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Runtime: 10:16
0:00 Study Says BYD Received $3.7 Billion In Subsidies
1:06 Chinese EVs Piling Up in European Ports
1:54 EU Fined Automakers $552 Million For CO2 Emissions In 2020
3:10 German Companies Say They’re Being Treated Unfairly in China
3:43 India Now 4th Largest Car Market in The World
4:49 India States Try to Lure Tesla Plant
5:31 GAC’s Hyper Brand to Use Solid-State Batteries
6:43 Nio Integrates Generative AI into Its Vehicles
7:39 BYD Tests Pickup in Mexico
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STUDY SAYS BYD RECEIVED $3.7 BILLION IN SUBSIDIES
Europe has accused Chinese EV makers of receiving government subsidies that give them an unfair advantage in the market, hurting European automakers. Last year, the EU launched an investigation and says it could result in extra tariffs imposed on Chinese imports. China has denied this and says its EV growth is due to the superiority of its products. But a new study from Germany’s Kiel Institute says BYD has received at least $3.7 billion in direct government subsidies. The report says it’s also benefiting from receiving aid for battery manufacturing and rebates to customers buying its vehicles. The Kiel Institute says subsidies like these have allowed Chinese automakers to “scale up rapidly, to dominate the Chinese market, and to facilitate increasing expansion into EU markets.”
CHINESE EVs PILING UP IN EUROPEAN PORTS
But subsidies aren’t the only thing that Europe is worried about. The Financial Times reports that Chinese EVs are starting to pile up at several ports in the region because companies are struggling to find enough trucks and drivers to transport them out of the ports. Some vehicles have been sitting for up to 18 months. The report also says that some Chinese companies are shipping vehicles without making arrangements to transport them out. Because of that some ports are now asking importers for proof that they’ll be hauled out once they arrive. Some industry experts are even speculating that Chinese automakers are using European ports as car parks for vehicles they’re struggling to sell in China.
EU FINED AUTOMAKERS $552 MILLION FOR CO2 EMISSIONS IN 2020
And sticking with Europe for the moment, regulators fined automakers 510 million euros or $552 million for missing CO2 emission targets in 2020. That was the first-year stricter standards went into place that required more EV and hybrid sales. But automakers have since been able to avoid getting hit with fines by joining emission pools with other automakers. In 2021, Honda and JLR joined with Tesla and the Volkswagen Group partnered with SAIC’s MG brand. Thanks to that strategy and an increase in EV and PHEV sales, automakers were only fined 10 million euros in 2021. And in 2022, Bugatti was the only brand to miss its emission targets but since it’s a low volume manufacturer, it only sold 30 vehicles in 2022, it was not subject to a fine.
GERMAN COMPANIES SAY THEY’RE BEING TREATED UNFAIRLY IN CHINA
German companies in China feel they’re being treated unfairly, according to a survey by the German Chamber of Commerce in China. 65% of the respondents of the survey, representing 150 companies, say they see unfair competition in the form of difficulty in reaching government officials, lack of access to tax incentives and public funding. Though the published results of the survey did not specifically include German automakers, they were likely included. And that leads us to our next story.
INDIA NOW 4TH LARGEST CAR MARKET IN THE WORLD
Traditional automakers increasingly have their eyes on India as potentially the greatest growth market over the next couple of decades. Car markets in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea are saturated and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the traditionals to compete in China. Since India has the largest population in the world with 1.4 billion people, the potential to sell a lot of cars there is enormous. Last year sales hit 4.4 million vehicles, making India the fourth largest car market in the world after China, the U.S. and Japan. And it’s growing fast. Last month sales were up 8.4% and 60% of that growth came from SUVs and bigger cars, not the compacts that have dominated the market. EV sales are low but growing fast, with Indian consumers buying 91,000 of them last year. So the Indian market is starting to mature into the kind of market that is a lot more attractive to traditional automakers.
INDIA STATES TRY TO LURE TESLA PLANT
But traditional automakers are not the only ones interested in India. As we’ve been reporting for some time now, Tesla wants to start making cars there, and Bloomberg reports that the different states in India are jockeying to land a Tesla assembly plant. It says the state of Tamil Nadu in the south of the country is pulling out all the stops to attract Elon Musk’s attention. It already has plants from Renault, Nissan, Hyundai and BMW and is called the Detroit of India. Elon Musk will travel to India in about a week and will meet with the country’s Prime Minister and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him announce where a new plant will be located.
GAC’S HYPER BRAND TO USE SOLID-STATE BATTERIES
Solid-state batteries are seen as the next big step in cell technology, but so far no one has come out with a full solid-state battery. However, it looks like Chinese automaker GAC will be one of the first. It says it will launch an all solid-state battery pack in 2026 in its NEV brand Hyper. Solid-state refers to the type of electrolyte in the battery, typically some sort of stiff or ‘solid’ polymer, rather than a liquid electrolyte that’s used in traditional lithium-ion batteries. The advantages are higher energy densities, better safety and less impact on performance from temperature. GAC says its battery has an energy density over 400 Wh/kg, which is up to 50% more than some traditional lithium batteries and will provide ranges over 1,000 kilometers or 620 miles. It can also withstand a puncture or cut and up to 200 degrees Celsius or 392 degrees Fahrenheit and still operate. So, you can see why automakers are eager to bring out these kinds of batteries.
NIO INTEGRATES GENERATIVE AI INTO ITS VEHICLES
Even compared to consumers from all over the world, Chinese car buyers are much more in tune with the latest tech and want to see it in their vehicles as soon as possible. One of the pieces of tech we’re seeing greater interest in is generative AI, like ChatGPT. It can be applied to practically every level of vehicle development and a popular application seems to be for infotainment systems. And NIO is giving its in-cabin assistant, called Nomi, an upgrade. Right now, it can do things like tell jokes or let you know what the weather’s like. But the new version, called Nomi GPT, will be able to learn and gain a personality over time, it’s getting emotions so interactions with the user will seem more natural and it will also be able to tap into the web so it will know just about anything. NIO has already started rolling out Nomi GPT to vehicles with a compatible system.
BYD TESTS PICKUP IN MEXICO
BYD has its sights set on more than just China, Australia and Africa for its new pickup truck. CarNewsChina got pictures of it testing in Mexico and shows that it’s built on the automaker’s DMO platform, which will initially allow it to launch with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. BYD says it will offer around 350 kW or about 480 horsepower, 100 kilometers or 62 miles of all-electric range and an active suspension system. BYD has been showing off this truck a lot lately and it’s expected to get its sales license for China sometime this month.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in and I hope that you have a great weekend.
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I looked in to buying a 2021 Tesla 3, 29K miles at a good price. I checked with my insurance company, retired rate under 10K miles a year. The quote for coverage was over the cost of my Toyota RAV 4 and Jeep Cherokee insurance combined. Problems with repairs of an EV drive insurance costs. I decided not to buy.
Who ever thought that the Chinese would be fair about anything? They are communists!!!
Tesla survived for years on subsidies in the form of carbon credits, and is still getting them. Is BYD still being subsidized by the Chinese government, or were the subsidies just to “jump start” them?
Those cars sitting at European ports are a real problem, however things are resolved. It seems likely that a lot of the batteries could be “bricked” due to self discharge, if the cars have sat for 18 months without being charged.
7 years ago, we heard that solid state batteries were 3 years away. Now they are 1 or 2 years away. I am not holding my breath!
FYI. Solid state batteries use more lithium than Lithium-ion batteries.
Exactly as I said in several posts on prior Dailies, the.Chinese government absolutely buys market share by directly subsidizing these car companies. The same as they do for Huawei in the telecom space. If the EU has just now realized this then they are exactly the idiots I thought they were. But then we already know that based on all the other self destructive rules they make.
Meanwhile as the EU and now the US self immolate our economies to go “green,” China laughs its way to economic dominance as they build additional coal firing plants. B-b-but China signed on to this and that climate agreement you say? Yeah, ok, they’ll totally make good on that I’m sure. Never mind those new plants going up.
China leads the world, by far, in production of renewable energy, with more than triple the renewable production of the US. Yes, they are building coal plants as they catch up with the US standard of living, and waste of energy.
Victor West, is both the collision and liability insurance expensive for the Tesla, or just the part for fixing the car if damaged?
“Developing” economies like China and India were given very, very lenient targets in the Paris Climate Accord. Shame on the EU, Americans, and other “mature” markets for it. I suppose they were so desperate for an agreement, it was the only way to get China/India to commit to anything.
The U.S. has almost twice the CO2 emissions, per capita, of China, and more than 7 times that of India. No wonder other countries were “cut some slack” in reduction targets in these agreements. Of course, no one, or almost no one is meeting their promised targets. Most of the countries with the highest emissions, per capita, are in the middle east.
https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics
The latest Autoline video with Caresoft is fascinating. Well presented, high on facts and relevant context. And an interesting way of demonstrating how legacy procedures directly hamper creating the most efficient EV designs.
I do wonder if Tesla will be capable of creating the next generation of compelling EVs. So much of the cost is in the batteries, while world-wide R&D, plus the dominance of Chinese manufacturing, won’t make it easier.
The Roadster was the ‘science project’ (quote), the Model S the performance breakout, and the 3/Y the standout mass-market creator – synergistic with the Supercharger network and company-owned dealers.
How will Tesla improve on something like the BYD Dolphin? (We do have some hints, of course.)
I just watched the Caresoft video with John. Tesla does so much cool stuff, like the aluminum rod in place of copper wire for the 800 volt connections. If only they would get over their gawd awful stubborn-ness against using proper controls and displays.
As far as their tech, it looked like there was no redundancy of the steering wheel sensor in the Cybertruck. Did I miss something there? There’s a redundant motor, as least for the front steering, but only one sensor was mentioned.
I hope the legacy companies start copying some of what Tesla does to make things cheaply, if the vehicles hold up long term. I suspect the Chinese are paying attention, and copying.
Kit, good catch. I suspect the redundancy here may be the self-driving system (which has evolved very significantly with the latest release), or there’s a second, side-mounted pickup somewhere along the column.
Regarding the motors, I wrote on youtube that ‘Redundancy in aerospace, as fas as I know, works a little differently. You wouldn’t just duplicate (or triple or quadruple) one actuation mechanism, but also make sure to have one or two different actuators. In the case of Tesla’s steer-by-wire, the second eletric motor would at least have to come from a widely differing production batch, or even another manufacturer.’.
Copying is great. I’m all for the rapid diffusion of successful designs, so long as applicable royalties are paid.
Kit — To your point, IMHO, Tesla’s stubbornness is a good thing AND a bad thing. It’s their stubbornness that has made them not follow the crowd and come up with the out of the box thinking that has produced the tech that we marvel at today. Yet, it’s that same stubbornness, that has them refusing to follow convention with the styling of the Cybertruck and the interior controls you mentioned. It’s a double edge sword! What the need is more balance in their execution. Which their approach may appeal to their target audience, which is fine, you do limit grow with new customers. The interesting thing is, as great as their vehicles are, most of the leading edge tech is in the soft ware, or imbedded within the vehicle, where the consumer does see. Steer by wire sounds great and no doubt helps with their updated FSD and AutoPilot, but for the consumer, how is it different from the systems used by R1T, Silverado EV, Lightning and other electric truck? While it doesn’t hurt Tesla to use this system, for a clean sheet vehicle, for the legacy OEMs, it’s a major changed from their standards, with little direct and noticeable benefit. So, Tesla finding the balance on things that move the needle and encourage for the better, is one thing, but change for change sake can be frustrating.
wmb, Teslas are not that “great,” except that they have the best charging network, but that will soon be available to almost all EV users. Compare a Model 3 with an Ioniq 6. The Tesla has one main advantage, It is more efficient, but the difference in operating cost is trivial, especially if you use home charging. On the other hand, the Hyundai is quieter, rides better, and while not the world’s best, has much better controls than the Tesla. The Hyundai doesn’t have “full self driving,” but it does have level 2 autonomy, similar to Tesla’s “autopilot.”
Kit,
FSD is still rated as a Level 2 system as it still requires the driver to pay constant attention and be alert at all times. So I would say that the Hyundai is equivalent to the Tesla. Mercedes has a level 3 system that can be used in limited situations. The Mercedes drive pilot allows the “driver” to read e-mails, watch videos, or read a book for instance.
I honestly find all this stuff stupid. They are systems to promote distracted driving at a time when distracted driving is at an all time high. My niece and nephews have never seen manual windows before. There will be a time when new drivers have never been required to pay attention to the road and would not know what to do if they had to pay attention. I do not find that to be “progress”.
The fact that China has already been known to build EVs park them in lots and let them rot makes me really question any production data from China. Same with allowing vehicles to sit in EU ports. I bet once they shipped out the door in China they were counted as EV sales. Highlighting that fact that registrations can be much different than production numbers.
Also makes me wonder if China uses dealerships in EU or are they trying to utilize a direct sales model. Without a dealership maybe the buyer is expected to head to the dock to pick up their vehicle or they are being shipped out one at a time rather than using car carriers. Their distribution network would play a bit part in this.
Merkur- I agree with your sentiments when it comes to FSD. Driving is a skill and one that needs to be taught and honed. Systems that can help avoid accidents like ABS, side blind zone detection, Lane monitoring, auto braking and even adaptive cruise control are systems I would say are beneficial. However, anything below a level 5 self-driving made available to people is a recipe for disaster. Its providing a false sense of capability that just isn’t there and require the driver to be alert and ready to take over at any time. For me what’s the point? If I can’t take a nap and trust the system to get me their safely, then is a gimmick. It’s also a huge liability as when it fails, I am still held responsible for not taking over even if the system didn’t indicate that I needed to.
traction control, Stability control and those types of systems make driving control easier but the things like auto- parallel parking is something every driver should be able to do and will contribute to the decline of drivers skills.