2022 年 5 月 31 日 13:33 UTC

作者：古斯塔沃· 恩里克·鲁弗

Lordstown Motors 不得不与富士康达成协议，以维持生计。Canoo 声称它可以随时得到一些资金，因为它迫切需要一些资金。

这是一个完全不同的竞争环境，任何一家新汽车公司都必须承诺推出一款新电动汽车，以获得大量资金，然后才能推出可靠的原型车。造成这种情况的主要原因有两个：传统汽车制造商正在迎头赶上，更加不利的经济环境。

电动汽车初创公司的项目获得的资金将越来越少，因为传统汽车制造商正在强化他们在电动汽车方面的竞争

世界供应链的破坏、国际健康危机对多个行业造成了巨大破坏：许多人失业，公司破产；由于缺乏半导体和其他组件，汽车世界影响巨大；石油和天然气价格飙升。即使假设流动性仍然极端——电动汽车初创公司的主要担忧是传统汽车公司正在迎头赶上。

投资者愿意将资金投入新公司，因为他们认为这是创造新丰田或新大众汽车的机会.。

特斯拉刚起步时，人们不相信电动汽车会有需求，担心技术是否足够成熟。这就是为什么特斯拉多次差点破产的原因。尽管如此，尽管关于电池技术的讨论仍在进行中，但这家美国电动汽车制造商还是让电动汽车成为了人们的理想选择。事实上，对电动汽车的需求，加速了对电池研发的投资。

许多汽车高管担心这种趋势是人为的，更多是由法律、碳信用和政治家们设计出来的，而不是来自客户的真正意愿。过去可能是这样。然而，仅凭这一点并不能解释这种现象。

事实上，购车者已经开始体验电动汽车的优势。它们是安静且快速的机器，如果电池组或电机没有问题，运行起来也很便宜。随着石油短缺和燃料价格上涨，电动汽车车主也节省了很多钱——尤其是如果他们可以在家充电的话。内燃机最终将被禁止在新车中使用的观点，只是这些客户偏爱电动汽车的另一个论据。

在这种情况下，新公司拥有建立自己的绝佳机会。电动汽车与带有发动机的汽车截然不同。他们需要一套不同的工程技能和另一种心态。没有对内燃机进行投资的公司有一个很大的先机：在将产品出售之前，没有什么可以摆脱的。

传统汽车制造商则完全相反。他们很久以前就承诺投资开发新的发动机和变速箱。Luca de Meo 最近表示，一整套新的发动机系列的开发成本约为 20 亿美元。为了使这项投资有意义，必须出售数百万台这样的发动机。这些发动机的供应商签订了合同，如果他们不遵守这些合同，汽车制造商可能会因此损失惨重。最重要的是，优秀的汽车制造商对其供应商负有责任，其中一些可能会在没有内燃机的情况下消失。

对于大众汽车或现代汽车等公司来说，这一切都不是错过电气化这一千载难逢的机会的借口。他们将资金投入到开发专用 EV 平台上，例如 MEB 和 E-GMP。现代Ioniq 5被评为 2022 年世界年度汽车。大众 ID.4 赢得了2021 年的这一荣誉。特斯拉四种型号没有一款获得过如此殊荣。

请记住，其他大型汽车制造商也对电动汽车越来越激进。宝马提供大量新车。梅赛德斯-奔驰也在扩大其产品组合，所有其他传统汽车制造商都非常重视基于电动汽车的新行业。其中一些，比如雷克萨斯，已经透露他们将在几年内实现纯电动化。丰田是个例外，它决定只有在固态电池可用时，才会对电动汽车进行更多投资——并且会首先在混合动力车中进行测试。

这表明传统汽车制造商如何加强他们的游戏，以探索目前仅占全球汽车市场一小部分的市场，即使是一个不断扩大的市场。如果人们可以从他们已经知道的品牌那里购买电动汽车，他们为什么要冒险从他们从未听说过的公司那里购买东西呢？新的汽车制造商要么已经证明了自己的价值，比如 Lucid 和 Rivian，要么找到了相信他们会成功的财力雄厚的投资者，比如 Lucid 和 Rivian。其他人都需要现金。

 

DeLorean最近宣布将通过 IPO（首次公开募股）成为一家公开交易的全线汽车制造商。对它有利的是，它并不完全是一个新来者。恰恰相反：它成立于 1980 年代，在破产 40 年后，它的品牌仍然强大到足以尝试卷土重来。另一方面，如今许多标志性品牌都在努力销售汽车，例如Lancia和阿尔法罗密欧。

仅 IPO 将是衡量新电动汽车制造商融资难易程度的好方法，无论是通过这个过程还是通过不太复杂的SPAC（特殊目的收购公司）方法。所有证据表明，机会窗口现在已经关闭或快关闭了。现在是时候让那些抓住它的人证明他们可以与那些玩了几十年的人竞争。声称他们将拯救世界是行不通的。

编者注： 图片包含 Lordstown Endurance、Canoo 和 DeLorean 车辆。

    

Lack of Money for EV Startups Means Legacy Automakers Are Occupying EV Space

Home > News > Editorial31 May 2022, 13:33 UTC

by Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

Lordstown Motors had to make a deal with Foxconn to stay afloat. Canoo claims it can get money whenever it wants, as it desperately needs some. This is a pretty different environment from when any new car company would have had just to promise a new EV and get piles of money before even presenting a credible prototype. There are two main reasons for that: legacy automakers catching up, and a more hostile economic environment.

EV startups will get increasingly less money for their projects because legacy carmakers are stepping up their game on electric cars

We are witnessing an invasion against a peaceful country that disrupted the world’s food supply chain. The international health crisis caused massive damage to multiple industries: many lost their jobs, and companies went bankrupt. That affected the automotive world with a lack of semiconductors and other components. Oil and gas prices skyrocketed. Even supposing liquidity was still extreme – with central banks printing money as if there was no tomorrow – the main concern for EV startups is that traditional car companies are catching up.

Investors cared to put money in new companies because they saw that as an opportunity to create a new Toyota or Volkswagen. When Tesla started, people did not believe electric cars would have demand and were concerned whether the technology was mature enough. This is why Tesla almost went bankrupt so many times. Despite that, the American EV maker made EVs desirable regardless of the still ongoing discussions about battery technology. In fact, the want for electric cars sped up investments in cell research and development.

Many automotive executives fear that this trend is artificial, created more by laws, carbon credits, and politicians than from a genuine will from customers. It may have been so in the past. However, that alone cannot explain the phenomenon.

The fact is that car buyers have started experiencing what EVs can offer. They are silent and fast machines that are also inexpensive to run if nothing goes wrong with their battery packs or motors. With the oil shortage and increasing prices for fuels, EV owners also save a lot – particularly if they can charge at home. The perspective that the combustion engine will be eventually forbidden in new vehicles is just another argument for these customers to prefer electric cars.

In such a scenario, new companies had the perfect opportunity to establish themselves. Electric cars are very different machines from those with engines. They demand a different set of engineering skills and another mindset. Companies that did not have investments in combustion engines had a substantial headstart: nothing to get rid of before putting their products for sale.

Legacy automakers were quite the opposite. They had committed investments ages ago to develop new engines and gearboxes. Luca de Meo recently said that a new engine family costs about $2 billion to be developed. Millions of such engines have to be sold for that investment to make sense. The suppliers for those engines have contracts that can cost automakers a fortune if they do not comply. On top of that, good automakers have a responsibility to their suppliers, some of which may vanish without combustion engines.

None of that has been an excuse for companies like Volkswagen or Hyundai to miss electrification as a golden opportunity. They put their money into developing dedicated EV platforms such as the MEB and E-GMP. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 was elected the 2022 World Car of the Year. In 2021, the Volkswagen ID.4 won that accolade. Tesla never got there with any of its four models.

Remember that other massive automakers are also getting more aggressive about electric cars. BMW has a great offer of new vehicles. Mercedes-Benz is also expanding its portfolio, and all other legacy carmakers are taking the perspective of a new industry based on EVs very seriously. Some of them, such as Lexus, already disclosed they would be electric-only in a few years. The exception is Toyota, which decided it will only invest more in EVs when solid-state cells are available – and it will test them in hybrids first.

That shows how legacy automakers stepped up their game to explore what is currently just a fraction of the total world car market, even if an expanding one. If people can buy EVs from brands they already know, why would they risk buying something from a company they have never heard about? New carmakers either already have proven their value, such as Lucid and Rivian, or found deep-pocket investors that trust that they will succeed, such as Lucid and Rivian. All the others need cash.

DeLorean recently announced it would have an IPO (Initial Public Offering) to become a publicly-traded full-line automaker. In its favor, it is not exactly a newcomer. On the contrary: it was established in the 1980s, and its brand remained strong enough 40 years after its bankruptcy for it to try a comeback. On the other hand, many iconic brands are struggling to sell cars nowadays, such as Lancia and Alfa Romeo.

That IPO alone will be a great way to measure how easily new EV makers can fund themselves, either with this process or with the less complicated SPAC (Special-Purpose Acquisition Company) method. All evidence suggests that the opportunity window is now closed or pretty close to shutting down. Now it is the time for those that seized it to show they can compete with those that play this game for decades. Claiming they will save the world will not do the trick.

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Editor's note: The gallery contains images of the Lordstown Endurance, Canoo, and DeLorean vehicles.

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