China EVs & More

Tu and Lei begin with a discussion about all the recent moves made by XPeng and whether it moves the needle for them or not. They turn their attention to August sales, specifically the top of the leaderboard which sits Li Auto, XPeng and NIO, the three US publicly traded Chinese EV companies who also happen to get the most attention by western media. The conversation moves over to the significance and reasoning behind BYD's acquisition of Jabil's Singaporean operations which includes two factories in China. Lei then looks back at his visits to Li Auto and NIO retail locations to compare and contrast the atmospheres and highlights the 'no pressure' environment of the NIO Houses, which could be a reason they are revamping their sales teams and tactics. The pod ends with a discussion about the appropriate number of NIO swapping stations in the EU and how to determine that appropriate number. 

Tu and Lei start this podcast out with a brief discussion about the Chengdu Motor show. Both comment on the trend towards plug-in hybrids and MPVs which includes the Li Auto MEGA that was announced that week. Tu and Lei then have a broader discussion about how hybrids weren't being focused on until Li Auto's success and now there are EREVs being launched by BYD's Yangwang, JAC, GAC, Geely and others. Tu briefly talks about WeRide's ambitions to IPO in the US and the current status of their application and then moeves onto the announcement that BYD is looking to partner with a Korean company to build battery cells in South Korea.This week's pod ends with Tu talking about the potential for EVs in the Indian market and a discussion about what they are looking forward to when they both head to Munich for IAA Mobility. 

The podcast starts with Lei being a bit nostalgic about leaving Beijing after visiting for the last 2 months. It quickly moves to a discussion about XPeng earnings with Lei summarizing the earnings call and Tu giving his readout on what it all means. This discussion evolves into a broader discussion about the price war and overalll economy that continues to struggle in China with both Tu and Lei having spoken recently with friends living in China and how they feel everything that’s going on there. Lei starts his discussion about his trip to NEO Park with a brief history lesson of how it came about and what all the acronyms and codenames mean when talking about the park. Lei also talks about the largest NIO House being open inside NEO Park. Tu and Lei then move onto a story about how BYD had shared a supply of chips to NIO during the chip crisis to keep them from shutting down their factory. Tu summarizes that in the tech sector things like that happening aren’t that unusual. Tu and Lei pivot to a brief conversation about the Fang Cheng Bao brand from BYD and who its likely competitors are. Tu closes out the pod with details about his visit to Our Next Energy for a technology update. 

Tu & Lei had such a great response from their MAX episode with Founder of carwow James Hind it ONLY made sense to sit down and chat with Philipp who's running the show for carwow in Germany. carwow is an online marketplace for buying and selling new and used cars and started in the UK but have since launched in Germany in 2016 and Spain in 2018. For those of you outside of Europe that aren’t yet familiar with carwow - in 2022, there were over 109 million visits to carwow sites with over £5B worth of cars bought and sold on the carwow platform. But not only does carwow make it easier for buyers and sellers to transact, it has the largest automotive YouTube channel in the world providing some of the most compelling and entertaining automotive content on the interwebs. The carwow YouTube channel which was launched in 2014 has over 2.6 billion views from it’s more than 8.2 million subscribers and growing. Philip takes us through his career progression, how carwow works in Germany, tells us how Germans shop for cars, and most importantly he gives 🇨🇳 EV Inc some advice for entering the ultra-competitive German market. With IAA Mobility Munich being held this week, there wasn't a more appropriate time post this conversation Tu & Lei have with Philipp - Enjoy!

Lei kicks off the podcast with how he randomly bumped into Frank Wu at the Jidu, now JiYue Experience Center in Beijing. Tu believes that after seeing the features on their first vehicle, that if executed properly - could push the entire sector into the smartification phase of the EV transition. Tu moves the conversation over to Zeekr’s price cut while Lei then talks about their recent subscription service. Tu stops the podcast to congratulate BYD on building their 5 millionth NEV. Both Tu and Lei marvel at the speed at which they got to the last from 1 million to 5 million units. Lei broadens out the discussion to talk about China recently hitting 20 million NEVs built in China and what a massive accomplishment that was. Tu addresses the BYD haters by pointing to the fact that Toyota, widely considered one of the best in the biz, is using BYD tech for the China market. They wouldn’t be doing that if they thought BYD product were inferior. Lei updates about some recent news about Huawei and Tu talks about a recent announcement by the Chinese govt effectively doubling down on hydrogen technology as a viable powertrain option and how till now, very few OEMs besides one or two Japanese OEMs seem to be committed to it. Tu and Lei close out the podcast with an announcement about their latest MAX episode with Philipp Sayler von Amende, Co-founder & CEO of carwow Germany which will drop the week of IAA Mobility Munich.

Lei sits down with autonomous vehicle pioneer, Gansha Wu who's autonomous driving startup is competing against heavyweights in the robotaxi space. But it's not just robotaxis, Gansha's team is also working on last mile delivery, cleaning and logistics vehicles that are being used at shipping ports. That's why we've differentiated the autonomous vehicle and autonomous driving. Because they're building a stack that can be used in multiple use cases, with some having the potential to generate immediate revenues.  For those in the autonomous vehicle / driving space this is a MUST LISTEN. Gansha goes in depth on his decision to focus not just on robotaxis and the differences between each of the use cases UISEE.

Topics discussed in this podcast include the development of Vatescol's 800 Volt technology, crucial elements for success in China, monthly sales projections for XPeng G6, Tesla's competition in the Chinese market, factors influencing the departure of 'Shinjo' from a startup company, success of XPeng G6 and the investment partnership between Toyota and Pony AI, Volkswagen's partnership with Leap Motor and Jetta's struggles.

Tu and Lei take the bulk of the pod talking about Volkswagen Group's investment in XPeng. They go over the why's, how's and what's and whether it ultimately makes sense for Volkswagen and what it should say about their situation in China. Lei believes it will go down in Chinese Automotive history as one of the most notable ever. They also give a brief history on XPeng and how they got to where they are including a brief discussion about their newest product, the G6 which XPeng hopes will pull it back into high sales growth. The pod ends with Tu asking for Lei's reaction on BYD getting the Heisman from the Indian govt about a $1B investment to build a factory in India. It seems to be BYD's first real hiccup over the last several months. 

Lei gets right to it with his update that 13 ministries have combined to initiate measures to boost auto consumption as the economic growth is China has still gotten past its Zero COVID funk. Tu and Lei then take a few minutes to go over some economic data over the last few months. Tu and Lei then move the discussion over to whether Audi can turn it around even after the announced partnership with SAIC for its EV platform.  Tu then broadens out his discussion to all of ABB (Audi, BMW, Benz) and their chances to turn it around in China. The discussion moves over to BYD and their ambitions in India and the challenges that still lie ahead of them as they make are looking to manufacture locally there. Tu spends a few minutes to give a history lesson the automotive sector's previous inroads into India.Lei closes the podcast with a summary of NIO's Power Day. Tu and Lei share their thoughts on the statistics and accomplishments that were communicated for both the NIO charging infrastructure and swapping stations.