Who will these new energy and Internet cars be sold to?

The automotive industry has always been a place full of imagination. Since the mass production of automobiles began in the 1930s, its power to revitalize the economy has been equivalent to a continuous large-scale infrastructure construction. Even in the 21st century, when the Detroit myth was shattered, people still have various car dreams. Such dreams are projected onto Uber, Tesla, etc., shared travel, new energy, Internet cars, driverless cars... Whenever a new concept and new technology appear, the automobile and related industries will be "XX+".

Nowadays, when the imagination space of car sales is reduced, car sharing and time-sharing rental have become new targets. With the example of Uber and Didi, people believe that the power of new technology will change the current situation of car rental, and use new energy and Internet cars to make car rental closer to the Mobike/OFO model.

Is it really possible?

The two booms of O2O and sharing economy have not been able to subvert car rental

First of all, car rental has never been a new concept.

Since 1990, China has had a large-scale car rental industry. In the nearly three decades of development, in addition to the O2O boom and the sharing economy boom in 2013 and 2014, which led to an influx of capital and traffic, there are also various "heard of but never seen" new energy car rentals this year.

In general, car rental can be roughly divided into three forms: long-term rental, short-term rental and rental-to-purchase, and its models include B2C and P2P models. In traditional B2C car rental, the sources of cars are also diverse. In addition to cars purchased by car rental companies themselves, there are also individual users who give their cars to car rental companies for rental, etc. In other words, the distinction between the so-called B2C and P2P models in previous car rentals was not so clear.

When the concepts of O2O and sharing economy were introduced into car rental, the B2C model and P2P model began to be clearly distinguished. In fact, the concepts of P2P car rental and car time-sharing rental both appeared at this time. If we put aside the concept of online car-hailing, the car rental market at this time saw the emergence of the B2C model that focused on purchasing unified cars and renting them to users, and the P2P model that focused on connecting individual car owners and car rental users. The two models can be regarded as the products of the concepts of O2O and sharing economy respectively.

Simply put, the B2C car rental model complies with the basic principles of O2O - online information distribution and transactions, offline service enjoyment. However, the P2P car rental model is much more awkward. The concepts of time-sharing rental and car sharing can tell a good story, but it is relatively difficult to promote.

In China, cars have assumed a large part of the function of "private space". Renting this space to others is a challenge to the bottom line of Chinese people's psychology. Besides accelerating the flow of information, P2P car rental has not completely solved the inherent problems of the chaotic credit system and scale difficulties of car rental between individual users. As a result, P2P car rental can only compete with traditional small car rental companies for business, or make them Internet+.

Will energy saving and intelligence be a panacea for the car rental industry?

What changes will the emergence of new energy vehicles and Internet cars bring to the car rental industry?

At present, the changes are very limited. Internet cars emphasize intelligence and LBS-based car networking. At present, the biggest imagination space is to completely disintermediate the car rental industry. No manual services are required. The terminal directly displays the location of the car and other related information, and unlocks it after payment. At the same time, the smart devices in the car and the online driving records can ensure the safety of the car and reduce unstable factors such as car theft and malicious damage. This change can optimize both P2P and B2C models, but the change of new energy vehicles from the product end is unlikely to create more value for car rental.

In addition to the embarrassment faced by the P2P model, although the B2C car rental model has a more stable upstream industry supply chain, it still has to deal with problems such as car wear and tear and high costs that affect profitability. At present, it seems that more environmentally friendly and energy-saving is not a good solution.

What if we change the angle and look at the three types of car rental methods: short-term rental, long-term rental and lease-to-buy?

In the field of short-term car rental, the only advantage of new energy vehicles over traditional car rental is lower energy costs. There is still no solution to the inherent problems such as underutilization and loss of cars.

Long-term rental may be the driving force of new energy vehicles. Now more and more cities are beginning to impose various restrictions on car licenses. For the floating population living in these big cities, new energy vehicle rental, which has loose household registration requirements and low acquisition and use costs, is obviously more attractive.

As for renting instead of buying, it may take a while to realize it. New energy vehicles are parked on the roadside and in parking lots like shared bicycles, and users can pay for them at any time using the terminal. This form is indeed more environmentally friendly and convenient, but it touches the complex chain of automobile industry, municipal transportation, etc., and I am afraid that it can only wait for the wheel of the times to drive it forward.

So where will the uniform new energy vehicles produced by a large number of Internet companies, new energy enterprises and car companies go?

Will inter-city public transportation combined with car rental be the trend of the future?

One guess is that driven by new energy and Internet cars, car rental will be better integrated with public transportation.

In China, perhaps because of the short distances or the restrictions on railway and air routes, many cities still rely on cars as a means of travel. Apart from buses, cars and carpooling, which provide more freedom of movement, are a long-standing means of travel. New energy vehicle leasing, with the entry of new energy Internet vehicles that are more unified in the upstream industry, lower in cost and more environmentally friendly, can obviously solve a major pain point in travel.

The seamless connection between new energy smart parking lots equipped with electric piles and high-speed rail stations and airports not only utilizes existing space resources but also provides users with better travel options. Instead of shouting slogans such as "eliminating car privatization" or aiming to become Mobike and OFO in the car rental industry, solving the 20-500 km public transportation model between cities seems to create more value and is more in line with business logic. At the same time, it can also pave the way for the next step of realizing driverless driving.

Of course, when it comes to inter-city public transportation, it is inevitable to build municipal transportation. The good news is that the government is still very active in exploring new energy vehicles, and many new energy vehicle rental companies have already set up outlets covering government agencies. In short, with the maturity of technology, the influx of capital and the encouragement of the environment, it is imperative to optimize inter-city public transportation with new energy vehicles and Internet vehicles.

But then again, the demand for inter-city travel has always existed, and traditional cars and car rental models have not been able to completely solve this problem. Will the emergence of new technologies change all this?

We can only wait and see.

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.