Daily Archive: May 5, 2023

China’s NEV wholesale in April at about 600,000 units, CPCA estimates show

China's auto industry price war faded in April, easing consumer wait-and-see sentiment and releasing suppressed demand, the CPCA said.

China's wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles are expected to be 600,000 units in April, basically unchanged from March and up 114 percent year-on-year, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said in a report today.

In March, the 11 manufacturers with more than 10,000 wholesale sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) contributed 80.7 percent of all wholesale sales, the CPCA said.

These companies are expected to sell 482,000 units in April, and the normal structure would put China's wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles in April at around 600,000 units, the CPCA said.

In January-April, China's wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles are estimated at 2.1 million units, up 43 percent year-on-year, according to the report.

The CPCA said the overall auto market continued the trend seen in late March as the price war in China's auto industry receded in April, easing consumer wait-and-see sentiment and releasing previously suppressed demand.

Due to the low base of last year and the recent continued strength of China's new energy passenger vehicle exports, car companies in the core regions of the NEV industry chain, including Shanghai, performed well, the CPCA said.

Passenger vehicle sales in China are expected to be 23.5 million units in 2023, including 8.5 million NEVs, and NEV penetration is expected to reach 36 percent, the CPCA said, repeating its previous forecast.

China's new energy passenger vehicle sales were 6.5 million units in 2022, up 94 percent year-on-year, the CPCA noted.

Here are the CPCA's wholesale NEV sales for major car companies in April.

Tesla sells 75,842 China-made vehicles in Apr, CPCA data show

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Lightning eMotors Jacks Up Electric School Bus Production With GM-Based Lightning ZEV4 Platform

Lightning eMotors has begun production of its next-generation Type A electric school bus that is built on the GM 4500 platform. In the 130,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Loveland, Colorado, the first orders for nearly 70 next-generation Type A electric school buses have started to move across the production floor. Over 20 school districts across the […]

Tesla sells 75,842 China-made vehicles in Apr, CPCA data show

Tesla's April sales in China may have been negatively impacted by consumer expectations of price cuts. It raised the prices of all its models in China this week, seemingly aimed at dampening such expectations.  |  TSLA.US

Tesla sells 75,842 China-made vehicles in Apr, CPCA data show-CnEVPost

Tesla sold 75,842 China-made vehicles in April, including exports, according to data released today by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

That's up 4,916.01 percent from 1,512 units in the same month last year but down 14.66 percent from 88,869 units in March.

Last April's low base was due to disruptions to Tesla's production in China when Shanghai, where its plant is located, went into Covid lockdown at the end of March last year. The plant produces the Model 3 sedan as well as the Model Y crossover.

The sales include those in China as well as those for export, and the breakdown is expected to be available in the coming days.

In January-April, Tesla's China-made vehicle sales were 305,164, up 66.13 percent from 183,686 in the same period last year, data monitored by CnEVPost showed.

Tesla's April sales in China may have been negatively impacted by consumer expectations of price cuts.

The US electric vehicle maker cut prices for the Model 3 as well as the Model Y in several markets around the world in the first half of April, raising concerns about whether it would cut prices in China.

This may have caused many potential consumers to wait for Tesla to cut prices in China, thus delaying the purchase of the car.

On April 14, Grace Tao, Tesla's vice president of external affairs, shared several charts on Weibo showing that all versions of the Model 3 and Model Y available in the Chinese mainland are priced lower than in all other markets.

Tao shared these charts without comment, although she seemed to be suggesting at the time that Tesla would not be dropping prices in China.

On May 2, Tesla raised the prices of its full lineup of Model 3 and Model Y in China by RMB 2,000 ($290), a small margin that meant the move may be aimed more at dispelling consumer wait-and-see sentiment.

Earlier today, Tesla raised the prices of the new Model S and Model X in China, and also offered 3 years of free supercharging for the two more expensive models.

The Model 3 now starts at RMB 231,900 in China, the Model Y at RMB 263,900, the Model S at RMB 808,900 and the Model X at RMB 898,900.

($1 = RMB 6.9119)

Tesla hikes Model 3, Model Y prices slightly in China

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Tesla Model Y with BYD battery has started production in Germany, report says

Since this week, the Model Y with BYD battery has been produced at Tesla's Gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, according to a German media report.  |  TSLA.US BYDDY.US | BYD HK

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Starting this week, the Model Y with BYD battery has been produced at Tesla's Gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, local media outlet Teslamag said in a report Thursday.

The model is a rear-wheel drive version and the batteries will not be produced by Tesla itself, but by BYD in China, according to the report.

This is Tesla's fourth battery supplier after Panasonic, LG Energy Solution and , the report noted.

Last August, Tesla applied for and received European type approval for the Model Y with BYD's lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, which at the time had a 55-kWh capacity and a 440 km WLTP range, the report said.

Tesla currently specifies a WLTP range of 455 km for the Model Y with standard rims and 430 km with 20-inch wheels, the report noted.

In February 2022, rumors surfaced that Tesla had placed an order with BYD's battery manufacturing division, FinDreams Battery, for blade batteries for 204,000 vehicles per year.

On August 10, 2022, Chinese media outlet Sina Tech cited multiple sources as saying that BYD's blade battery supplies to Tesla had begun to be delivered to the latter's plant in Berlin, Germany, the first Tesla Gigafactory to apply BYD batteries.

On March 13, South Korea's Korea Economic Daily reported that Tesla had decided not to use BYD's batteries due to quality problems caused by a series of fire incidents with the latter's LFP batteries.

A BYD spokesperson, responding to CnEVPost's request for comment at the time, said the information was untrue and not in line with the actual situation.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk later also tweeted that the media report was false and that Tesla's relationship with BYD was positive.

BYD is not only the largest new energy vehicle (NEV) in China, but also one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world.

BYD installed 21.5 GWh of power batteries in the first quarter, ranking second in the world with a 16.2 percent share, according to data released by South Korean market research firm SNE Research on May 3.

CATL continued to rank first in the world with a 35.0 percent share in the first quarter, and was the only one with a share of more than 30 percent.

BYD says report that Tesla won't extend battery supply partnership with it untrue

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Kenya’s New Special Tariff For E-Mobility

Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) recently approved new electricity tariffs effective 1 April. As part of this latest tariff review, EPRA introduced a special tariff regime for the electric mobility sector. EPRA also expanded the Time-of-Use (TOU) tariff structure to include the small commercial sector, amongst others. Kenya Power, the country’s main electricity […]

NIO rumored to officially launch new ES6 on May 24

NIO will officially launch the new ES6 and announce the price on May 24, with deliveries expected to begin within days of the launch, according to local media.  |  NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG

NIO rumored to officially launch new ES6 on May 24-CnEVPost

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

NIO (NYSE: NIO) unveiled the new ES6 on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, but did not announce an official launch date or price. Now, a new report provides additional information.

The new ES6 will be officially launched on May 24, and its price information will be announced at that time, local auto industry media D1EV reported on Thursday after visiting several NIO stores in Beijing.

The model's show cars will be available at NIO stores from the day of launch, and consumers who have recently reserved the car will be invited to test drive it in batches, according to the report.

Compared to the old ES6, the new model will keep only in the Sport version, with the previously available higher-priced Performance and Signature versions optimized to become the new ES7 model currently on sale, the report said.

Deliveries of the new ES6 will begin at the end of May, the report said, citing salespeople at NIO stores.

William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, unveiled the 2023 ET7 sedan and gave the debut of the new ES6 SUV based on the NT 2.0 platform at a brief launch event on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18.

Li did not announce the SUV's exact specifications or pricing at the time, saying only that the model's official launch would be in late May.

Nevertheless, NIO has already started allowing consumers to reserve the model with a RMB 5,000 deposit.

In an interview with local media at the time, Li said that the delivery schedule for the new ES6 would be different from NIO's previous models and that deliveries would begin soon after the launch.

Pricing information for the new ES6 has not been released, and Li said in that interview that NIO would not engage in a price war, so the model's price would not be set particularly low.

For reference, the old ES6 based on the NT 1.0 platform was previously offered in three versions -- Sport, Performance and Signature -- with starting prices of RMB 386,000 ($55,840), 426,000 and 496,000 respectively.

For NIO, the new ES6 will be a model of strategic importance, as it will be the least expensive of NIO's SUVs.

From January to August 2022, 32,877 ES6 units were delivered, contributing 46 percent of NIO's total deliveries of 71,556 units during the period, according to figures monitored by CnEVPost from the company and the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

The new ES6 is now widely seen as being powerfully equipped and competitively priced, which has sparked discontent among some owners who previously purchased the ES7 SUV.

Last month, several ES7 owners formed a WeChat group to collectively express their dissatisfaction that the upcoming new ES6 means NIO has betrayed them.

Launched on June 15, 2022, the NIO ES7 is the company's second model based on the NT 2.0 platform and the first SUV on the second-generation platform.

The NIO ES7 is currently offered in two versions, priced at RMB 468,000 and 548,000 including the battery. If consumers choose to purchase using the battery rental service BaaS, the starting price is RMB 398,000.

NIO began deliveries of the ES7 on August 28, 2022, with a cumulative total of 15,123 units delivered by the end of January this year, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.

The NIO ES7 is similar in appearance and key specifications to the new NIO ES8, but smaller in size and less expensive. Previously, the model that sits behind the flagship ES8 in NIO's product array was the ES6.

Although NIO has not released information on the specifications of the new ES6, a regulatory filing in January has revealed the core specifications of the model.

The new NIO ES6 measures 4,854 mm in length, 1,995 mm in width and 1,703 mm in height, and has a wheelbase of 2,915 mm.

For comparison, the old ES6 is smaller, measuring 4,850 mm in length, 1,965 mm in width and 1,758/1,731 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,900 mm.

The new ES6 will be equipped with dual motors supplied by NIO's motor division XPT, with a maximum power of 150 kW and 210 kW respectively, the same as the ET5 sedan.

This specification is lower than the motors of the ES7, which has dual motors with a maximum power of 180 kW and 300 kW, respectively.

($1 = RMB 6.9120)

NIO suffers complaints from ES7 owners who believe upcoming new ES6 hurts their interests

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