The D9 is an electric car made in China that can quickly change its battery instead of waiting to charge. It has new technology that helps it run better and is part of China’s new electric car options. People talk about it because it shows new ways to use electric cars.
A battery swap station is like a place where you can trade your car's empty battery for a fully charged one very fast, so you don't have to wait long to keep driving.
LiDAR is a technology that uses lasers to help machines see exactly where things are, so they can do tasks like swapping car batteries very accurately.
Battery compatibility means that the batteries and swap stations fit and work well with different car brands. If they don't match, you can't swap batteries easily.
CATL is a company from China that makes batteries for electric cars and has created a system to swap batteries quickly that works with many different car brands.
Car
Blade Battery
The Blade Battery is a special type of battery made by BYD that is safer and lasts longer for electric cars.
The Zeekr 007 is a fancy electric car from China that looks sporty and can go fast. It has lots of new technology inside and costs less than some other luxury electric cars. People mention it because it’s a new and exciting option for electric vehicles.
The Mercedes-Benz GLE is a big, fancy SUV that’s great for families and long trips. It has lots of high-tech gadgets and a smooth ride. People talk about it because it’s one of the top luxury SUVs available.
The BMW X5 is a big, fancy car that can carry a family and their stuff comfortably. It’s known for being smooth to drive and having lots of nice features inside. People often talk about it when comparing popular luxury SUVs.
The Volkswagen Jetta is a small car that’s easy to drive and doesn’t cost too much. It looks nice and uses fuel well, making it a good choice for everyday driving. People mention it because it’s a reliable and affordable car.
The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is a new electric van that looks like the old VW camper vans but uses electricity instead of gas. It’s roomy and good for carrying people or stuff. People mention it because it’s a cool, modern take on a classic vehicle.
The Tesla Model Y is an electric car that looks like a small SUV and can drive a long way without needing gas. It has smart technology inside that helps it drive better and charges quickly. People talk about it because it’s one of the most popular electric cars today.
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Welcome back to EV News, China. Today, NIO defends battery swapping.
Denzers Z9 GT show cars arrive and Zika hit by chip costs. Plus, stay tuned.
Later in the show, I'll tell you why SAIC has launched the H5 in China as the cheapest way
into the Harmony Autonomy System. Welcome to EV News, China, the podcast dedicated to the world's
largest electric vehicle market. Each day, I bring you 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 EV landscape. Let's kick off. BYD unveiled their new charging system at the
end of last week. Flash charging and Blade Battery 2.0 can refill a battery pack from 10 to 90%
in 9 minutes. We'll call that a full charge, even though the last 3% might taper off. So,
they gave it 10 to 97. We'll take it. Days later, the NIO founder and CEO William Lee took to
Weibo social media to argue that battery swapping still beats fast charging as the most convenient
and efficient way to replenish energy. Chinese business outlet 36KR framed NIO as the main
target of BYD's ultra-fast charging tech. BYD struck a softer note though in public, calling
their fast charging and NIO's battery swapping, and I quote,
different roads leading to the same destination. I love how Chinese tech
tends to play quite nicely with each other. And saying its flash charging tackles slow
charging, but just by a different route, and obviously is cutthroat and brutal and price war,
and at least in public, there is kind of a semblance of decency where they go about doing
their business. They'll talk about each other's companies with the positives, and I like the fact
that BYD praising NIO's technology and not going up against it. But unfortunately for NIO,
it is quite a big deal because the battery swapping network is growing in China, and the
concept of battery swapping is far more approved of than outside of China. Now, William Lee tried
to shift the debate though. He said swapping deals with a deeper issue than simple charge speed,
and that's the mismatched lifespans of an EV and the battery inside it. He called swapping
a systematic solution to a structural pain point, and pointed to NIO's work in integrating
swap stations into the grid. Several stations have now joined grid regulation programs,
have done for years actually, aimed at cutting demand during peak periods. NIO has had time
to make its case though, it opened its first swap station in May 2018, has spent $2.6 billion on the
technology, and runs 3,750 swap stations in China. And the New Year's Day letter from the chief exec
to staff set a target this year of more than a thousand new stations. That'll be over 4,600
by the end of 2026. But BYD plans to move a lot faster. It wants 20,000 flash charging stations
by the end of this year, more than five times NIO's swap network that they've taken eight years to
build. BYD said it had 4,239 flash charging stations already, but there is a newer version
of that technology that they just launched. NIO still has new hardware to roll out too.
Fifth generation swap stations are due for initial deployment this quarter,
with mass production targeted for Q2. NIO said that the new hardware is faster,
with more flexibility than the fourth generation. The current stations complete a swap in less than
three minutes using LiDAR positioning, and can do 480 swaps a day at a station with 23 batteries
on board. But compatibility is a hurdle. The fifth generation stations will work across
all the NIO group brands, so NIO, Envo, and Firefly, and will support other partners in the
alliance. Since November 2023, NIO has done deals with Chang'an, Geely, Cherry, JAC, Lotus,
GAC, and FAW. But more than two years on, there's no mass produced swap compatible vehicles
from a third party. CATL offers a different template. CATL designed its so-called Choco Swap
system for universal compatibility from the outset. They have partnerships with GAC, SAIC,
and Hong Chi. Its stations complete a swap in just 70-80 seconds. That's about half the time
of NIO's hardware, and CATL hit 1,000 stations a month ahead of its target last year, and raised
its goal for 2026 to more than 3,000 swap stations in 140-plus cities. OK, let's move on. BYD will
build its first-generation Blade Battery alongside Blade Battery 2.0. And at a media briefing last
week, BYD said it wanted to offer more customer choice, and it pointed to rising raw material
costs for batteries. Those pressures sit behind its dual strategy. The new battery for outright
charging speed, but is more expensive, another that holds the line on costs. BYD will reprice the
first batch of 10 vehicle models fitted with a new battery to reflect the current manufacturing
costs. Fast charging, it seems, still comes with a bit of a bill. Now, let's stay with BYD and their
premium brand Denza. Denza's general manager, Li Hui, said that the first batch of Z9 GTs,
the display vehicles, have now reached 40 stores in 18 cities, and others are in transit. Denza
plans a nationwide showroom push, and distribution is an active part of it. All happening at once
for footfall to go see the new Z9 GT, which starts at $270,000. That's $37,000, and rises to about
$50,000. Denza offers the car as both a bev and a plug-in hybrid. It's Denza's flagship,
and the Z9 GT takes that new BYD Blade Battery 2.0 LFP pack and puts it inside their premium
vehicle, running a very high-voltage system, charging at 1500 kilowatts, that nine-minute
charge to get to full, and also meeting the latest safety standards, and comes with a lifetime
warranty on the cells. It's just incredible. On the BEV variant, Denza quotes a range of
644 miles, that's 1,036 kilometers, on the China cycle, which is because it prioritizes
urban driving. It's wildly optimistic compared to real-world use, but even so, that could be
plus 400 miles or so, maybe more, and it nine minutes charge to 97 percent. Incredible.
Those Z9 GT cars now ending up in showrooms and for local people to go around and walk in those
stores and go see that vehicle. That is a very high-end, five-door GT car. That's at the higher
end. Come down slightly and move over to the Zika brand, and you have the facelifted 007,
or the 7 GT. My name's confused here, but they can be a little similar. It is a significant step
down from what we're just talking about with the Denza 9 GT, or the Z9 GT. Zika's 7 GT has been
facelifted, and it will cost a little more, according to local media, about $5,000. That's $720
over the current car, up to $1160, depending on spec. Today's Zika 007, or 7 GT, when it arrives
overseas, starts at $30,000. That's $210,000 RMB, and it goes to $300,000 RMB. That's $43,500
US. It also runs an 800 volt system. Zika confirmed in January that the updated 007
and the 007 GT would arrive this quarter, switching to the Nvidia Drive 4U chips,
and a 900-volt architecture. You can still get this car in single motor and dual motor.
You can get it in some lower specs as well. That kind of GT space, that GT segment in China,
this one seats a little bit below the Denza one that we were talking about a moment ago,
but it does have some very high-end DDR5X memory, and it's that which is facing severe
supply constraints and rising costs, because AI data centers are chasing the same parts
as automotive. Staying with Zika, the 8X has its interior reveal. That's a mid-to-large SUV.
Think BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE. I mentioned those because, well, they're exactly the cars
this will go up against at home in China. The cabin borrows the same interior from the larger 9X.
Here we're talking about the 8X, so screen first design. Without ditching the buttons,
rear passengers get the good stuff, though. A ceiling-mounted entertainment screen sits between
twin sunroofs. Man, that's very cool. It reminds me, those ceiling-mounted screens that come down
remind me of a BMW i7 or the Maestro S800, the new Mercedes GLE, a VLE van. We haven't
talked about that on the podcast. That's got one of the big screens that folds down,
and it leans into that luxurious feel. Zika adds a rear window sunshade system and a premium audio
setup. The rear right seat is, it's not common, but it's more common in China,
and they call it the queen seat. The rear right seat has this first-class airport-style
lounge chair comfort going horizontal, laying down. 137-degree recline. They say four-way
electric leg rests, and 15 centimeters or six inches of sliding track, and full support for
your head, your waist, and your legs as you lay down in that particular seat, because the front
passenger seat has to move forward to give you more leg room. Under the skin, the 8X uses the
Haohan S Super Hybrid Architecture, shared with the 9X, so that is a 900-volt high-voltage platform
Trimotor system, over a thousand kilowatts, it's 1400 horsepower, by the way. That's pretty impressive.
Multiple sources pegged the price between 4,500,000 RMB, so that would be between 55,000 and 68,000
US dollars equivalent, exactly where the BMW X5 and GLE fight it out, but from a Chinese brand
with a lot more tech and a very luxurious feel in this. All right, let's talk a little bit
about We Ride in a Second, and Volkswagen's Jetta brand. Back in a moment.
Welcome back to the podcast. We Ride and GLE Verizon's new energy commercial vehicle group
are deepening their partnership, and an upgraded version of their mass-produced RoboTaxi GXR,
which was unveiled two days ago. The new GXR rolls off the production line in Q3.
We Ride and GLE Verizon have earmarked 2,000 units to be made before the end of the year.
It carries a new sensor array. The LiDAR unit is a 600-meter or 2,000-foot detection system.
A big step up on the current mainstream solutions. The longer range targets better
perception at high speed and in poor weather. The hardware sits on the new Supervan platform,
a steer-by-wire chassis architecture. GLE Verizon's manufacturing scale should cut the
production cycle per vehicle from an hour to under 10 minutes. Overall vehicle costs will drop
15% on the previous model. Try and explain what this thing looks like. Well, it's a van,
first of all, because it's a RoboTaxi van. I'm not sure what it looks like. It looks very futuristic
from the front end. More, it sits, it's more square. It sits up more square and more upright
than a VW ID buzz, for instance. And you can see that new sensor suite sitting on top. But by no
means is it the comically large Gen 1 sensor suites that we saw on those Waymo vehicles and
stuff that was like it's wearing a huge hat and things that would spin. This, although visible,
is, you know, it's so much smaller and yet it has so much better technology. All right moving on,
Volkswagen Group's Chinese entry-level sub-brand Jetta. Now, outside of China, Jetta is a name plate.
Inside, it's a brand. And it's going to run Valet's first EV in Q3 this year. Sales begin
before the end of this year. So the Jetta is a separate brand from the Jetta name plate,
which we get in Europe and North America. FAW Volkswagen spun it off in 2019, targeting
first-time buyers and young consumers in cities. The J01 platform, or even the J01 car, will be the
saloon built in Chengdu in Sichuan province, expected to cost less than 100,000 RMB. That is
$13,700. And that matters because Volkswagen Group has nothing to offer you below 100,000 RMB.
BYD and Leap Motor, a building scale in that price band. And so that puts it about $4,000
below an equivalent Volkswagen based from their other brands. This is real entry-level stuff.
And finally, if you want, I think what is regarded by many as some of the best autonomy out there,
you might want to get into a car with the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance. That's
very good, by the way. Some of them use a mix of LiDAR, some of them have gone back to Pure Vision.
But the HEMA stuff tends to get rave reviews, I think nine times out ten. SAIC has now launched
a new car in China called the H5. It's the first tie-up between Huawei and SAIC. And it's a shift
away from the premium brands that you've been able to get this self-driving in, like the Itos and
Delatos. This is high volume, younger customers, because the H5 starts at 160,000 RMB, that's $22,000.
The Max Trim, it's an e-rev, costs 25 grand and adds Huawei's ADS 4.0 autonomous driving system.
That puts top-end autonomy in an entry-level segment, at least entry-level premium. The
leads the sensor stack inside. There's a 15.6-inch floating touchscreen, runs Harmony OS,
with navigation on the main display. There's a surrounding reality visualization on the instrument
cluster. And again, not driven it myself, because I've not been to China. However, when you watch
this in action, the visualization of all the vehicles around the car is so accurate in terms of the
size of the vehicle. It's like when Tesla is on a really good rip, it's as good as that,
if not better. Because I've been watching some Chinese videos of entire trips being taken with
no interventions and very confident in a city traffic. And when I say in a city,
in a city, China traffic is next-level crazy. It's a thousand mopeds and scooters using pedestrian
crossings. Like when you watch these videos, you think, oh, it's a pedestrian crossing. The car
will stop for people to walk across. And then you've just got these little mopeds darting across
where people should be walking. But there's just thousands of them blatting around. And the cars
handle it really well. You can set the aggression. That's not the best word. You can set the
assertiveness of the system. And hopefully, it will not annoy drivers behind you too much by being
too cautious, although you probably want it to be at this stage of development of ADAS systems,
erring on the side of caution. The max e-rev mixes a range extender and a rear motor, 1.5-liter
engine, rear wheel drive, permanent magnet motor, 150 kilowatts, or 201 horsepower with a 32.6
kilowatt hour LFP, lithium-ion phosphate battery. They say on the China cycle, 146 miles of range.
The headline tech, though, is ADS 4.0 with its three 4D millimeter wave radars, 11 cameras,
and that LiDAR system as well, running an end-to-end neural network, they say. It navigates
construction zones, non-standard obstacles, small things left in the road. There was one video I
was watching. I wish I could remember the channel it was on. It was really, really good. And I think
it was the the Huawei system. It had to cut across two lanes to get to the exit that it needed.
And a human would have done it, but all the ADAS systems that we've seen would have been
just freaked out. And it found its point perfectly, and it whipped across one lane first, then the
next lane, it made the exit. It was very assertive, but very safe at the same time, and, well, really,
really impressive. And this in a $25,000 vehicle, outspecifying Elite Motor C11 and using more
advanced software than a Tesla Model Y and landing at significantly lower price points.
It's really impressive. And that's your podcast for today. Thanks for listening. See you on the next one.
About this episode
NIO defends its battery swapping technology as a more convenient and efficient alternative to BYD's ultra-fast charging, highlighting its integration with grid regulation and a growing swap station network. BYD introduces its Blade Battery 2.0 with rapid charging capabilities, while Denza launches the premium Z9 GT with impressive range and charging speed. Zeekr faces rising chip costs impacting production. The episode also covers WeRide's advanced RoboTaxi rollout, Volkswagen's affordable Jetta EV brand targeting entry-level buyers, and SAIC's launch of the H5 model featuring Harmony Autonomy System, illustrating the dynamic and competitive landscape of China's EV market.
