Chinese EV makers are companies in China that build electric cars. They are becoming very important in the world because they make a lot of electric vehicles.
Electric cars can be charged using two types of electricity: AC, which is slower and used at home, and DC, which is faster and used at special stations to recharge quickly.
In Japan, there are very small cars called K-cars that have tiny engines and are easier to own because they cost less to tax and insure. They are made to fit well in crowded cities.
Fuel cell vehicles run on hydrogen and make electricity to power the car. They don't use gas and only produce water as exhaust, so they're cleaner for the environment.
EV market share means how much of the electric car sales a company has compared to others. Tesla's share going down means other companies are selling more electric cars in China.
The Xiaomi SU7 is a new electric car made by a company famous for phones and gadgets. Lots of people bought it last year because it’s a good, modern car that runs on electricity. It’s important because it shows Xiaomi is making big moves in cars.
A Gigafactory is a huge factory where Tesla makes electric car parts and batteries. The one in China is special because Tesla owns it completely, which is rare in China.
Full self-driving means the car can drive by itself without the driver needing to control it all the time, but it still needs permission from authorities.
The Range Rover is a fancy, comfortable SUV that can drive well both on rough terrain and city roads. People often talk about it because it looks stylish and has lots of features. Here, it's being compared to a new car's design.
AC charging is the usual way to charge an electric car, like plugging it in at home. It takes longer than fast charging but is good for overnight charging.
Three-phase charging means the electricity comes in three waves instead of one, so the car can charge faster when plugged into special chargers in places like Europe.
The Polestar 4 is a new electric car that looks like a sporty wagon. It’s made by a company that focuses on electric cars with good performance. People are excited about it because it’s a fresh option for electric vehicles.
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All right, welcome back to the podcast.
The Zika 7 GT arrived in Stockholm this week
with its 480 kilowatts of peak charging speed
and an open question.
Whether a Chinese grand tourer finds buyers in Scandinavia?
Zika showed the car to Swedish media this week,
with its partners and guests at their Zika centre in Stockholm.
It remains on display until the 26th of February,
if you'd like to go and have a look.
The 7 GT is Zika's fourth European model,
the 001 shooting break and the Zika X crossover arrived two years ago.
The 7X midsize SUV followed in December 24.
Zika first showed the 7 GT to European audiences
at the Brussels Motor Show earlier this year
and plans markets including Germany,
Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden,
all left hand drive.
Zika's European operations,
say the 7 GT embodies European design principles
and next-gen technology.
The numbers demand attention.
The 7 GT is 800 volt architecture.
Two battery sizes, 75 or 100 kilowatt hours,
an MC chemistry.
Maximum WLTP range, 407 miles or 655 kilometres.
And this thing is quick at charging.
I mean, really quick.
Peak DC charging, 480 kilowatts on the 75 kilowatt hour pack.
That's a 13 minute stop, 10 to 80.
On the big pack, only 16 minutes, 10 to 80.
It'll AC charge at 22,
which is good for three-phase over here in Europe.
And the all-wheel drive vary in 3.3 seconds,
0 to 62 miles an hour.
Zika offers three trims in Europe.
The core, which is rear-wheel drive.
The long-range, rear-wheel drive.
And the all-wheel drive privilege trim.
Prices start in Sweden at 46,000 euros.
That's 54,000 US equivalent.
The 7 GT went on sale in China last April,
almost a year ago.
There, it's known as the 007,
with deliveries beginning on the 20th of April last year.
Chinese buyers choose from four variants,
two single motor and two dual motor versions.
And it doesn't start at 45,000 euros.
It starts at, or even 54,000 US dollars.
It starts at 30,000 US dollars because of price differences.
In Sweden, Zika did sell some cars last month,
62 of them.
And that was actually up from January, the previous year.
The chief executive of Zika over here
calls the 7 GT launch the opening move
of a very exciting year of expansion for the brand
with more details to follow.
That vehicle does look and it's all very subjective, obviously.
Very spectacular.
Let's move on.
Polestar is pinning its hopes on a Polestar 4
estate and the new 5.
But will they sell in China?
Polestar's share price has fallen over 93%.
And the company lost 1.558 billion dollars
in the first nine months of last year.
Yet global sales are up with new vehicles on the market.
The 3 and the 4 are now on sale.
Global sales rose 34% across 28 markets last year.
And it's, of course, built on China's
Geely SEA architecture, the Polestar 4 at least.
The Volvo offshoots closed their last Chinese store
last October.
Polestar's expanding the lineup with four new models
and a wider retail network.
The Polestar 4 becomes an estate option
in Q4 this year.
We've seen it on Chinese roads testing a flat roofline,
spacious boot, roof spoiler, flush door handles,
running light strip and a big air intake.
Polestar says it will broaden the model's
customer base and support low double digit
retail volume growth this year.
The Polestar 4 estate does look,
I've just been talking about the Zika 7 GT
in terms of shooting brake style cars
and those high performance wagons
that are very popular in some parts of Europe.
This looks like it could be.
A fantastic option.
What about the sporty GT car?
The Polestar 5 four-door GT launches this summer
112 kilowatt hour battery pack,
dual motor all-wheel drive, almost 900 horsepower
and 3.2 seconds, 0-62.
Again, will it sell in China?
I think Polestar's more likely to look overseas
even as a Chinese company.
I say that, of course, they're listed in London
and headquartered in Gothenburg,
so really a global company, I guess.
But the China story for Polestar has not been a happy one.
And finally, China's EV makers
are betting on artificial intelligence
to drive them forward this year.
Using AI as their competitive edge
as the price cuts squeeze margins.
Li Auto and X-Pong want vehicles
to function as autonomous agents.
Software that anticipates your need
other than waiting to be told what to do.
Li Auto's CEO, Li Xiang,
describes AI moving beyond chatbots
to systems that act independently.
While X-Pong's CEO, He Xiaoping,
envisions in-car interaction
and autonomous driving merging into a super agent.
Both firms are restructuring.
Li Auto aligns its autonomous driving division with AI.
X-Pong consolidates its cockpit and driving units.
User-facing AI and safety-critical driving systems
actually share similar building blocks
and automotive chip advances
make reuse practical.
Tesla already roots navigation requests
through its autonomous systems
and engineers caution that today's systems
react to commands rather than anticipating.
Future systems can use things like behavioral patterns
to improve.
Driving systems require high reliability,
low latency, and zero disruption tolerance.
The idea of a beta test
and things occasionally crashing
don't go very well in the world of cars.
Software cycles for cockpit and autonomous systems
also move at different speeds,
complicating the updates, but experts expect
a gradual infrastructure level convergence
with AI deployed in more low-risk scenarios.
First of all, and that's your podcast for today.
Thanks for listening. See you on the next one.
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About this episode
The episode covers BYD’s new RACCO kei car designed specifically for Japan, highlighting its compact size and impressive range options. It also discusses China’s January battery installation data, showing a dominance of lithium iron phosphate batteries and market concentration among top suppliers. Hongqi’s rugged off-road EV prototype is introduced, signaling a shift toward hardcore SUVs. A Tesla Model Y incident in China sparks debate on range accuracy and Tesla’s declining market share amid rising local competition. Finally, spy shots of X-Pung’s upcoming G02 crossover reveal a smaller, stylish electric SUV with promising specs and competitive pricing.
