China EVs & More

Tu starts this podcast off with his thoughts on the latest reorg of Volkwagen Group's Cariad software group wondering why they installed another 'car' guy to run Cariad when Blume had a real opportunity to catalyze real change at the division.He then compares and contrasts that with the recent hire of Mike Abbot by GM to run their software team. After Tu's take, Lei spends a few minutes giving his counterpoint on Tu's thoughts.Lei transitions the conversation over to two product launches, one by BYD and the other by Wuling that caught his attention due to the price reductions both launched with. Lei briefly talks about Li Auto's product portfolio over the next few years and how its different then their competitors. The podcast closes out the podcast with Lei giving a brief history lesson on the Geely & Changan relationship and a bit of speculation on how they've moved past their differences and may work more closely together to help each other. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Tu and Lei recap all of the big, 'watershed' moments of the last few weeks with the latest being VW rumored to be in talks with Huawei about a potential partnership in China. The convo then moves onto the latest news about Tesla and a larger conversation about what's next for them besides the Cybertruck, where will it happen and how much will it cost? If Model 2, how will it do now that BYD will be a significant competitor in most of the markets they'd likely launch the MIC M2 in?Tu and Lei then briefly discuss how China became the #1 passenger vehicle exporter in the world in CQ1'23 overtaking Japan. Will battery swapping work in the US - Tu and Lei compare NIO battery swapping to Ample, a startup that's champion of battery swapping for the US, who just intro'd their latest generation battery swap station. Tu closes the podcast with his concerns about EV adoption stalling out in the US due to the lack of viable, competitively priced EV products for the foreseeable future. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Tu and Lei start the pod with a brief discussion about April sales the surprises and the disappointments. Lei then moves the conversation to Jim Farley outlining Ford’s updated strategy for the China market with exports being a primary business priority and exiting certain segments in the market. After closing out the April sales, Tu talks about the last week and a half of his return to China including going into detail about his visit BYD and riding DeepRoute and Pony AI robotaxis in Shenzhen. Tu follows up with Tu’s adventure from Shenzhen to HK and challenges he faced getting there. Lei and Tu close the pod with a discussion of some of the main differences between traveling in China vs. the US. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

This episode is a complete download from Tu & Lei re: 2023 Shanghai Auto show. It's also Lei unpacking his experience returning to China after 39 months away. There was so much to unpack, it took them over an hour! This is a for certain not to miss episode!Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Lei kicks off the pod with his feelings on heading back to China after more than 3 years away. Tu then talks a bit about how much China has changed in that short amount of time. Lei moves the discussion over to his trip to the New York auto show and highlights the RAM EV truck that was unveiled. Tu comments on the massive size of the battery pack for the RAM. This gets them into a discussion about what the OEMs and the US need to do in order to create a real EV revolution in the US starting with producing affordable EVs, particularly below the $50K price point. They then begin to talk about why range is such an important consideration for Americans because of the desire to haul or tow things behind their vehicles and the challenges it poses to automakers who are challenged with providing sufficient range for vehicles when towing. Tu and Lei then briefly chat about the challenges being faced by the foreign legacies in China and Tu points to the hey days of them being market leaders is over.Tu and Lei end the pod with a discussion about Tu’s newsletter post unpacking GM’s announcement that it’s not going to support Apple Car Play anymore. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

The pod begins with Tu recalling the ordering process for OEMs to suppliers and Lei and Tu discussing the impact of the emissions standard update in July on the pricing and sales of ICE vehicles, specifically those that do not meet the new emissions requirements. Tu and Lei then move the conversation over to BYD and their export ambitions, recent earnings and overall outlook as they expand further into international markets. Lei then moves the conversation over to Huawei and they both discuss Huawei’s ambitions, their partners and what they think will Huawei’s ultimate path to success.The podcast closes out with a discussion on Faraday’s strange Job #1 announcement and their continued struggles. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In this MAX episode, Lei has a sit down with Tom Fennimore, CFO of Luminar Technologies. Luminar is a US technology company that specializes in developing LiDAR for autonomous vehicles. It was founded in 2012 by a then 17-year old Austin Russell and went public on the NASDAQ via a SPAC deal on December 3, 2020. For those unfamiliar - LiDAR is an acronym of "light detection and ranging” or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging.” It is a method for determining ranges or distances by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. LiDAR is also commonly used to make high-resolution maps.Some of Luminar’s current customers include: Volvo, Mercedes, Mobileye and Polestar and is considered a leader in the very crowded LiDAR space with further expansion plans into the US, European and Chinese markets. The LiDAR space is forecasted to grow to well over $3B by 2028 w/ averaging a compounded average growth rate of 18.4% of which Luminar is poised to take a big chunk of with it’s Iris LiDAR sensor and Sentinel self-driving HW/SW stack. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

The podcast begins with a brief discussion on Ford's accounting of EVs for China and China operations in general. They move their discussion to XPeng's earnings report and take some time to unpack what their troubles were in 2022 and what they're doing to address them now. Lei then summarizes Geely Holdings and their numerous brands and how they all fit together some of the history of a few of the brands that westerners might not have heard of and they both take a few minutes to update on Zeekr. Tu and Lei then give updates on the continuing price war and how it's affected some of the weaker players and foreign brands in particular. Lei pushes the discussion over to Nvidia and how they are likely the largest beneficiary in the push towards more AI use in apps, software and business. The pod closes out with a talk about the struggles of Kia/Hyundai in China and how they still are trying to make headway into the market with the recent announcement of new products. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

Tu and Lei start out the pod with a discussion on the latest price cuts that take the current price war deeper into the hole. They then talk about the VW unveil of the ID.2all and how it may not be that competitive if it was to enter the Chinese market, which currently it’s not set to do.Lei puts the focus on Skoda and their shrinking sales in the China market and how they are doing in other regions. He anticipates that they may ultimately leave the China market due to their continued struggles.Tu updates about the EU’s version of the US Inflation Reduction Act which is called the Critical Raw Material Act or CRMA.The pod closes out with the UK not making the cut for location for the next BYD factory. They didn’t even make the semi-finals and BYD blamed uncertainty in long-term business conditions due to BREXIT as the primary reason. Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In this MAX episode, Lei sits down with Marco Kollmeier, former Executive at Benteler, an Austrian tier 1 supplier that makes it’s bones providing components and modules for the automotive industry, in the areas of chassis, body, engine and exhaust systems as well as future technologies such as system solutions for electric vehicles. A couple of years ago, Benteler’s EV Systems business unit that Kollmeier led developed an EV platform and in an effort to separate the traditional business from the new opportunities in mobility and EVs, last November Benteler spun off that EV Systems BU and the Holon brand was created with Kollmeier peeling off to head that company. For those wondering, HOLON comes from the greek and means something that is both a whole and part of a whole. HOLON recently unveiled its first product at CES, the L4 capable ‘MOVER’ that is based on the EV platform that looks to compete with Cruise, Waymo and Baidu in the robotaxi space. Lei talks to Marco about HOLON and a whole lot more.