New York Times report by Keith Bradsher on May 1, 2024
Chinese automakers are building a new generation of larger, more technologically advanced, and more competitive electric vehicles, and as they ramp up their exports to the world, they have the potential to get further ahead of their global rivals.
Dozens of automakers operating in China plan to launch 71 new battery-electric models this year. Many new models have a taller hood, a bolder look, and more storage space. The tires of the car are larger, which improves the braking performance. The seats are thicker and more comfortable. Smaller batteries, more power, and faster charging.
These changes are aimed at making cars more attractive to Chinese consumers and more competitive abroad. Like plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles are stealing sales from gasoline-powered vehicles and their manufacturers.
China is also advancing the technology and regulations for self-driving cars. The Chinese government this week approved data security arrangements for more powerful self-driving cars. They approved cars made by Tesla, an American electric vehicle company that also makes and sells cars in China, as well as five Chinese manufacturers, including BYD, Tesla's main global rival, and Nio, a veteran of the Chinese auto industry.
These approvals show that the Chinese government is eager to promote the development of self-driving cars. In fact, autonomous vehicles are widely considered to be at the heart of the future competitiveness of the automotive industry. The technology is more suitable for battery electric vehicles than plug-in hybrids or gasoline-powered vehicles, and Chinese companies are trying to catch up with Tesla, the leader in these systems.
In the United States, Tesla's so-called self-driving feature has been the subject of a series of government safety investigations. In China, regulators and the public tend to believe that the technology is safer than relying on human driving.
Chinese automakers have been investing heavily in driver assistance software. Frank Wu, vice president of design at Jet-Leap, said electric vehicles "are becoming robots on wheels." The company is a joint venture between Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely and Baidu, one of China's leading artificial intelligence companies and Tesla's partner in China's autonomous driving space.
Better batteries and declining costs are the foundation of China's drive for electric vehicles. China-based CATL, the world's largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, announced at the Beijing Auto Show last week that its latest battery can travel up to 370 miles in 10 minutes on a 10-minute charge. The company says it can travel 620 miles on a 30-minute full charge.
Gao Huan, CTO of CATL's electric vehicle business, said achieving these ranges would require extremely sophisticated chemistry and engineering to "put each nanoparticle in the right place."
These advancements mean that automakers can use smaller batteries, free up space in the car's interior, or keep the battery size the same for greater range.
Most of the extra space is used in the larger rear seats, and there is more legroom.
Wang Tan, general manager of design at Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors, said: "We will focus more on the back seat. We want to make it more attractive."
In the past, EV manufacturers made it a priority to reduce the weight of the car as much as possible, because weight is a major factor in how far the car can travel before it needs to be recharged. But now, more powerful batteries are making electric cars taller and heavier.
Chris Thomason, vice president of design at NIO, said that the larger front end creates a luxurious look that caters to many buyers' admiration for sporty utility vehicles.
"The higher front of the car has that prestige," he said.
Chinese automakers have also begun to adopt more angular designs, such as BYD's teal DenzaZ9GT sedan on display at the auto show. They are moving away from lightweight, costly, aluminum and using heavier, lower-cost steel alloys to make cars.
Stephen Siraf, Geely's vice president of global design, said that aluminum body panels require more curvature, while steel body panels do not allow for sharper lines. The purpose of this is to make the car more visually striking, as car fashion is no longer the round shape that used to be seen in electric cars.
Overseas and Chinese customers are becoming more and more discerning. Many people are starting to buy plug-in hybrids instead of battery-powered cars alone, although the market for both cars in China is still growing.
At the Beijing Motor Show, not all electric cars are larger and more spacious. Xiaomi, a Chinese producer of cheap smartphones, unveiled its first electric car, the SU7 sports sedan. The tech company has already made inroads into the automotive market, while Apple has been brewing for years but has not acted on it.
Visually, the SU7 is almost identical to the Porsche Taycan electric car. But it costs less than a fifth of the Taycan, which sells for anywhere from $140,000 to $275,000 in China.
Lei Jun, the CEO of Xiaomi, walks around the auto show, always followed by a group of admirers.
He exuded confidence in his presentation introducing the SU7, while still expressing concern about a competitor. "Except for Tesla, there seems to be almost no one better than us," he said.
Chinese auto executives have long admired and feared Tesla, which did not unveil any new cars at the show. Last week, Tesla announced a 9% drop in sales and a 55% drop in profits in the first quarter of this year, and plans to lay off more than a tenth of its global workforce, or 14,000 people.
In contrast, long-established Western automakers are lagging behind in autonomous driving and struggling to catch up when it comes to electric vehicles.
Over the past five years, GM and Ford have seen a significant decline in market share in China. At the 2020 Beijing Auto Show, Ford unveiled its most talked-about car, the Mustang Mach-E electric car. But administrative problems led to the postponement of production for more than a year, and public interest disappeared with it.
Ford decided this year to highlight a very different Mustang car than it used to be, with a massive five-liter V-8 petrol engine and four exhaust pipes.
Bill Russo, the former CEO of Chrysler China, who currently works as an EV industry consultant in Shanghai, said Tesla has emerged as the only strong global competitor in the U.S. EV market.
"If they die, the entire EV market in the U.S. dies with them," he said.
Europe's incumbents also face serious challenges. China's rising EV exports to Europe have sparked an EU inquiry into whether it is being unfairly subsidized.
Volkswagen China CEO Ralph Brandstedt called on Chinese manufacturers to buy auto parts in Europe and use European workers to assemble them in Europe.
"In this way, they have to use European labor, European businesses, and they have to compete in the same environment as we do," he said. China has used high tariffs and other measures to require multinational companies to produce cars in China for the Chinese market".
China's next target for electric vehicles is the United States.
Geely is exporting the Polestar2 from China to the U.S. and has dared to pay a 27.5% tariff on it. Geely has also started exporting the new Polestar3, with plans to shift production to an assembly line in South Carolina this summer.