New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in China

dingyibvs said:

I just came back from a 2 week trip to China, visited Beijing, Nanjing, Wuxi, and Shanghai. The last time I visited was 2014, and the the growth of both EVs and home grown brands is staggering in that period of time. I saw a lot more Nios and Li Auto vehicles than I would've expected given their sales numbers. In the south I saw a lot of Roewe's, and the French cars have all but disappeared. I remember going back to China in 2009 and 2014 and seeing Peugots and Renaults everywhere in the south, and I had to look them up because I didn't know any French car brands (there aren't any in the US). This time I hardly saw any.

One of my relatives in Nanjing who learned how to drive when he was 60 years old is driving an Aito M7. It's a damn big vehicle to be driving around the busy streets of Nanjing, but perhaps it's because he learned driving so late he uses the self-driving tech extensively. The ADAS had some issues with busy roundabouts and at the railway station, but was overall very impressive. I was also quite impressed with the way he used the ADAS. He described it as driving with 2 people and it really was like that. To a lot of us who have been driving since we were young it can feel exhausting supervising the ADAS, but to him a default driving mode that he simply needs to fine tune occasionally. It was a big safety net for him as it sees 360 degrees and can see over the car in front of him.

I rode in quite a few BYDs when I hailed Didi's. One issue I noticed is that in a lot of the EVs I rode in is that the ride is more stop and go than in ICE's. I'm not sure if it's because the regen braking is too aggressive or if the drivers aren't used to using it, but rather than coasting and then easing into braking while in traffic it seems to go directly from accelerating to braking too abruptly. Maybe someone who's driven them vs. say Teslas can offer some insight.

Click to expand...

Tesla has actually the most aggressive regen braking. I haven't driven BYD EVs, but everyone says it is less aggressive than Tesla here.

BYD factory locations across all of China. They are everywhere.

China built approximately 3.7 million charging piles in a year.

BYD will standardize its intelligent driving system.

Ubtech demonstrated how it's used in BYD factories for logistics. Pretty impressive stuff.

BYD killing it in the weekly sales chart. But Geely group as a whole is doing pretty well.

Denza launched in Thailand.
....

"China appeals to WTO over EU's final ruling of countervailing measures on Chinese EVs: commerce ministry"


...
"China Can’t Cut EV Subsidies It Isn’t Paying

The accepted wisdom is that clean energy support explains the country’s competitive edge. But that’s far from the truth."

BYD outsold Tesla in Australia in October, 1732 vehicles to 1464, marking only the second time this has occurred. However, unlike the first occasion in January of this year, where a cargo ship full of Teslas was turned around for biosecurity reasons, October's result appears more meaningful, the culmination of a broader pattern of stagnating local sales for Tesla and BYD's local fortunes having been lifted by the arrival of its first PHEV, Sealion 6, which has quickly become the brand's best-selling vehicle here.

While Tesla's sales in Australia still exhibit greater month-to-month variability than most brands, and hence results for any particular month should be interpreted with caution, the body of evidence suggesting the brand's stagnation in Australia is now compelling. Per :

Tesla is on track to drop out of the Top 10 selling car makers in Australia for 2024, after the US brand reported its seventh month in a row of slowing deliveries […. the brand has failed to record a year-on-year sales increase since March. Since the start of 2024, the US car giant is down 19.4 per cent to 32,214 deliveries (from 39,985), and over the past seven months – all down on the periods in 2023 – it is down 34.3 per cent.

If it continues its momentum of the past seven months through November and December, it would report about 36,200 deliveries by the end of the year – down on 46,116 in 2023, but up on 19,594 in 2022. Based on last year's sales results, it would place Tesla 14th for the year – down from eighth in 2023.

Click to expand...

Going forward, BYD will be looking to build on the success of Sealion 6 with its forthcoming Shark 6 ute, which has been priced very aggressively in line with mid-spec versions of segment-leading ICE utes Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. The initial local allocation of 2000 units has already been accounted for via pre-orders. While Shark 6 is down on payload and towing capacity relative to segment benchmarks, and lacks the established track record of offerings from Toyota, Ford, Mitsubishi, etc. it nonetheless offers a unique and compelling ownership proposition as Australia's first PHEV ute, with straight-line performance exceeding that of the Ranger Raptor, V2L utility for the worksite, and first-class technology integration, all an impressive price point. Ford is expected to launch Ranger PHEV here at some point in 2025, so Shark 6 may only have a few months of exclusivity in that regard. Ranger PHEV will retain the 3500kg tow rating of its ICE counterpart (compared to 2500kg for Shark 6), but is also likely to be tens of thousands of dollars more expensive.

Amidst the stagnation of Tesla in Australia, and with BYD looking to add both Shark 6 and Sealion 7 to its local offerings in the coming months, a previously unthinkable prospect presents itself: could BYD outsell Tesla in Australia in 2025?

Chinese brand results for October, plus selected other brands for flavour, with brand rank and change YoY:

Toyota: 18,471 sales, 1st position, -9%
Kia: 6602 sales, 5th position, +17%
MG: 5206 sales, 7th position, -15%
GWM: 3350 sales, 9th position, +13%
Volkswagen: 3279 sales, 10th position, -25%
BYD: 1732 sales, 16th position, +71%
Tesla: 1464 sales, 17th position, -26%
Chery: 1448 sales, 18th position, +110%
LDV: 1216 sales, 20th position, -30%
Jeep: 192 sales, 34th position, -41%
Leapmotor: 35 sales, 39th position, N/A.

Oh yeah: Leapmotor is here too, launching shortly with the C10.

P.S. Kia's new Tasman ute is . I don't know what they were thinking.

Some numbers of BYD sales from October in Overseas market. I have included Australia here as well as Brazil, Ireland and Spain


160 BYD eBus will be providing transportation in COP 29