The Buick Electra L7 is a new electric car that is bigger than most sedans. It has a long range, meaning it can drive far without needing to be charged often, and it has a lot of space inside for passengers.
ADAS means systems in cars that help drivers stay safe and make driving easier. They can include things like warnings if you drift out of your lane or help with parking.
The Buick Electra E5 is a type of SUV that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It was first launched in China and could be sold in other countries in the future.
Altium battery architecture is a way to design batteries for electric cars that makes them more efficient and cheaper to produce. It allows manufacturers to use different sizes and types of batteries in their vehicles.
Lithium ion phosphate is a type of battery used in electric cars that is safe and lasts a long time. It's known for being stable and not overheating easily.
NMC is a type of battery used in electric cars that combines nickel, manganese, and cobalt. It helps the battery store more energy and stay safe while being cost-effective.
A mid-sized SUV is a type of vehicle that is bigger than a small SUV but smaller than a large one. It usually has enough room for families and their stuff, making it a popular choice.
Market conditions are the overall situation in a market that affects how much people want to buy or sell things. It includes things like the economy and what customers like.
Car
Fang Cheng Bao 8
The Fang Cheng Bao 8 is an off-road vehicle that can seat five people. It has different versions, including larger ones that can fit more passengers.
A two-liter engine is an engine that can hold two liters of air and fuel in its cylinders. It's a common size that can provide good power without using too much gas.
Car
Bao 8
The Bao 8 is a new electric off-road car that can go far on a single charge. It's designed to handle tough terrains and has a lot of modern technology to help it drive well off-road.
Car
Bao 5
The Bao 5 is a smaller electric car that just came out with a version that can go further on a single charge. It's considered a high-end option in China.
Car
Geely 7x
The Geely 7x is a new SUV from a Chinese car company called Geely. It has different versions and includes modern technology.
An advanced driving system helps drivers by using technology to make driving safer and easier, like keeping the car in its lane or adjusting speed automatically.
The Tesla Model Y is a type of car called an electric SUV, which means it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. It's known for being very high-tech and having a lot of space inside, making it a great option for families or anyone who needs room for their stuff. Many people are interested in it because it's eco-friendly and has a long driving range.
Car
Hong Chi EQM-5
The Hong Chi EQM-5 is a new electric car that can quickly change its battery instead of waiting to recharge. It's priced at about $12,000, which is lower than many other electric cars.
CATL is a big company in China that makes batteries for electric cars, helping them run longer and charge faster.
Car
Hong Chi
Hong Chi is a brand of cars from China that makes luxury vehicles. They are known for their high-quality cars that are often used by important people in the government.
Battery swapping is when you take out a dead battery from an electric car and put in a fully charged one. It helps drivers get back on the road quickly without waiting for their battery to charge.
Car
Chiangang D-PAL S05
The Chiangang D-PAL S05 is a type of electric car designed for ride-hailing services in China. It can quickly swap its battery, which helps drivers get back on the road faster.
Car
Chang'an D-PAL S05
The Chang'an D-PAL S05 is a family-friendly SUV that is electric and has some cool features like keyless entry.
The Acura CL is a fancy two-door car that was made a while ago and is known for being stylish and fun to drive. People talk about it now because it's connected to new ideas about how to use batteries in cars, like swapping them out for fresh ones. It's a good example of how car technology has changed over the years.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that can run on both gas and electricity. You can charge it by plugging it into an outlet, which helps save fuel and is better for the environment.
The Nissan Frontier is a pickup truck that can carry heavy loads and is great for outdoor activities. The new version includes a hybrid option, which means it can use both gas and electricity to save on fuel. It's a popular choice for people who need a tough vehicle for work or adventures.
V-motion styling is a design style used by Nissan that features a V-shaped front grille and smooth lines, making the car look more modern and sporty.
LIVE
Welcome back to the podcast. Today the Buick Electra L7, the Fang Cheng Bao off-roaders and the Zika 7X.
And if you stay tuned, later in the show I'll tell you about the Chinese Nissan Pickup,
which could be coming to a market near you. Welcome to EV News China, the podcast dedicated
to the world's largest electric vehicle 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 are shaping the global EV landscape. We'll start with Buick,
and their new vehicle, the Buick Electra L7, deliveries have begun. This is an extended range
EV. It's a mid to large sedan offered in five variants and it starts at 174,000 yuan. That's
23,800 dollars and it goes up to 30,000 dollars. I'd say it's a large sedan at five meters long
and a three meter wheelbase. Loads of rear legroom in this, by the way. Quite a pointy
shark nose on this and actually quite a sweepy rear roofline as well to the point of, well,
I think for taller rear passengers, perhaps that could be a consideration. Very sleek,
though, this vehicle. Large boot openings, so not a hatchback or fastback form factor,
but still a pretty large boot opening on this. A very useful family sedan car. The powertrain
is SAIC GM's 1.5 liter range extended engine, not connected to the wheels. 115 kilowatt motor in that
and then an electric motor driving it. So 252 kilowatt electric motor, that's 338 horsepower,
62 miles an hour in 5.9 seconds. Quite a small battery by range extended cars in China these
days. 40.2 kilowatt hours. It's the Altium technology, still branded as Altium in China
and a full stack self-developed extended range system. CLTC, pure electric range of 300 kilometers,
combined range, 1,400 kilometers as per Wikipedia. The L7 is equipped with an ADAS suite provided
by Momenta, which utilizes a roof mounted lighter and powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon
8775 with 72 trillion operations per second. The car is equipped with a turquoise
autonomous driving indicator light on the exterior as well. Looks like a really,
really nice addition to the market here. Really executive saloon car for 24 grand.
Now what about the Buick Electra E5? That's a mid-sized crossover introduced two years ago in
China. And it's kind of on the radar for GM outside of China and it could help shape GM's
strategy globally. Built in Wuhan by the joint venture, the SAIC GM. The Electra E5 would be
GM's first China market EV if they sold it in the United States and if they imported it.
It would be a break from prior practice despite the commercial success of vehicles like the
Wuling Huangguang Mini EV and the Baozhun YEP. Now GM plans to lean on China's EV supply chain
and the Altium battery architecture in China offers three Altium battery packs on the E5,
65, 80 kilowatt hours, lithium ion phosphate and 68 on NMC. Those cells come via the Altium
cells joint venture with LG. China pricing starts at 23,000 US dollars for this
mid-sized SUV. You can get it for 21,000 with promotional pricing. But what about debuting
a mid-sized SUV like this in the United States? Well that is tentatively planned for 2026 but
there's a really big question mark over. Is that on the calendar on the schedule simply as a place
holder or do they really think that there could be a change of politics and climate and import
tariffs which would allow them to bring this vehicle in? It was put on indefinite hold in
mid-2024. GM said market conditions and the need for a balanced rollout were why they held it back
but it's still on the schedule for 2026 for the United States. I can't see that happening at all
but what about outside the US? Big question mark over there as well. Let's talk about off-roaders.
First of all a big one and that's the Fang Cheng Bao 8. It's a five-seater actually in this
configuration. A new five-seat version of the Bao 8 which starts at about 53,000 US dollars. This is
a really big off-roader. It joins the six and seven-seat versions which are already on the market.
The five-seater keeps the exterior look as a new paint option, a new intelligent driving versions
as well with three roof-mounted lidars. Inside a 12.3 inch LCD instrument cluster, a 17.3 inch
central touchscreen and a 12.3 inch passenger display plus a 50 inch augmented reality head-up
display with multi-screen interaction. The infotainment system runs styling 150 on a BYD 9000
chip with integrated AI large models and support for Huawei phone applications built on the DMO plus
plug-in hybrid architecture, a two-liter engine, 200 kilowatt electric front motor, 300 kilowatt
rear motor, 550 kilowatts of full power they say, 4.8 seconds, 62 miles an hour and a combined
range of 1200 kilometers on this really big off-roader. That's the Bao 8. The Bao 5
just launched in a long-range edition. Smaller vehicle adding four new models, 210 kilometers
of electric range starting at 37,000 US dollars, so still very, very premium in China. DMO plus
powertrain as well with what they say is the full-speed domain road surface perception control
technology to keep talk output precise across different terrains, off-roading, things like that.
The DMO plus upgrade actually comes to existing Bao 5 owners over the air. This new version that
launched with off-road and urban use in mind using intelligent hydraulic body control systems,
adjustable damping, ride height and stiffness plus chassis active control, pre-scanning and
four-wheel linkage as well with 790 millimeters wading depth and at about 15 centimeters or six
inches of suspension height adjustment. Let's talk about Zika and the 7x. They're just open
yesterday on Monday for the 7x. Offers increased motor output and a larger battery option on
three trims, so you can now get the 75 kilowatt hour rear wheel drive, so 370 kilowatts of power
and Geely's golden brick battery. Really fast charging, insanely fast charging. The 103 kilowatt
hour pack again is rear wheel drive but that's the biggest CATL Kirin battery and again crazy
fast charging and the 103 kilowatts hour all-wheel drive version of the car again with the CATL
Kirin battery and 700 kilometers of CLTC range. All variants have Geely's G-Pilot advanced driving
system system, 31 sensors and NVIDIA drive Thor U-Chip. All models are 900 volts architecture,
10 to 80 in 10 minutes. Just so fast charging. 7x is a really, really lovely looking SUV. Absolutely
perfect form factor. Model Y competitor for so many people with advanced navigate on autopilot,
lots of different battery options now and all the, you know, all the LiDAR goodness that some buyers
some buyers want plus all the goodies that Chinese buyers want like the fridge that also goes down to
minus six degrees Celsius but will heat to 50 degrees as well and, you know, folding rear tables,
massive screens inside. Huge competition for the Model Y because very, very high tech specs on this.
Let's talk about FAW launching a battery swap version of its mid-sized sedan called the Hong Chi
EQM-5 priced at US$12,000. Yes, you heard that correctly. It has the same styling as the existing
vehicle. A bit more of a budget look on this. Actually, a very slick look on this. Very simple
outside, closed off front grille with the Hong Chi nose logo. The minimalist cabin has a 10 inch
floating central screen with voice recognition and reverse camera. It's five meters long. It is 2.9
meters on a wheelbase, 56 kilowatt hour LFP pack on this from CATL. Although equipped with CATL cells,
it's not listed on CATL's Choco Seb swap batteries and so a bit confused by that.
And so back in April, they listed five automakers and 10 models which would have CATL's battery
swapping technology. Now, Hong Chi, we were involved in that but this one isn't on the list.
So what are they doing? Maybe it's going to be Hong Chi's and FAW's own battery swap network,
which is massively expensive to build. Look, this very affordable sedan very much aimed at the
ride hailing market in China and battery swapping is very useful. If it's a working vehicle and
in a few minutes time, you can get back on the road with a full charge. Well, that's very,
very useful. All right, let's talk about the Chiangang D-PAL S05 and the light version,
the 520 light, an all-electric entry price of $16,000 on this, joining the rest of the S05 lineup.
So same exterior language, closed off front grille, unchanged dimensions on this. So not a huge
vehicle, 4.6 meters long on the D-PAL S05. That's a big enough mid-size SUV for many families
and it is 1.9 meters wide, 1.6 meters tall, 2.8 meter wheelbase. So yeah, more of a compact SUV.
Exterior equipment has the frameless doors, the active air intake on the grille,
mechanical flush door handles, not how sure how long they'll last in China now. I think we're
going to see a change to all those kind of flush door handles. A manual tailgate,
but keyless start and entry and electric door mirrors. Drive comes from a single electric
motor, 200 kilowatts, 56 kilowatt hour LFP pack, and this is the light version of it,
like I say, for $16,000. The S05 from Chang'an, the D-PAL car, is available over here in Europe
as well, but it's a lot more than $16,000, it's nearer $40,000. CL, CATL, we're talking battery
swapping from CATL and their Choco Seb swap batteries. They want to expand their battery
swap network by 1.5 times next year as it nears its current annual target. The subsidiary of CATL,
Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology, CAES, reported its swap station count reached 700
today, or yesterday, it's Monday's news, across 39 Chinese cities, and it wants to go from 700 to
1,000 station swaps by the end of the year. CATL wants to operate more than 2,500 in 120
Chinese cities by the end of next year. They have big plans. Last December, CATL introduced two
standardized Choco Seb battery packs, and the founder and chairman CEO, Robin Zheng,
said that by 2030, there'll be main ways to fuel your vehicle in China. Battery swapping,
home charging, and public charging would be the three pillars of their EV owner's energy needs.
We'll take a break, we'll come back, we've got Neo and Envo, and Nissan's took about on the podcast,
back in a moment.
Charges across China, 1,000 are highway battery swap stations forming a network that spans
nine north-south and 11 east-west expressway corridors in 16 major city clusters and connecting
550 cities nationwide in China. Envo being able to make use of that is very important.
But what of Neo? Well, the ongoing story of this year, which is the drive towards profitability,
it seems strange to talk about Chinese car makers that are not out of the woods yet,
and Neo very much needs to deliver profitability. William Lee, founder and CEO of Neo, told employees
yesterday that the company must achieve Q4 profitability and ask for their full commitment
over the next 70 days. Lee has repeatedly said, Neo's objective is to have their first quarterly
profit in Q4. And at this staff meeting, which wasn't an all-hands meeting, but I think of
mid-level management up, again made it at the company's top priority, he instructed staff to
secure as many orders as possible for every model during the fourth quarter, noting the broader
industry could face declining demand in Q1 next year after China's purchase tax incentives will
be retreating. He asked teams to maximize Q4 orders to offset the expected post-incentive
slowdown and deliver their first Q4 profit. And finally, here's a Chinese Nissan, which could
be coming to a market near you soon. Nissan will open pre-sales for their new plug-in hybrid pickup
truck. It's called the Frontier Pro, and they open orders in 10 days time, with blind orders
accepted through to October 29th from now, with a $28 deposit. The pickup's official launch is
scheduled for Q4. The model is the company's first pickup, which they say is designed, developed,
and manufactured in China for a global market. So Nissan have this phrase, in China, for China,
to the world. So what's the Frontier Pro? Well, very conventional looking pickup truck. The Frontier
Pro has an internal combustion version and a plug-in hybrid version. So the plug-in hybrid
version is what we're concerned about. It has distinct front-end design with a continuous DRL
light layout, has Nissan's V-motion styling, vertical headlight elements with body-on-frame
beam structure, a three-segment central lighting assembly, and a kind of floating logo. Looks
very, very much like a, well, you know, squint and it could be a Rivian, if that makes sense.
The plug-in hybrid version has 410 horsepower. It has 135 kilometers pure electric range on
CLTC, four-wheel drive, of course, three and a half tons towing. That's really important in some
markets like the Aussie Ute market, level two drive resistance, and six kilowatts of high power,
intelligent onboard power, three different discharge modes. And that could be if it's a
global vehicle or at least a vehicle where pickups and Utes are sold, so Australia won't be the US
for now unless the climate changes. Over here in Europe, I wonder as well. Not sure about that.
However, this looks really compelling if you want a plug-in hybrid pickup truck,
which many people who use working vehicles, and remember three and a half thousand kilograms,
brake towing capacity, makes it capable, really capable, as a plug-in hybrid.
All right, that's our podcast for today. Thanks for listening. See you on the next one.
About this episode
The latest episode dives into the exciting developments in China's EV market, featuring the Buick Electra L7, a sleek extended-range sedan, and the Fang Cheng Bao off-roaders, including the high-tech Bao 8. The Zika 7X SUV is also highlighted for its impressive specs and fast charging capabilities. Additionally, Nissan's new plug-in hybrid pickup, the Frontier Pro, is set to launch soon, showcasing China's growing influence on global automotive trends. Insights on battery swapping technology and the competitive landscape of EVs in China add depth to the discussion.
