In recent years, the global new energy vehicle industry ushered in explosive growth, China as a new energy vehicle production and consumption of large countries, production and sales for many years ranked first in the world, driving the entire automotive industry chain ushered in structural change. Molds as the core process equipment for automobile manufacturing, a traditional fuel car needs thousands of sets of various types of molds, and new energy vehicles in the body structure, parts configuration, material application and other aspects of the fuel car differences are significant, giving rise to a new demand for molds for the mold manufacturing industry has brought an unprecedented opportunity for development, and at the same time also put forward a higher demand for mold precision, structure, performance, the industry opportunities and challenges co-exist. The industry has both opportunities and challenges.
New energy automobile industry for mold industry opportunities, first reflected in the explosive growth of market demand. New energy vehicles eliminates the engine, transmission and other traditional fuel vehicle core components, the new battery pack, motor, electronic control system, charging pile and other core components, and at the same time for the realization of lightweight and range enhancement, the extensive use of integrated die-casting technology, aluminum alloy lightweight materials, high strength steel body, directly driven by the integration of die-casting molds, battery shell molds, motor shell molds, charging pile shell molds, lightweight Stamping molds, precision injection molds and other sub-categories demand surge. According to industry statistics, 2026 new energy vehicles in the field of mold demand will jump to the entire mold market 35% above, becoming the mold industry's largest application market segments, for the mold enterprises to open up a new growth track.
Secondly, the high-end development of new energy vehicles, promote the mold industry to high value-added, high-precision direction upgrade. New energy vehicles focus on body lightweight, safety and appearance of exquisite degree, the size of the mold precision, surface finish, molding stability, service life requirements are much higher than the traditional fuel car mold. For example, integrated die-casting molds need to achieve a large body structure parts of a mold, mold size, complex structure, processing precision requirements; battery shell molds need to have good sealing and corrosion resistance, size error control at the micron level; interior precision injection molds require a scratch-free surface, no defects, suitable for automotive interiors high-end needs. The added value of such high-end molds is much higher than the traditional low-end molds, for mold enterprises to optimize the product structure, enhance profitability provides an important opportunity.
But behind the opportunity, the challenges faced by mold enterprises should not be ignored. First, the technological threshold has risen significantly, the traditional mold enterprise technology reserve is difficult to adapt to the new energy automobile mold demand. Integration of die-casting, lightweight material molding and other new technologies, mold design, material selection, processing technology, heat treatment technology have put forward new requirements, most small and medium-sized mold enterprises lack of related technology research and development capabilities, core technology and high-end equipment is still dependent on imports, difficult to enter the new energy automotive supply chain system. Second, the delivery cycle requirements are more stringent, new energy automotive industry, fast iteration speed, the model update cycle has been shortened significantly, the mold R & D and delivery cycle puts forward very high requirements, the traditional mold delivery cycle of several months can not be adapted to the rhythm of the industry. Third, the double pressure of cost and quality, new energy automotive industry competition is fierce, car companies continue to compress the supply chain costs, while the quality of the mold and stability of the requirements only increase, mold enterprises are facing the “cost reduction, improve quality, fast delivery” triple pressure. Fourth, the industry standard is not perfect, new energy automotive mold is an emerging field, the relevant industry standards and quality norms have not yet been fully unified, mold enterprise production and quality inspection lack of uniform reference standards.
In the face of new energy vehicles brought about by industry changes, mold enterprises want to seize the opportunity, breakthrough, must find the right direction, precise force. First of all, focus on technological innovation, ploughing new energy automobile special mold research and development, focusing on breakthrough integrated die-casting mold, lightweight mold, precision battery mold and other core products, joint car companies, research institutions to build a research and development platform, to overcome the mold materials, precision machining, heat treatment, and other core technologies, to get rid of the dependence on high-end technology. Secondly, accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation, adopt three-dimensional design, simulation and analysis, intelligent processing and other technologies, optimize the production process, shorten the R&D and delivery cycle, to meet the needs of new energy vehicles fast iteration, fast delivery. Again, optimize the production capacity structure, eliminating backward low-end mold production capacity, focusing on high value-added high-end molds for new energy vehicles, to enhance the core competitiveness of the product, and take the initiative to dock with the head of the automobile enterprises and parts and components enterprises, to enter the core supply chain system. Finally, strengthen the talent pool and industry collaboration, cultivate composite talents familiar with the structure of new energy vehicles and mold technology, joint upstream and downstream enterprises to improve the industry standard, the formation of synergistic development of the industrial ecology.
The continued development of the new energy automobile industry is an important opportunity for the transformation and upgrading of the mold manufacturing industry, but also a key node in the industry reshuffle. For mold enterprises, stubborn, stick to traditional business will be eliminated by the market, the only initiative to embrace industry change, focus on new energy vehicles track, deep plowing technology, improve quality, optimize service, in order to seize the first opportunity in this blue ocean market. In the future, with the further maturation of the new energy automobile industry, and its high-end mold technology will continue to break through, mold manufacturing industry will take advantage of the new energy automobile east wind, from low-end to high-end, from large to strong leapfrog development, and become a new energy automobile industry to promote the high-quality development of the core of the support force.
