Monthly Archive: June 2023

Tesla, NIO to take part in Shenzhen auto show starting Jun 16

This will be 's first presence at an auto show in China since April 2021, and will exhibit the ET5 Touring at the event and will hold a brief press conference on June 16.

(Image shows NIO's booth at the Shanghai auto show in April 2023. Credit: CnEVPost)

The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen will host an auto show starting this Friday, with Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and new Chinese carmakers including NIO (NYSE: NIO) participating.

The 2023 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Auto Show (Auto Shenzhen 2023) will be held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center starting June 16, where Tesla is one of the main exhibitors, according to information released today by the show's organizers.

This will be Tesla's first participation in an auto show in China since the Shanghai auto show in April 2021.

On April 19, 2021, on the first day of the last Shanghai auto show, a female owner got on the roof of a car at the Tesla booth and accused Tesla of brake failure. As of today, the dispute is still ongoing.

Since the drama, Tesla has not participated in any more auto shows in China, including the 2023 Shanghai auto show two months ago.

June 16 is the media day for the upcoming show, and general admission will be available from June 17 to June 24.

Tesla's booth is located in Hall 9 on the 1st floor, next to 's (NYSE: XPEV) booth. The booths of -backed AITO, Smart, Leapmotor, Rising Auto, and Voyah are also in the area.

NIO will also be at the show and will be showcasing the ET5 Touring, according to the event's organizers.

The day before that show starts, NIO will launch the ET5 Touring in China on June 15, with its launch event starting at 19:00 Beijing time. The company will also launch the ET5 Touring and the new ES6 in Europe a few hours later on the same day.

NIO's booth at the Shenzhen auto show is in Hall 3, near the booths of Bentley and Lotus. The company will hold a press conference at the show on June 16 from 10:00 to 10:30.

The last show, Auto Shenzhen 2022, started on May 28, 2022 and ran through June 5. It was the first auto show in China last year.

NIO's booth at Auto Shenzhen last year was also in Hall 3, a two-floor area where the first floor displayed the full range of models, a transparent second-generation battery swap station and NIO Power's products. The second floor includes a relaxation area, NIO Cafe, and Joy Camp.

In addition to Tesla, NIO and XPeng, new energy vehicle (NEV) makers including (OTCMKTS: BYDDY), (NASDAQ: LI) and will also participate in Auto Shenzhen 2023.

Store visit: First impression of NIO ET5 Touring before official launch

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NIO denies after rumors of partnership with Mercedes-Benz swirl

A fake rumor yesterday claimed that Mercedes-Benz will use 's battery swap network and will build its next-generation models based on NIO's standards.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Rumors about a partnership between NIO (NYSE: NIO) and German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz were widely circulated on Chinese social media networks yesterday. But this was later denied.

One of the most widely circulated was an image with text claiming that Mercedes-Benz would use NIO's battery swap network and would build next-generation battery swap-enabled models based on NIO's standards.

In the comments section of a Weibo user's post sharing the image, NIO's legal department left a message later yesterday saying the image was a forgery.

Ma Lin, NIO's senior director of corporate communications, later retweeted the message. As of press time, the Weibo post has been deleted.

CnEVPost saw the image yesterday in several WeChat groups, as well as a chat transcript claiming that NIO had entered into a partnership with Mercedes-Benz.

The image mimics the style of the NIO App page and the company's statement, but the publisher of the false statement does not exist among NIO App users.

These false rumors appear at an interesting point in time, making it particularly noticeable.

On June 12, NIO announced an immediate RMB 30,000 ($4,200) reduction in the starting prices of all new models, but the previously free monthly battery swap service became a paid option.

On the same evening, NIO held a communication meeting with its customers and broadcasted the meeting live on its social media platforms.

William Li, NIO's founder, chairman and CEO, said in response to a question during the communication that several companies are now talking to NIO about using its battery swap network, according to the live stream watched by CnEVPost.

However, they will need to develop vehicles to NIO's battery swap standard, which takes time, Li said.

It's worth noting that these statements are not materially different from previous comments made by NIO management, which Li also said at the communication that they were diplomatic.

Li last mentioned similar remarks two months ago, when he said in an April 1 media group interview during the China EV 100 Forum that NIO wants other companies to share and build battery swap infrastructure with it.

"I met with several company executives today and they asked me how we could work together, and we're open to that," he said on April 1.

NIO refers to its battery swap model as battery as a service (BaaS), an innovation that can be understood through the lens of cloud services, Li said at the time.

The cloud services around the world, whether they are offered by Microsoft, Google and Amazon in the US or Alibaba, Tencent and in China, they all have one thing in common -- the companies themselves are the primary users, he said.

Despite frequent rumors over the past two years, as of yet no other car company has said it will use NIO's battery swap network.

In addition to the NIO brand, another brand that will use these battery swap stations will be the company's sub-brand, codenamed ALPS, which is expected to start delivering vehicles next year.

NIO's current plants can support the production of vehicles under both NIO and ALPS brands, and no major Capex investment is required, Li said in a June 9 analyst call following the announcement of first-quarter earnings.

Current battery swap stations are sufficient for both brands to share, he said.

($1 = RMB 7.1639)

NIO's battery swap network open to other brands, just like cloud service, says William Li

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Solar + Battery Microgrid Provides Seminole Tribe of Florida with Energy Security

In this tribal energy snapshot, learn more about the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s solar-plus-storage microgrid project, cofunded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy. Project Quick Facts The Tribe is installing solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity and adding battery energy storage, transfer switches, and controls on its rural Reservation of Big Cypress to […]

Denza’s 1st SUV N7 surpasses 20,000 pre-orders ahead of official launch

The Denza N7 will hit the market later this month, with deliveries set to begin in July, targeting a market in the RMB 400,000 range.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

's (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) premium new energy vehicle (NEV) brand Denza is gearing up for the launch of its first SUV, the Denza N7, and the model seems to be gaining good acceptance.

Pre-orders for the Denza N7 have already exceeded 20,000 units before specifications and pricing are announced, Zhao Changjiang, general manager of Denza's sales division, said at an event yesterday.

Fifty-five percent of these pre-order holders are vehicle owners of luxury brands including Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, and 35 percent are existing owners of BYD and Denza, Zhao said, according to a report by local auto media Yiche yesterday.

On March 26, Zhao said there were many customers who want to get the Denza N7 launched as soon as possible, and the model is expected to get 30,000 orders before its mid-year launch based on inquiry volume data.

On the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, Denza opened reservations for the N7, but its pricing information was not released.

Denza is a joint venture between BYD and Daimler established in February 2011, with each holding a 50 percent stake at the time, and the Daimler brand was rebranded as Mercedes-Benz in February 2022. BYD's stake in Denza increased to 90 percent last year, and Mercedes-Benz's stake decreased to 10 percent.

In August 2022, Denza let the D9 MPV go on sale, the brand's first model after the reorganization. The Denza N7 is the second model after Denza's shareholding reform and its first SUV.

On April 25, Denza said the N7 received 10,569 pre-orders, just seven days before reservations opened.

On May 30, Zhao said at Denza's first brand day event that the Denza N7 would go on sale in late June, with deliveries starting in July.

Earlier today, Zhao said on Weibo that he would be attending the rollout ceremony of the first Denza N7 production car later today.

(Image credit: Denza)

No pricing information has been released for the Denza N7, but Zhao said on Weibo last December 20 that the SUV aims to capture the market for traditional internal combustion engine cars priced around 400,000 yuan ($55,850).

The Denza N7 is a 5-seat midsize SUV with a length, width and height of 4,860 mm, 1,935 mm and 1,602 mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2,940 mm, a previous regulatory filing showed.

Denza's only model currently in delivery, the Denza D9, began deliveries at the end of October last year and sold 11,005 units in May this year, the third consecutive month with more than 10,000 units.

The average sales price of the Denza D9 exceeds RMB 420,000, Denza said on June 2. The MPV is now available in hybrid and all-electric versions, with a starting price range of RMB 335,800 to RMB 465,800.

($1 = RMB 7.1621)

Denza sales in May: 11,005

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How Biden’s “Invest in America” Agenda Helps California

From June 8 through June 9, 2023, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm visited California to highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to expanding the nation’s clean energy workforce and deploying every tool to deliver cleaner, cheaper energy to American families — including nuclear energy, the nation’s largest current source of carbon-free electricity. Strengthening California’s […]