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Carmaker Changan Joins Hands with Huawei, CATL to Create Premium Smart Car Brand
China’s state-owned carmaker Changan Automobile has announced plans to work with Huawei and Tesla battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) to create an upscale smart vehicle brand, a move that came as some domestic automakers have scrambled to launch their high-end new energy vehicle brands in competition with Tesla, which is gaining ground in China with its popular Shanghai-built Model 3 sedans.
On Saturday, Changan said that the yet-to-be-launched premium brand will encompass an intelligent electric vehicle platform and a series of smart car-related products, but did not specify whether Huawei and CATL will pour money into Changan in exchange for a stake in the carmaker.
On the same day, Changan also unveiled its new vehicle manufacturing platform named Ark Architecture, with cars built on the platform being able to achieve high level self-driving capabilities.
The tripartite cooperation reflects Huawei’s ambition to push into the auto industry by connecting its hardware and software with internet-connected smart vehicles.
In September, Huawei launched two new-generation computing platforms for smart driving called the Mobile Data Center (MDC) 210 and the Mobile Data Center 610.
The MDC 210 features computing power of 48 trillion operations per second (TOPS), enabling Level 2 autonomy, while the MDC 610 promises a processing speed of 160 TOPS, supporting Level 3 and Level 4 autonomy.
Meanwhile, Fujian-based CATL is also exploring new businesses to diversify revenue.
The company said in an August stock filing that it plans to invest as much as 19 billion yuan ($2.73 billion) in both upstream and downstream industrial chains in an effort to secure key resources in the electric vehicle industry and accelerate its global expansion.
Tesla, Lucid, Rivian, and others join forces to create ZETA: a push for electric cars only by 2030
Twenty-eight companies in the electric vehicle industry, including big names like Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian, have joined forces to create a new organization called ZETA, with the goal to push for 100% electric vehicle sales by 2030.
Several markets have recently announced plans to move new car sales to electric vehicles only.
These initiatives, also referred to as bans on the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles, have taken many forms on different timelines.
Most recently, we saw
California move to put in place a plan to ban new gasoline-powered vehicle sales by 2035.
Now, 28 companies in the electric vehicle business are asking for an even bigger goal to be put in place: 100% electric vehicle sales throughout the light-, medium-, and heavy-duty sectors by 2030.
They created the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) to push the effort at a national level in the US.
Joe Britton, who spent 15 years working in the U.S. Senate, has been named Executive Director of ZETA.
Here are some of the things ZETA plans to push for as an organization:
1. Outcome-driven consumer EV incentives.
Point-of-sale consumer incentives drive adoption, provide cost reductions, and achieve real results in pushing transportation electrification. In addition, incentivizing early retirements while encouraging EV adoption will speed the transition and meet the urgency of the moment.
2. Emissions/performance standards enabling full electrification by 2030.
Emission targets are a key piece of protecting public health and sending the correct market signals to support and accelerate the transition to zero-emission transportation.
3. Infrastructure investments.
Strong federal charging infrastructure investments will drive the electric transportation transition and ensure that the United States is leading the way in a clean recovery where everyone is better off.
4. Domestic manufacturing.
We should not only accelerate US transportation electrification but also work to ensure that we secure domestic economic growth and leadership in EV manufacturing. Federal policies must encourage job creation and economic activity across the entire EV supply chain and lifecycle, from critical materials to vehicles.
5. Federal leadership and cooperation with sub-national entities.
Federal support should invest in research and development, provide an aligned vision for electrification, and ensure local leaders are empowered with the expertise and resources to support full vehicle electrification.
Here are the 28 founding members of ZETA:
- ABB
- Albemarle Corporation
- Arrival
- ChargePoint
- ConEdison
- Copper Development Association, Inc.
- Duke Energy
- Edison International
- Enel X
- EVBox
- EVgo
- Ioneer
- Li-Cycle
- Lordstown Motors
- Lucid Motors
- Piedmont Lithium
- PG&E Corporation
- Proterra
- Redwood Materials
- Rivian
- Siemens
- Southern Company
- SRP
- Tesla
- Vistra
- Volta
- Uber
- WAVE
Electrek’s Take
This sound like a great lobbying group for good.
There are a lot of very cool companies in that group, and of course, all of them would benefit from an acceleration of electrification, but we would also all benefit from a faster timeline to electric vehicle sales only.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this group has been put together just as President-elect Joe Biden won the election.
They will likely try to work with the new administration and legislature to try to influence the upcoming new legislation that Biden says he plans to push to accelerate electric vehicle adoption.
The president-elect has already made clear that he wants to accelerate the transition, but I think these companies have a better idea of how.
EV Battery Giant CATL to Invest $5.1b for a Factory in Indonesia
Jakarta.
Contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL, a battery manufacturer from China, has decided to invest $5.1 billion to build a manufacturing plant for electric vehicle batteries in Indonesia, the country's top investment official said on Monday.
Bahlil Lahadahlia, the head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said the company has recently signed the investment agreement and would break ground for the plant in 2021.
"The investment is about $5.1 billion. We signed the agreement when we were in China recently. The groundbreaking will commence in 2021," Bahlil said.
CATL booked $6.8 billion in sales worldwide, making it one of the world's largest electric car battery makers.
The company supplies batteries to carmakers like Hyundai, Honda, BMW, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.
Two years ago, CATL teamed up with Chinese stainless-steel maker Tsingshan Holding, Chinese battery firm GEM, Japanese trading firm Henwa and Indonesian industrial complex company Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, a $700 million project to make battery-grade nickel chemicals in Morowali, Central Sulawesi.
The investment shows Indonesia's ambition to become a key player in global green energy supplier is taking shape. The largest economy in Southeast Asia is betting on its nickel reserve, which accounts for 25 percent of the world's proven reserve, to support that ambition.
"It's all comes down to our nickel. 85 percent of the raw material for the battery comes from Indonesia. So Indonesia must be a key player in renewable energy, especially in the electric battery," Bahlil said.
Meanwhile, South Korean carmaker Hyundai has been making progress on its electric car manufacturing plant in Indonesia.
Lee Kang Hyun, the vice president and chief operating officer at Hyundai Motor Asia Pacific, said construction of Hyundai's electric car plant in the country, which is also the company's first manufacturing center based in Southeast Asia, has been 65 percent complete.
"Hyundai has started to build a factory in Delta Mas, Cikarang, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, with the full support of the governor and related ministers. Now, it has been 65 percent complete," Lee said during a West Java Investment Summit 2020 press conference in Bandung on Monday.
Lee said the company targeted the factory — which costs $1.55 billion to build on 77.6 hectares of land — would start producing combustion engine cars by the end of 2021 and electric cars in 2022.
The factory's commercial production capacity is projected to reach 150,000 units in the second half of 2021, about 60 percent of its full capacity of 250,000 units per year.
https://jakartaglobe.id/business/ev-battery-giant-catl-to-invest-51b-for-a-factory-in-indonesia
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