Orient: Energy management becomes a part of the smart home ecological scene as China's top home appliance companies actively enter the market.

Orient released a research report stating that the importance of overseas energy security is increasing, and energy management has also become a major ecological scenario for short-term applications in smart homes. There are two main investment themes around family energy management: 1) Musk has constructed a "photovoltaic + energy storage + electric vehicle" model, providing the ultimate paradigm for smart homes. Enterprises that focus on the forward-looking layout of the "people-vehicle-home" ecosystem will have more potential in future competitions. 2) The penetration rate of smart energy-saving household products is rapidly increasing. The industry of balcony photovoltaics, portable energy storage, heat pumps, and AI energy-saving household appliances is growing rapidly, providing a large potential space. Key points from Orient are as follows: Musk's creation of the "photovoltaic + energy storage + electric vehicle" model provides the ultimate paradigm for smart homes. Musk's "light-storage-charge" strategy provides the most important inspiration for the smart home industry, redefining the basic connection layer of the home. The key to future industry competition will no longer be whether a single piece of hardware is smart enough, but who can be the first to build a home energy operating system that connects photovoltaics, energy storage, charging stations, heat pumps, various household appliances, real-time electricity prices, weather forecasts, AI algorithms, demand response platforms, and VPP trading markets. Whoever masters this gateway is more likely to become the true center of the next generation of smart home platforms. Household power generation and energy-saving related products are on the rise Against the backdrop of rising energy prices, the penetration rate of smart energy-related products is accelerating, becoming a rapidly growing emerging category in smart home appliances. On one hand, smart energy products such as balcony photovoltaics, balcony energy storage, portable energy storage, and AI energy-saving household appliances are breaking through the boundaries of traditional energy devices and gradually transforming into consumer electronics products with low thresholds, strong experiences, expandability, and interconnectivity. On the other hand, the core of this round of innovation is no longer limited to the growth of single product sales, but energy products are being redefined as "new home appliances" in home scenarios - the competition logic is shifting from simply trying to compete with technical parameters to considering installation convenience, space adaptability, industrial design, interactive experiences, and compatibility with home systems. Top Chinese home appliance companies actively enter the market through ecological cooperation Leading domestic home appliance companies are pushing the competition in the smart home industry from the stage of device interconnection to a new stage of home energy operating systems. Their core strategy is no longer limited to "home appliance networking," but to build a unified energy dispatching system around power generation, energy storage, usage, and energy supplementation for travel. The essence of this round of competition lies in who can effectively connect decentralized air conditioners, heat pumps, energy storage, photovoltaics, charging stations, and new energy vehicles on the household side to form cross-scenario data loops, cross-device collaborative control, and cross-cycle energy efficiency optimization capabilities. Enterprises focusing on the "people-vehicle-home" ecosystem mainly fall into two categories: one is the full industry chain layout model of Huawei and Xiaomi, where smart homes and smart cars are within their respective ecological layouts, these enterprises entered the market earlier and have formed their own data loops. The other category is cooperation between home appliance companies and car companies. In November 2025, Midea's high-end home appliance brand COLMO partnered with BYD Company Limited to achieve bi-directional smart interconnection between cars and homes; on July 23, 2025, Haier also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Changan. Cooperation between home appliance companies and car companies is becoming increasingly close, jointly participating in the construction of the energy-saving ecosystem. Risks There is uncertainty in the fluctuation of overseas energy prices and the pace of penetration of energy-saving devices.