Weekly Index
Weekly News
Model 3 Explosion in Russia
On August 11th, a Russian ins account duraknadoroge posted a video that seems to be the first Model 3 explosion in the world.
According to the car owner Alexey Tretyakov, at the time of the accident, the vehicle was in Autopilot mode, and the collision occurred because it failed to recognize the tow truck in front, causing the car to catch fire. The collision speed was approximately 100 km/h. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported, only minor bruises of the owner’s two children and a leg fracture of the owner himself.
Quick Comment: It needs to be clear that Autopilot is currently just an auxiliary driving system, and drivers still need to remain vigilant and cannot be taken lightly.
This accident also highlights two points. First, the current camera+millimeter-wave radar still has problems with static obstacle recognition. Second, the safety performance of Model 3 is indeed not fake. Even when a collision occurred at a speed of 100 km/h, there were no significant injuries.
Finally, we hope that Tesla can release the investigation results as soon as possible to clarify why this battery accident was so serious.
WM EX5 520 Version on Sale
On August 9th, the WM EX5 520 version was officially launched. The new model has a battery capacity of 69 kWh, and the NEDC range can reach 520 km. Two models were released this time, the Lite version priced at 169,800 yuan after subsidies and the Extra version priced at 189,800 yuan after subsidies.
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However, the vehicle battery upgrade price for old car owners has not yet been mentioned, as only the vehicle sales price has been released.
Quick comment: After XPeng announced the 520 km endurance version in July, WM EX5 also followed suit and released the 520 km endurance model. However, WM did not announce the price for old car owners to change the battery this time. The compensation plan for old car owners is also one of our major concerns.
NIO Reveals Plan for New Vehicles
NIO’s 19th NIO House “Wenzhou Ni Wu” has officially opened. At the opening ceremony, the co-founder and President of NIO, Qin Lihong, revealed some plans about NIO’s future.
Firstly, ET7, which was officially unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show ET Preview earlier this year. Qin called the new car “ET7” during the event.
This model will be based on the second-generation platform. However, due to the progress of the construction of the second-generation platform, the production time of ET7 may be postponed to after 2022. L4 grade advanced driving assistance system and three-level electrical system upgrades will be included in the mass-produced model.
Secondly, the new car to be unveiled at this year’s NIO Day will be a vehicle based on the first-generation platform. It can share some parts with ES6 and may be priced at less than 300,000 yuan.
Quick comment: NIO has officially delivered two vehicle models, ES8 and ES6. However, according to the sales data in July, although ES6 reached 1,066 vehicles, surpassing one thousand for the first time, ES8 sales were only at 436 vehicles, indicating a significant decline and failing to achieve the synergy effect of 1+1=2. The fundamental problem is that ES6 and ES8 overlap heavily in positioning. If there is no strong demand for 7 seats, ES6 is not much smaller than ES8, and the price gap is not significant. Therefore, for NIO’s third model, whether it is an SUV or a sedan, it is hoped that the size of the car body can be further reduced, as it is beneficial for controlling the weight of the car body to improve endurance and further reduce the selling price. After all, the target audience for the expensive cars priced at 400,000 to 500,000 yuan is too small.
BYD Plans to Split Battery Business for IPO around 2022
On August 7th, BYD stated on an interactive platform that the company’s power battery business spin-off and listing is steadily advancing. It is expected to spin-off the entire battery business independently and listed around 2022.
Quick Review: Look at the global installed capacity of power batteries in 2018. CATL (23.54 GWh) is more than twice as much as BYD (11.6 GWh). Why is there such a huge gap?
The trend of electrification in the entire automotive industry is accelerating, and demand is not a concern. BYD split the battery business and hit two birds with one stone. Firstly, it separated the battery business to dispel the concerns of OEMs. Toyota’s big order is a clear proof. Secondly, with the growth of demand, the power battery business has also entered a rapid expansion phase. It is good news whether the company splits and becomes independent in terms of finance or financing. BYD is becoming the Samsung in the electric vehicle industry.
Pre-sale of Volkswagen Lavida pure electric version starts at 158,900 yuan
On August 8th, SAIC Volkswagen announced that the Lavida pure electric version has officially launched nationwide pre-sale at a pre-sale price of 158,900 yuan. The new car is based on the fuel version of Lavida and is the first mass-produced pure electric car under SAIC Volkswagen. The NEDC-rated range is 278 kilometers.
In terms of power, the Lavida electric vehicle is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor with a maximum power of 100 kW. The maximum speed is 150 km/h. The power battery is from CATL, and the battery pack capacity is 37.2 kWh.
Quick Review: I have no energy to criticize the range and pre-sale price of the Lavida electric version. If it were placed in 2016 or 2017, it could be considered acceptable. But this year, with a budget of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan, domestic brands and new automakers are already offering models that have an NEDC-rated range of 500 kilometers or more. And in terms of intelligence, these domestic models are also leading in all aspects compared to joint venture brands.
Presumably, these joint venture companies do not want to launch these models, but they have no choice but to comply with the credit policy. However, Volkswagen is also heavily investing in electric vehicles. For example, the Volkswagen ID.3 is developed entirely based on the Volkswagen electric vehicle platform MEB, and there will be a qualitative leap in terms of intelligence and range. It just needs some time.
One Week Data
As the electric car market has developed in recent years, most people are aware that electric cars have lower operating costs, which is certainly one of the important reasons why people choose electric cars.
From our survey, it can be seen that 89% of the respondents chose the power output characteristics of electric cars, which is higher than the 74% who consider the operating costs. It can be seen that when you drive an electric car, you will find that its power characteristics are more attractive than those of traditional fuel cars. It is fast, quiet, and smooth, and the key is that you can step on the accelerator as much as you want without any concerns.
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.