China

NIO moves ever-closer to delivering its ET7 luxury sedan. The company announced the first batch of EVs has officially rolled off its assembly line in Hefei, China. ET7 deliveries remain on schedule to arrive to NIO reservation holders in China beginning March 28.

Chinese EV automaker BYD announced it has found an unlikely partner in Shell to expand and promote a good deal of energy and charging technologies together throughout Europe and China. This includes EV charging network services, integrated home energy solutions, electric vehicle service centers, and more.

The world’s largest battery manufacturer, is going green… or at least starting to. Earlier today, CATL announced it has built a zero-carbon battery plant in Yibin, Sichuan province of China. While the current details are scarce, we can expect to learn more following a presentation on Friday local time overseas.

EV-dedicated automaker XPeng Motors is celebrating the production of its 100,000th P7 sedan, claiming to be the first Chinese EV brand to do so. To mark this production milestone, XPeng will release a special “Black Label Edition” P7 featuring an entirely dark exterior.

Chinese multinational automotive company, Geely, has shared a recent update from its Technology Group subsidiary showing battery swap capabilities integrated into what it calls Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs). The battery swap stations operate under the same concept as passenger EVs, but use a different swap method without having to lift the hefty construction vehicles.

Chinese automaker NIO has officially begun initial test drives for its electric luxury ET7 sedan. Chinese customers had their drive experiences at the NIO House in Hefei, Anhui province, ahead of ET7 deliveries scheduled for the end of this month.

The China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) said today that it expects China to add 75 to 90 gigawatts (GW) of solar power in 2022.

Intelligent EV startup JIDU announced a closed round of Series A funding that raised nearly $400 million dollars. The financing was led by JIDU’s parent company Baidu Group, and its business partner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group – the largest auto manufacturer in China. JIDU plans to use the funds for R&D of its teased “Robocar” concept, aiming for mass production in 2023.

Guangdong Hongtu Technology (GHT), a part supplier to Chinese EV automakers like NIO and XPeng, announced it will begin developing a 12,000-ton die-casting unit with the help of Tesla supplier LK Technology. Recent responses from representatives at NIO and XPeng hint that they might soon be using GHT’s large, one-piece die-casting machines to manufacture their own EVs.

Chinese automotive giant and Volvo/Polestar parent company, Geely, has signed an agreement with the French Renault Group to launch a new collaboration intended to bring fuel-efficient hybrid electric cars to South Korea, as well as export sales into other Asian markets.

The first fruits of a joint venture between Chinese automotive giant Geely and two-wheel experts Lifan have just been leaked ahead of their expected debut – and we can understand why someone just couldn’t wait. “Maple Leaf 60S” says it all!

Following confirmation of a new brand catered to battery swaps, CATL subsidiary CAES officially unveiled its EVOGO swap solution. In addition to implementing swap stations across ten Chinese cities to begin, CAES and EVOGO have also introduced modular battery blocks inspired by chocolate bars, and a coinciding app.

China’s leading battery manufacturer CATL recently shared news it is entering the market of battery swap technology for EVs, with a new brand called EVOGO, set to launch Tuesday. CATL has been teasing the new battery swap brand on its social media, ahead of the upcoming launch event in China.

You can’t say they didn’t warn us! Less than a month after NIU co-founder, Yinan Li, hinted that four wheeled vehicles might present better business opportunities than two wheeled vehicles, Li has brought us the incredibly well-finished product you see here. Meet the battery-powered NIUTRON NV, and expect big things.

As we eagerly slam the book shut on 2021 and look toward a promising year of further EV adoption in 2022, it’s important to look back and assess how far the global market has come during this most recent trip around the Sun. From there, we can compare 2021’s numbers to the year prior and gain an idea of the trajectories many of the major EV automakers may travel on into 2022. We will begin with EV deliveries in China, a rich mecca of EV production and innovation with many companies now expanding to other markets around the globe.

Chinese company EHang has opened a new, 5G enabled, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vertiport and maintenance facility in Guangzhou, China – it’s just the latest new project in China’s “official” urban air mobility (UAM) test city.

Beijing-headquartered electric power company Huaneng Power International (HPI) has completed the world’s largest floating solar project in Dezhou, which is in Shandong, an eastern Chinese province on the Yellow Sea. The 320 megawatt (MW) project is the largest floating solar farm to come online to date.

Everywhere you look, you can see signs of an automotive market that’s been hit hard by a silicon “chip shortage.” Everywhere that is, except Tesla, where a more flexible, software-focused approach and sturdier grip on its critical parts supplies have allowed the company to nearly double its deliveries from the year before. Over in China, Geely and Foxconn have taken notice.

You could argue that the quietest business week in the Western world is that week between Christmas and New Year’s, and into that nebulous, boozy, cheese-filled week of relative silence was lobbed news that China has lifted its decades-old ban on foreign ownership of Chinese car factories. Tesla already owned their Chinese factory, so it seemed like business as usual – until Honda announced plans to build a massive EV factory in China.

Chinese EV automaker GAC Aion announced the start of sales for its anticipated SUV, the LX Plus. After announcing an NEDC range of 1,000 km this past November, GAC Aion has now shared a slightly longer range alongside other specs for Chinese consumers, including pricing.

China’s largest offshore wind farm was connected to the grid at full capacity on Saturday, December 25. It transmitted power through undersea cables.