A peek at EVs’ future at Beijing show as oil-guzzlers stay on sidelines

On May 11, 2024

The global automotive industry increasingly treats China as the “university for studying the latest technology and trends,” as well as being a “fitness studio of sorts to hone their competitiveness”, said UBS analyst Paul Gong.

The Post discerned the most promising trends from some of the models on display:

BYD’s Han electric vehicle on show during Auto China 2024. Photo: AP

Talk of the show

China’s ongoing EV price war was the talk of the show, a constant topic at nearly all the 163 press conferences held over the first two media days.

A month before the show kicked off, the world’s largest producer of electric cars BYD upped the ante on its competitors by pricing five models in its portfolio below the 100,000 yuan (US$13,840) mark. The cheapest model, the e2 compact SUV, carries a price tag of 89,900 yuan. That set off a new round of discounts, from the EV makers Li Auto to Xpeng, much to the delight of Chinese consumers.

Some carmakers are resorting to efficiency to improve their margins. Volkswagen, marking its 40th anniversary of making cars in China, said it can cut costs by 40 per cent if it shortens the development time of its EVs by 30 per cent, according to the carmaker’s China chief executive Ralf Brandstatter.

The Aion Hyper SSR sports car by Chinese electric vehicle maker GAC. Photo: AFP

Most expensive models

GAC, the Chinese partner of Honda Motor, displayed the 1.686 million yuan Aion Hyper SSR electric sports car. The two-door coupe, featuring scissor doors, has a range of up to 506km.

BYD, which fired the first shot in the latest discount war, is climbing the value ladder at the same time to stake its claim as an aspirational brand. It priced the Master edition of its Yangwang U8 at 1.1 million yuan, a year after showing off the luxury SUV’s “tank turn” in Shanghai. The vehicle comes with an optional built-in drone that can be launched from its roof to provide the driver with a bird’s-eye view when road conditions get tough. BYD said it handed 5,523 premium-edition U8s to customers in the five months to March.

The Shenzhen-based carmaker, which counts Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as a shareholder, is now poised to begin delivering the Yangwang U9 supercar in the middle of the year. The electric coupe, which can accelerate from standstill to 100km/hour in 2.36 seconds, features a proprietary individual wheel drive system that enables it to redistribute torque among its wheels and keep running on three tyres at speed. Its sticker price is 1.68 million yuan.

Hongqi sedans come off the production line at FAW’s factory in the Jilin provincial capital of Changchun. Photo: Xinhua

The Hongqi N701 limousine belongs in the category of “unavailable at any price”. The brand, which means Red Flag in Chinese, was first launched in 1958 by First Automotive Works (FAW) based on a 1955 Chrysler. It was the first locally developed brand for the newly founded People’s Republic.

Chinese leaders since Mao Zedong have used the Hongqi as their presidential carriage. The armour-plated N701 – its specifications are a closely guarded secret – is the counterpart of “the Beast,” as the American president’s armoured Cadillac is called. It was President Xi Jinping’s ride during his visits to Hong Kong, the United States and most recently to see Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.

Hongqi does have several models available to the public. The closest to the N701 is the H9, a luxury limousine that comes in officious black, or a violet-and-gold optional colour scheme. It runs on either a two-litre or three-litre supercharged petrol engine, priced at between 309,800 yuan and 539,800 yuan.

Xiaomi’s SU7 EV is displayed at one of the company’s stores in Shanghai. Photo: Bloomberg

Biggest buzz: Xiaomi’s SU7

China’s Premier Li Qiang, who trained as an engineer before he entered politics, dropped by Xiaomi’s space during the car show on April 28. The company, best known as the maker of low-priced electronic devices, including the world’s bestselling fitness bracelet and the third-best selling smartphone, launched its SU7 electric sedan in March.

The SU7 resembles the Porsche Taycan, but sells at 215,900 yuan, about a quarter of the top-tier German car. The Beijing carmaker’s founder Lei Jun admitted that he was selling the fruit of what he called his “final start-up project” at a loss, based on current prices.

Assembled in the Chinese capital by Xiaomi’s contract assembler Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation, the SU7 has a 700km range. It can connect to Xiaomi’s devices using the Internet of Things technology, and comes with a host of features like a fast-charger for smartphones under the central console, a heads-up-display on the windscreen and headrest speakers in the driver’s seat.

The buzz around the SU7 helped Xiaomi lock in about 90,000 orders since its launch, putting it in good position to meet its 100,000-unit target in 2024 and claim one of the automotive industry’s most successful debuts. Deliveries began on April 3, with a waiting time of up to 32 weeks for the standard version.

Biggest show stealer

Elon Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest men and the chief executive of the first and only wholly foreign-owned car factory in China, stole the show by dropping in on the Chinese capital just as Auto China opened its doors to the viewing public.

He made headlines when a video clip of his meeting with Li Qiang – after the premier visited Xiaomi’s space – was carried by state media. Not bad for a company that was not even present at the Beijing show, the second year running that Tesla Motor skipped the biggest exhibition in one of its most important markets.

A Zeekr MIX electric van concept, featuring a hidden B-pillar and sliding doors that expose an interior space that can turn into a living room as the front seats rotate to face the rear. Photo: Handout

Most innovative use of space

Electric vehicles offer more cockpit and storage space because they eschew the bulky internal combustion engine. Chinese EV makers have begun to experiment and offer creative uses of space unseen in petrol-guzzling models, offering glimpses of what the internet-connected, spacious vehicle of the future could look like.

The Zeekr MIX electric van concept by China’s largest privately owned carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is a case in point. The most striking feature of the multipurpose vehicle (MPV) is its hidden B-pillar, enabling its front and rear doors to slide open outwards to expose three rows of seats in 6.3 square metres of interior space, 80 per cent of which is usable. The front seats can rotate to face the rear seats, creating what Zeekr calls an intelligent living room. Despite being almost 5 metres long, the vehicle boasts a turning radius of less than 5 metres.

“The typical MPV in China tends to be expensive for most families,” said Zeekr’s head of emerging markets operations Mars Chen, declining to divulge the price of the MIX concept. Zeekr’s shares rose 35 per cent in New York trading yesterday during an initial public offering that raised US$441 million, in the biggest stock sale by a Chinese company in the US since 2021.

GAC’s ERA concept car, which also features front seats that rotate to face the rear to create a living space for up to six people. Photo: Handout

Not to be outdone, GAC also abandoned its B-pillar in its Era crossover concept to transform its internal space into a living room to “cater for the socialising needs of up to six people”, according to the carmaker. The Era’s front and rear doors swing outwards, instead of sliding. The front seats rotate to face the rear, while the rear armrests unfold into a tea table. A screen can unfold at the rear of the vehicle for watching films.

Changan Auto, the Chinese partner of Ford Motor, went a step further. Its Avatar premium brand has a concept called the Qiyuan E07, which combines the storage space of a pickup truck with the functions of an SUV in the body of a four-door coupe. Its tail gate and sliding rear windscreen open to reveal a flat bed storage space.

A battery factory by China Contemporary Amperex Technology under construction in Debrecen, Hungary, in August 2023. Hungary is going all out to become one of the world’s biggest suppliers for electric vehicles. Photo: Bloomberg

Fast charging batteries

Six of the world’s 10 largest makers of EV batteries are in China. Producers of automotive power sources have come a long way since Tesla’s Roadster shook up the automotive world in 2008 with a range of 320km.

The most basic EV models these days boast that range. Even the Binguo compact EV by SAIC-GM-Wuling, which claims to be the world’s cheapest EV at 59,800 yuan, can travel 203km on a charge.

A driving range of 500km to 600km is the minimum to help drivers overcome their range anxiety, while several models claim to be able to drive 1,000km (621 miles) with one charge, the driving distance from Beijing to Nanjing.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), the world’s largest EV battery producer, unveiled its 1,000km range Shenxing Plus lithium-iron phosphate battery, which uses a granular gradation technology to deliver 600km range in just 10 minutes of ultra-fast charging.

Cheap EV batteries

The next frontier in EV technology is sodium-ion batteries, which use abundant mineral salts, instead of lithium and cobalt, to generate electricity. Sixteen of the 20 sodium-ion battery plants under construction around the world are in China, according to Benchmark Minerals.

In April 2023, CATL, based in Ningde in Fujian province, announced a plan to install the first sodium-ion batteries in Chery’s EVs.

BYD also has a sodium-ion battery under construction in the Jiangsu provincial city of Xuzhou, with 30 gigawatt hours of capacity.