The Hyundai Alexio is an electric SUV made in China. It was first made for buyers in China but now Hyundai is selling it in other countries like Australia.
An electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle is a type of aircraft that can lift off and land straight up and down using electric power, like a helicopter but electric.
A solid state battery is a type of battery that uses solid materials inside instead of liquids, making it safer and able to store more power for longer.
A charge cycle means using up all the battery's power and then charging it back up again. Batteries can only do this a certain number of times before they don't hold as much power.
Lithium ion cells are the type of batteries used in many electric cars and gadgets. They store a lot of power but can get hot or catch fire if something goes wrong.
LIVE
Five years ago, I was paying $65 a month for my subscriptions.
Today, those same subscriptions cost $111, and I don't even use half of them anymore.
That's why now I use Rocket Money to manage my subscriptions for me.
The app gives you a list of all your subscriptions
and reminds you of upcoming payments so you're not hit with any surprise charges.
On top of that, it also sends you alerts when subscription prices go up,
so you always know the price you're paying.
If you decide you no longer want a subscription, you can cancel it right from the app.
No customer service needed.
And the best part is, Rocket Money even reaches out
and tries to get you refunded for some of the money you lost.
On average, people that cancel their subscriptions with Rocket Money
save $378 a year.
And overall, Rocket Money has saved its members $880 million in canceled subscriptions.
Whether it's slots or live dealers,
SpinQuest.com has the fun and action you're looking for
with SpinQuest exclusives, Blackjack, Roulette,
Bakara, and even live dice with craps and bubble craps.
The games never stop so you don't have to.
And right now, new users get $30 coin packs for just $10.
Play now at SpinQuest.com.
SpinQuest is a free to play social casino.
The number one resolution for people last year was to save more money,
but nearly half gave up by February.
Don't let that be you.
Download Rocket Money to reach your financial goals this year.
Track your spending, cut waste, and automate savings in one simple app.
Rocket Money shows you all your expenses and categorizes them
so you know exactly where your money is going and where you're overspending.
From there, the app cuts waste by canceling your unused subscriptions
and lowering your bills.
No customer service needed.
With that money freed up,
the app will automatically set some cash aside for your goals.
Whether it's an emergency fund, paying off debt,
or saving for vacation, Rocket Money's got you covered.
Users love the app with over $186,500 star ratings.
And on average, users can save up to $740 a year
when using all of the app's premium features.
Make saving money a priority this year.
Go to rocketmoney.com slash cancel to get started.
That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
Are you from Dallas?
And you're tired of not being able to play slots and table games?
Well, guess what?
Pull out your phone.
Pull up spinkwest.com.
Moretski's going to give you some game, baby.
Over a thousand slots and table games, absolutely free,
with the ability to win real cash prizes.
Spinkwest.com, it's available in Texas,
and $30 coin packages are only $10.
How are you?
Spinkwest is a free to play social casino.
Voidware prohibited.
Visit spinkwest.com for more details.
Welcome back to EV News, China.
Today, Geely tops China sales.
Beijing adds EV quotas.
And BYD recalls 90,000 hybrids.
Plus, stay tuned.
Later in the show, I'll tell you how university researchers
have developed a water-based battery
that uses tofu brine as its electrolytes.
Welcome to EV News, China.
The podcast dedicated to the world's largest
electric vehicle market every day.
You hear the latest headlines, insights, and analysis
from the heart of China's booming EV industry.
And I decode how fast moving developments
in the East shaped the global landscape.
Geely sold the most electric vehicles last month in January
in China.
Geely actually sold a total of 270,000 vehicles in January.
And that tops China's domestic passenger car market.
And it unseats BYD for the first time in years.
The shift came as a key prop for EV demand-faded.
While China's purchase tax exemption on EVs ended
at the end of 2025 and now buyers face a halved reduction.
Instead, the change sparked the year-end buying spree
that pulled demand forward.
But left January with no pent-up DV demand.
BYD took the hit.
In January, BYD's EV sales totaled 210,000 down 30%
on the same month a year ago and 50% month on month.
But that's unkind, like I say, because of real changes.
The drop ranked among the steepest declines BYD's recorded.
Geely went the other way.
It posted year-on-year and month-on-month growth in January,
something that other major automakers couldn't manage.
The group had fresh products at the sharp end of the market,
like the Galaxy Starship 7, a compact SUV starting at US$13,700
equivalent using their own hybrid system called the Raytheon EMI Hybrid.
Geely also had momentum at the top.
Zika, its premium brand, merged back into Geely in December last year,
delivered 23,852 vehicles, double its year-ago figure,
though down 21% month-on-month.
Exports added another lever.
Geely exported 60,506 vehicles in January.
That was up 121% year-on-year.
And up 50% month-on-month, BYD shipped more vehicles overseas.
Just over 100,000 vehicles overseas in January.
That was up 43.3%.
With exports just under half of BYD's business,
something that I've talked about on this spin-off podcast a while,
how Chinese companies increasingly need to look overseas to maintain growth.
Now, Beijing's municipal transport authority will issue an extra 80,000 EV purchase quotas.
This year, lifting the total to 180,000.
The authority announced the change on 15 February
and framed it as a direct response to a faltering local market.
Beijing has run a lottery-based license plate quota system since 2011,
built to ease traffic congestion and cut air pollution.
This year's uplift counts as one of the city's most significant quota expansions to date.
It comes with strings.
All 80,000 apply only to pure BEVs, battery electric vehicles,
and excludes plug-in hybrids or EREVs, which is extended-range electric vehicles.
Beijing will start to hand them out from the 26th of May.
Beijing will also keep its regular quota allocation of $100,000 on a separate timetable,
split between 20,000 combustion vehicles and 80,000 NEV vehicles.
Most of the new supply targets households without a car of the additional 80,000,
60,000 go to car-free families, and 20,000 go to individual applicants.
Now, let's talk a little bit about BYD.
Recalling 87,762 units of one of its hybrids, it's called the Qin Plus DMI plug-in hybrid.
It's a sedan sold in China, and it covers cars built from as back as early as 2021.
China's State Administration for Market Regulation, the SAMR, has overseen the recall.
The fault is the battery management system, BMS controller.
Compacitors in the controller may contain micro-cracks,
which can overheat the internal circuits that can cut power with no warning.
Whilst driving, in severe cases, it could trigger a thermal event.
BYD's main fix comes via an over-the-air update.
The update recalibrates BMS safety parameters to detect capacitor anomalies more precisely.
If the software flags a physical defect, it triggers an alert,
telling the driver to go to a dealer, BYD will then replace the BMS controller entirely free of charge.
The recall lands hard. It exceeded 300,000 vehicles sold in October alone,
with plug-in hybrids at BYD driving a big share of the sales.
A fault that can stop a car mid-journey or even worse
tests how well BYD's relentless growth can hold up under scrutiny and stress.
Now, Hyundai have a new EV, and it's not called an Ioniq number.
It's called the Alexio, and it's built in China,
and China will ship these overseas to begin with to Australia.
Hyundai will bring the China-built Alexio down under to pitch at the heart of the midsize SUV
market, dominated right now by the likes of Tesla and BYD.
The Alexio comes from the Beijing Hyundai joint venture with BAIC Motor.
Hyundai designed it as its first dedicated EV for Chinese buyers,
then decided that those Chinese buyers shouldn't be the ones having all the fun.
The export play mirrors Kia's approach with the EV5,
that's a China-built model now fighting for share in Australia.
So, what's it like under the skin?
Alexio is a 400-volt version of Hyundai's EGMP architecture,
a single front-mounted motor that's 160 kilowatts,
and an 88 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion phosphate battery pack.
As for range, Hyundai says 562 kilometers, that's WLTP, not the China cycle,
on the standard trim, 546, a smidge down for the elite trim.
For context, a base model Y is 100 kilometers less than that.
Charging is 150 kilowatts DC, which is, I think, you know, we get very obsessed
though with very ultra-fast charging out of China.
I think for many people, depending on how you use the vehicle,
150 kilowatts is very serviceable.
That is a 10 to 18 38 minutes, it's all about the charge curve, isn't it?
Inside a 27-inch display spans the dashboard,
backed by a separate driver instrument cluster.
Let's talk a little bit about a new MG plug-in hybrid,
seen in camouflage wrap at the moment.
This is a test mule, they reckon, turning up near the Halol plant in Gujarat.
The vehicle, awesome registration plates that give a hint to what it was doing,
about 40 kilometers from the factory.
Now this SUV, which was seen, I think, being operated by MG Motor India,
traces itself back to the Wuling Starlight 560, which is what it sold as in China.
In India, it'll wear an MG badge though, right now it's codenamed internally 520.
The mule has a boxy SUV silhouette, roof rails, 18-inch wheels,
and at 4.7 meters long, it's a large five-seater sitting above the current MG
hectare in overall dimensions.
We'll see where that car turns up in India.
It'll be a 1.5-litre engine with an electric motor on the front axle,
and they say a 20 kilowatt hour battery pack, which is LFP chemistry,
underpinning the pure electric range on the China cycle of 100 to 125 kilometers.
Don't do too much Indian EV news on this podcast, although there is a very interesting
Indian EV scene that we perhaps maybe talk about a little bit more this year.
Xiaomi has confirmed its new electric vehicle, but this is one of the scooters Xiaomi makes.
And it's worth talking about, because depending on the regulations of where you are around the
world, and many of these are regulated off of roads and off of pavements, therefore some countries
have electric scooters entirely illegal, that many people do buy them from China,
and run them where they live, Xiaomi has confirmed its new electric scooter, Six Ultra.
And this is interesting, this is their range-topper electric scooter, also listed the Ultra on its
international website, alongside the light, the standard, the pro and the max variants.
There's a global launch plan, the Ultra has a date February 28th, we are four days away from it,
the Xiaomi launch. In Barcelona, we're going to get a bunch of tech actually from Xiaomi,
from phones to headphones and scooters as well. The electric scooter uses a 500 watt motor that
can peak at 1200 watts, delivering 45 Newton meters of torque and a top speed of 15 miles an hour,
or 25 kph. The battery is 585 watt hours, they say 46 miles or 75 kilometers of range,
a meaningful step up they say from the electric scooter Six Max, and it will climb at 25% inclines
as well. The Ultra runs on a 12 inch tubeless ultra-range tires, adding front and rear suspension,
dual disc brakes as well, a three inch TFT display shows speed and battery status,
and of course it's all waterproof as well. Interesting, I love the idea of micromobility,
but it doesn't have a huge place either on the main podcast or the spin-off show,
but still super interesting. Right, we'll take a break, we'll come back in a second,
and talk more about Ford, warning about China, and why ExPung want to sell you an EV that you
can go flying in, stick around, back in the moment.
Step four, create a financial goal for something you want to save for,
whether it be a vacation, a retirement account, or a pet's birthday. We don't judge.
Now let the app automatically move small amounts of cash towards your goal. In a month,
you'll see real dollars piling up. In a year, you'll be shocked at how much money you saved,
similar to the over 10 million members on the app that have saved up to $740 a year
when using all of the app's premium features. Use the savings challenge as one step closer to
feeling better about your finances today at rocketmoney.com slash cancel. That's rocketmoney.com
slash cancel. One more time, it's rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
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 it for me. Takeout,
shopping, and unused subscriptions were quietly draining my account. And as a result,
my savings took a backseat. But Rocketmoney doesn't just tell you what you're wasting money on.
It takes action to save you money. First, the app looks at your income and monthly expenses,
and calculates how much you can safely spend each day to stay under budget. Rocketmoney also
finds and cancels unwanted subscriptions for you and even negotiates better rates on your bills,
so you have more money in your pocket. On average, Rocketmoney members can save up to $740
a year when using all the app's premium features. Users love the app with over 186,000 five star
ratings. It's time to simplify your finances and take control of your money. Go to rocketmoney.com
slash cancel to get started. That's rocketmoney.com slash cancel. Rocketmoney.com slash cancel.
You know what? It sucks to be bored. But when I get on my phone and play real casino games
on spinquest.com, the time flies by. That two hour wait at the DMV seems like 10 minutes.
Play your favorite spots, live black check, live preps with a live dealer. New players,
$30 coin packs are on sale for 10 bucks. Play spinquest.com and you'll never be bored again.
Spinquest is a free to play social casino. Boyd, we're prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more
details. Welcome back to the podcast, X-Pungs E Vitaal, electric, vertical, take off and landing.
Subsidiary called Aridge, formerly X-Pung Aero HT, wants to sell you a vehicle that carries
its own aircraft. It calls it the land aircraft carrier. And now it's moved from concept chatter
to pre-production units. They're making it in their Guangzhou facility. This is a six wheeler,
the actual car, the vehicle itself. A six wheel range extended van with a two seat electric
aircraft that lives in the cargo bay or the bed of the truck. The ground module, the car,
the truck if you like, is an 800 volts E rev system with 620 miles in total per charge.
It drives all six wheels. It's a proper six wheeler. It has rear wheel steering. It seats up to
five and uses coach style rear doors. The aerial module, when you're ready to go airborne, sits
on six rotors with a carbon fiber fuselage. Foldable arms and propellers help it fit inside the van.
Our Aridge uses a single lever control system and offers both manual and fully autonomous
flight modes with automated take off and automatic autonomous navigation backed by a full safety
suite. This is a fascinating combination of vehicles. Aridge has made the handover from road
to air, a party trick. A single touch sequence opens the rear hatch, slides the aircraft out on rails,
extends the landing gear, drops the vehicle's suspension and sends the van forward. The aircraft
is left sitting behind, ready to lift off vertically. The cargo bay doubles as a dedicated
charging station and the system will do 30 to 80% in 18 minutes. So they've actually built a
120,000 square meter factory in Guangzhou. What they say is the first facility globally
to apply automotive scale assembly to EVTOL production. Its targeted time, its endurance
is 30 minutes per aircraft. They want to make 10,000 of them a year and deliver the first one
by the end of this year. This sits very much in the sci-fi slash James Bond gadget section of the
podcast and I'm totally here for it. Now, Ford's chief executive, Jim Farley, has stepped up his
public warning about China. He sees superior technology, lower prices and state subsidies
driving China globally. Speaking to investors on the queue for 2025 earnings call, Mr Farley put
pricing power at the center of the threat. He described an oversubsidized hyper competitive
market where Chinese brands can set new floors for prices and he pointed to strain at home.
Mr Farley said the Chinese domestic market fell 25% year over year in January. If the trend holds,
he said Ford must future prefix cost base to match the new pricing reality. Yeah, he's one of those
automotive CEOs who has a lot to say about China and I think pretty much most of what he says is
pretty much bang on. Let's finish off by talking about this. A new battery and we've talked a lot
about batteries, solid state, semi solid state, liquid solid hybrid is the latest phrase that
we've been using at sodium ion, lithium metal. How about this one? Tofu brine. Researchers from
City University of Hong Kong and Southern University of Science and Technology have developed a
water based battery that uses tofu brine as its electrolytes. That's the bit that moves between
the cathode and the anode. The team uses a neutral pH electrolyte and describes the battery as
non toxic, non flammable and smelling a little bit fishy. No, they didn't say that. The headline
claim is about cycle life. They say the battery achieves over 120,000 charge cycles and typically
these days those estimates are made not by doing 120,000 for charge and discharges because it's
a conveniently round number like that donut battery that's meant to do 100,000. It's a wonderfully
convenient number and it doesn't mean they've done that but there are certain conditions that you
can set in testing that indicate levels of degradation. Either way, 120,000 could be 100,000
or 60 or 40 or 25. It doesn't really matter because typical EV lithium ion packs achieve maybe 3,000
charge cycles. Grid scale LFP can be between 6 and 10,000 and so that's the level of lifetime
of battery before something will maybe go off to recycling. So 120,000 charge cycles is if it's
not pie in the sky because they've not actually done it, it's certainly more than is required,
more than adequate I would say. Safety and disposal are also part of the pitch lithium ion cells
have well documented thermal risks but then again we find lithium ion cells in pretty much
everything. If you look around you right now you'll see a lithium ion battery in something,
maybe even the device you're listening to my voice right now on and yet they're not all
blowing up left right and centre. Now aqueous batteries have long hit a hard ceiling because
water breaks down at high voltages which constrains performance whereas this design
uses organic electrodes with a neutral electrolyte to address the higher voltage barrier.
Even so the likely home probably won't be in the cars that you and I drive, the technology is
described as best suited to stationary storage, things like solar and wind grid balancing, data
centre backup, AI data centre backup and rural electrification and boy are these things important
because I've talked on the main podcast of EV News Daily recently about the need for replacing
a lot of that base level storage generation. There's a nuclear facility we have here called
Sizewell B and they're applying for 20 more years of operation and I understand the argument
that well nuclear provides that base load, that level that's always there. Yeah we can do that
with renewables and storage without all the risks of nuclear and it's so much cheaper as well.
The next step looks like chemistry and less like chemistry and more like manufacturing because
commercial viability will depend on whether that chemistry can come out of the lab and be made
cost effectively at industrial scale and perform reliably. That's unanswered but it's interesting
technology and that's your podcast for today. See you tomorrow.
The app cuts waste by cancelling your unused subscriptions and lowering your bills. No customer
service needed with that money freed up the app will automatically set some cash aside for your
goals whether it's an emergency fund paying off debt or saving for vacation rocket money's got
you covered users love the app with over 186,000 five star ratings and on average users can save
up to $740 a year when using all the app's premium features. Make saving money a priority this year
go to rocketmoney.com slash cancel to get started that's rocketmoney.com slash cancel
rocketmoney.com slash cancel you know what it sucks to be bored but when I get on my phone and
play real casino games on spinquest.com the time flies by that two hour wait at the dmv seems like
10 minutes. Play your favorite spots live blackjack live preps with a live dealer new players $30
coin packs are on sale for 10 bucks. Play spinquest.com and you'll never be bored again.
Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited visit spinquest.com for more
details. You know what it sucks to be bored but when I get on my phone and play real casino games
on spinquest.com the time flies by that two hour wait at the dmv seems like 10 minutes. Play your
live dealer new players $30 coin packs are on sale for 10 bucks. Play spinquest.com and you'll
never be bored again. Spin Quest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited visit
spinquest.com for more details. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI
they are already deployed one it's called chat concierge and it's simplifying car shopping using
self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks it doesn't just help buyers find a car
they love it helps schedule a test drive get pre-approved for financing an estimate trading
value advanced intuitive and deployed that's how they stack that's technology at Capital One
About this episode
Geely overtook BYD as China's top electric vehicle seller in January, driven by new models and export growth, while BYD faced a significant hybrid recall affecting nearly 90,000 vehicles. Beijing expanded EV purchase quotas to boost demand, focusing on pure battery electric vehicles. Hyundai launched the China-built Alexio EV targeting overseas markets like Australia. MG is testing a new plug-in hybrid SUV in India. Xiaomi announced a new electric scooter, highlighting micromobility trends. The episode also covers a futuristic flying electric vehicle by X-Pungs and a breakthrough water-based battery using tofu brine, promising ultra-long cycle life for stationary storage. Ford’s CEO warns about China’s aggressive EV pricing and market challenges.
