Category: Electric

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Thousands of people in Quebec, Canada evacuated their homes this month due to raging wildfires. More than 400 miles away, New York City experienced its worst air quality in history, and briefly had the worst air quality of any city in the world. And New York wasn’t alone: As of June 7, 2023, more than […]

China may introduce NEV support measures soon

China's State Council Information Office will hold a briefing at 10 am Beijing time on June 21 on promoting the development of the NEV industry.

China may introduce NEV support measures soon-CnEVPost

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

China is expected to introduce policy initiatives to promote the "high-quality development" of the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry in recent days, local media China Securities Journal said in a report today.

The report did not mention details about the possible policies.

A notice posted on the website of China's State Council Information Office today shows it will hold a regular briefing at 10 am Beijing time on Wednesday, June 21, to introduce the promotion of "high-quality development" of the NEV industry and answer reporters' questions.

China's current policy to support the NEV industry is mainly the exemption of purchase tax.

In order to support the development of energy-efficient vehicles, China first started to exempt NEVs from purchase tax in 2014.

The policy originally expired at the end of 2017, but was renewed before its expiration until the end of 2020. In March 2020, China renewed the policy again until the end of 2022.

On September 26, 2022, several Chinese government departments announced in an official announcement that the purchase tax exemption for NEVs would continue until the end of 2023.

On June 2, a Bloomberg report said that China was considering extending the tax exemption for cheaper NEVs for another four years.

One of those measures could be extending the purchase tax exemption for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles that cost less than 300,000 yuan ($42,910), according to the Bloomberg report.

Hours after that Bloomberg report was published, state broadcaster CCTV reported that a State Council meeting mentioned that China would extend and optimize the vehicle purchase tax exemption for NEVs.

The upcoming press conference on June 21 may be related to the extension of the NEV purchase tax exemption policy.

Before this year, China also offered state subsidies for NEV purchases, and they were not renewed when they expired at the end of last year, although some local governments have offered subsidies to local residents for their purchases from time to time.

Following the withdrawal of state subsidies, growth in China's NEV industry has slowed significantly so far this year.

From January to May, retail sales of NEVs in China were 2.42 million units, up 41.45 percent year-on-year, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). For comparison, the growth rate for the same period last year was 117.21 percent.

($1 = RMB 7.1580)

China to extend and optimize NEV purchase tax exemption policy, says State Council meeting

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BYD Yangwang U8 expected to be officially launched in Aug

Yangwang will have separate sales channels from and is in the process of building its first stores in 16 cities, and they are expected to start trial operations gradually in August.

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The Premium Edition of Yangwang's first model, the U8, is expected to be officially launched in August, and the final price will be announced at that time, the BYD-owned premium brand said today.

Deliveries of the Yangwang U8 Premium Edition are expected to begin in September, it said.

Yangwang began pre-sales of the U8 on the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, saying at the time that the model would be offered in two versions -- a Premium Edition and an Off-road Master Edition.

Both versions of the Yangwang U8 have the same pre-sale price of 1,098,000 yuan ($153,400), with the difference being that the former has more features and the latter has more room for modifications.

For BYD, its pattern for launching a new model is to start pre-sales first and offer a lower price when it finally goes on sale.

Yangwang will not use BYD's sales channels and will build its own showrooms, it said in a post posted today on its social media platforms.

Yangwang is currently building its first stores in 16 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Chengdu, and they are expected to start trial operations gradually in August.

Yangwang uses an online booking model, where consumers can book through channels including the brand's mobile app and get delivery at offline stores.

Buyers of the Yangwang U8 Premium Edition will not have to pay a luxury car tax, as the tax is only available in China for models with a retail price of RMB 1.3 million or more, Yangwang said.

For the Yangwang U8 Off-road Master Edition, whether consumers will have to pay the luxury tax will be subject to their additional options.

The Yangwang U8 is currently only available in a five-seat version, and its interior is expected to be officially revealed in July.

On January 5, BYD officially launched the Yangwang brand and unveiled the Yangwang U8 and Yangwang U9, both of which will be equipped with BYD's e⁴ technology.

e⁴ is China's first mass-produced quad-motor independent drive technology platform, able to achieve precise control of vehicle four-wheel dynamics by virtue of quad-motor independent vector control technology, BYD said at the time.

The Yangwang U8 has a maximum output of over 1,100 horsepower, takes 3.6 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour and has a CLTC pure electric range of 180 kilometers, the brand previously said.

The Yangwang U9 is not yet available for pre-order, and its official launch date is unknown.

($1 = RMB 7.1577)

BYD Yangwang begins pre-sale of U8 off-road SUV at $160,000

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NIO Capital ups bet on ARM CPU startup CIX Technology

Capital participated in a RMB hundreds of millions Series A round of funding for CIX Technology, after previously co-leading the company's Pre-A round.

(Image credit: NIO Capital)

CIX Technology, a Chinese startup that builds computer CPUs based on ARM architecture, recently closed new funding from several investors, including NIO Capital.

NIO Capital said today that it participated in CIX Technology's multi-hundred-million-yuan Series A funding round after co-leading the company's Pre-A round.

Following the completion of this round, CIX Technology will continue its efforts in the general-purpose CPU space to accelerate the design and development of next-generation CPU chips, according to NIO Capital.

Founded in 2021, CIX Technology is focused on developing general-purpose CPUs for scenarios including personal computing, in-vehicle computing, and metaverse infrastructure.

NIO Capital's press release today does not mention the amount or valuation of CIX Technology's Series A funding.

According to CIX Technology's press release, the financing was co-led by Tongge Venture Capital, 37Games, and followed by NIO Capital as an existing shareholder.

On July 18, 2022, LatePost reported that CIX Technology closed a new round of funding of about $50 million at that time, co-led by NIO Capital and Qiming Venture Partners.

It was also CIX Technology's fourth funding round in its nine months of existence, giving it a post-round valuation of about $300 million, according to the report.

While most startups want to enter the chip manufacturing market from server CPUs, CIX Technology's first product is a computer CPU, similar to Apple's M1 chip.

CIX Technology's founder, Sun Wenjian, was the former head of AMD's customer customization division in China. He saw the time as ripe to start a business in the field of CPUs based on the ARM architecture after Apple released the M1 chip in November 2020, according to LatePost.

CIX Technology joined Linaro's Windows on Arm Group in July last year.

CIX Technology will be responsible for native Arm development, native application support and localization to help build the global Windows on Arm ecosystem, NIO Capital said in a press release at the time.

NIO Capital reportedly leads investment in local computer CPU maker CIX Technology

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