The Ocean Series is a group of new electric cars from BYD, including a sedan and an SUV. They are designed to be more luxurious and compete with other high-end electric vehicles.
ADAS means systems in cars that help drivers stay safe and make driving easier. They can help with things like keeping the car in the lane or stopping automatically if there's an obstacle.
The Volkswagen ID Era 9X is a large electric car that can carry a family. It can travel very far on a single charge, about 1,000 kilometers, which is great for long drives.
An extended range electric vehicle is a car that runs on electricity but also has a gas engine that can help it go further when the battery runs low. This means you can drive longer distances without worrying about charging.
LiDAR sensors help cars understand their surroundings by using lasers to measure how far away things are. This technology is important for self-driving cars to avoid obstacles and navigate safely.
The powertrain is what makes the car move. It includes the engine that creates power and the parts that send that power to the wheels. Different setups can change how fast or efficient a car is.
Kilowatt-hour is a way to measure how much energy a battery can store. The higher the kWh number, the more energy it has, which usually means the car can go further before needing to be charged.
The Tesla Model Y is a type of electric car that's like a small SUV. It's popular because it has a lot of room inside, can drive long distances on a single charge, and comes with cool tech features.
The Xiaomi Su7 is a new electric sedan from the tech company Xiaomi, which is known for its smartphones. It launched in 2024 and has been selling well, even more than the popular Tesla Model 3.
The Tesla Model 3 is a small electric car that's very popular. It's known for being fun to drive, going far on a single charge, and having lots of high-tech features.
The Xiaomi Su7 Ultra is a more powerful version of the Su7 sedan, designed for better performance. It costs more than the regular Su7 and offers upgraded features.
The Toyota Crown is a big, fancy car that has been around for a long time in Japan. It's known for being comfortable and reliable, and it's now available in the U.S. to compete with other luxury cars.
A supercharging network is a group of fast charging stations for electric cars. They allow you to charge your car quickly, so you can get back on the road faster.
Charging speed is how fast you can recharge an electric car's battery. The quicker it charges, the less time you have to wait to drive again.
Car
Cherry Fullwin T9L
The Cherry Fullwin T9L is a new SUV from a Chinese car company called Cherry. It's designed to be roomy and is part of a growing market for hybrid vehicles.
Great Wall Motors is a big car company in China that makes SUVs and trucks. They are known for their focus on electric vehicles as well.
Car
GWM-1
The GWM-1 is a new type of car design from Great Wall Motors that focuses on electric vehicles and uses smart technology. It can be used to create different kinds of cars from the same base.
Car
Hu Zhu
The Hu Zhu is a new SUV made by Great Wall Motors. It is one of the first models built using their new electric car design.
A plug-in hybrid system is a type of car that can use both electricity and gasoline. You can charge it like an electric car, but it also has a gas engine for longer trips.
A hybrid battery is a special battery in cars that use both gas and electricity. It helps the car save fuel by using energy from braking and the engine.
Modular design means that cars are built using parts that can be easily swapped out or changed. This makes it cheaper and faster to build different types of cars.
Range-extended hybrids use both a gas engine and an electric motor. The gas engine helps charge the battery, allowing the car to drive further on electricity alone.
A direct drive system means the engine is connected straight to the wheels, making it more efficient because there's no extra step to generate electricity first.
LIVE
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Welcome back to EV News, China.
Today, the Canadian Tariff Deal, BYD premium sedans and China exploits its LFP lead.
Plus stay tuned because later in the show, I'll tell you why China's best new tourist
attraction is an EV factory tour.
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 our fast-moving developments in the east as shaping the global
EV landscape.
Canada will admit up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles a year.
The 100% tariffs are all gone.
This is a landmark deal between Canada and China.
A 6.1% tariff replaces the 100% tariff on Chinese imports.
The shift, struck in a Beijing meeting during Mark Carney's first trade mission as Prime
Minister, matters less for volume than for signal.
It's only 49,000 vehicles, but that's 49,000 more than would have entered the country.
The quota is under 3% of Canada's annual new vehicle sales.
But it restores the pre-friction tariff rate, gives Chinese makers a predictable, if narrow,
route back into a G7 market and links it to better access for Canadian farm exports to China.
Ottawa expects the deal to push Chinese car makers into joint ventures with Canadian partners
within three years, rather than relying on imports.
Over the next five years, more than 50% of the 49,000 EVs will be lower priced models under
$35,000, so that carries some implications.
Some of the cheaper Chinese cars must make up half.
And I say Chinese cars, that could be Tesla Shanghai made cars, right?
But China made cars have to be under 35K, adding cheaper options to the Canadian market.
In return, China will cut tariffs on Canadian canola from 85% to 15% by March the first this
year. Officials pegged the Chinese canola market at $4 billion for Canadian growers.
From the same date, Chinese anti-discrimination tariffs will no longer
hit Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas, at least for the rest of this year.
Ottawa says the package could unlock $3 billion in export orders.
The pact will not transform either side's EV sector, but it creates a rule-bound space
for Chinese EVs inside North America.
It relives a political farm issue and ends with a simple trade-off.
49,000 cars a year for tariffs cut on canola.
Now, let's talk about BYD.
It's picked its two new flagships to lead its push-up market in China's crowded EV market.
The Seal 08 is a sedan, and the Sealion 08 is an SUV that will sit atop of the Ocean Series
as the first entries in a premium Ocean 8 lineup, due to make their first public appearance
sometime this quarter. And this shift matters because BYD already dominates its home market on
volume since its launch in November 2021. The Ocean Series has sold 6 million vehicles,
with several models topping 1 million units each over their lifetime. BYD now wants to
turn scale into pricing power, pitching the Seal 08 and Sealion 08 at buyers who care as much about
fit and finish and the feel as they do about range and running costs.
Both cars come from the Ocean S concept, shown at Auto Shanghai last year, and will debut BYD's
next-generation Ocean Aesthetics design language. The Seal is a mid-to-large coupe style sedan,
the Sealion more traditional upright SUV. Under the skin, they both use BYD's latest battery
technology, their latest ADAS driver assistance system. At the moment, details are scant,
but they want a more seamless, more premium experience. BYD confirmed the official names
at its fourth anniversary Ocean Day event in Shenzhen on December 15th last year. In China's
cutthroat EV market, that timing signals a firm that no longer wants only to win on volume and
cost, but to set terms in the upper end of the mainstream too. Now, China installed 769.7
gigawatt hours of power batteries last year. And if you wondered how the battery bit of the EV
industry is doing, well, the answer is exceptionally well. In fact, 40% year-on-year growth keeps the
centre of gravity in the EV supply chain at home in China. The mix matters as much as the volume,
actually. Lithium-ion phosphate batteries dominated of the 769 gigawatt hours, 625 gigawatt hours,
that's 81.2% of all installations. Well, lithium-ion phosphate, in fact, they grew 52.9%
a year earlier, from a year earlier in 2024. Eternary batteries, really lagging 144 gigawatt
hours. Monthly data shows little sign of a late year fade. In December, power battery installations
was almost 100 gigawatt hours, up 35% year-on-year. LFP, again, set the pace. The supply side is
running even hotter. Actually, total production of power and energy storage batteries in December,
201 gigawatt hours, up 62% from December in 2024. The gap between output and in-country
installations feeds exports, adds to global over-capacity fears. Exports show how far Chinese firms
have pushed abroad, despite rising trade barriers. China shipped 305 gigawatt hours of power and
energy storage batteries last year. In 2025, that's a 50.7% rise that made exports 18% of annual
sales. Okay, let's move on. And Volkswagen is betting on an extended range vehicle. Volkswagen's
latest Chinese crossover stretches 5.2 meters long, and it promises to stretch 1,000 kilometers on
the road as well. That's mixed range, the ID Era 9X. That is a full-size E-rev, extended range
electric vehicle. It's being built alongside SAIC. We saw it at Shanghai last year, and now it has
its core specifications logged with the ministry. The car targets the family hauling end of the
market, where Huawei and Ceres's Aito M8 now sets the pace. Volkswagen and SAIC pitch the
ID Era 9X as a three-row, six-seat family driver with high-end cues, if you like. You see the
roof-mounted LiDAR sensor. You see the multi-spoke chrome-plated rims. You see the retractable door
handles, all looking very premium. The last of those, though, will of course need a rethink.
China will ban them from 2027. Under the skin, three powertrain variants all share a 1.5-liter
engine from SAIC. Volkswagen, that's only a generator, no mechanical link to the wheels.
Entry-level version drives the rear axle. It uses a 51 kilowatt-hour LFP pack, a second
rear-wheel drive version. We'll swap in a 65 kilowatt-hour pack, again from CATL and SAIC. At
the top end, the ID Era 9X has the same 65 kilowatt-hour battery, but will be all-wheel drive.
Let's talk about Xiaomi, the new Xiaomi sedan that is taking on Tesla. Tesla still rules
in SUVs. Well, in crossovers, call the model Y what you will. But in sedans, it no longer does.
Chairman of Xiaomi, Lei Zhun, very high-profile, of course, and very well-loved from the tech
community in terms of tech consumers who follow him online, want to hear what he has to say,
says that Xiaomi will surpass Tesla in its domestic EV market on Weibo. He said that Tesla is strong,
but not invincible, pointing to data, a Beijing research firm called BitAuto,
showing that Xiaomi's Su7, that's the sedan, now outsold Tesla's Model 3 last year. Launched in
April 2024, starting at US$31,000 equivalent, the Su7 had 2025 sales of $258,000 against
$200,000 for the Model 3. Mr. Lei says that the result proves that Xiaomi are strong in quality,
and in February, they added the Su7 Ultra to the lineup, a high-performance version
starting from US$76,000 equivalent. The fight, though, gets much tighter in the crossover
market, where Tesla holds the crown. Xiaomi's YU7 launched on June 25th last year, so six months in,
also from US$36,000 equivalent, sold 153,000 units last year, but the Model Y was on 425,000.
Tesla built the Model 3 and Model Y at its Shanghai Gigafactory that opened in 2019,
and in August last year, they launched the China-only Model Y L, hasn't disclosed its
China-only sales. Globally, Tesla delivered 1.64 million vehicles last year, down 8.6%
year on year, and losing its position as the world's biggest EV maker to BYD whilst they were at it.
Let's talk a little bit about Lei. Also, a company that's had its fair share of struggles
recently. Li Auto switched on 762 superchargers across 140 new stations so far this year. Its
network is now 3,909 stations. In China's crowded EV market, scale now stretches from the showrooms
to the roadside hardware. Li Auto is betting the charging speed and network density will help mark
them out as a winner once again as they hope to have a better 2026 than they did last year.
They point to its 5C supercharging network on highways that will add 500km of range in 12 minutes
of charging. The Li Auto network peaks at 520kW of charging power per charger. It's based on an
architecture in cities where grid and site limits bite a little harder. They do slow them down a
touch and peak at 250kW. Li Auto also leans on automation and data to squeeze more from every
bay. Every 5C bay has an independent camera to detect occupancy, trigger the ground locks which
will then drop, and flag safety problems for reporting. The system uploads operating status
and charging data to the cloud where software hunts for faults and emerging issues before they even
get noticed by drivers. Now let's talk a little bit about Cherry betting on hard numbers with its
new SUV. Cherry has opened blind pre-orders for its full win T9L, a mid-sized SUV launching
after the Spring Festival in China entering a crowded hybrid segment. The full win T9L
is 4.87m long on a 2.9m wheelbase, a generous cabin space by a Chinese mid-sized standard.
The design follows current domestic playbooks, so a closed off front grille, well mostly closed off
front grille, very slim headlights, layered lower bump event with semi-hidden door handles,
frameless mirrors, and a full width rear light bar. That really is the recipe that
many of its competitors are being cooked with. Inside the emphasis is screens and comforts.
There's a 17.3-inch 2.5K iMac's display in the middle of the dash. There's a full LCD instrument
panel, nice little two-tone two-spoke steering wheel as well. Very stylish. The center console
fits dual-air outlets, wireless charging for your phones, and the front seats offer 16-way power
adjustment, heating, ventilation, and massage as well. Second-row seats get loads of leg room,
and they recline, and the cabin folds into a dual large bed mode. There's also a 23-speaker
audio system on offer, an in-car refrigerator, which will also heat and cool, and ambient
lighting as well. All the usual stuff, but again, very high specifications. They have their own
cherry driver assistance system, which will be on this and their Super Hybrid transmission.
They say 0-62mph under five seconds on this, and a CLTC range of 230km. Driver aides come from the
roof-mounted LiDAR to support navigation on autopilot, including automated lane changes
and traffic light recognition. We'll take a little break. We'll come back. We'll talk about
Great Wall Motors AI platform and range extenders being dumped by the firm as well. Their chief
has been having a bit of a chat about efficiency, not impressed with range extenders. We'll be back
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Welcome back to the podcast. Now, Great Wall Motors has fired its first shot
in the smart EV platform wars in January earlier this year. It unveiled the GWM-1,
a new architecture which they built as the world's first AI full-power train platform.
All right, let's work out what that means. The world's first native AI full-power train platform.
The pitch is survival through scale and software, aiming to cut hardware and software
sprawl by letting Great Wall Motor spin out SUVs, saloons, MPVs, or pickups from just a single
platform base. It also gives Beijing another local champion as policymakers push Chinese
brands to lead in the intelligence factor. GWM-1 supports dual-motor layout and modular vehicle
designs. The first model, an SUV called the Hu Zhu, I think, stretches about 5.3 meters,
a big boy, three row, two plus two plus two seating with a two-liter plug-in hybrid system
and an 800 volts architecture with a 6C hybrid battery. So really fast charging,
adding 200 kilometers in five minutes. And they say a total range with the engine or
other combustion and battery of 1300 kilometers. Still not sure what makes this a native AI platform,
but they say that AI sits at the core of it, an intelligent agent and dual VLA large models
governing the powertrain chassis and drive resistance data, air suspension,
safety interventions, and bionic motion control, all done by AI. Okay, under the skin,
a movable type modular design uses 49 core modules and 329 shared components.
They say it trims the costs to make the vehicles and the modular software lets AI
tune functions to user scenarios. Still not sure I fully understand it,
but I can't wait to see what they make. Talking of Great Wall, by the way,
Great Wall Motors is walking away from range-extended hybrids at the launch of their AI platform.
The firm said it will not be developing range-extended powertrains. The decision matters
in China, where car makers have used range extenders as a somewhat of a quick route
into going electric. The president, though, Mu Feng called set-ups like range extenders,
or E-Revs, inefficient, arguing they can be at least 13% less efficient than a direct drive
system at medium and high speeds. In a market obsessed with cost per kilometer and battery size,
13% losses would be hard to defend. He's arguing there that it's just better for the engine to
be mechanically connected to the front wheels, or wherever, to drive the vehicle rather than engines
only ever working as an electricity generator. The take-on, that is somewhat different to many
of their competitors, where E-Revs are still very popular. Now, China's power demand broke
the 10 trillion kilowatt-hour barrier last year. Wow. China burned 10.4 trillion kilowatt hours
of electricity, and I say burned because much of the electricity is still fossil-powered,
but China is doing a lot to go green. Still a huge emitter, though. According to the National
Energy Administration, no country had crossed 10 trillion kilowatt hours until China did,
using more than twice as much power as the United States. The surge reflects how fast
China is electrifying the country, and that's why they want to go green as quick as possible,
because renewables are cheaper to deploy and on a cost basis to generate. With transport and
increasingly computation taking up more power, total power use rose 5% year on year, topping
that big benchmark. Within services, electricity use for EV in charging and battery swapping was
48% year on year. Power demand for things like IT, AI and data centers only up 17%, so EV's
adding a lot to the China power need there. Finally, Xiaomi has the hottest ticket in town.
You thought that tourists wanted to go to China to go, I don't know, look at the great wall of
China or something. Well, no. If you really want the full experience these days as an outsider,
as a Westerner, you need to go along as a tourist to China and take a tour of an EV factory.
10,000 Xiaomi Su7 Ultra orders were landing in the first two hours of launch, showing
how hot that company was. The rush didn't stop at the order book, though, because it spilled
into the factory in Beijing. Now, it's such a sought after perk, if you like, of being in the
ecosystem that guided tours now change hand on the black market for US$300 equivalent.
There is a lottery at Xiaomi that lets hundreds of thousands of people apply for a free guided tour
to go see where their Su7 Ultra, or maybe the YU7, gets made. Winners get a 60 minute slot,
a 40 minute ride through the high tech exhibition space and 20 minutes on the production floor,
and looking at the robots and the workers. The plant can turn out a car every 76 seconds,
that puts Xiaomi up there with BYD or Tesla. The firm treats the tours as more than a simple
fan perk, though. Xiaomi wants to make the most components that it can in-house, cutting reliance
on third party suppliers and tightening its grip on quality and pricing. Factory tourism lets it show
how integrated they are, just as its phones once showed how it could chip away at the likes of
Apple and Samsung. The company is now so proud of what they're doing in EVs, they want as many
people to see it first hand as possible. Visitors are carefully curated. Technology obsessives,
mixed with social media influences, uploading something to social media, and just regular
families, the so-called tiger mums, keen to steep their children in the latest code or robots,
or awareness of assembly techniques. For them, the tour doubles up as work experience.
Beijing's experiment also fits the national script as well. China wants factories to attract
20 million tourists a year by 2027. It's a curious blend of soft power, industrial policy,
business development. Xiaomi's plant offers a neat proof of concept, a line that makes a car
every 76 seconds, a brand that's really strong, and people will enter a lottery and even the gray
market simply to see it first hand. And that's your podcast for today. Thanks for listening,
see you on the next one. I didn't realize I was wasting $415 a month until I downloaded RocketMoney.
I thought I had my finances under control until the app laid out all my spending and categorized
Takeout, shopping, and unused subscriptions were quietly draining my account.
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wasting money on. It takes action to save you money. First, the app looks at your income and
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About this episode
A landmark tariff deal between Canada and China allows for the import of 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles annually, replacing a 100% tariff with a 6.1% tariff. BYD unveils its premium sedans, the Seal 08 and Sealion 08, aiming for a more upscale market. The episode also covers Xiaomi's rising competition against Tesla in the sedan market, Great Wall Motors' new AI platform, and the booming demand for power batteries in China. Additionally, factory tours of EV plants are becoming a new tourist attraction, showcasing the integration of technology in manufacturing.
