Tesla started delivery of its Model Y cars in China in January and they’re proving a hit. The car can run for almost 600 kilometers (373 miles) on one charge. Some 10,140 China-made Model Ys were registered in March, double February’s figures.
Slightly ruffling Tesla’s too cool for school approach was a protester who jumped on one of its cars, yelling “Tesla brake lost control” before being dragged off by security and escorted away.
A female Tesla owner climbed on top of a car’s roof at the Tesla booth to protest her car’s brake malfunction at the Shanghai auto show Monday. The booth beefed up its security after the incident. pic.twitter.com/ct7RmF1agM
—Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 19, 2021
Big Spending, But No Cars Yet
China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. is a stock-market darling, with its shares rallying more than 1,000% over the past 12 months, giving it a market value greater than Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. But despite raising billions of dollars, the company hasn’t sold a single car under its own brand.
Although it has a huge presence at this year’s Shanghai Auto Show, media can’t get up close and personal with its Hengchi models on display. The cars were contained within glass fences and only security and company personnel were allowed in. A Bloomberg reporter who tried to enter was promptly escorted away.
Evergrande NEV’s President Liu Yongzhuo said at a briefing that mass delivery of Hengchi cars will start by next year. Daniel Kirchert, an executive vice president who joined recently after stints at BMW AG and another electric car startup Byton Ltd., said the Hengchi 1 will have a driving range of 760 kilometers, while the Hengchi 9, a pure electric mid-sized SUV, will have an extra-long range of 810 kilometers.
Toyota Hastens Electric Push
The world’s largest carmaker previewed its “Beyond Zero” bZ4X, an electric SUV sitting on its new “e-TNGA” platform at the show on Monday. The vehicle is a compact SUV that resembles Toyota’s popular Rav-4, but is built on a entirely new platform. Hybrid heavyweight Toyota Motor Corp. has taken a more cautious approach to EVs but that is starting to change with the the latest debut. By comparison, Volkswagen, Toyota’s main global rival, is betting $29 billion on new battery technology to accelerate its shift to EVs.
The Japanese automaker says the e-TNGA platform will speed up deployment of new EVs, reducing development time and allowing different models to be designed in parallel.
Volvo, DiDi Team Up For Self-Driving
Volvo Cars and DiDi Autonomous Driving, the self-driving technology arm of Didi Chuxing Inc., said Monday they’ve signed a strategic collaboration agreement on autonomous vehicles for DiDi’s self-driving test fleet. Volvo Cars will provide DiDi with its XC90 cars equipped with backup systems for functions such as steering and braking, and collaborate with DiDi Autonomous Driving to integrate the additional software and hardware required to make the cars fully ready for autonomous driving.
In 2020, Volvo Cars provided DiDi with Volvo XC60s for use in Shanghai’s first pilot robotaxi program. People in certain areas of the city could book trips by robotaxi in the DiDi app and be driven autonomously, although the cars were monitored by a safety driver and engineer.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.