Category: China

Alibaba backtracks on autonomous driving R&D

Alibaba's DAMO Academy's autonomous driving lab will lay off about 70 percent of its staff, while others will be transferred to the e-commerce giant's logistics arm, according to local media.

Alibaba backtracks on autonomous driving R&D-CnEVPost

(Image credit: DAMO Academy)

Alibaba, one of China's most powerful tech giants, is backing away from autonomous driving research and development, highlighting the challenges facing the field.

Alibaba's DAMO Academy no longer retains its autonomous driving business and team, which was merged into its logistics unit Cainiao, the Shanghai Securities News said in a report today, citing people from the e-commerce giant.

This means that Alibaba's autonomous driving business is entering a whole new phase of moving from cutting-edge tech exploration in the lab to applications in real-world scenarios, the report noted.

The Shanghai Securities News report did not provide more information, but according to a subsequent report by Jiemian, another local media outlet, not all of DAMO Academy's autonomous driving business was merged into Cainiao, but rather a significant layoff will be made.

DAMO Academy's autonomous driving lab previously had more than 300 people, with 80-90 receiving the option to move to work at Cainiao, while about 200 others, or about 70 percent, will be laid off, according to Jiemian.

One of the key reasons Cainiao was unable to take on all members of the team was the limited investment it was willing to make, the report said, citing an Alibaba insider.

The team that will be incorporated into Cainiao will be primarily responsible for keeping the autonomous driving robot Xiaomanlv, or little donkeys, in business and will not do much expansion, the report said.

Xiaomanlv is an L4 autonomous driving product launched by DAMO Academy's autonomous driving lab in September 2020 to serve the last three kilometers of delivery, take-out and fresh food delivery.

To date, the autonomous driving robot has entered more than 200 universities and communities, with a fleet size exceeding 500 vehicles.

It is worth noting that DAMO Academy's self-driving lab has undergone previous management changes.

In January 2022, the lab's then-head, Wang Gang, left after three years on board. In March this year, his successor, Chen Junbo, also left after one year in the position.

Alibaba's move underscores the huge challenges facing autonomous driving R&D.

At the end of March, BYD chairman and president Wang Chuanfu said at an earnings meeting that autonomous driving is nonsense that comes out of capital coercion.

BYD has more than 600,000 employees, and the company can't even replace all its workers with machines, because the machines can't simulate every scenario of manual operation, he said.

"It's not even possible to do unattended work on a fixed production line, let alone the ever-changing actual road conditions," Wang said at the time.

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Li Auto stops sharing weekly sales data, CEO explains why

Li Auto CEO said they have been complained about by many of their peers, so they are temporarily unable to publish insurance data from last week.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) continued to share weekly auto insurance registration numbers in China after they became unavailable on major channels starting in April.

Now the automaker has stopped sharing those numbers as well, and its founder, chairman and CEO Li Xiang explained why.

"We have been complained and reported by many peers, so we can't release the insurance registration data for the time being since last week, very unfortunate," Li wrote on Weibo today.

Notably, earlier today, multiple versions of a table purportedly showing the insurance registration data for the first week of May circulated on Chinese social media, with Li claiming that much of the data was fake.

"I saw that some of my peers couldn't stand the fact that some people started faking the insurance registration data (which every car company buys) and took it upon themselves to release the real data for the first week," he said.

Li Auto's insurance was not less than 6,000 in that falsified data, but 7,000, he said.

Previously, we had access to those numbers every Tuesday, and it was Li Auto's practice to share a portion of them later to show off that it was leading the pack among new car makers.

The company last shared those numbers on May 5, when it provided a table showing that it sold 8,100 units in the week of April 24 to April 30.

Li Auto delivered 25,681 vehicles in April, another monthly high, while surpassing the 20,000-delivery mark for the second consecutive month.

On May 10, Li Auto reported its first-quarter earnings with guidance that second-quarter vehicle deliveries would range from 76,000 to 81,000.

This means that it expects to deliver a total of 50,319 to 55,319 vehicles in May and June.

Insurance registrations for week ending Apr 30: Tesla 11,500, Li Auto 8,100, NIO 2,600

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Singapore’s deputy PM visits NIO House in Shanghai

NIO is building a R&D Center in Singapore, where it looks into smart power solutions & autonomous driving technologies, said Lawrence Wong.

Singapore's deputy PM visits NIO House in Shanghai-CnEVPost

A Singaporean deputy prime minister visited a NIO House in Shanghai today, the first senior local official to visit the electric vehicle (EV) maker since it went public on the country's stock market.

Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, tweeted today that he visited NIO and saw its next-generation battery technology.

"NIO is building a R&D Center in SG, where it looks into smart power solutions & autonomous driving technologies. Had a fruitful conversation & I wish NIO all the best in its EV journey in SG," Wong wrote.

Wong shared a picture that shows William Li, the founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, accompanying him on his tour.

"NIO team is honored to welcome Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Mr. Lawrence Wong and Singaporean government officials for a visit and further discussion at NIO House | Shanghai Tower today," the EV company said in a retweet.

On May 20, 2022, NIO was listed on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST), becoming the first Chinese automaker to list in three locations.

NIO announced at the time that it would establish an artificial intelligence and autonomous driving R&D center in Singapore. The company has already established R&D centers in Beijing, Shanghai, San Jose, USA, and Europe.

"We will also leverage Singapore's advantageous position as an international financial and technology center. By collaborating with science and research institutions and establishing NIO's R&D center for AI and AD in Singapore, we will further broaden and enhance our global R&D footprint," Li said at the time.

NIO made a secondary listing in Hong Kong by way of introduction on March 10, 2022, and the listing in Singapore was its second secondary listing.

NIO is currently down 2.89 percent to S$8.07 in Singapore. It closed down 2.46 percent to HK$63.50 in Hong Kong today.

NIO makes its debut on Singapore's stock market

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New auto index launched in HK stock market with constituents including BYD, NIO, XPeng, Li Auto

The Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited launched the Hang Seng Automobile Index today with a year-to-date return of about 9 percent.

A new index is now available for investors who wish to track the performance of the Chinese auto industry chain in the stock market.

The Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited (HSI) today announced the launch of three new indices, including the Hang Seng Automobile Index.

"The Hang Seng Automobile Index aims to reflect the overall performance of companies that are engaged in the value chain of automobile production, and are listed in Hong Kong," the description on the HSI website reads.

The new index -- calculated and disseminated in real-time at two-second intervals -- had a return of 9.26 percent for the year to last Friday. As of press time, the index was up 0.69 percent today.

The Hang Seng Automobile Index has a fixed component of 30 stocks and will be reviewed every six months.

The index's current constituents include car companies such as BYD, NIO, , , Leapmotor, , Great Wall Motors, and GAC Group, as well as suppliers such as LK Technology and Fuyao Glass.

The description page on the HSI website does not provide information on the weighting of these constituents in the index.

The index has a base period of December 31, 2019, with a base value of 3,000 points and is currently quoted at 3,272.24 points.

At press time, NIO was down 2.3 percent to HK$63.60 in Hong Kong, XPeng down 2.03 percent to HK$38.55, Li Auto down 0.96 percent to HK$113, BYD was flat and Leapmotor was up 1.47 percent to HK$34.55.

Hang Seng Automobile Index

Stock CodeConstituent Name
A SharesB SharesH SharesRed ChipsOthers
1958BAIC MOTOR
9888BIDU - SW
710BOE VARITRONIX
1211BYD COMPANY
285BYD ELECTRONIC
489DONGFENG GROUP
3606FUYAO GL ASS
2238GAC GROUP
1772GANFENG LITHIUM
175GEELY AUTO
2333GREATWALL MOTOR
179JOHNSON ELEC H
148KINGBOARD HLDG
9863LEAPMOTOR
2015LI AUTO - W
558LK TECH
425MINTH GROUP
1316NEXTEER
9866NIO - SW
1478Q TECH
20SENSETIME - W
3808SINOTRUK
2382SUNNY OPTICAL
819TIANNENG POWER
9696TIANQI LITHIUM
3898TIMES ELECTRIC
2338WEICHAI POWER
868XINYI GLASS
9868XPENG - W
1585YADEA

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NIO exceeds 1,400 swap stations in China

NIO's 1,400th battery swap station in China was built with German retail giant METRO, and the two have built a total of 21 such facilities together to date.

NIO exceeds 1,400 swap stations in China-CnEVPost

(Image credit: NIO)

NIO (NYSE: NIO) has surpassed 1,400 battery swap stations in China, as deployment of its third generation of the facility accelerates.

The electric vehicle (EV) maker today put eight new battery swap stations into operation, bringing the total to 1,403, with 374 of them located along highways, according to an article it posted today on the NIO App.

NIO's 1,400th battery swap station in China is located next to a store of German retail giant METRO in Shanghai, and is the 61st third-generation battery swap station of the EV maker.

The partnership between NIO and METRO began two years ago when the two signed a strategic cooperation agreement on March 29, 2021, to collaborate on the construction of charging stations and battery swap stations.

To date, 21 battery swap stations have been jointly built by the two companies, NIO said today.

NIO exceeds 1,400 swap stations in China-CnEVPost

NIO's owners have used battery swap services more than 22 million times, averaging nearly 50,000 times a day, and on average, a vehicle receives a fully charged battery from a battery swap station every 1.9 seconds, NIO said.

In addition to providing replenishment services, these battery swap stations have provided a total of 76,131 battery upgrades to owners, according to the article.

NIO allows owners to upgrade their standard-range battery packs to 100 kWh long range packs on a monthly, annual, or permanent basis.

NIO exceeds 1,400 swap stations in China-CnEVPost

On March 3, NIO began offering incentives to encourage owners to upgrade their battery packs to long-range ones.

At the NIO Day 2022 event on December 24, 2022, NIO's third-generation battery swap station was launched, capable of storing up to 21 packs, up from 13 in its previous generation and 5 in the first generation of that facility.

NIO announced plans at the time to add 400 battery swap stations in 2023, though that plan was raised to 1,000 on February 21.

William Li, NIO's founder, chairman and CEO, said at the time that the company would further accelerate the deployment of battery swap stations, with a goal of having more than 2,300 battery swap stations in China by the end of 2023.

NIO's first 10 third-generation battery swap stations went live in 10 Chinese cities on April 12.

On April 18, Li said on the first day of the Shanghai auto show that NIO will add about 200 battery swap stations every month starting in June.

As of May 15, NIO also had 2,580 charging stations in China, offering 15,312 charging piles. The company's charging map has access to more than 7,000,000 third-party charging stations.

NIO swap station count update: 8 added, total 1,403

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Eve Energy to buy land for battery plant in Malaysia

The battery plant will support electric two-wheeler and power tool manufacturers in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, Eve Energy said.

(Image credit: Eve Energy)

Chinese lithium battery maker Eve Energy will build a new battery factory in Malaysia, just days after announcing it would build a plant in Hungary.

Eve Energy Malaysia, the Malaysian arm of Eve Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding with Pemaju Kelang Lama Sdn Bhd (PKL) on May 12 to buy land from the latter to set up a lithium battery manufacturing plant in Malaysia, according to a stock exchange announcement.

The land is 66.58083 acres (26.9 hectares) and the price is 164 million ringgit ($36.6 million), according to the May 12 announcement.

The signing of the MOU marks the effective advancement of Eve Energy's cylindrical lithium battery manufacturing project, which will further meet the company's need to scale up its cylindrical battery capacity, the announcement said.

The battery plant will support electric two-wheeler and power tool manufacturers in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, and continue to consolidate and enhance the company's presence in these areas, Eve Energy said.

Eve Energy, one of the world's largest power battery manufacturers, installed 2.4 GWh of batteries worldwide in the first quarter, up 75.5 percent year-on-year, according to data released by South Korean market research firm SNE Research on May 3.

This puts Eve Energy in 9th place globally with a 1.8 percent share, while and BYD are the top two with 35.0 percent and 16.2 percent shares, respectively.

The announcement comes two days after Eve Energy announced on May 10 that its subsidiary EVE Power Hungary had signed an agreement with Debreceni, a subsidiary of the Hungarian government of Debrecen, to purchase land owned by the latter in the city's northwest industrial zone for the production of cylindrical power cells.

The land in Hungary covers 45 hectares and the purchase price is 22.5 euros per square meter plus VAT, for a total price of about 12.86 million euros ($14.1 million).

The deal will meet the company's need for production land for future growth and further expand its capacity for power and energy storage batteries, Eve Energy said at the time.

Eve Energy's announcement provided no further information, though the move appears to be in preparation for supplying BMW.

($1 = 4.4755 ringgit)

Chinese battery maker Eve Energy to build plant in Hungary

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BYD to supply batteries to China’s largest diesel engine maker

BYD and Weichai Power will build a power battery development and manufacturing base in Shandong province, where the latter is headquartered.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY), one of the world's largest manufacturers of power batteries, is expanding its customer base.

BYD and Weichai Power, China's largest diesel engine maker, signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Shenzhen on May 12 to collaborate on the joint production of power batteries, according to a post by the latter on Weibo.

Tan Xuguang, chairman and CEO of Weichai, and Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, attended the signing ceremony, according to the article.

(Image credit: Weicai Power)

The two sides will produce power batteries in a joint venture in Shandong to build a power battery R&D and manufacturing base to promote the development of new energy commercial vehicles in China, the article said, without providing further details.

Weichai, based in Weifang, Shandong province, posted revenue of RMB 53.4 billion ($7.67 billion) and net profit of RMB 1.86 billion in the first quarter, according to its financial report.

Weichai began its involvement in the new energy business in 2010, especially in the fuel cell sector.

The company has a new energy engine base in Weifang, and its chairman, Tan, is also chairman of Sinotruk, which has a new energy heavy truck manufacturing base in Jinan.

BYD is the world's largest maker of new energy vehicles (NEVs) and the world's second-largest maker of power batteries.

BYD installed 21.5 GWh of power batteries in the first quarter, ranking second globally with a 16.2 percent share, behind 's 35.0 percent, according to data released earlier this month by South Korean market research firm SNE Research.

In China, BYD installed 7.32 GWh of power batteries in April, ranking second with a 29.11 percent share, according to the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA). CATL ranked first in China with a 40.83 percent share in April.

In Shandong, where Weichai is headquartered, BYD has a car assembly plant, a power battery factory and a chip factory.

($1 = RMB 6.9637)

China EV battery installations in Apr: BYD regains top spot over CATL in LFP market

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