is "borrowing electricity" from NIO, Xiaomi and Li Auto in order to enrich its own energy resources.

We all know that Xiaomi achieved very good sales results when it first entered the automotive industry. In the past November, the delivery of Xiaomi SU7 exceeded 20,000 units.

As a newcomer in the automotive industry, it is undoubtedly gratifying to achieve such results. The higher the sales volume and the larger the user base, the more obvious the pressure on the charging network will be.

Paradoxically, although Xiaomi Auto has strong sales, it is still in its infancy in the automotive field and its charging network is weak.

Although Xiaomi Auto has covered over 99% of charging operators nationwide, tested over 2,000 different types of charging piles, and the compatibility of third-party charging piles is over 99%, and has its own super charging network and 600kW liquid-cooled super charging solution, it is still unable to meet the energy needs of so many users at once.

For new energy vehicle companies, without a complete energy replenishment network, half of their competitiveness is lost. Therefore, Xiaomi Motors chose a "shortcut" - "borrowing electricity" from the pioneers of energy replenishment networks such as Wei, Xiao, and Li.

Some people may be very puzzled. Xiaomi Auto’s energy replenishment network is the weakest among the new forces. If they want to cooperate, it should be a "strong alliance". Why would Weili agree to this business that is obviously a one-way benefit?

Indeed, Xiaomi and Wei, Xiaopeng and Li Auto are in a considerable competitive relationship, and no one would do charity on such a critical issue as the energy replenishment network. Therefore, there is only one reason that can explain it, that is, Xiaomi's "borrowing electricity" is actually profitable. And Xiaomi also made a good move at this point in time to gain the greatest benefit for itself.

As a new force that has emerged first in the Chinese auto market, Weilai, Xiaoli and Li Auto have obvious advantages in the energy replenishment network. Data shows that Weilai Energy has built 2,659 battery swap stations and 24,092 charging piles across the country, with an average daily availability rate of over 99%, and more than 80% of the electricity is used by non-Weilai users.

Xpeng has built 9,070 charging piles in more than 420 cities, and it is expected that the scale of Xpeng's self-operated charging stations will expand to more than 10,000 by 2026. Ideal has 6,718 charging piles across the country, and the speed of deployment is also very aggressive.

It can be seen that Wei, Xiao, and Li Auto are very ambitious in building charging networks. However, no one in Wei, Xiao, or Li Auto dares to say that they have fully recovered the huge amount of money invested in the frequent expansion of the charging network. During non-peak hours, there was pressure on charging stations to be idle, involving equipment maintenance, electricity costs, site rentals, and other issues, which are obviously difficult to make up for by relying on their own users.

Xiaomi Auto now has a growing number of users. Establishing cooperation with it will obviously greatly improve the utilization rate of equipment and effectively share operating costs.

Let's take Xiaopeng as an example. Xiaopeng invests hundreds of millions of yuan in the maintenance and operation of charging piles every year. If it shares charging piles with Xiaomi, it can reduce maintenance costs. It will leave more funds for technology research and development, accelerate the upgrading of core technologies such as intelligent driving, and enhance product competitiveness. This is obviously a virtuous circle.

In addition, Xiaomi Motors has a very good reputation now, and Lei Jun's personal charm has also brought it a lot of positive traffic. Once the cooperation with Xiaomi in the energy replenishment network is carried out, it means that there is a certain connection with Lei Jun.

The more successful Xiaomi becomes, the more traffic NIO, Xiaomao and Li Auto can get from it, increasing the brand's favorability in the eyes of Chinese people. In other words, using their own idle energy-replenishing networks in exchange for high-quality traffic is a good deal no matter how you calculate it.

What's more, Lei Jun also has "favors" with NIO and Xpeng.

Since 2015, Lei Jun's Shunwei Capital has participated in NIO's A and B rounds of financing. Strictly speaking, NIO can also be regarded as a "Lei-affiliated" car company, and its current achievements are supported by Xiaomi.

At the same time, Lei Jun also supported Xiaopeng Motors at critical moments, and even during the capital winter in 2019, he acted as Xiaopeng's white knight with US$400 million.

In other words, Lei Jun has a "favor" to Weilai and Xiaopeng. Nowadays, the new energy vehicle market is highly competitive, and no one can guarantee that they will never encounter any difficulties. Having a strong partner like Xiaomi is a good thing anyway.

From this perspective, it does not seem so difficult to understand why Xiaomi "borrowed power" from Wei, Xiaoli and Li Auto and successfully reached cooperation. By cooperating on the energy replenishment network, Xiaomi Auto can temporarily avoid investing a large amount of money in the energy replenishment network, and can concentrate on deepening technology and products to achieve a virtuous cycle of sales.

Through this cooperation, Wei, Xiaoli and Li-Li can not only solve the problem of idle charging networks, but also reduce the financial pressure of maintaining charging stations, killing two birds with one stone. Moreover, as long as Lei Jun and Xiaomi's personal image remains intact, Wei, Xiaoli and Li-Li can even continue to share Xiaomi's traffic dividend.

Xiaomi "borrowed power" from Wei, Xiao, and Li. It seemed that Xiaomi was lowering its status, but in fact, Xiaomi was the one sitting in the main seat. It had its own considerations, and Wei, Xiao, and Li also saw the benefits in a timely manner. It is no exaggeration to call it a win-win situation.

What does it mean to be a strategic master? It does not mean that you have to do something earth-shattering. A good fighter often does not have great achievements. A true strategic master does the right thing at the right time. For example, Lei Jun's cooperation with Wei, Xiao, and Li is a typical example of a strategic master.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.