On March 11,2024, the annual supplier partner conference of VREMT was successfully held at the Hangzhou International Expo Center (the main venue of the G20 Hangzhou Summit). Wang Min, member of Hangzhou Communist Party standing committee and the Communist Party secretary of the Xiaoshan district, An Conghui, President of Geely Holding Group and CEO of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology, Xie Shibin, Vice President of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology and General Manager of VREMT, Cui Li, Supply Chain Leader of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology and Vice General Manager of VREMT, as well as leaders from relevant departments and platforms of the Xiaoshan District Government of Hangzhou City, and management of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology and VREMT attended the meeting.
The conference, with the theme of “Pooling Strength to Reach New Heights”, is an important meeting for VREMT to embark on a new journey of comprehensive development and march towards the goal of the second decade.
The conference invited more than 600 new energy suppliers from around the world and nearly a thousand representatives to attend, witnessing the business achievements of VREMT in 2023 together, and discussing the trends of new energy development and win-win cooperation in 2024. The conference also commended some suppliers who performed outstandingly in 2023.
Embrace Opportunities and Pooling Strength to Create a new Chapter
The global automotive industry is advancing towards electrification and intelligence. With further expansion and deepening of reform and opening up, China’s production and sales of new energy vehicles account for over 60% of the global total, entering a new stage of high-quality development characterized by large scale and globalization.
Hangzhou Communist Party standing committee member and the Communist Party secretary of the Xiaoshan district, Wang Min, stated that in recent years, Geely has taken root in Hangzhou and especially Xiaoshan, fully utilizing the advantages of the industrial chain and supply chain resources to actively seize the high ground of new energy vehicle development. Geely’s participation and the landing of the Jidian project will further promote Xiaoshan to accelerate the construction of a smart car industry cluster worth hundreds of billions.
Taking this conference as a new starting point, both parties will further strengthen the cooperation between government and enterprises in industry co-construction, resource sharing, and channel sharing, and jointly promote the expansion and strengthening of the industrial development circle, achieving mutual benefit and win-win results.
An Conghui, President of Geely Holding Group and CEO of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology, sincerely thanked the arrival of the Party Committee, government, and all supplier representatives from Xiaoshan District.
In his strategic planning, he pointed out that the domestic new energy vehicle market is surging, and only by continuously winning battles can we survive. Geely Holding Group has achieved outstanding results in the past year, and 2024 will still be a key year for consolidating the leading position of new energy vehicle brands, decisively winning thousands of miles, and also a crucial year for ZRRKR and VREMT.
Facing a challenging yet opportunistic era, An Conghui stated,“Geely will collaborate with suppliers in a more standardized manner, and ZEEKR will also adhere to equal dialogue, mutual benefit, and mutual assistance for common development.”
Ten Years of Efforts Have Laid a Solid Foundation for a new Journey
2023 is a crucial year for VREMT, marking the tenth anniversary of its entrepreneurship. Despite the complex and challenging external environment, VREMT remains strong and has delivered impressive results through hard work:
The 800V architecture of the EIC system is deeply laid out, empowering the ultimate driving experience, and a full range of energy storage portfolio is released to build a new pattern of energy development. The annual revenue in 2023 will reach another hundred billion level, reaching 22.9 billion yuan, setting a new historical record.
“Within just two years, VREMT has achieved its hundred-billion-level goals for twice, and the road to success has been fast and solid, thanks to the consistent support, hard work, and trust of all partners,” said Xie Shibin, Vice President of ZEEKR Intelligent Technology and General Manager of VREMT, expressing sincere gratitude to supplier partners at the conference and sharing the business status of VREMT.
In 2023, a year of large-scale expansion for VREMT, it is determined to build vertical integration advantages in the industrial chain. Currently, VREMT has established five major business platforms including batteries, electric drive, automotive electronics, energy storage, and intelligent equipment, and has initially formed an industrial layout of “3 bases for R&D and 7 bases for manufacturing”.
In 2023, VREMT broke many records in the industry. It launched the gold brick battery with the world’s highest volume utilization rate and fastest charging speed, the industry’s first mass-produced all-terrain tank U-turn, the industry’s first mass-produced four-motor distributed electric drive and ZVC four-wheel torque vector control, and the world’s highest single-gun power 800kW ultra-fast V3 charging pile, etc.
Technological breakthroughs and market expansion are both blossoming, with VREMT achieving different degrees of growth in its EIC, energy storage and charging businesses in 2023. Among them, 218,000 battery packs were delivered throughout the year, with further optimization of product structure and exports to overseas markets. A total of 342,000 electric drive assemblies were delivered throughout the year, an increase of 198% year-on-year, propelling VREMT into the top ten in the industry.
This year, VREMT will continue to expand production capacity and reinforce product superiority, achieving revenue duplication and fulfilling the strategic goal of breaking through the 100-billion-yuan barrier by 2025. Xie Shibin declared, indicating that in 2024, VREMT will fully harness and expand its capabilities in new technology, new products, and new production capacities.
2024 is also the first year of global expansion for VREMT. Xie Shibin called on supplier partners to maintain entrepreneurial passion, actively seek incremental growth, become fellow travelers in the globalization process of VREMT, and jointly build a greener, smarter, and more sustainable supply chain system.
Create new Momentum with Efficient Collaboration in one Heart
With the increasingly fierce competition, end consumers have high expectations for new energy vehicles and the fully competitive market situation, which forces both carmakers and auto parts companies to improve quality and reduce costs. At the same time, the traditional supply chain pattern is also being reshaped, showing a trend of overall development characterized by mutual trust, integration, and mutual strength.
Cui Li, the person in charge of the supply chain at ZEEKR Intelligent Technology and vice general manager of VREMT, reviewed the supply chain work in 2023.
In 2023, various products of VREMT continued to grow steadily, with significant growth in pure electric battery packs, electric drives, PCMU, and chargers. The main quality indicators of components have also been further improved. With the growth of various product dimensions, 71% of VREMT’s direct procurement suppliers achieved the goal of doubling their supply volume in 2023. Cui Li expressed sincere gratitude for the full support and hard work of supplier partners.
In 2024, VREMT will focus on strengthening supplier lifecycle management, component quality management, deepening full value chain cost management, enhancing production capacity construction and delivery management, accelerating the implementation of digital supply chain construction, etc.
VREMT will also work closely with supplier partners to create cost advantages across the entire industry chain, focusing on promoting MES construction to achieve quality data traceability, establishing a system management process for sustainable supply chain, continuing to strengthen legal compliance, and making efforts from all aspects to further enhance product competitiveness, jointly address industry challenges, and win the future.
At the conference, VREMT presented awards such as the “Outstanding Contribution Award” for the year 2023 to outstanding supplier representatives, recognizing their outstanding contributions over the past year.
During the conference, the supplier representatives were also invited to visit VREMT’s Hangzhou Jidian production base, experiencing advanced manufacturing processes up close.
In addition, VREMT has also arranged test rides for partners to experience the ultimate fun of electric travel in a variety of ZEEKR models.
In the future, VREMT will continue to innovate in the field of new energy vehicle EIC systems, charging systems, all-scenario energy storage systems, deepen cooperation with suppliers, and promote synergy in the field of sustainable development, to achieve the corporate vision of “cleaner energy, healthier world”.