Welcome back to the latest episode of The Future of Automotive on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.
I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us.
I’m equal parts excited by and concerned by the threat of Chinese EVs coming into the U.S. market.
The Chinese are now building very high quality, cheap EVs, and rapidly taking market share in many markets outside of the U.S.
Back home here, both the Biden administration and Donald Trump have signaled being comfortable with 100% tariffs on Chinese built vehicles, which will all but scare off Chinese OEMs from attempting to enter the country.
Stellantis’ investment in Chinese OEM Leap Motor means that we will start to see Stellantis-branded Chinese technology being introduced in markets outside of the U.S.
Up until now, the Polestar and Volvo EVs on American soil have been imported from China. But that will quickly change as they set up production here in the U.S.
Chinese EV juggernaut BYD is evaluating setting up factories in the Mexican market, but so far has been blocked from brining vehicles directly into the U.S.
The question I have for today’s segment is whether popular ridesharing applications are going to be a backdoor way for Chinese automakers to get into the U.S. market?
First off, today, word that ride-hailing company Uber has announced a partnership with China-based BYD, the largest electric vehicle manufacturer in the world, to increase EV ownership amongst Uber drivers.
As part of the agreement, Uber drivers will be offered price discounts and special leasing deals on BYD EVs. They may also include support for charging, maintenance and vehicle insurance.
This partnership aims to add 100,000 EVs to Uber’s platform and will begin in Europe and Latin America before expanding to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and countries in the Middle East. The partnership is expected to offer drivers access to best-in-class pricing and financing for BYD vehicles on the Uber platform.
But there’s no word yet if the intention would be to eventually allow U.S.-based Uber drivers to lease Chinese-built EVs.
Both companies are EV leaders in their respective categories: Uber has the most widely available on-demand EV network in the world, and BYD is a global leader in EV production. By working together, the companies aim to bring down the total cost of EV ownership for Uber drivers, accelerating the uptake of EVs on the Uber platform globally, and introducing millions of riders to greener vehicles.
In related news Google/Alphabet-owned Waymo has revealed details about its newest “generation 6” self-driving technology. Waymo has selected Chinese automaker Geely’s Zeekr vehicle as their next generation vehicle. Remember that in addition to the Zeekr brand, Geely owns Volvo and Polestar.
Waymo’s commercial robotaxi service first went live in late 2018 in the U.S. The company previously integrated its driverless systems into Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans and fully electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs.
Waymo is currently working to scale its existing ride-hailing service, that they call “Waymo One,” within the Sunbelt cities of San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles.
Today, Waymo provides around 50,000 paid driverless trips weekly, primarily in San Francisco and Phoenix. In June, the company dropped its waitlist and opened Waymo rides to any users in San Francisco. Waymo has completed more than 2 million trips to date.
Last month, Google parent Alphabet announced it would invest a fresh $5 billion into Waymo.
The forthcoming Waymo-Zeekr vehicle is a boxier ride that has about the same footprint as an existing Waymo I-Pace SUV.
However, the Zeekr has an interior that may prove more accessible to some riders. It includes a low step, and a high ceiling with more legroom between rows of seats.
Both of these stories – Uber partnering with BYD to bring 100,000 Chinese-built EVs into various markets around the world, combined with Waymo’s intent of bringing Chinese-built autonomous vehicles built by Zeekr onto American soil — are issues that all of us need to continue to watch.
While prohibitive tariffs may mean that we don’t see Chinese-built vehicles get a lot of traction in the U.S. anytime soon, a back door may be bringing in these vehicles to satisfy fleet customers like Waymo and Uber.
So, with that, let’s transition to Our Companies to Watch.
Every week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, we showcase a company to watch, and take the opportunity here on this segment each week to share that company with you.
Today, our new company to watch is Gaussion.
Gaussion is a London-based magneto-electrochemistry company, focused on commercializing magnetic enhancement technologies for batteries.
Charging speed remains a significant hurdle to overcome in the mass market adoption of passenger and commercial electric vehicles (EVs). According to specialists, rapid charging under traditional electrochemistry is still inherently unpredictable, often dangerously damaging cells and next-generation technologies such as solid-state electrolytes have repeatedly fallen short of deployment targets.
Gaussian has developed a solution that radically enhances battery performance using an external magnetic field during charge and discharge cycles to enable rapid charging by steering ions within existing battery cells. The magnetic field also lowers cell degradation, extending battery life.
If you’d like to learn more about Gaussion you can check them out at www.Gaussion.com
So that’s it for this week’s Future of Automotive segment.
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Thanks (as always) for your ongoing support and for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment. We’ll see you next week!