There is a bump on the roof that holds special laser sensors. These sensors help the car see what's around it to drive safely by itself or help the driver.
The car has parts that can move to control how air flows around it. This helps the car go faster or use less energy by letting air in or blocking it when needed.
Instead of regular mirrors on the sides, the car uses cameras that show pictures on screens inside. This helps the car be more aerodynamic and can give better views.
The Tesla Model Y is a small electric car that looks like a tall car you can sit in comfortably and it doesn’t use gas. Many people like it because it can go far on one charge and has cool features like a big touchscreen. It’s one of the most popular electric cars you can buy today.
The Nio ES8 is a big electric car from China that feels fancy inside and can change its battery quickly instead of waiting to charge. The newest version came out recently and has better features and goes farther on a charge. It’s part of a new group of electric cars that are getting better fast.
The X9 is an electric car made by a company called XPeng from China. They are also making places to charge these cars in Europe, but right now, some chargers might not work with all cars. This shows how new electric cars and chargers are still being figured out in different countries.
The Xiaomi SU7 is a new electric car made by Xiaomi, a company famous for phones and gadgets. It started being made in late 2023 and is a regular car that runs on electricity instead of gas. This shows how companies that make phones are now also making cars.
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Welcome back to EV News, China.
Today, the Audi E7X, BYD's update adds range and Canada opens a window opportunity for China.
Plus, stay tuned because later in the show I'll tell you why the hottest ticket in town is a factory tour
to go and see the Xiaomi robots doing their thing.
Welcome to EV News, China, the podcast dedicated to the world's largest EV market.
Each day I bring you the latest headlines, insights and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry
and decode how fast moving developments in the East shape the global landscape.
Volkswagen and SAIC are testing the new Audi E7X.
This is the Audi with Audi spelt capitalized AUDI.
Audi's are Audi, not with four rings.
I'll carry on.
A fully electric premium SUV built exclusively for China
and the results from cold weather trials are not yet public.
But what is clear is the ambition behind the car.
Stretching beyond five meters in length, the E7X is the second production model from the China-only Audi,
AUDI, all capitalized, no rings.
That's the new Audi brand.
That's from the joint venture Volkswagen SAIC.
It's stablemate, the E5 Sportback, sold 6,650 units in 2025 by China standards.
A modest start, but enough to prove there's a market for a premium Chinese EV
that carries a familiar European name without pretending to be one.
The E7X debuted as a concept at November's 2025 Guangzhou Auto Show.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology then confirmed the production version.
That'll make its public premiere in April in Beijing.
The Audi brand drops the traditional four-ring badge in favor of written uppercase letters.
This is meant to be a clear signal that it's not Germany's Audi.
This is China's Audi.
If it works, I don't know, maybe it works, I'm not sure.
The car runs on the advanced digitized platform.
That's jointly developed with SAIC.
And its software environment is built entirely for the Chinese market.
The exterior makes no effort at subtlety.
It rides on 22s.
It's got a roof-mounted LiDAR bulge.
Camera-based side mirrors, active aero at the front for the air to come in or not.
For better aero.
It's got B-pillar cameras, retractable door handles, sculpted bumpers, fenders,
and an illuminated logo.
Under the skin, the rear-wheel drive version.
Well, that's probably going to be plenty powerful for many people.
300 kilowatts is 400 horsepower.
The all-wheel drive twin motor is 500 kilowatts, 670 horsepower,
with a top speed of 143 miles an hour or 230 kph.
There are two options for batteries.
They're both made by CATL, so it's the good stuff.
And they're both MNC chemistry, nickel manganese cobalt.
It's either going to be 100 kilowatt hours or 109.3 kilowatt hours.
Range from 395 to 467 miles.
That's obviously on the China cycle.
750 kilometers.
It's an 800-volt architecture, so it's going to charge quickly.
Yeah, I mean really quickly.
500 kilowatts DC charging peak.
So a 10-minute stop, you're going to add 200 miles,
again on the China cycle, but either way,
you're arguing about differences at the edges.
At that kind of speed.
So maybe it adds 150 real world.
Whatever. It's really quick.
The E7X is not unimpressive on paper,
but whether Chinese buyers agree is really the only test that matters.
And we'll find out soon.
Let's talk about another very fast charging car.
BYD's fourth over-the-air update to the Han-L.
This is a plug-in hybrid.
sedan was pushed yesterday, 11th of February,
adding 25 kilometers of electric range to the front-wheel drive
and 15 kilometers to the all-wheel drive version.
No new hardware changes, of course.
This is an OTA update, and it gets more range.
The front-wheel drive model now has 225 kilometers of all-electric range.
The all-wheel drive, 195 kilometers,
with the engine totally switched off.
For many people, that'll do your Monday to Friday.
I mean, look for me, that does my Monday to Sunday,
let's be honest, I don't do that many miles anymore.
As I work from home doing this for you,
for many people if they just need maybe the back-up engine at the weekend,
and if you can charge overnight,
and obviously if you live in an apartment,
or multi-family dwellings and things like that,
sometimes parking's an issue,
in an urban area, that could mean that you rely on the petrol a little bit more.
Lucky enough to have a driveway where I live,
so I keep my cars charged up overnight,
and so I'd never need to touch the engine.
I mean, between you and I,
I wouldn't buy a car with an engine anymore,
but if you need to,
as long as you run on electric power as much as you can,
you'll be drawing on a 29.46 kilowatt hour lithium-ion phosphate battery.
Single motor version, 200 kilowatts of power,
all-wheel drive version, 400 kilowatts of power,
that's 536 horsepower.
This is a sub-four-second vehicle, by the way, 0-62.
This update, it was branded the Long Range Update,
accompanied by some new assisted driving stack,
Dipilot 5 uses what they call
reinforcement learning and gains parallel and emergency parking.
Connectivity extends to home appliances,
and to smartphones from Huawei, Samsung, and Oppo.
Smaller additions include head-up display improvements,
memory functions in-car gaming,
new even sound effects when you lock the vehicle.
The pure electric Han-L,
that's the one that runs on the 1,000-volt architecture.
Rear-wheel drive is a 500 kilowatt motor,
that's 435 miles of range in a single charge,
700 kilometers.
Again, China cycle, all-wheel drive,
all-electric version of the Han-L.
This is the sedan, 810 kilowatts of power.
It's a 2.7-second 0-62 vehicle.
This is crazy, on a 1,000-volt architecture.
It's fast, it's luxurious,
it charges at a speed that the rest of us
can't really get our head around.
And honestly, this thing looks incredible.
Aesthetically? All right.
So I'm not always a massive fan of the LiDAR bulge,
but that's because it's no use to me in the UK,
because the technology wouldn't do anything, however.
Well, of course it would be functional,
but we have different autonomy rules.
But in China, where they're moving towards
more regulation of autonomy,
where LiDAR is getting cheaper to install,
even on budget vehicles, where it's genuinely useful,
by the way, LiDAR has shrunk in price so much,
that, apart from that little bulge,
which aesthetically isn't my favorite,
like, who cares about that?
This is a car that otherwise looks,
I don't know, maybe from the front angle a little bit keer.
Possibly keer EV6-y?
Generally, I think a pretty original-looking vehicle,
and pretty hot-looking vehicle as well,
with its bright yellow, bright calipers as well.
Very high-performance trim.
So pricing runs from about $28,700
to about $38,000 US dollars equivalent.
Let's move on.
Canadian auto dealers no longer need convincing.
Brand loyalty, once the reliable anchor
for big western brands, is dissolving very quickly.
Deloitte did some polling.
They found that 47% of Canadian consumers
plan to switch brands on their next car purchase,
and half of those asked don't care
where the actual vehicle is put together.
With the average Canadian EV transaction price
of $57,600 Canadian, that's about $40,000 US, just over,
the affordability gap is not merely a talking point,
it becomes the whole argument.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has acted.
Canada will admit 49,000 China-made EVs
from the 1st of March this year,
taxed not at 100%, but 6.1%.
Quota grows 6.5% every year.
It'll be 70,000 vehicles coming in
by the end of the decade.
But there are some restrictions.
Half the qualifying imports must be under 35,000 Canadian.
That's 24,500 US.
So, it doesn't have to be Chinese brands.
It could be any vehicle.
It could be pole stars made in China,
or Volvo's, or Tesla's.
The agreement trades EV access
for reduced Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola.
Chinese brands are not yet certified
for the Canadian market,
and that certification could take from 12 to 18 months,
even if they accelerate the schedule.
They're all throwing their hat in the ring,
but they all need approval,
and the most likely entry route
is franchise partnerships.
The door is open.
In fact, the door is open more than just a crack in Canada.
The queue outside does appear to be getting longer.
Those Chinese cars are coming in,
and even the Canadian dealers are interested.
Now, let's talk a little bit about China
and EU tariffs.
So, I've mentioned this on the main podcast as well.
China's commerce ministry
shifted its position earlier today.
Accepting that Chinese EV makers
can negotiate directly with the European Union
a reversal of its previous stance
against individual companies doing their own deal.
Now, China's okay with that.
The move follows the European Union's
first tariff exemption
since duties were adopted in 2024.
The European Commission approved
Volkswagen's CUPRA brand
to import those China-built Taverscan SUVs.
Man, that's a good-looking car.
So, no 21%
duty on that.
That was stacking on top of the 10% existing Levy.
In exchange, VW Anui
had to agree on things like minimum import pricing
and agreeing to an annual sales quota.
China had urged Brussels
not to hold separate talks
with individual manufacturers
when negotiations resumed in December of 2025.
Now, China says, that's okay
because there's hopes that many of the individual carmakers
will do a deal like VW Anui's done.
The European Commission manages the trade policy
for 27 EU member states.
Under existing rules, carmakers can apply
for model-specific exemptions
on China-made EVs.
Just the Taverscan is the first one for CUPRA.
That's like a break. We'll come back. We'll talk BYD.
Song, Nivek Spong, and Xiaomi News coming up as well.
Stick around.
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With 42,227 units sold,
Gili's compact EV,
called the Xingwan,
followed with 41,500
and Gili Buyu at just over 41,000.
Tesla's Model Y was up there,
almost 39,000,
and Xiaomi's YU7 rounding out the top five
just behind the Model Y.
Of the 17 models that sold
over 20,000 wholesale units last month,
13 of them were NEVs,
that's Chinese speak
for having a plug socket on the side.
Recall, a retail told a different story though.
China's January EV retail sales
was down 20% year on year.
The first decline since March of 2024
and it fell well short of the estimates.
Tesla absorbed the sharpest retail drop
recording just 18,500 retail sales in China.
So Giga Shanghai is still churning out cars
but in January they were very much for export.
It was Xiaomi's YU7,
the Model Y competitor, the SUV,
launched not even a year ago
and NEO's third generation ES8,
only out since September last year,
that were doing well.
X-Pong is building some car charges
in Europe that we actually can't use yet
and it's doing so deliberately.
The Chinese car maker plans to roll out
ultra-fast thousand kilowatts,
aka megawatts charges in Europe this year
with the first units operational by the end of the year.
It's interesting because no current European passenger car
can use them, obviously they can use them.
They just can't use and abuse them to the full amount.
X-Pong is laying the infrastructure now
making a bet that the cars will catch up.
That's a bet that I also would place
because we know in China the cars are charging that quickly.
Each station pairs charges with on-site batteries
cutting grid connection requirements.
You can in fact connect these thousand kilowatt charges
from Xiaomi, sorry from X-Pang,
on a hundred kilowatt grid feed
because the battery acts as a big buffer.
The X-Pong stations will serve 15 vehicles at once
and at full load would still deliver 250 kilowatts
to every car if the site was full, which they often aren't,
and if every car was at its optimal charging.
Now, you know, I own a launch spec Polestar
that's almost five years old now, maybe it is five years old,
and well, if I pull 150, well, that's party time for me.
So, many EVs are never going to get even near 250.
Now, China has set a new deadline this July
for a solid-state battery standard.
It should be released in summertime
with mass production of solid-state battery packs
following in 2027, the draft GBT standard,
solid-state batteries for electric vehicles,
part one terminology and classification, as it's called,
closed for public comments, or closes for public comments
at the end of this month,
and then they'll complete the tests and various verifications.
Part one of the solid-state standard
covers things like definitions,
distinguishing what you're allowed to call a solid-state battery,
liquids, semi-solid, all solid-state batteries,
things like that.
Future sections of the rules and regs
will address things like electrolytes, performance, and safety.
Chinese automakers are moving faster than the regulations,
so the regulations are trying to catch up.
Dongfeng have a pack that runs about 350 watt-hours
per kilogram, that's incredibly high,
and they've been testing that in cold weather,
extreme cold weather tests, like minus 30 degrees Celsius.
Mass production is set for later this year
of that particular pack.
They'll deploy it in the Voya brand,
BYD, Geely, Cherry, GAC, FAW, and others,
all working on solid-state for 2027.
Let's finish off by talking about this one.
Where do you take the family on a day at the weekend
or maybe over the holidays?
Theme Park, maybe a kids' play centre?
Not so fast.
What about the Xiaomi factory?
Well, the Xiaomi factory in Beijing
now operates with up to 700 robots,
all working across all production stages.
It's an impressive site,
which is why CEO Lei Jun
describes it as its defining feature.
The roof of the factory itself
is covered in PV solar panels,
generating 16.4 million kilowatt-hours
of clean energy every single year.
That meets all of the factory's energy needs.
In fact, they also export some.
The site is 718,000 square metres
in six workshops,
die-casting, stamping, body painting, assembly,
battery.
There's a 2.5 kilometre test track
for testing,
and there's 29 laboratories.
And it's so impressive that it now attracts
130,000 tourists every year.
Xiaomi announced its EV ambitions
back in March 2021.
They broke ground in 2022
and completed phase one a year later.
Mass production of the sedan, the SU-7,
launched in December 2023.
The car debuted three months later.
And then phase two began in August 2024,
obviously with the YU-7,
the Model Y competitor,
following after that.
The second generation of the SU-7s on the way as well.
And this really impressive production facility
has caught the imagination
of plenty of people.
Now, many people like the Xiaomi brand,
and they follow its highly charismatic
and high-profile CEO.
And there are many reasons why people want to do it,
but that's the amazing thing.
They do allow it.
It encourages people to be not only a fan of the brand,
but to immerse themselves
in actually going to see where their car is made,
not just opening the door to a select few,
but almost 150,000 people every single year.
It is indeed the hottest ticket in town.
And that's your podcast for today. See you tomorrow.
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About this episode
The discussion centers on China's evolving EV market with a focus on the new Audi E7X, a premium electric SUV exclusive to China, showcasing advanced tech like 800-volt architecture and fast charging. BYD's latest OTA update boosts the Han-L plug-in hybrid's electric range and adds new driver assistance features. The episode also covers Canada's new policy allowing a growing quota of Chinese-made EV imports at reduced tariffs, signaling a shift in North American market dynamics. Additionally, China's acceptance of direct EU tariff negotiations for EVs hints at changing trade relations. The episode highlights innovation, market strategy, and international trade impacts shaping the EV landscape.
