China EVs & More

In this episode recorded at TechTown Detroit, Lei heads to Detroit to meet Tu in person for the first time! They spend the busy week participating in both auto show and non-auto show related events. 

Tu and Lei start out the podcast with a final recap of August sales and the 16 EV makers that made up a large percentage of total sales. The broader lesson is that the EV sector keeps chugging along despite all of the continuing challenges with BYD leading the way into a likely record 4Q.  They then move to NIO earnings and the disappointing guidance for 3Q but the extremely upbeat 4Q sales foreca...

Tu & Lei start off the podcast with a review of August sales numbers,  the pleasant surprises along with the disappointments.  Tu and Lei then take a step back and talk about the global EV market, how the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) should help the US EV sector and how some Volkswagen customers in Europe have gotten so frustrated with their ID Series vehicles they're returning them. Tu...

Tu & Lei start this podcast out confirming their prediction that the State Council would extend the NEV purchase tax exemption was correct. They then take a few moments to compare and contrast the speed and amount at which announcements and news comes out of the China market vs. the US & European markets.  The conversation moves on to how China EV Inc collectively is investing in vertical...

Lei starts the pod out with the announcement that China EVs & More reached its 10,000th download so both Tu and Lei took a moment to reflect, thank their listeners but also look forward to what’s up next for the podcast. Tu then moves over to discuss his adventures getting back to the US including detailing his multiple layover flight that included the screeching halt of the plane he was in he...

Tu starts the pod out by talking about the last time he was in the US and his plans to head back to visit next week.  The conversation then moves on to July sales with both Tu and Lei giving their take on the results. Lei then pushes the discussion to the XPeng G9 unveil and subsequent reservations that suggested that Chinese consumers are excited about it. They also discuss the AVATR 11 and Tu ta...

In this special episode Tu and Lei unpack the dismissal of Herbert Diess, former VW Group Global CEO and the promotion of Oliver Blume, current head of Porsche to replace Diess. The 2nd half of the episode focuses on Tu's experience testing out a number of electric vehicles over a two week period with Inside China Auto's Mark Rainford. The electric vehicles they tested or tried out: Pole...

Tu and Lei start out the podcast talking July sales and deep dive into a few EV startups that are having challenges ramping and consistently increasing their MoM sales - Lei ranks China’s Big EV Three. Tu moves the conversation over to his experience riding Baidu Apollo’s robotaxi and how its progressed since the last time he rode it.  Lei then moves onto a discussion about BYD and how they’re con...

Tu & Lei begin the pod with a discussion about the unveiling of the RT6 - an Baidu Apollo branded, Level 4 capable robotaxi that will be hitting the streets sometime next year at the cost of ¥250K (~$37K) and the greater implications of Baidu's mobility strategy. Tu speculates that we could see announcements from Baidu about pilots launching outside of China next year. Tu moves the discus...

Tu starts the episode with an update on the ground and then quickly moves to his visit to Baidu headquarters to get a sneak peek at the Jidu Auto Robo-1 concept vehicle. Tu talks a bit about the overall shape, feel of the interior and thoughts on the single long coast to coast screen that makes up most of the front console. He notes that the lack of buttons and knobs really stands out and that the...

In this latest MAX episode, Tu & Lei welcome Frank Wu, Head of Design at JIDU. Frank leads the award winning JIDU Design team who recently won two Red Dot awards for their concept - the ROBO-01 concept vehicle & ROBO-01 charger.  Part 2: Frank tells us what it's like to work at an EV startup in China, gets into more detail about the design decisions he made for the ROBO-01 and what th...

In this latest MAX episode, Tu & Lei welcome Frank Wu, Head of Design at JIDU. Frank leads the award winning JIDU Design team who recently won two Red Dot awards for their concept - the ROBO-01 concept vehicle & ROBO-01 charger.  Part 1: Frank opens up about his personal journey, what's influenced his career decisions and compares and contrasts the design processes between the differe...

Tu and Lei start out the pod with a brief review of June sales numbers and both agreed the market seemed to recover well with the major automakers all rebounding from low April / May sales caused by the lockdown in Shanghai.  Tu and Lei spend a few moments to discuss the latest news about Covid in China including steps the Chinese govt is taking to restart the sector again.  Lei that discusses the...

Tu starts this week’s pod with a quick update on what’s going on on the ground in Beijing. Lei then moves on to NIO’s challenging last few weeks, first starting out with the tragic accident at their Shanghai headquarters that killed two people to this week’s bombshell short report accusing NIO of fraud, specifically for their accounting of battery swapping revenues. The next topic that Lei & T...

Tu and Lei start the pod with their thoughts on Li Auto’s big unveil for this year, the L9. The conversation evolves into a broader discussion about Li Auto’s future ambitions and how they compare to their domestic competitors who are more focused on the international markets. The discussion moves over to some recent moves by Volkswagen and Mercedes that points to their continued emphasis on the C...

Tu and Lei start out the conversation with a brief summary of May’s sales and agree that things are looking better but that its still a fluid and delicate situation.  Tu and Lei then move on to the discussion about the NIO ES7 and Lei poses two questions to Tu about his preferences if he had to choose between certain new vehicles. They spend a good deal of time discussing the ES7, how NIO is doing...

The pod starts out with Tu and Lei unpacking what Lei calls the biggest China smart EV reveal this year, the unveil of the Jidu Robo-1. Tu gives an update on the status of Covid restrictions in Beijing including a bit of what’s opening up then Lei transitions over to an update on May sales numbers and how things are beginning to recover from a very poor April. Lei expects June to move towards norm...

Lei starts the pod talking May sales. Overall better numbers across the board but Lei was disappointed a bit in BYD’s sales. Lei then moves to explain the stimulus package that’s been announced for vehicle purchase and who it’s targeting.     This triggers a broader discussion about the economy and Shanghai & Beijing beginning to open up and the implications of this along with the subsidies. ...

Tu and Lei start out with a discussion about the challenges of China’s overall economy and some of the stimulus that the Chinese govt. has announced they’d provide in order to get it jumpstarted. Shanghai is finally opening back up on June 1st, so factories should begin to product more product consistently in June and beyond but Tu cautions that any outbreak could jeopardize the recovery.  Lei the...

In this latest MAX episode, Tu & Lei welcome Omer Keilaf, Co-founder and CEO of Innoviz, which designs and develops. LiDAR and perception software for ADAS systems & autonomous vehicles.  Omer talks about the early days in the Israeli military, starting Innoviz six years ago, why he is confident that this is the right time to enter the Chinese market, his views on LiDAR competition, techno...

Lei and Tu take a few minutes to reflect on a year of hosting the China EVs & More (first) Clubhouse room before moving to Twitter Spaces and finally evolving to this podcast.  Lei begins this week’s update with news that the Chinese govt is looking at introducing a stimulus package to jumpstart car sales. Tu moves the conversation to the current situation on the ground in Beijing and the chal...

Tu starts this episode out with a quick Covid update on his situation in Beijing.  Tu & Lei have a discussion on the production challenges and sales slides for the automakers in April. Lei opens up a bit about what he's heard about Tesla's doubling down in Shanghai and all of the help that they've been offered to get ShanghaiGiga but up and running. With the additional capacity...

Tu starts off episode 65 with an update on his status in Beijing and the latest news about auto manufacturing in Beijing and Shanghai including the shutdown of ShanghaiGiga due to a shortage of wiring harnesses.  Tu and Lei them move onto BYD’s Changsha problem that has nothing to do with Covid. Due to protests from local neighbors of the factory, BYD was forced to close it factory while an invest...

In Part #2 of this MAX episode, Tu & Lei welcome Steve Levine, global citizen, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and editor at The Electric - a premium newsletter that specializes in the EV & battery spaces.  Steve talks about the journalism journey that brought him to cover EVs & batteries, the challenges he sees ahead including consolidation in the automotive space, and how...

Tu & Lei start out the pod with a discussion on how the current April sales numbers look to be shaping out. It doesn't look good for most of the legacy OEMs with the exception of BYD.  Tu gives a Covid update for Beijing and what he expects to see in the next few weeks. Tu transitions the conversation over to the China autonomous vehicle update and they both share their thoughts on all of...