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FSD Beta Officially Rolls Out in the US
In the early morning of July 10th, US time, FSD Beta V9.0 was officially rolled out in the US. Compared to the previous version, this version has made significant improvements in dealing with corner cases, optimizing ghost braking, recognizing LED traffic lights, and other details.
FSD Beta V9.0 adopts a pure visual solution, relying entirely on the camera for data collection. However, Elon Musk said that FSD Beta V9.0 is still a beta version, and users still cannot take it lightly.
Quick Comment:
Two days before the official release of FSD Beta V9.0, Elon Musk made a teaser on Twitter, and this time it finally went online on schedule without delay. However, Chinese Tesla users can only watch various testing videos of foreign users and cannot experience it firsthand. In the earnings conference call in the fourth quarter of last year, Tesla stated that only about 1% to 2% of users in the Chinese market chose FSD, with a very low proportion. In addition, solving the more difficult problem of data placement is required for FSD Beta to land in China.
Tesla Model Y Standard Range Goes on Sale in China
On July 8th, the Model Y Standard Range Rear-Wheel Drive was launched on Tesla’s official website in China, priced at 276,000 yuan, and is expected to begin deliveries in August.
The standard range version of Model Y with rear-wheel drive and a single electric motor is equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries, providing a range of 525 kilometers and accelerating from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 5.6 seconds.
Quick review:
Before subsidies, the starting price of the standard range version of Model Y with rear-wheel drive and a single electric motor is 291,840 yuan, which is less than 300,000 yuan. If it is purchased by individuals, a subsidy of 15,840 yuan is available, with a post-subsidy price of 2.76 million yuan. However, if the price after the configuration is higher than 300,000 yuan, it will not be eligible for new energy vehicle subsidies.
Before the release of the sale price of Model Y, many people guessed that it would be lower than 300,000 yuan, but did not expect it to really reach 2.76 million yuan. The impact on the market, especially on the impact on the same level of competitors, will be revealed in the insurance volume in a period of time.
NIO holds Power Day
On July 9th, the first NIO Power Day was held in Shanghai. NIO shared the development history and core technology of NIO Power and announced the NIO Power 2025 battery swapping station layout plan.
NIO stated that the total target number of battery swapping stations under construction in 2021 has been increased from 500 to more than 700, and 600 new battery swapping stations will be added to the Chinese market every year from 2022 to 2025. By the end of 2025, the total number of NIO battery swapping stations worldwide will exceed 4,000, of which about 1,000 will be located in markets outside of China. At the same time, NIO announced the full opening of the NIO Power charging and swapping system and BaaS services to the industry.
Quick review:
Combining the information point that “NIO’s battery pack size can now be placed in cars that are roughly the same size as the Model 3,” mentioned by Li Bin at a media briefing at Beijing’s first second-generation station, NIO’s charging and swapping system may have more flexible development as NIO Power and BaaS open up.On overseas expansion, NIO has started recruiting product managers for its NIO Power Cloud project in Germany, to promote the deployment of the European NIO Power network. On Jul 7, NIO’s next generation battery swap stations, supercharging stations and home chargers obtained the TÜV Rheinland EU certification and TÜV MARK certification, enabling them to be sold and operated in all EU member states. This year, the first batch of four second-generation battery swap stations will be put into operation in Norway.
Porsche and Rimac establish joint venture to take over Bugatti
On Jul 5, Porsche announced the establishment of a joint venture with Rimac, named Bugatti-Rimac. The shareholding ratio of the joint venture is 45% Porsche and 55% Rimac. The joint venture will launch Rimac Nevera and Bugatti Chiron. Mate Rimac, founder and CEO of Rimac, will serve as the CEO of the joint venture. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume and Lutz Meschke, Vice Chairman and Member of the Executive Board for Finance and IT, will also join the joint venture’s supervisory board.
Comment:
As early as 2018, Porsche began investing in Rimac, and in September 2019, Porsche increased its stake in Rimac to 15%. In March this year, Porsche added EUR 70 million in investment and increased its stake to 24%. With the establishment of this new joint venture, Porsche announced that joint development of Bugatti models is also in the planning.
XPeng G3i launched from CNY 149,800
On Jul 9, XPeng Motors held a launch event for the G3i and released its prices. The new car offers two versions of driving range, one with a battery capacity of 57 kWh and NEDC driving range of 460 km, and another with a battery capacity of 66 kWh and a driving range of 520 km. Both N-branded models are equipped with XPILOT 2.5. The prices are:
- 460G: CNY 149,800
- 460N: CNY 172,800
- 520G: CNY 165,800
- 520N: CNY 185,800
XPeng also stated at the launch that the naming rules for XPeng models follow the alphabetical order of “XPeng” in English. The “P” series models have the highest configuration and then decrease in order.
Comment:As the mid-term updated model of G3, G3i adopts the same family design language as P7 in terms of appearance. With regard to its assisted driving features, G3i still uses XP 2.5, which has outstanding capabilities in the same level of car models. However, some overseas netizens have raised concerns about G3i’s assisted driving configuration during the operation of the Tweeting Garages.
As a relatively intelligent new force in car manufacturing, it does not quite fit with the brand image of Xpeng to equip G3i with XP 2.5, especially considering that XPILOT cannot be upgraded iteratively at a later stage. The deployment of hardware will affect costs to a certain extent, but it is beneficial to the popularization of intelligentization.
LiDAR Manufacturer Hesai Collaborates with EV Manufacturer Li Auto on Level Standards
On July 9th, Li Auto announced its collaboration with Hesai, a leading provider of SAE Level 3 and 4 autonomous driving LiDAR.
Li Auto’s Senior Vice President Junli Gu and Hesai’s founder and CEO Junwei Bao signed the strategic cooperation agreement at the ceremony. The partnership will be aimed at creating safer, more efficient, LiDAR-enabled smart electric vehicles.
Commentary:
Based on Hesai’s latest vehicle-grade hybrid solid-state LiDAR, Li Auto and Hesai will collaborate on integrating LiDAR systems for passenger vehicles, evaluating the vehicle-grade reliability of LiDAR under complex weather and operating conditions, and developing a highly automated manufacturing test system based on vehicle regulations. According to its product plan, Li Auto plans to launch a LiDAR-enabled model X01 in the second half of this year, which may become the first landing of this collaboration.
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.