BeyonCa from Volkswagen ex-vice president aims to sell 100,000 vehicles in the next 3-5 years. How will they manage it?
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Tagged: eV
NIO’s 1st 3rd-gen swap stations to go live on Mar 28
NIO's third-generation battery swap stations are expected to be ready for volume production in April, with deployment ramping up in May, William Li said a month ago. | NIO US | NIO HK | NIO SG
(Image credit: NIO)
NIO (NYSE: NIO) will officially bring its first third-generation battery swap stations online at the end of this month, a timeline that appears to be slightly earlier than it previously announced.
On March 28, NIO's first 10 third-generation battery swap stations will go live, the company said in an article posted today on its mobile app.
The article does not provide more information on the third-generation stations, but said that 10 special guests will be on-site to see the battery swap stations on their wish list delivered.
NIO officially unveiled the third-generation battery swap station at NIO Day 2022 on December 24, 2022, capable of storing up to 21 battery packs, up from 13 in its predecessor generation and five in the first generation of the facility.
The third-generation battery swap station increases the daily service capacity of a single station to 408 times, a 30 percent increase over the second generation.
Notably, NIO also equipped two LiDARs and two Nvidia Orin chips on the third-generation battery swap station, for a total computing power of 508 TOPS.
The company then announced plans to add 400 battery swap stations in 2023, but that plan was raised to 1,000 a month ago.
William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, said on February 21 that NIO will further accelerate the deployment of battery swap stations, aiming to have a cumulative total of more than 2,300 battery swap stations by the end of 2023.
Mass production of NIO's third-generation battery swap stations was well underway, with volume production expected to begin in April and deployment accelerating in May, Li said at the time.
Starting in June, NIO will basically maintain a construction rate of 120-150 battery swap stations per month, he said.
On February 28, the NIO App added a wish list feature that allows vehicle owners to provide suggestions for where they would like battery swap stations to be located to support faster buildout.
To date, NIO has received 132,238 wish lists for battery swap stations, according to the article in the NIO App today.
Of those, 68.3 percent want the planned new battery swap stations this year to be located in urban areas, and 31.27 percent want the facilities to be located along highways.
Beijing was the most mentioned city on these wish lists, followed by Shanghai and Suzhou.
There were 240 potential sites covering more than 50 users and 12 sites covering more than 200 users, NIO said.
After receiving the owners' wish lists, NIO held 221 events in 134 cities, meeting with 6,459 users face-to-face, according to the article in the NIO App.
NIO has not added any battery swap stations in the past half month. As of March 5, the company had 1,321 such facilities in China, according to data monitored by CnEVPost.
NIO reveals aggressive plan to add 1,000 swap stations in 2023
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BYD makes brand debut in Uzbekistan, starts local pre-sales of 3 models
BYD introduced three models in Uzbekistan and its three pioneering stores in Tashkent will open in March. | BYDDY.US | BYD HK
(Image credit: BYD)
BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) made its brand debut in Uzbekistan and introduced three models to local consumers, as the largest Chinese manufacturer of new energy vehicles (NEVs) continues to advance its efforts in the international market.
BYD held a brand debut and product pre-sale event in Uzbekistan on March 16, and several of its local dealership stores are set to open this month, according to a press release Friday.
BYD introduced three models at the event, including the Han EV, an all-electric sedan; the Song Plus DM-i, a hybrid model; and the hybrid Chazor DM-i, known as the Destroyer 05 in China.
Uzbekistan, the largest automotive market in Central Asia, is transitioning toward vehicle electrification, and BYD will bring industry-leading blade battery and DM-i super hybrid technology to local consumers, the release said.
Three pioneering BYD stores in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent will open in March: a BYD flagship store and technology museum, a comprehensive BYD brand experience center and a BYD city showroom.
It is worth noting that BYD has already made some previous moves to pave the way for its long-term growth in Uzbekistan.
In February 2022, BYD and Uzavtosanoat JSC (UzAuto) signed a mutual memorandum of understanding, agreeing to study the feasibility of joint production of electric passenger cars and electric buses in the Central Asian country.
UzAuto, established in 1994, is the largest and only car manufacturer in Central Asia with a complete automotive industry footprint and an extensive local and inter-regional sales network and after-sales service system.
On December 30, 2022, BYD announced that it had signed an agreement with UzAuto to establish a joint venture that will focus on the production of NEVs and their components.
The joint venture will be based in Uzbekistan and will focus on the future production of several of BYD's best-selling NEV models, including the DM-i Super Hybrid, and related components, according to a BYD press release at the time.
BYD, the world's largest maker of NEVs, sold 193,655 vehicles in February, up 27.96 percent from 151,341 units in January and up 119.36 percent from 88,283 units in the same month last year, according to figures it announced earlier this month.
In February, BYD sold 15,002 NEVs in overseas markets, up 44.13 percent from 10,409 units in January.
In addition to announcing its business progress in Uzbekistan, BYD also announced on Friday that it entered into a partnership with UAE dealer Al-Futtaim on March 15.
NIO's global expansion: Demands of under-the-radar owners underscore urgency
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Study: Workplace EV charging could cut need for more power plants
Thorough planning of EV charging station placement, specifically with a greater emphasis on workplace charging, could cut the need for more power plants, according to a new MIT study. Published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, the study uses data from New York City and Dallas to counter the narrative that an influx of electric cars... Taking the HiPhi Z for a spin: China’s electrifying GT sets its sights on the Porsche Taycan
Discover the HiPhi Z, China's eye-catching electric GT! Unleash the future of driving today.
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2022 Chinese auto brand quality ranking, Chery Jetour and SGMW Baojun are among the worst
Can you guess the best quality brand?
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Nio ET5 to be launched in Denmark on April 12, company denied ET5 Touring will be unveiled alongside
It would be the first EU country where ET5 will be launched. First batch of ET5 also arrived in Norway this week.
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The 2023 BYD Han EV launched for 30,400 USD and received 5000 orders in 24 hours
2023 Han EV has been upgraded in terms of aluminum alloy suspension, intelligence and comfort. BYD also launched 2023 Tang DM-i PHEV.
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Combustion-vehicle sales peaked in 2017, peak oil due in 2027
The global market for internal-combustion vehicles peaked in 2017 and is now in "structural decline," Bloomberg New Energy Finance declared in a recent report. Combustion-vehicle sales in 2022 were down almost 20% from the 2017 peak, according to BNEF. In 2017, 86 million internal combustion passenger vehicles were sold globally—including... XPeng Q4 earnings call: Key points of transcript
XPeng announced its fourth-quarter earnings today and held a conference call with analysts.
Below are the key points mentioned by XPeng chairman and CEO, He Xiaopeng, during the call.
Inflection point
XPeng is approaching an inflection point, as we have clearly identified what our goals are, and what our strengths and weaknesses are.
Our overarching goal is to make XPeng a leader in the Chinese EV market, and ultimately win the global EV race.
Senior hire & org changes
The organizational restructure started with changes and upgrades in our top leadership. Ms. Fengying Wang brought us more than 30 years' experience in the automotive industry.
Fengying is taking full responsibility for our product planning and sales operations, and is also in charge of our product platform management scheme.
Her extensive industry experience, in-depth market insight and strong execution capabilities will help our products capture customer demand more accurately, while greatly improving efficiency in our sales and services divisions.
At the same time, the adaptations to our managements' organization are geared toward a flatter and more concentrated structure.
Since February, all design, R&D, production, supply chain and organizational management functions directly report to me.
I believe that these shifts will significantly improve our planning capabilities and lift the efficiency of our decision-making and execution in the coming months.
More importantly, these adjustments have effectively refreshed our execution and competitiveness. For the foreseeable future, I will remain focused on lifting the labor efficiency across our organization by multiple times so as to generate increased customer value with the same headcount, and greatly reduce costs across a full range of processes through technology innovation.
Product planning and design
With regard to our product planning and design, we concentrate on customer-perceived value and product differentiation in our innovation. We will make substantial changes to future products' model configuration mix, whole-vehicle modularized design and consistency in smart features.
In terms of interior and exterior styling and design, to meet XPeng customers' high standards for aesthetics, I am directly running the styling design division and building three teams that compete with each other to generate creative ideas.
These initiatives will continuously improve our interior and exterior styling and space design capabilities.
Customer-centric
We incorporated the Net Promoter Score, or NPS, into the core performance indicators for a variety of business functions and require feedback collection on a monthly basis.
The NPS performance evaluation will anchor the transformation of our product planning, design and development toward a customer-centric pathway. I believe our new products, new OTAs and new services-to-come will demonstrate substantial progress.
New P7i launch
Our in-store traffic and test-driving volume both hit new heights in recent months following the P7i's launch. This new product's smart features, styling design and performance, among other clear advantages in rivalry with similar products were well received among customers.
Amid the market's prevailing weakness in new order intake, our results outperformed the market. Our new order intake in February increased 100% over the previous month.
With the strong momentum of P7i orders following its official launch, we expect to see a considerable month-on-month growth of total new order intake in our March. This marks an initial success following our comprehensive transformation, which has also boosted our company morale.
New SUV G6
Our second new product model coming up this year – the G6 – will make its debut at the Shanghai auto show. Its official launch and vehicle deliveries will occur around the middle of this year.
The G6 will bring the most advanced electrification and smart mobility technologies to the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan-priced NEV SUV market. With unrivaled interior space, range, styling and interior decoration, we believe the G6 will become the top-selling model in its market segment.
Following the ramp-up of G6's mass production, we expect G6's monthly sales target to be 2 to 3 times that of its P7 predecessor's sales.
In addition, in the second half of 2023, we will launch a brand-new BEV 7-seat MPV.
This new MPV model is designed to cater to customer cohorts that demand larger interior room, while serving the needs of our family customers for a human-machine co-pilot.
Chat GPT
Recently, Chat GPT4.0 and other AI-based applications have created a buzz among hundreds of millions of users on the massive potential of generative AI models.
Given this development, there is an even higher possibility that autonomy technology further advances from Level 4 to Level 5.
We expect to incorporate GPT technology deeply into XPeng's business across the board to create groundbreaking user experiences and exceptional improvements to our operational efficiency.
XNGP
In March, we began to accelerate the OTA rollout of City NGP, compatible with multiple models, in several cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Through City NGP's OTA, we took the lead in mass producing the Transformer-based BEV time-series network, XNET, in China, which achieved a milestone in deep learning algorithm development and application.
In the second half of this year, XNGP, powered by XNET's deep learning algorithms, will no longer depend on a high-definition map. That said, XNGP will be supporting drivers on more urban roads, and across even broader geographic coverage nationwide.
Results from our testing showed the new version of XNGP outperformed peer's actual on-road performance in the United States. This leads us to believe XPeng's autonomous technology and its customer adoption is approaching a pivotal turning point.
While keeping high safety standards remains a top priority of our technology advancements, we will also be focused on rapid development to improve scenario coverage, user experience and software and hardware cost optimization.
In terms of scenario coverage, we have expanded the usage of the advanced technology from highway scenarios into city scenarios, where ADASs are used at high frequency and even become an essential driving tool.
Going forward, we will strive to further broaden ADAS usage to more end-to-end driving scenarios, such as internal compound ways and non-public roads, and expand our geographic coverage from three cities to more major cities nationwide beginning in the third quarter.
In terms of user experience, we have achieved an important psychological barrier for customers to use autonomous driving to "relieve" drivers, that is, drivers can let the machine safely take the wheel, resting assured that they are acting only as a supervisor.
Looking ahead, we expect that through continuous OTA upgrades, XNGP's driving skills will escalate every year and in 2-3 years reach a level that is equivalent to a human driver with 3 years of driving experience. We also expect that the number of manual takeovers per 100 km will be reduced to one or fewer.
Cost cut
Regarding cost efficiency, we plan to cut XNGP's BOM cost significantly next year and adjust our sales model from one that bundles sales of software and hardware, to one that splits the sales of software and hardware, which is going to enable autonomous driving on all of our new vehicles, and allow more customers to use the latest autonomous driving capabilities.
In pursuit of breakthroughs in the aforementioned three realms, we will bring great value to our customers and build out competitive edge in technologies, delivering long-term, sustainable revenue growth at scale and with improved margin contribution.
It has been said that the past five-year period was the golden age for new energy vehicles. I believe the next five-year period will be the golden age for autonomous driving.
During the five years to come, XPeng's highly advanced autonomous driving technology will help XPeng accelerate our ability to gain top market share.
More powerful cost control will be the core competitive edge that will enable XPeng to secure its leadership in the EV market. We will advance the platform-based approach and technology innovation to propel our cost reduction strategy.
Platform approach
Entering 2023, we are applying a full platform engineering approach for our BEV vehicle platform, electrical and electronic architecture, powertrain system and ADAS software and hardware development.
This signals that we are entering a new phase of car-making in a unified system. In this way, we are able to develop products with superior customer experience at a faster pace and a lower cost.
In the past, our R&D strengths were primarily manifested by our leading product performance. In the future, our R&D strengths will be underlined by maintaining the leading performance while achieving remarkable cost reductions.
We have mapped out our strategic execution roadmap with associated cost reductions include an over 50% decrease for autonomous driving costs and an about 25% decrease for vehicle hardware costs (including powertrain) over the 2023-2024 period by means such as technology innovation and optimized configurations.
I am pleased to see the design, technology R&D, supply chain and manufacturing teams are now working in a synergetic way to make our products more competitive through innovation.
Cash resources
In terms of cash liquidity, our cash on hand at the end of 2022 amounted to over RMB38 billion. As we have nearly completed our investments in our two manufacturing bases over the past few years, our Capex will decline substantially. We have also established three powerful vehicle platforms that can support a serial of new model launches over the next three years.
Our R&D will further concentrate on initiatives that best correspond with long-term trends and further differentiate our product in terms of customer experience and cost. We will also pursue improvements in our operating efficiency throughout the entire process.
For example, within our sales operations, we strive to improve same-store efficiency by optimizing our store network. We believe these cost optimization efforts will start to deliver material results beginning in the second half of this year.
Expanding scale
Expanding our scale and market share to achieve economy of scale in both software and hardware is the primary goal in our long-term strategy.
Although the product and management adjustment cycle in the automotive industry is more difficult than other industries and takes a longer period of time, we are still willing to sacrifice short-term sales and more patiently pursue greater victories in the medium- and long-term.
Looking ahead
Excitingly, as we rapidly implement adjustments and changes to our management, in addition to instituting a host of upgrades and iterations in our product portfolio and marketing capabilities, we have seen encouraging changes and positive results.
I am firmly convinced that beginning in the third quarter of this year, XPeng's monthly sales number will achieve significant growth, both sequentially and year-over-year, as well as be much higher than the industry's average growth rate.
I would reiterate that our current focus is on building and improving our capabilities in organization, product design, marketing and cost control. Continuous efforts in refining management and accelerated new product launches in the era of autonomous driving will lead us to the next level of exponential growth. We will continue to strive for this goal.
Lastly, we expect our total vehicle deliveries to be between 18,000 and 19,000 units in the first quarter of 2023 and revenue to be between RMB4 and RMB4.2 billion.
XPeng Q4 revenue misses estimates, gross margin falls to single digit
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