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“Two Sessions” propose to strengthen infrastructure construction of charging piles and battery swapping stations
During this year’s “Two Sessions”, the government proposed to adhere to expanding domestic demand and fully tap the potential of the domestic market. Among them, special mention was made of new energy vehicles-related content.
The government work report proposed to stabilize and increase large-scale consumption such as automobiles and home appliances, cancel unreasonable restrictions on second-hand car transactions, increase facilities such as parking lots, charging piles, and battery swapping stations, and accelerate the construction of a power battery recycling and utilization system.
Comment:
The deployment of charging piles and battery swapping stations for electric vehicles is crucial for industry development. Currently, the number of Tesla super charging piles on the Chinese mainland has officially exceeded 6,000, and the number of super charging stations has exceeded 760. XPeng Motors’ super charging stations have expanded to 159. NIO plans to start deploying second-generation battery swapping stations this year and increase the total number of battery swapping stations to 500 by the end of the year. It is believed that under the guidance of policies, the infrastructure supporting electric vehicles will be accelerated and improved.
BYD Qin PLUS DM-i officially goes on sale starting at RMB 105,800
On March 8th, BYD officially announced the launch of the Qin PLUS DM-i, with a total of four models, all of which are plug-in hybrid models. The two models with a pure electric range of 55 km are priced at RMB 105,800 and RMB 119,800 respectively, with an acceleration of 7.9 seconds per 100 km. The two models with a pure electric range of 120 km are priced at RMB 129,800 and RMB 145,800, respectively.
# Qin PLUS DM-i: A Compact Level Sedan with Consistent Size as Qin Pro
Qin PLUS DM-i is a compact level sedan with a size of 4765/1837/1495 mm in length, width, and height respectively, along with a wheelbase of 2718 mm. In fact, it has a consistent size with Qin Pro.
Quick Review:
With a comprehensive range of 1,245 km and a price slightly over 100,000 RMB that can enjoy new energy license policy, Qin PLUS DM-i is a relatively inexpensive choice without mileage anxiety for users living in cities outside of Beijing’s license restriction. The 55 km range model accurately leverages policies to lower the car’s price, while the 120 km range model considers the actual cost of commuting in the city for a group of users who have much convenient access to charging.
Volvo Launches New Pure Electric SUV C40 Recharge
After eight years, Volvo finally updated the C-series models – C40 Recharge at the RECHARGE global virtual event. As a model under the CMA platform, C40 Recharge is based on the pure electric XC40, which is Volvo’s first model that only provides pure electric power.
As for power, C40 Recharge also uses the power unit of pure electric XC40, with a maximum power of 300 kW from front-to-rear dual motors and a peak torque of 660 N·m. The acceleration to 100 km/h is less than 4.9 seconds, with a 78 kWh ternary lithium battery and a WLTP range of 420 km.
Quick Review:
Volvo plans to become a “fully electric car company” by 2030. To achieve this goal, Volvo will remove internal combustion (including hybrid) models from its product line before 2030. Volvo has already completely stopped the research and development of internal combustion and hybrid technology and has turned all electric car sales online to minimize carbon emissions during transportation. The newly launched C40 Recharge can be regarded as Volvo’s latest achievement in electrification transformation.
Xpeng Motors Establish a Wholly-owned Subsidiary Covering Used Car Dealership
According to Tianyancha, Xpeng Motors established its wholly-owned subsidiary with a registered capital of RMB 5 million on March 2.### Honda: World’s first legally approved L3 autonomous vehicle for sale
On March 5th, Honda announced the official launch of the world’s first legally approved L3 autonomous vehicle, the LEGEND Hybrid EX·Honda SENGING Elite. The car is only available for lease in Japan, priced at 11 million yen (about 659,000 RMB) with a limited quantity of 100 units.
As early as November last year, Honda announced that its LEGEND Hybrid EX·Honda SENGING Elite model had obtained partial certification for L3 autonomous driving from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. As the first L3 model that can legally be driven on the road, the front and rear bumper positions of the vehicle are specially equipped with blue indicator lights, which will light up when the vehicle is in L3 autonomous driving mode to alert surrounding vehicles or pedestrians. Prior to its official launch, the vehicle underwent approximately 1.3 million kilometers of testing on Japanese highways.
Quick Comment:
This information change may indicate that XPeng Motors may establish its official second-hand car service system, similar to Tesla and NIO, thereby alleviating users’ concerns about the residual value of electric vehicles to a certain extent.In SAE’s autonomous driving classification, a driver can disengage from L3 level autonomous driving, but must be able to intervene if necessary. Therefore, the division of responsibilities between the vehicle and the driver is not clear in L3. From a regulatory perspective, it is difficult to determine liability in the event of an accident. Honda’s L3 autonomous driving car was approved by the Japanese government in November last year, achieving a breakthrough in regulation.
ZTE establishes automotive electronics team
According to a report from First Financial News, ZTE announced on the evening of March 2 that it will establish an automotive electronic product line and set up an automotive electronic team.
(Source: Reuters)
The automotive electronic team is under the System Product Technical Planning Department and is responsible for the unified business planning and management of the automotive electronic field. However, the leader of the team has yet to be determined, according to insiders. At present, ZTE has conducted on-site testing of connected vehicles and autonomous driving in Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Xiongan, covering a variety of typical intelligent connected scenarios, including assisted driving, remote control, intelligent parking, and remote monitoring.
Quick comment:
Currently, among domestic technology and internet giants, Alibaba and SAIC have launched their own IM Auto, Baidu has teamed up with Geely to establish Jidu Auto, Tencent is collaborating with Geely to develop smart cabins and autonomous driving technology, while Huawei and Xiaomi have both announced plans to manufacture cars. With the announcement of ZTE’s establishment of an automotive related team, more players are entering the new energy and intelligent automobile field, intensifying the competition.
ByteDance invests in autonomous driving start-up QZ Intelligent Navigation
On the evening of March 4, Bloomberg reported that Chinese social media giant ByteDance is investing in a self-driving start-up called QZ Intelligent Navigation, for an amount not less than $25 million. IDG Capital and Lenovo Capital are also participating in the A1 round of financing for QZ Intelligent Navigation. The funds raised will be used to continue building an “automated production super factory” for self-driving.
### QCraft’s founders and core team members come from Waymo, Tesla, Uber ATG, Ford, Nvidia, Google, Facebook
The four founders of QCraft, a Silicon Valley-based startup, all come from Waymo, and the core team members come from Waymo, Tesla, Uber ATG, Ford, Nvidia, Google, Facebook, and other self-driving or tech companies. QCraft was founded in 2019 and is committed to creating L4 level autonomous driving technology that adapts to complex urban traffic environments, providing partners with mass-producible autonomous driving solutions. QCraft uses a large-scale simulation system and a self-learning decision planning framework to reduce the cost of developing autonomous driving technology.
Commentary:
ByteDance’s investment in QCraft is seen as a layout in the field of autonomous driving. ByteDance began researching autonomous driving technologies as early as 2016, but progress has not been significant. In May 2020, ByteDance officially established a connected car team using former Smartisan employees to enable its apps such as Douyin, Xigua Video, and Toutiao to function in car terminals. Compared to other Chinese tech giants, ByteDance has less influence in the automotive industry and seems less determined. It remains to be seen what actions ByteDance will take in the automotive field.
JAC and NIO plan to establish a joint venture company named JAC NIO Advanced Manufacturing Technology Co. in Anhui Province
On March 4th, JAC Motors announced that it has signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture with NIO, with the proposed name of “JAC NIO Advanced Manufacturing Technology Co. Ltd.”
The registered capital of the joint venture will be RMB 500 million, with JAC contributing RMB 255 million, or 51% of the total capital, and NIO contributing RMB 245 million, or 49% of the total capital.
The business scope of the joint venture will include the manufacturing of intelligent electric vehicles and their parts, process research and development, manufacturing management, operation services, supply chain management, research and sales of auto parts, technology consulting, technology transfer, and personnel training related to intelligent electric vehicles, exhibition and business services related to the aforementioned activities. The final scope of business will be subject to the business license issued to the joint venture.
Commentary:
During the recent NIO 2020 Q4 financial results earnings call, Li Bin was asked about NIO’s aspirations to establish a new brand to enter the mass market. He explained that NIO had previously attempted this through investments with GAC and Changan. NIO has been actively observing how to enter the mass market, and this has been a long-term strategy for the company.
Subsequently, NIO announced that it would establish a new company with JAC, transitioning from contract manufacturing to a joint venture. This may be a new way for NIO to test the waters and enter the mass market.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.