EV Morning News ｜ BYD announced the recall of nearly 100,000 electric vehicles to repair the safety hazards of the steering system; Tucki Huitian won an order for 150 flying cars, which will be delive

▌important news

▍BYD announced the recall of nearly 100,000 electric vehicles to fix the hidden danger of steering system.

First Electric reported on September 29 that BYD Auto Industry Co., Ltd. and BYD Auto Co., Ltd. filed a recall plan with the State Administration of Markets according to the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, and announced the recall of some vehicles from September 30, 2024, with a total of nearly 100,000 vehicles.

BYD Auto Industry Co., Ltd. recalled 87,762 domestic Dolphin and Yuan PLUS electric vehicles produced from February 4, 2023 to December 26, 2023. BYD Auto Co., Ltd. recalled a total of 8,952 domestic PLUS electric vehicles produced between November 2, 2022 and June 19, 2023.

The reason for the recall is that some vehicles’ electric power steering column assembly (CEPS) controllers have manufacturing process problems, which may lead to micro-cracks in capacitors, which may lead to short circuit, overheating and ablation, and even fire, which may pose a safety hazard. In order to solve this problem, BYD will install controller insulation gaskets for vehicles within the scope of recall free of charge.

BYD Auto Industry Co., Ltd. and BYD Auto Co., Ltd. will entrust authorized dealers to carry out free maintenance work for this recall to eliminate potential safety hazards.

▍Tucki Huitian won an order for 150 flying cars, which will be delivered in 2026 and the price will not exceed 2 million.

On September 29th, First Electric announced that Tucki Huitian had signed a reservation contract for 150 mass-produced flying cars "Land Aircraft Carrier", and the booking parties were Gaozhi Airlines and Aocheng Airlines. The contract price does not exceed 2 million yuan, and the total order amount is nearly 300 million yuan. It is planned to be pre-sold at the end of the year and delivered in 2026.

The land carrier adopts 3-axle and 6-wheel design, which looks like Tesla Cybertruck, with a size of 5500/2000/2000mm and a four-seat design. C is a driver’s license. The vehicle adopts 800V silicon carbide extended range power platform, with CLTC cruising range exceeding 1000 kilometers, 6×6 all-wheel drive and rear wheel steering, which has good load-bearing and off-road performance.

The aircraft is located in the trunk, rechargeable, charging 30%-80% in 18 minutes, supporting 5-6 flights, adopting the design of four propellers, seating two people, and supporting one-button automatic take-off and landing and automatic navigation. Zhao Deli, the founder of Tucki Huitian, said that the company’s development strategy is divided into three steps: first, to achieve field flight, then to achieve inter-city flight, and finally to achieve free flight for all people.

▍Weilai China received a capital increase of 3.3 billion yuan from state-owned assets, and Weilai Automobile chased 10 billion yuan.

On September 29th, First Electric announced that Weilai Automobile had signed strategic investment agreements with three existing shareholders, including Hefei Jianheng New Energy Automobile Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), Anhui High-tech Industry Investment Co., Ltd. and SDIC Investment Management Co., Ltd.. According to the agreement, these strategic investors will increase their capital by 3.3 billion yuan to subscribe for the newly issued shares of Weilai China, and Weilai Company will also invest 10 billion yuan to subscribe for the new shares.

The founder of Weilai Automobile said that the new round of capital increase reflects strategic investors’ recognition of Weilai’s leading position in the industry and their support for the high-quality development of the smart electric vehicle industry. Weilai will continue to invest in technological innovation and charging and replacing infrastructure to enhance the competitive advantages of products, services and communities and lay the foundation for the company’s long-term development.

▌domestic

▍The spy photos of the new model of Zunjie were exposed, and Yu Chengdong claimed to be the king of the million-level market

On September 29 th, the first electric news, the road test spy photos of Zunjie’s new model have been circulated on the Internet recently. Although the vehicle is highly camouflaged, the appearance features show that the front face is designed as a closed grille, and may be equipped with a penetrating light strip and Huawei xPixel smart headlights. Spy photos show that the new car has a sleek body curvature, a laser radar is installed above the roof, and the tail is designed with a slip-back, which is matched with a "pie"-style large-size wheel hub.

According to the information released before, Zunjie, a brand that Huawei cooperates with Jianghuai, will enter the car and MPV market of one million yuan class, and related models will be produced through JAC X6 platform, with an estimated annual production capacity of 35,000 vehicles. Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei Terminal BG, said recently that he would strive to be the first in the million-level market.

The first model of Zunjie is expected to be launched in the first quarter of next year. At present, Jianghuai is accelerating related projects, including recruiting quality system experts and product line quality experts, and preparing to compete with ultra-luxury brands such as Maibakh and Rolls-Royce.

▍Li Bin: Artificial intelligence will become the core basic capability of intelligent electric vehicle enterprises.

Li Bin, founder of Weilai, said at the Global Smart Car Industry Conference (GIV2024) that artificial intelligence will become a core basic capability of smart electric vehicle enterprises.

He bluntly said that NOMI was a little stupid in the first two years. "It’s not because it’s stupid, it’s not growing fast enough, which reflects that artificial intelligence technology has reached a bottleneck. Without GPT and big model, it’s actually a bit difficult for NOMI to become smarter."

With the development of the big language model in the past two years, Wei Lai reconstructed the underlying framework of NOMI by using the GPT big language model. "The AI big model has upgraded our entire cockpit experience to a very high level. Now NOMI’s satisfaction score is 4 points, knowing astronomy and geography, and talking about anything is no problem."

He said that the best application scenario, the best product and the best application industry of artificial intelligence are the smart electric vehicle industry. Conversely, a successful smart electric vehicle company must have the research and development capabilities and operational capabilities of AI, and a successful smart electric vehicle company must also be a successful AI company.

▍Power supply or affected by sudden fire in Z base

On September 29th, the Emergency Management Bureau of Ningde City, Fujian Province reported that a fire broke out at Z base in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited. As of 3 pm that day, there were still open flames and smoke at the scene. There are no casualties at present. The fire broke out in the high-temperature static room of the base, so it was difficult to put out the fire. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited is the first power battery loading enterprise in China, accounting for 44.46% of the market. This fire may cause some car companies to delay the delivery of new cars.

▍Zhiji LS6 SUV’s 48-hour order exceeded 10,000, and the new chassis technology was upgraded.

According to the official news of Zhiji Automobile on September 29th, more than 11,000 large and medium-sized SUVs of the new Zhiji LS6 were placed on the market within 48 hours. The new car was launched on September 26th, offering five models with a price range of 239,900-302,900 yuan. The new Zhiji LS6 has been upgraded in appearance, intelligent driving, etc., and replaced with a digital chassis of Linglizard, which supports OTA, including air suspension, electronically controlled damping system and high-performance braking system.

▍Geely New Energy Automobile Headquarters settled in Beilun, Ningbo, with an investment of 440 million.

On September 29th, the first electric news, a major project promotion meeting was held in Beilun District, Ningbo, and the project of Geely New Energy Automobile Headquarters was officially started. The project is located in the core area of Beilun District, Yongjiang Science and Technology Zone, with a total investment of 440 million yuan and a construction area of about 46,000 square meters. It is scheduled to be completed in March 2028. After the project is completed, it will become the project management headquarters of Geely New Energy Automobile, covering R&D, procurement, sales, after-sales service and other functions.

In recent years, the layout of Geely Automobile Group in Ningbo has been continuously strengthened, including the headquarters of Geely Automobile Group, the headquarters of Link Automobile, the global headquarters of smart brand and the global headquarters of Krypton. From January to August this year, the output of Geely automobile in Beilun reached 79,000 vehicles, up 19.7% year-on-year, among which the output of new energy vehicles was 44,800 vehicles, up 5.7 times year-on-year.

▍BMW continues to deepen the China market and increase investment in power batteries, intelligent networking and material recycling.

On September 29th, BMW China news, Gao Xiang, president and CEO of BMW Group Greater China, said that BMW is optimistic about the development prospect of China’s new energy vehicle market, and has signed a demand contract for battery production with more than 10 billion euros with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited and Yiwei Lithium Energy, and plans to establish two battery factories in China and Europe, each with an annual production capacity of 20GWh. At the same time, BMW Chengmai has become the largest intelligent networked automotive software research and development center in Asia, providing technical support in software development, map navigation and other fields.

BMW Group is committed to achieving climate neutrality and promoting the large-scale use of recycled materials, and has built a closed-loop system in China to recycle raw materials such as nickel, lithium and cobalt in power batteries. BMW’s power battery life cycle management system includes digital monitoring, closed-loop recovery and battery reuse. BMW has set up battery recycling service outlets in more than two-thirds of dealers nationwide, and plans to achieve full coverage by the end of this year.

▍In August, car sales were sluggish, and both traditional and new power models were frustrated.

According to the news of the Automobile Commune on September 29th, among the cars with the lowest sales volume in August, there are both traditional fuel vehicles and pure electric vehicles made by new forces. Some models that have sold more than 10,000 yuan, such as Xiangyu, Lingpai, Mai Rui Bao, and some models of luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac, also appeared on the list of poor sales. This may be due to the choice of the market and consumers, but also reflects the lack of product strength.

▍Geely Star is willing to carry unbounded space and lead the new experience of smart cars.

On September 29th, Geely Automobile reported that the company announced the launch of an innovative intelligent Che Yun entertainment platform-Boundless Space. Through cross-border cooperation and core technology, the platform has broken through the limitations of the traditional car-engine system and realized the infinite expansion of the interior ecology. Geely Star is willing to be the first mass-produced vehicle equipped with this platform, and it is expected to be launched in early October, with a pre-sale price range of 7.88-107,800.

Highlights of the unbounded space platform include cooperation with Tencent Appbao, where users can download high-frequency applications in the market with one click, and it is expected that it will adapt to 300+ mainstream applications by 2025. The platform also supports a variety of application installation paths, and users can choose to pre-install Geely self-developed and third-party cooperative applications in the cloud without occupying local storage and computing power. In addition, users can upload private APK through the WeChat applet "cloud hosting Butler" for direct installation.

▌international

▍Hyundai Motor Group’s first dedicated electric vehicle factory was completed.

First Electric reported on September 29 that Hyundai and Kia brands under Hyundai Motor Group have made remarkable achievements in the field of electric vehicles, but only recently did the first factory dedicated to the production of electric vehicles be built. Kia held the completion ceremony of its first dedicated production plant for electric vehicles last Friday, which is called KIA Guangming EVO Factory, located in Guangming City, south of Seoul, with a total investment of about 300 million US dollars and an area of nearly 60,000 square meters. The new factory will be used to produce Kia’s new EV3 and the upcoming EV4, with an annual output of 150,000 electric vehicles. EV3 has started production in the first half of this year, and EV4 is planned to be launched in the first half of next year.

Hyundai and Kia brand electric vehicles are not only sold in the Korean market, but also exported to the United States and other markets. The completion of the new factory marks the further expansion and specialization of Hyundai Motor Group in the field of electric vehicle production, which is helpful to enhance its competitiveness in the global electric vehicle market.

▍Chery Automobile Delays Production Plan in Europe

Bloomberg News on September 28th, Chery Automobile postponed its plan to launch electric vehicles in Europe due to the temporary import tariff imposed by the European Union on Chinese-made electric vehicles, and now plans to launch its flagship Omoda 5 electric vehicle in Spain in October 2025. The move caused dissatisfaction among Spanish SIGEN-USOC trade union workers, who had expected to get more than 600 full-time jobs in Barcelona from October 1st this year.

Chery Automobile and Ebro plan to produce 150,000 cars in Spain by 2029, and re-employ 1,250 workers who were laid off four years ago due to the closure of Nissan factory.

The EU imposed a temporary tariff of up to 38% on electric vehicles imported from China, which came into effect in July this year. China and the European Union are negotiating an alternative solution to tariffs. EU member states are expected to vote on the draft legislation on tariffs on electric vehicles in China in early October. EU tariffs have aggravated Sino-EU trade tensions and forced European and China automakers to re-examine their plans to sell more electric vehicles in Europe.

Although China automakers such as Chery Automobile and BYD are opening factories in Europe to avoid tariffs, EU officials have warned that these factories must create some value locally. During his visit to China this month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced his opposition to the EU’s new tariffs on China, which runs counter to the EU’s position. EU policy makers are trying to promote the transition to cleaner cars without damaging the EU’s vital automobile industry.

▍Zero-run cars listed in 13 countries in Europe, and joined hands with Stellantis Group for global expansion.

On September 29, Easy Car News, C10 and T03 models of zero-run cars were officially listed in 13 European countries, and the vehicles have arrived at overseas stores to start selling. These two models will be displayed and sold together with many well-known brands under Stellantis Group, such as Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen.

Using Stellantis Group’s global distribution network, Zero Car plans to complete the layout of 350 global sales outlets in the fourth quarter of 2024, including 200 in the European market, and it is expected to expand the European sales network to 500 by 2026.

Zero Run International has selected about 140 logistics centers of Stellantis Group in Europe as distribution centers for zero run auto parts. Since the establishment of Zero Run International on May 14th, Zero Run Auto has cooperated closely with Stellantis Group, and successfully completed a series of work including EU certification and adjustment of driving experience for European users, and the first batch of thousands of cars have arrived in Europe. This shows the quick response ability of zero-run cars, and also reflects the competitiveness of China car companies in the international market. The pricing strategy of zero-run cars in Europe has not yet been announced.

▍A new milestone in Norway’s electric vehicle market: Tesla Model Y sells more than Nissan Leaf.

On September 29th, the sales of Tesla Model Y in Norway surpassed Nissan Leaf and became the best-selling electric car in the country’s history. Norway is the country with the highest degree of electrification of automobiles in the world, and the number of electric vehicles has surpassed that of gasoline vehicles. Nissan Leaf was launched in 2011, while Tesla Model Y was released in 2019. In the past two years, Model Y has been the best-selling model in Norway, with sales reaching 2,107 vehicles in August this year. As of September, Model Y has sold 59,775 vehicles in Norway, exceeding Nissan Leaf’s 58,860 vehicles. Tesla also plans to introduce the seven-seat Model Y into the European market, which is expected to further promote sales growth. In Norway, the sales of Model 3 and Model Y far exceed that of Model S.