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Tesla's Record in Q3 Reflective of China's Solid EV FoundationDespite a great Q3 overall, Tesla in China sees demand reduce as competitors begin to catch up. Share prices for Tesla have soared to all-time highs after earnings and amidst reports of a 100,000-car deal with car rental company Hertz. Demand has not been the main issue for Tesla outside of China seeing that orders have backlogged out as far as May and prices on models have been raised. The global supply crunch has been their biggest obstacle to navigate so far. Tesla in China though is in fact seeing an isolated demand crunch while domestic firms are pouncing to shift demand in their favor. We believe Tesla's record revenue of USD 13.76 billion in Q3 is not only reflective of Tesla's success but China's impactful support. The earnings report states, "For all of Q3, China remained our main export hub. Production has ramped well in China, and we are driving improvements to increase the production rate further." Not only are a significant amount of all Tesla models produced in Giga Shanghai, but Ningde-based CATL already has a contract to produce batteries for Tesla until 2025. CATL also signed a 10-year contract with Great Wall Motor in June of 2021. EV's are getting a foothold in China the way internal combustion engine vehicles were in Japan around the 90s. Domestic brands are gaining on Tesla's share of the Chinese EV market Sales in China leaped nearly 50% in August but only 20% in September for Tesla. Their market share of BEV sales has declined from 17% in April to 11% despite the steep price reduction for the Model Y SR+ and amidst intense media scrutiny. BYD is now atop them with 14% of BEV sales in China. The domestic brands are clearly gaining consumers' favor in China as of Q3 sales for BYD, Xpeng, and Li Auto nearly tripled and NIO's sales doubled all year-over-year(YoY). Going forward, Tesla still generally expects to “achieve 50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries” over a multi-year horizon which is quite impressive. In the world's biggest EV market, however, it does seem demand for Tesla is declining at least relative to the competing rivals. Even if Tesla can recuperate some consumer appeal, investors should expect Chinese automotive firms to continue to gain ground assuming supply can keep up in scaling for 1.45 billion people. More players both new and old Nonetheless, as other emerging players begin to throw their hat in the ring like Xiaomi, Evergrande Auto, as well as international makers like Volkswagen and Toyota, there could be less room for Tesla to dominate demand. Especially if the market's fragmentation gets remedied and China solidifies its leaders of the industry, the winners of this race will be the Chinese investors. NIO has already started selling its ES8 electric SUV in Norway, challenging Tesla outside of China for the first time and has targeted Q4 of 2022 for launch in Germany. Tesla expects production up and running at Giga Berlin by the end of 2021. Legacy automakers will certainly be Tesla’s biggest global competitors because of high client adhesiveness as well as industry expertise. Within China, however, it is likely that there is only so much space in the EV market for successful international firms to squeeze in with the nationally favored domestic firms. Since Tesla has the technological prowess and resilience as a company to continue to spearhead the global EV market, it should end up in the long run as China’s premier foreign producer of EV’s. Though China isn't a completely autarkic environment, investors should still expect a sturdy path forward for Chinese EV’s to grow profitable and successful. Though there are limitations in the current global economic climate, those who can weather the storm will be rewarded. The bottom line Tesla has benefitted competing firms with good influence and transparency as well as a commitment to growing China's EV market. In 2021 though, Tesla's declining position could be attributable to issues with recalls to refine autopilot systems as well as other negative sentiments from the trade war. The US does claim China unfairly favors its domestic producers and contributes to accelerating the negative press. Investors should expect that regardless of legality in their execution, China will aggressively promote their EV makers at home and abroad. Even if Tesla overcomes these road bumps in navigating this massive foreign market, there should and likely will be enough room for the best EV firms in China to grow and flourish. After all, Tesla is likely to grow too big to ignore especially in the world's current hottest EV market. But China's more urban-oriented driving habits do favor domestic producers of mini EV's. With that being said, these infantile EV makers have a lot on their side and will cater directly to the needs and appeal of Chinese consumers. For the full article with the charts, please visit the original link.
NASDAQ:TSLA
by EqualOcean
Luckin Coffee Settles USD 175 Mn Class Action Lawsuit Over FraudLuckin denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle while its U.S.-based lawyer did not immediately respond to media requests for comment on Tuesday. After their founding in 2017, Luckin Coffee's hype and share price peaked around early 2020 as they broke out to rival global coffee icon Starbucks. Then Muddy Waters Research dropped a bombshell claim of falsified revenue on behalf of the company to inflate share prices. The internal probe found that its chief operating officer and other staff fabricated about USD 310 million of sales in 2019, or about 40% of annual sales projected by analysts. The SEC stated that Luckin raised more than USD 864 million from equity and debt investors while the fraud was taking place. The Securities and Exchange Commission consequentially delivered accounting fraud civil charges and fined Luckin USD 180 million last December. Then came the fall from grace. Within two months their share price sank more than 80%. Shares are now trading around USD 15 as the stock is up an impressive 220% in the past year. Their unaudited financials for the first half of 2021 show that they achieved a 16% store-level profit margin and that net revenues increased over 106% resulting from higher net selling prices and an increase in items sold. They've still managed to achieve positive revenue growth amidst all of the settlement fees and negative publicity. Luckin Coffee also still manages to operate around 5,259 stores in China maintaining a firm presence. Things should be looking up for Luckin as the clouds clear while investors can capitalize on their refocus.
OTC:LKNCY
by EqualOcean
XPeng to Launch 800v, 480kW Overcharge... and Super Energy Storage Station. The CEO of XPeng Inc. predicted that the penetration rate of new energy vehicles would reach 50% in 2025. On October 24, Xiaopeng He, CEO of XPeng Motors, said that XPeng hopes to be the first 800V high-voltage platform equipped with silicon carbide chips in mass production, aiming to achieve the endurance of 200 kilometers after charging for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, XPeng will also launch the supporting 480kW high-pressure overcharge pile. The energy storage station designed by XPeng can meet the overcharge of 30 vehicles at the same time. In other words, XPeng will launch three schemes in terms of energy supplement, that is, 800V, 480kW overcharge and Super Energy Storage Station, respectively. In addition, XPeng also announced its exploration progress in electrification and intelligence. It is reported that it's Xpilot 2.5 accounts for 89.74%, and the activation rate of version 3.0 with high-speed NGP is 59.29%. He pointed that intelligent-assisted driving is not automatic driving, where man-machine driving will be an inevitable choice for a long time. It is worth noting that Xinzhou Wu, vice president of XPeng's auto-driving business, said that the urban NGP function is expected to be launched in the first half of 2022 and will be tested on some roads in the first batch of cities. In January 2021, XPeng's NGP was officially opened to users. Users can realize automatic navigation-assisted driving from point A to point B based on the set navigation route. The high-speed NGP function realized by XPeng P7 can cover most domestic expressways and some urban expressways. Apart from the functions of ACC adaptive cruise, LCC lane-centering assistance, ALC automatic lane change assistance, some other functions include but are not limited to automatic lane change, automatic speed limit adjustment, overtaking at night, ramping in, and out.
NYSE:XPEV
by EqualOcean
BYD Reportedly to Raise Battery Prices by Over 20% Next MonthBYD's reasoning is that the raw materials for lithium batteries have been rising due to market changes, power restrictions, and production limitations. BYD, China's largest new energy vehicle company, is also the second-largest local supplier of power batteries after CATL. As costs rise, the company is said to be raising the price of its batteries. BYD will raise the unit prices of its battery products, including CO8M, by no less than 20 percent from November 1, the Securities Times said Tuesday, citing a document. BYD argues that the raw materials for lithium batteries in 2021 continue to rise with the price of cathode material LiCoO2 rising by more than 200 percent and electrolyte prices rising by more than 150 percent. Material supply continues to be tight, resulting in a significant increase in comprehensive costs, according to the Securities Times. Since November 1, BYD and its customers will sign new contracts for new orders and implement new prices, and orders for old contracts that have not been completed will be closed and canceled, according to the report. Local media cls.cn then quoted BYD insiders as saying that the information is currently being verified. It's unclear whether CO8M batteries are power cells used in new energy vehicles, and public sources can't find an explanation of the term. BYD is also one of the world's largest suppliers of batteries for cell phones and ranks second in China's power battery market. Data released earlier this month by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance showed that BYD's installed power battery capacity in China was 14.73 GWh from January to September this year, with a 16 percent market share. CATL's installed capacity from January to September was 46.79 GWh, ranking first with a 50.8% market share. It is worth noting that BYD's power cells are mainly supplied to itself and have been used in some other brands' new energy logistics vehicles since 2018. This year Ford Mustang Mach-E and some FAW Hongqi models started using BYD's power cells. In May, the Digi Times reported that with the price increase of China-made Tesla Model 3, rumors said CATL might follow with a 10 percent price increase. The report mentioned that LFP raw material prices have jumped 50 percent this year, but battery suppliers have taken on the pressure of the price hike themselves for fear it would lead to lost orders. Citing sources, the report said most LFP battery makers want CATL to take the lead in raising prices in response to the steep rise in LFP material costs, making it easy for the industry to follow suit. CATL later responded that the report that its LFP battery offer would be raised was not true. This article was first published by Phate Zhang on CnEVPost, a website focusing on new energy vehicle news from China.
OTC:BYDDY
by EqualOcean
Alibaba Sheds USD 344 Bn Since October 2020Following the exile of Jack Ma, shares of BABA tumbled down from all-time highs a year ago. No company has incurred more of a loss in market capitalization than Alibaba in the last year. None have come close to the large figure. Ever since Ma publicly expressed forthright discontent with the financial system of China, investor sentiment around the successful giant has dwindled. The price of shares consequently halved into late September and are still fairly dormant improving to USD 173. Jack Ma has recently been photographed in the Netherlands browsing agriculture tech after his public reappearance in Spain a week ago. Shares have rallied around 7% ever since. The company's presentation of a new server chip on October 18 has further helped improve share price. The chip is based on advanced 5-nanometer technology designed to support the company's growing cloud computing business. Alibaba will likely report earnings on November 4th where investors can expect strong business growth, and another revenue beat. Though there are still considerable risks that investors should not ignore, Alibaba should still be a solid pick for the coming years.
NYSE:BABA
by EqualOcean
USA. Taxes. China. Crisis. Electricity. Europe. BitcoinThe world leaders have begun to create a synthetic crisis. This crisis is far scarier - the energy crisis. It is not an accident that coal-fired power plants in Great Britain were not just shut down or canned. They exploded it without any chance to rebuild. It gave the island 44% of its generation in 2012. Britain is developing a plan to build a 3,800 km long transmission line off the coast of Morocco. There will build wind farms. They will be able to meet as much as 5% of Britain's electricity needs. By the way, they will lose up to 30% of the generated electricity in the submarine cables. All countries in whose territorial waters the cable runs will have to pay a constant fee. There has never been a more costly energy project on the planet. Last year, in 2020, China permanently abandoned imports of coal from Australia, which covered 25% of the Celestial Empire's electricity generation. Most interestingly, China has not sent proposals to, for example, the Russian Ministry of Energy to organize coal exports. It simply increased its consumption of liquefied gas. The result was not long in coming. The largest factories all over China receive a schedule of power outages. The schemes include 2 in 2 or 1 in 3 days. The most extensive electricity consumers are the industrial companies. They will work only 3 or 4 days a week. Orders from major technology companies are in jeopardy. It is the most trivial issue we have. The fact is that almost all manufacturers in the world in mechanical engineering, electronics, pharmaceuticals, light industry, and the food industry are dependent on component supplies from China. They couldn't invent anything better than an energy crisis in China to disrupt global supply chains, production processes and provoke mass unemployment and hunger. There are two global dangers in the world right now. The first is the bankruptcy of the Chinese mega-developer Evergrande, which threatens to bankrupt dozens of businesses in China and even more investment funds in the United States. The second is a default by the U.S. federal government, which could occur soon. So far, there is not a hint of consensus among congressmen (Democrats and Republicans) about the issue of raising the limit of the federal budget borrowing by $3.5 trillion. Such a decision would automatically be associated with a bill to change the taxation rules in the United States. Biden signs a government funding bill to prevent a shutdown. So-called unrealized gains will now be taxed. For example, you own a house for $400,000, and last year it went up in value to $600,000. In that case, you immediately owe $60,000 to $100,000 in taxes. So if you don't currently have that money, you will need to sell your house to pay your taxes. The same goes for cryptocurrency owners. Let's suppose that you have Bitcoin in your portfolio, and it has grown in value by 300% during a year. You don't want to sell it. You are waiting for the price of $300k per BTC. In case of this law is passed, you have to pay taxes and have to sell half of your bitcoins to pay taxes.
OANDA:SPX500USD
by EXCAVO
34
Volkswagen's EVs Taking Off, May Surpass NIO's Market Share Volkswagen's EVs Are Taking Off in China, May Soon Surpass NIO's Market Share On October 22, SAIC Volkswagen ID.3 was launched in the country at CNY 159,888 to CNY 173,888 per vehicle. Volkswagen China achieved a milestone of 10,000 EV sales in September 2021. We dissect Volkswagen's EV sales through three perspectives: product, production and marketing. A solid EV lineup, concrete production capacity and improved marketing have made VW one of the fastest legacy brands shifting to an EV company status. We expect VW to surpass NIO and Xpeng's market share very soon but remain shy of Tesla or BYD. The global chip shortage has hurt the auto industry, with companies at the risk of cutting more production. Electric vehicles built on more technology attributes that need more chips should have been hit badly. However, Volkswagen China delivered stellar EV sales in Q3, which grew from 3,415 units in June to 10,126 units in September, eclipsing NIO and Xpeng's growth rates in the same period. As an EV brand once underrated by some Chinese consumers, how did the company lift its sales so quickly? This article will rewind Volkswagen's EV story in China and give it an outlook. Entering the mainland market Before entering China, in 2020, Volkswagen Group sold 56,500 ID.3 in Europe during the final four months, which proved ID's strong product power. One year later, VW started to consider launching and manufacturing special ID models in China. According to an official announcement, Volkswagen Group (China) rolled out two new IDs based on MEB's innovative modular electric drive platform at the end of 2020, including pure electric models FAW-Volkswagen ID.4 CROZZ and SAIC Volkswagen ID.4 X. The two models are larger than ID.3 and tailored to Chinese consumers. They had started production in Foshan and Anting factories, and the products would be launched in early 2021. These two plants have a total annual production capacity of 600,000 vehicles. So, Volkswagen is one of the earliest legacy car makers that put EVs into production in the Chinese market. With a concrete production line, the company began to pre-order ID.4 in China at the beginning of 2021. Compared with Tesla, Xpeng and NIO's lineup, some argued ID series were uncompetitive for shorter driving ranges, lacking intelligent features. But VW China has refreshed people's minds with spectacular sales growth. In the beginning stage of selling, ID didn't perform well. The auto insurance data showed April saw 2,140 units sales of ID.4, which is tiny for the auto behemoth. Later on, VW adjusted its policy with the dealership network to stimulate them to sell more EVs, set a new team to deal with NEV sales and trained a special EV sales team to find the momentum. Another critical initiative Volkswagen made is an omnichannel selling strategy. ID models are sold in the existing 4S stores and shopping malls. The shopping mall stores are invested and built by existing dealers, and there is no directly operated shop of OEMs. The company learned new retailing strategies from Tesla and NIO's success using multi-channels to acquire traffic. Volkswagen is opening EV-only stores in more malls, namely through ID. Stores. There are dozens of stores in Shanghai. It is also expanding into other megacities. Following more ID models exhibited in shopping malls and 4S stores, ID saw a surprising increase in sales, which broke 10,000 monthly sales six months after delivery. By comparison, it cost NIO and Xpeng two years. Will VW keep growing sales fast in the future? We expect VW to acquire a larger market share in the following period. We judge the future delivery range of an NEV company from a perspective of the product, production capacity and marketing. ID models' product has won EU consumers' acceptance and should be accepted by the Chinese. The production capacity may be a problem, but Volkswagen has a one-million-global-EV-sales target this year, which was set when the firm was well aware of the supply issues. It ought to prioritize new energy vehicles production, and the inventory purchased at the end of 2020 can be used for some time. So, sales should continue to rise, but supply chain issues will impact capacity. Besides, the popularity of Volkswagen electric cars is increasing as more shops are built. By the end of this year, monthly sales are very likely to set a new record again. To discuss the sales 'ceiling' of ID, we have to benchmark it to the industry leaders such as Tesla and BYD. After one year of mass delivery in China, Tesla gained its EV market share between 10-15%. BYD is shifting towards a full-EV brand and takes around 20% of China's NEV market. We believe Volkswagen is far from catching up with these two companies for being a legacy player but can surpass NIO and Xpeng's respective market shares in a year based on recent sales momentum. In a nutshell VW's solid EV product, concrete production capacity and omnichannel sales system made it one of the fastest legacy brands to complete an 'EV shift.' The sales momentum hints its future delivery will keep jumping. Although we don't think the company will quickly transform into an EV leader like Tesla in the premium segment or BYD in the lower price bands, it is very likely to grow its market share to overtake NIO or Xpeng's in the short run. For the full article with the charts, please visit the original link.
OTC:VWAGYLong
by EqualOcean
Alibaba Group Looks like on the daily timeframe, we are on the top side of the MAcd which entails that we may be at a level to although on the weekly we are oversold, the daily looks like there "may" and i mean "MAY" be a small pullback to the previous low (38%) before it continues to the upside. BABA won't and can't be held back for long before it reaches its previous high up to 38 -61% of that previous high on the weekly time frame. This the Google of China and Munger believes in them heavily. I'll follow! He's my mentor
NYSE:BABALong
by Redimere_91
PKK to $17-18 in NovemberFollowing a rocky start after an uplisting and delisting from NASDAQ, PKK has been checking all the boxes in every other metric and has been hitting it's bull flag targets since the first run from 35 cents. Despite the pullback after losing the NASDAQ listing, we retraced only a little more than the historical 57% after every bull run and the hit we took after the de-listing ended up basically just printing another flag. Golden cross on daily two days ago as well as crossing over the 200MA on hourly timeframe since the beginning of the pullback and yesterday and today we are testing the top of the band with uplisting news expected today. Looking for $17-18 by end of November.
CSE:PKKLong
by Keeegs
1
Alibaba Cloud to Launch New Data Center and AI-Powered AssistantAn exciting day arrived for Alibaba Cloud as the company unveiled its new meeting assistant AI and announced the launch of a new data center planned for next year in South Korea. The company is trying to end the year strong as it continues to roll out more innovations and future plans. Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of its first data center in South Korea in the first half of 2022. The new data center will offer its clients in South Korea more reliable and secure cloud services as well as highlight the company's effort in its commitment to empowering South Korean businesses' digitalization. Unique Song, the regional general manager of Japan and South Korea, said that "South Korea is a strategic market for Alibaba Cloud and we are building the new data center to address the increasing demand for cloud infrastructure services from local clients. Together with our global data network, we will continue to help our South Korean customers heighten their pace of digital transformation and global expansion through the latest cloud computing technologies and ecosystem support". Alibaba Cloud also unveiled the brand-new AI-powered meeting assistant, Tingwu, and a new version of the company's cloud computing. These new enterprise solutions aim at the growing popularity and surging demand of working remotely. Tingwu was developed by the global research initiative Speech Lab of Alibaba DAMO Academy. The meeting assistant is able to convert spoken words during a meeting into writing with 98% accuracy. Tingwu can also distinguish up to 10 meeting participants' voices and can handle English, Mandarin and 14 other Chinese dialects as well as generate meeting summaries and highlights.
NYSE:BABA
by EqualOcean
Alibaba Cloud Launches Premium DingTalk for 2022 Asian GamesAlibaba’s Premium DingTalk aims to help athletes, volunteers and organizers efficiently communicate at the upcoming 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. On October 20, Alibaba Cloud unveiled the Premium DingTalk for sports games at the Apsara Conference 2021. The newly released DingTalk will provide a digital solution for organizing communications for large-scale sporting events and will be used by over 100,000 participants at the upcoming 2022 Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou. The General Manager of the International Business Unit Selina Yuan said, "Alibaba Cloud's ambition is to transform the experience of sports in the digital era. As part of our continued efforts to achieve this goal, our new DingTalk solution is designed to help users manage and operate large-scale sports events in a more structured manner… Following our success in delivering technological solutions and services to digitalize the Olympics Games Tokyo 2020, we are excited about the opportunity to support the upcoming 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou." The app aims to streamline workflow as well as facilitate communications between different groups. Premium DingTalk also allows smooth real-time information exchange through functions including video conference, multi-language translation, and more.
NYSE:BABA
by EqualOcean
Baidu Apollo and WM Motor Launch Two New Cars on October 19Baidu Apollo and WM Motor officially released two new cars on October 19, both of which are based on the WM Motor W6 SUV. One is a new generation of the unmanned vehicle Apollo Moon mass production model equipped with LiDAR (Apollo Moon WM Motor version), and the other is a mass-production model equipped with Baidu Apollo Navigation Pilot (ANP) assisted driving system and Apollo Valet Parking (AVP) autonomous parking system. This also means that the cooperation between Baidu and WM Motor has completed full coverage from AVP and ANP to completely unmanned Apollo Moon models. According to Baidu, the Apollo Moon version of the W6 and WM Motor W6 models with ANP and AVP both adopt the 'ANP-Robotaxi' architecture, which can achieve data generation and share at the same time. The W6 with ANP+AVP model has 12 cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars with L2+ autonomous driving capabilities, which means that it can realize higher-level pilot-assisted driving capabilities such as intelligent avoidance, autonomous lane changing, driving through on- and off-ramps and access to service areas. The Apollo Moon version of the W6, on the other hand, adds one custom LiDAR system and corresponding driverless redundancy to the ANP+AVP version, allowing for fully driverless capability. It adopts a range of 46 safety technologies and 59 travel service designs with full sensor and computing unit redundancy. Even if one system fails, it can ensure that the whole vehicle still carries out driving commands and brings passengers to a safe place. At the same time, for the Apollo Moon version of the W6, all the sub-packaging processes before the production line are independently completed by WM Motor, allowing the production process to be further optimized. Baidu also claimed the robotaxi can achieve an operating cycle of more than five years and can be put into large-scale stable operations.
NASDAQ:BIDU
by EqualOcean
XPeng's Flying Car Closes over USD 500 Mn in Series A fundingThis is the largest single round of financing to date for a company in the low-altitude manned vehicle sector in Asia, with HT Aero's pre-investment valuation exceeding USD 1 billion. HT Aero (Xiaopeng Huitian), a technology unit majority-owned by XPeng Motors and CEO He Xiaopeng, announced today that it has closed a Series A round of funding in excess of USD 500 million at a pre-investment valuation of over USD 1 billion. The financing was led by IDGCapital, 5Y Capital and XPeng Motors, with participation from Sequoia China, Eastern Bell Capital, GGV Capital, GLVentures and Yunfeng Capital. This is the largest single round of financing to date for a company in the low-altitude manned vehicle sector in Asia. XPeng Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said the company's increased investment in HT Aero will further accelerate its layout of a large ecosystem of intelligent transportation. After the financing is completed, HT Aero will further increase its investment in the development and manufacturing of flying cars, high-end talent pool and airworthiness certification, said Zhao Deli, the company's president. HT Aero's next-generation flying car will be a true integration of a flying vehicle and a car that can run on land as well as fly in the air, and is expected to be announced in 2024, Zhao said. At the Shanghai Auto Show in April, XPeng unveiled the X1, a fourth-generation intelligent electric manned flying vehicle that is the size of a regular car and can take off and land vertically in a parking space. On July 16, He announced the release of the fifth-generation flying vehicle X2 via Weibo, saying, "This marks another step closer to a more widely available and safe flying car." The X2 is a two-seat, enclosed cockpit, all-electric flying car with autonomous flight path planning capabilities, ground monitoring, self-service return landing, and 100-kilometer two-way real-time communication. It is worth noting that the lack of policies and regulations is the key to the difficulty of commercializing flying cars. According to China's current regulations, aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of more than 150 kg are classified as large drones, and their flight locations, routes and airspace are subject to regulators' management. This means that flying cars are actually no longer part of the 'car' category, and existing ground transportation systems and regulations do not apply to them. As the main mode of commercialization of flying cars - 'air cab' operation faces many problems. In China, flying vehicles need to obtain a permit to carry people, and to operate commercially, they need to obtain an operating permit. Globally, the level of sophistication of regulations regarding low-altitude manned vehicles is also different, which has led to commercialization difficulties for companies in this field. On April 1 this year, China established the Central Air Traffic Management Committee (CATMC), which means that the country has taken an important step in reforming its low-altitude airspace management. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) began a field review of the EHang EH216 autopilot aircraft in April this year, signaling a step forward in the regulation of the sector. On July 17, CCTV reported that Hunan Province became the first in China to be allowed to conduct a pilot program for all-area low-altitude flights. Hunan will accumulate experience in aircraft surveillance communication coverage, low-altitude airspace regulation, and low-altitude airspace operation management in low-altitude airspace below 3,000 meters to provide a theoretical basis for the opening of low-altitude flights nationwide, the report said. The report did not provide more details, but the pilot in one province heralds the prospect of more policy support for low-altitude flying, a strictly regulated market. This article was first published by Phate Zhang on CnEVPost, a website focusing on new energy vehicle news from China.
NYSE:XPEV
by EqualOcean
NIO's Thirsty EVThe NIO ES8, introduced in Norway on September 30, recently underwent a 1000km test resulting in an average performance. The journey resulted in an 11hour, 25-minute journey. The car stopped to charge 5 times and sustained an average driving speed of 87.6km/h. This ES8 utilized a 100kwh lithium-ion battery and besides its high energy consumption, the car did not offer the fastest charging rates. Bjorn Nyland described the new vehicle as to the thirstiest electric car ever tested. During his 1000km challenge, the car consumed 318kwh. With a middle-of-the-pack performance for NIO's newest addition to its fleet, it will have to set itself apart with its looks, features, and safety. The car is described as very comfortable in terms of interior space, has big wheels which affect its performance and efficiency, and even includes an egg-shaped small AI personal assistant named Nomi which can take pictures for you or direct you to a charging station. While prices for its American rival start at USD 107,097.12 in the UK, the ES8 is on sale in its homeland at the equivalent of USD 70,711.56. NIO has already begun deliveries of the ES8 and plans to expand outside of China to Norway first and eventually Germany. The initial upfront cost may be enticing to consumers who seek cheaper alternatives to premier EV's, but the performance and electric consumption could be a hindrance in the long run to committed customers. The rival Tesla Model X Long Range completed Bjorn's challenge an hour faster. Aside from the ES8, the company could have at least two more new models to unveil to the public on December 18th at– ‘NIO Day’ – that will hopefully perform more competitively against rival EV subtypes while maintaining affordability.
NYSE:NIO
by EqualOcean
Evergrande, Inflation, Supply Chains = Good For Crypto? I did a video version of the editor's pick idea (link below) with more details and a more holistic look at what's been going on in real-estate, politics, and crypto. What happens next is anyone's guess but underlying trends tend to show that the crypto market itself will probably be OK, if not bullish. Some notes from the vid below: - Inflation is here to stay in the US, China’s inflation is very low right now (below 1% with up and down trends, the US is 5.4% and steadily climbing) and is more likely to recover more smoothly in the long run if they allow Evergrande to default on their loans. - The United States was caught off guard by inflation warnings because they have outsourced most of their manufacturing overseas over the last few decades -- out of sight, out of mind. (They refused to consider increasing interest rates or lower gov spending until very recently.) - Crypto is an “inflation friendly” asset because its price is adjustable and is not beholden to supply chain issues. - China’s ban on Bitcoin and other assets are pretty typical of the politics there, but savvy Chinese investors often invest in foreign assets as a way to dodge taxation and political entities taking control of their assets. This includes real-estate, but also things like cryptocurrencies. - In September, the media latched onto the Evergrande controversy and dipping crypto prices by attempting to correlate the two. Data shows otherwise, however. - It will probably take 6-12 months (1 or 2 business cycles) before the effects of Evergrande are seen in the US real-estate markets, but it will most likely be negative for traditional assets. The question is, will this be good or bad for crypto?
BITSTAMP:BTCUSD
by RyanTanaka
1