EVDigest Weekly Newsletter

Good morning and welcome to all of our new subscribers. You are joining an incredible group of experts that includes EV company CEOs, sell-side analysts, investors, auto veterans and more. So happy Monday to you all and lets dive right in to the third issue of EVDigest's weekly newsletter covering the business and policy of EVs. 

In today's newsletter:- Headline: NIO targets the U.S. as Chinese EVs go global - Product Pipeline: New teasers from Delorean, Polestar, Lucid and more  - In Other News: FSD price hike, Energy's final assembly list and VinFast rebates- The China Report: BYD gets a state visit, Tesla delivery times cut- Last Week Today: Other EV news you might have missed

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NIO eyes U.S. Entry in 2025 as Chinese EV Makers Go Global 

In an exclusive from EV, NIO is targeting a U.S. market entry in 2025 and plans to deploy its first battery swap station in the country as soon as November this year.

As recently as May, NIO has been searching for U.S.-based professionals experienced in large-scale manufacturing and logistics. During its NIO Day for investors in December last year, founder William Li said that he wants to bring the company's products and offerings to 25 overseas markets by 2025. That includes the U.S.

Li visited NIO's U.S. headquarters in San Jose last week and also stopped by San Francisco. Photos show him in a hard hat with Head of Real Estate, Scott Lifschultz, presumably scouting the first NIO House location in the country.

And while NIO has the U.S. in its sights, it is already making moves in Europe.

Just yesterday, NIO's first ET7 EVs set sail to Europe, with final destinations of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In a research note to investors, Deutsche Bank's Edison Yu said: "With most investors laser focused on weekly/monthly sales in China, we take a break from that and provide a brief update on recent developments that show NIO pushing forward overseas which we think is an under-appreciated aspect of NIO's long term growth prospects."

And NIO is not alone. In fact, the race for Europe amongst Chinese EV brands is well under way. And this comes as Western OEMs see big declines in their China sales (Volkswagen alone saw a 20.5% YoY decline in China and HK sales for the first half of 2022).

Product Pipeline

There have been so many new announcements that they deserve their own segment:

Delorean is back to the future with the Alpha5. The company unveiled its flagship vehicle at Pebble Beach after teasing the car earlier in May. It also showcased three other "generational concept vehicles" to the Alpha5: the Alpha2, Alpha3 and Alpha4. The company's original announcement said that just 88 Alpha5s will be built, with a projected on-sale date of 2024.

Polestar 6 ($PSNY) to go from concept to production. There will be a limited, 500-unit run of the 884HP dual-motor powertrain convertible Polestar 6. Priced at $200k, reservation holders will need to put down $25k and wait until 2026.

Lucid ($LCID) unveils Sapphire, targeting Model S Plaid. Priced at $249k, the Lucid Air Sapphire features three motors, carbon-ceramic brakes, aerodynamic package, new sport seats and track-tuned suspension. Production is expected in the second half of 2023.

The Dodge Charger EV ($STLA) is coming. After announcing the sunsetting of its gas-powered muscle vehicles, Dodge has teased it's first electric muscle car, the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT. Fans will have to wait until 2024 to get their hands on the EV. The name begs the question of what confusion will arise from "Charger EV" Google searches.

Acura partners with GM ($GM) for its first EV. Acura is bringing back the ZDX name in a joint venture with GM and will use GM's Ultium batteries. The most advanced configuration is said to give up to 430 miles of range. Production is slated for 2024. Let's hope the new ZDX does not inherit the struggles of its namesake.

Mercedes EQE SUV interior images teased. The preview comes ahead of the official October 16th debut. The SUV offers the MBUX Hyperscreen as an option:

In Other News

Tesla ($TSLA) FSD price hike and a Bloomberg blunder? Thing's have been busy at Tesla. In a tweet, Elon said that the price for Tesla's Full Self-Driving package would increase 25% to $15,000 starting September 5th. Last week, Tesla also denied a report by Bloomberg that David Searle, the company's general counsel who led an investigation into a top Elon lieutenant, had left the company.

Department of Energy Releases List of Vehicles with U.S. Final Assembly. While electric vehicle content requirements for the tax credit go into effect on January 1, 2023, the U.S. final assembly provision kicked in on August 16th. Energy's list includes Model Year 2022 and early Model Year 2023 vehicles based on data submitted to NHTSA.

VinFast promises reservation holders a rebate if tax credit denied. In an email sent to reservation holders, the company has promised to provide its own rebate of up to $7,500 if buyers cannot get the tax credit under the IRA provisions. Ahead of plans for its North Carolina facility to go online in 2024, VinFast recently opened six showrooms across California.

The China Report

BYD ($BYDDY) receives visit from Chinese Premier as company swells. In a visit to the company's HQ, Premier Li Keqiang told staff: "Instead of taking administrative approaches, we rely on market competition and the survival of the fittest to create a few aces." He implored the company to cooperate internationally and open up to the world.

BYD currently has 500k employees, and has been hiring at a rate of 23k employees per month in 2022. The company's target head count:-  End of 2022: 650k employees-  End of 2023: 900k+ employees

BYD remains that top NEV sales leader by a wide margin in China:

Tesla ($TSLA) cuts China delivery times with new upgrades. According to Tesla China's website, delivery times for the Model 3 and Model Y have been cut by an average of about 4 weeks. The decrease is a result of recent line modifications which have expanded Giga Shanghai's annual capacity to 750k units.

XPeng ($XPEV) ultra-fast charger adds 200km in 5 minutes. The demonstration of the 480 kW S4 ultra-fast charger used an Xpeng G9 model. Morgan Stanley's Tim Hsiao followed up with a note to investors titled "High-power charging race has begun in China". The demonstration was also a shot against the bow of NIO's battery swap strategy.   

EV companies top Forbes China Best CEOs and most popular firms lists. BYD and CATL's CEOs ranked first and second, respectively, on Forbes China's best CEOs list. EV companies are also some of the most desired destinations for top talent for the first half of 2022, with NIO and Geely taking the number three and five spots, respectively.

Li Auto's ($LI) L9 rolls off the production line. Production began at the company's facility in Changzhou in eastern Jiangsu province. The full-size SUV is priced at RMB 459,800 ($68,650). Li Auto hopes to ramp production to make 10,000 deliveries in September. The L9 received over 30,000 orders within 72 hours of the vehicle being made available for reservation. 

Last Week Today

• BMW test vehicle crash leaves 1 dead and 9 injured. BMW refuted a police statement that had questioned whether the driver had been using autonomous steering capabilities when the BMW iX test vehicle swerved into incoming traffic.

• Xos ($XOS) unveils strategic partnership with NationaLease. The leasing organization, with 165k vehicles in its fleet, has agreed to list Xos vehicles and services as part of its offerings This will include Xos’ Xosphere fleet management platform.

• Hyundai Ioniq 5 is Car and Driver’s ’22 EV of the Year. The “confidently weird” car beat out Ford’s Mach-e, the Lucid Air $LCID and Rivian R1T $RIVN, among others.

• Faraday Future ($FFIE) expects deliveries. In its Q2 earnings, Faraday said it expects to begin deliveries of the FF 91 in the third or fourth quarter this year. It also announced potential funding of up to $600m. Net loss was $142M.

• Evergrande NEV Denies Takeover. Denying rumors, it says it has been actively working to bring in strategic investors. Reports suggest suppliers are demanding full payment in advance given the parent company’s woes

• Geely EV Sales Gain. The automaker’s mass-market Geometry and premium Zeekr brands surged in the first half of ’22, up 520% over the prior year. NEVs are expected to make up over 30% of sales by the end of 2022.

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