China EVs & More

In this latest MAX episode, Tu & Lei invite Elliot Richards, the East Asia Correspondent from Fully Charged, a YouTube channel dedicated to promoting all things clean energy.Elliot has spent the last two years test driving and reviewing many of the electric vehicles from the Chinese EV brands that Tu and Lei talk about each week on China EVs & More. In this fun and relaxed episode Tu, Lei, and Elliot trade stories about how they got 'into' cars and much more. Does Elliot really think these cars can compete with the Germans, Americans, Japanese, and Koreans? What's the best car that he's driven? How did he get into this role? For anyone that wants to get beyond how some of the China EV Inc cars look, this is a MUST LISTEN TO episode. 

The podcast starts with Lei giving us an overview of the annual, and critically important 两会 or Two Sessions conference that sets the agenda for the year’s governmental priorities. NEVs have been a major priority of the Two Sessions for the last several years for instance and it was no different for this session.Tu then talks about how the number of new brands being established in China has really pushed a significant increase in the level of competition there and how the Chinese government has begun to take a step back to allow all of these brands across the different market segments push the market forward, drive innovation to make these cars more feature rich, yet affordable. He is doubtful that the few EV startups in the US alongside the legacies who’ve begun to pivot their products to clean energy are enough of a critical mass to quickly get sales to that same tipping point. He is curious and hopeful that as the US govt begins to take a more active role in the sector that there will be a number of startups that enter the market to challenge the established brands. The discussion transitions to Lei reflecting on what Stephan Wöllenstein meant when he said that ‘Chinese brands have made it’ during China EVs & More MAX episode interview with him. Lei talks about how desirable Chinese EV products have become with Tu and Lei both agreeing that 500K RMB automobiles built by Chinese companies would likely NOT have been considered by a Chinese consumer just 4-5 years ago but are now redefining premium in China.  A prime example of what they’re referring to is the interest on Twitter that the NIO ET7 launch received worldwide. This was excitement neither Lei or Tu had seen in some time and it was for a Chinese EV brand. Lei insists that NIO is due because they’ve been out of the news for sometime since this is their first new product since the ET7 was unveiled 14 months ago. 

Lei heads to California for a family vacation so Tu takes over for this week’s headlines.Tu and Lei kick off this week’s pod by talking Faraday Future’s pre-production vehicle that was unveiled earlier in the week. Lei moves the conversation over to the news that NIO is getting into mobile phones and how this is a trend that other automakers and technology companies will follow. Tu broadens the discussion on NIO and the implications of the increased capacity coming online later this year for them. The discussion heads over to the brewing Tesla vs. BYD biggest EV maker in the world title that both are vying for with their recent announcements of increased capacity. Tu talks about how the west has not only begun to pay attention to China EV Inc but also China Battery Swapping Inc with the news that CATL will be launching a battery swapping service. Where does battery swapping fit into the charging infrastructure conversation and who will end up taking on that technology? Tu explains why battery swapping lends itself so well to the China market.Lei closes out the pod detailing his experience renting a Hertz Tesla Model 3 for a week in California. It looks like Tesla has another convert!

Tu starts out the pod talking about Rivian’s marketing and pricing missteps with Lei reminding everyone that the EV startups will run into these types of challenges as they gain footing into the market. Tu then shares his thoughts on Ford’s announcement this week about splitting the company into Ford Blue, the division focusing on ICE development & Ford Model e, the division that will build out Ford's EV & mobility services strategy and why it was such an important move to hire Doug Field and let him take on the lead role for Ford Model e. Lei moves on to discuss Stellantis' China strategy which is was part of his overall strategy review. Stellantis China will take on an asset light approach to China leaning on brands like Jeep, Citröen, and Peugeot.  February sales was due to be a slow month due to Chinese New Year but BYD & Tesla seemed to buck that trend they continue with their expectations for BYD for 2022 and its likely consistent sales of >100K / month starting in March as long as long as they can continue to manage supply chain issues so that they don’t affect production in any significant way.Lei moves the conversation over to Li Auto’s earnings their grand ambitions and how they’ve contrasted themselves vs. XPeng and NIO.Tu talks about Lotus's new electric SUV that’s to be unveiled at the end of March and how Lotus is following the playbook of Porsche, Bentley, Rolls Royce, and other sports car brands that eventually launched SUVs. Lei closes out the pod with his experience of spending a week driving a Hertz Tesla Model 3. 

In this MAX episode, Lei gets the chance to ask Dr. Wöllenstein for his take on the challenging 2021 VW Group had in China and what his outlook for the company is for 2022 and beyond.In particular, Dr. Wöllenstein gives us his take on how the ID. Series will perform here in China in 2022 and beyond, what he thinks of his Chinese competitors, and his outlook on expanding VW Group R&D in China. He also talks about how "China has finally made it" in terms of the domestic Chinese players finally catching up to (and even surpassing!) the foreign automakers in terms of market share and innovation, and that foreign automakers need to treat China as a "two-way street" (both as a market and innovation powerhouse) rather than a "one-way street" many years before when they simply imported technologies and anything would sell on the the market.This might be one of the last extended interviews that Dr. Wöllenstein gives about the China market before he heads back to Germany in August so don't miss out on his thoughts!

China EVs & More turns 1 year old! Tu starts the podcast out by summarizing the first week of the MOBILIT/E Conference and Tu & Lei discuss some of the highlights of the week.Lei details his interview with outgoing Porsche China CEO Jens Puttfarcken and Porsche's amazing streak of 20 years of growing sales in China. Tu and Lei move on to how large and complex a company BYD is and how they're well-positioned to take advantage of the global pivot towards EVs and then discuss the news about Volkswagen Group rumored to be acquiring Huawei's autonomous vehicle group. They both discuss Baidu Apollo launching its robotaxi service in Shenzhen, becoming the only AV company with pilot programs in each of the tier 1 cities. Tu and Lei close out the pod by talking about how Diess has been a polarizing figure to a normally low-key Volkswagen management style and how NIO management has targeted BMW as THE competitor that their vehicles are going after. 

Tu & Lei start out this week's pod going over January sales numbers which have been slow to trickle in. They move on to a discussion about BYD & Tesla and how they could get to their 2022 sales targets.With the Beijing winter Olympics going on, the news cycle in China for the EV/AV space is a bit slow but Tu & Lei believe this to also be the calm before the Beijing Auto Show storm. With 11 weeks until the show, they both expect announcements to begin to increase significantly leading up to the show.Tu talks about how to really measure strength when looking at 2022 by looking at an automaker's growth vs. the market growth. The way to measure individual OEMs' success is by looking at them compared their contemporaries in the same segment. Tu & Lei move the discussion to the latest China EVs & More MAX episode with Maxwell Zhou, CEO of DeepRoute. They end the pod talking about the MOBILIT/E Conference that Sino Auto Insights co-organized and kicks off this week. For those interested in learning more about the conference, you can head here: https://mobilit-e2022.climatetransformed.com/

Tu and Lei speak with Dr. Maxwell Zhou, CEO of DeepRoute.ai, a 3-year-old 2nd wave autonomous vehicle (AV) startup.They ask Maxwell the recent $10K AV system that DeepRoute launched using solid-state LiDAR, when robotaxis will be ubiquitous, and why Tesla doesn't use LiDAR?A very candid, entertaining, and informative guest, Maxwell answers those questions and much, much more.

Tu & Lei kick off the pod with a brief overview of their chat with Aiways EVP - Alex Klose, Head of Overseas Operations, for Episode #2 of China EVs & More MAX.Lei and Tu unpack the >$1B Great Wall Motors investment in Brazil to build hybrids and BEVs. Tu transitions this into a broader conversation about the three independent Chinese companies and how they seem to be even more ambitious than their SOE peers/brothers and how they think the current JVs will evolve and who will stand pat with their stakes in the JVS and JV partners.Stellantis seems to be premature on their increased investment in the Stellantis GAC joint venture and points back to the history of challenges that the JV has had and how it’s created opportunities for Chinese domestic automakers, Great Wall in particular. Tu excitedly transitions the conversation over to the $7B GM investment in Michigan facilities and talks about his 1st job experience working at GM after graduating from university. Tu & Lei close out the pod talking Tesla’s earnings call this week, specifically how very little was said about China operations. 

Tu and Lei discuss the significance of CATL's launch of it EVOGO battery swap solution, the first major blockbuster news in China's EV, AV and mobility space in the new year. In particular, what it means to NIO and other OEMs as well as  the challenges that CATL could confront as it expands from a B2B battery supplier to a B2C battery swap solutions provider.They then talk about Jidu's new logo and concept teaser, and close out the pod discussing policy updates on EV subsidies and purchase tax exemption.