The development of new energy vehicles has become one of the most important directions for China’s automobile industry upgrade. As an important component of new energy vehicles, forgings play a crucial role in the industry chain. However, the subdivision market of forgings faces problems such as supply-demand imbalance, single varieties, and high-end technology dependence on imports, which limits the development space. Therefore, it is necessary to plan and strengthen the layout and upgrading of the new energy vehicle forging industry.
The state has repeatedly issued policies to guide the development of the forging industry. For example, “Made in China 2025” proposes measures to promote the lightweight, green, and intelligent manufacturing of automobiles, encouraging the use of forgings instead of castings and welding parts in new energy vehicles; “Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan for the Automotive Industry” points out that by strengthening the research and development promotion of forging materials, mastering key technologies, reducing product costs, optimizing automobile structures and performance, and enhancing market competitiveness. These policies are conducive to the overall layout and upgrading of the new energy vehicle forging industry chain.
In actual production, enterprises such as Anhui Nantian and Hualing Steel have been actively promoting the industrial layout and upgrading of new energy vehicle forgings. For example, Hualing Steel cooperates with a forging enterprise to strengthen research and development and production technology, to create large-area and large-deformation ratio forgings, and to achieve a forging production task of over 2 million bars in 2020. Anhui Nantian focuses on the automobile, engineering machinery, and tool markets, continues to invest in expanding new energy vehicle forging projects. The exploration and practice of these enterprises in the industrial layout and upgrading of new energy vehicle forgings have brought a more solid foundation and confidence for the entire industry.
Overall, the industrial layout and upgrading of new energy vehicle forgings mainly include the following trends and methods:
- Improve the level of automation and intelligence of forging equipment to improve production efficiency and product quality.
- Strengthen the research and development and production of new energy vehicle forging materials to reduce costs.
- Promote the construction of diversified forging supply chains to meet the needs of different industries and customers.
- Promote automobile lightweight, green manufacturing, and intelligent manufacturing according to national policies.
- Create core competitiveness through enterprise cooperation and technological innovation.
The above five directions will become important directions for the future industrial layout and upgrading of new energy vehicle forgings.
