Albemarle Corporation, a leader in the global specialty chemicals industry, announced its intent for strategic investments in China in support of the expansion of its lithium conversion capacity. The company recently signed investment agreements with the Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial Park in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone (Jiangsu province),... Read more →

Benchmark Minerals reports that China’s ongoing energy shortage, which has seen local governments enforce intermittent power cuts since July 2021, has begun to affect domestic anode and cathode production as several producers were forced to scale back production in late Q3. Hunan and Inner Mongolia are among the most affected... Read more →

Daimler officially started operations of its new “R&D Tech Center China” in Beijing. With an investment of 1.1 billion RMB (US$172 million), the company is further strengthening its R&D footprint and technological capabilities in the world’s biggest car market. The fully-fledged R&D center focuses on major technological trends, tailor-made innovation... Read more →

China Yuchai International, a leading manufacturer and distributor of engines for on- and off-road applications in China through its main operating subsidiary, Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Company Limited (GYMCL), announced that its subsidiary Yuchai Xin-Lan New Energy Power Technology Co., Ltd. (Yuchai Xin-Lan) has entered into a cooperation agreement to further... Read more →

Allison Transmission will participate in the initial public offering (IPO) of Jing-Jin Electric (JJE), a leader in electric motor, inverter, and integrated electrified propulsion systems within China—the largest electric vehicle market in the world. As part of JJE’s upcoming IPO at The Science and Technology Innovation (STAR) Board on the... Read more →

HT Aero (Huitian), an urban air mobility (UAM) company and an affiliate of XPeng (earlier post), entered into a definitive agreement with a consortium of investors to raise more than US$500 million for its Series A capital funding. The funding round is led by IDG Capital, 5Y Capital and XPeng... Read more →

Honda last week held a virtual press conference on its electrification strategy in China. During the conference, the company announced its new environmental and safety initiatives and also held the world premiere of two planned production models and three concept models of Honda-brand electric vehicles. All new models Honda will... Read more →

Silicon Valley-based autonomous driving company Pony.ai has been authorized to conduct driverless tests on public roads in Beijing. The company is one of the two autonomous software companies (along with Baidu) to receive this important Beijing permit. Prior to receiving this driverless test permit in Beijing, Pony.ai received a permit... Read more →

Plus (formerly Plus.ai), a global provider of self-driving truck technology, has delivered the initial production batch of PlusDrive autonomous driving units to China-based FAW in order for FAW to integrate the units and launch China’s first driver-in autonomous trucks. The delivery is part of an agreement with FAW in which... Read more →

ABB and PERIC, China’s leading manufacturer of hydrogen electrolyzers, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate the widespread adoption of hydrogen as an energy source. Both companies will explore how the integration of ABB’s automation, electrification and digital solutions with PERIC’s electrolyzers can help reduce hydrogen generation costs in... Read more →

A new report from RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) finds that it is technically and economically feasible for China’s steel industry to decarbonize by 2050 through demand reduction, steel recycling and switching to green routes. China produces and consumes more than half of the world’s steel, accounting for about 17% of... Read more →

Albemarle Corporation’s subsidiary, Albemarle Lithium UK Limited, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding equity of Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Materials Co., Ltd. ("Tianyuan"), a lithium converter located in Guangxi, China. Under the terms of the agreement, Albemarle will acquire all outstanding equity from Tianyuan’s shareholders... Read more →

Allison Transmission and SAIC Hongyan Automotive Co., Ltd (formerly known as SIH Truck), a premium Chinese brand in the manufacturing, service and support of heavy-duty vehicles, signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which the two companies will integrate the Allison eGen Power 130D e-Axle into SAIC Hongyan’s regional... Read more →

Nissan unveiled the e-POWER Sylphy, the first model equipped with the e-POWER series hybrid technology (earlier post) for customers in China. e-POWER features a 100% electric motor-driven system that provides responsive acceleration, smooth deceleration and cabin quietness similar to an EV, while removing the need for external charging due to... Read more →

General Motors will invest $300 million in China-based Momenta to accelerate the development of next-generation self-driving technologies for future GM vehicles in China. Momenta has pioneered a scalable path toward full autonomous driving by combining a data-driven approach with iterating algorithms—referred to as its “flywheel approach”—as well as a “two-leg”... Read more →

Volkswagen Group China is commencing construction of a battery system production factory in Hefei (Anhui province). VW Anhui Components Company is the first battery system plant to be wholly owned by the Group in China. The initial annual capacity will be 150,000 to 180,000 high-voltage battery systems for Volkswagen Anhui’s... Read more →

Allison Transmission, a leading designer and manufacturer of conventional, electric hybrid and fully electric vehicle propulsion solutions, and Jing-Jin Electric (JJE), a China-based electrified propulsion leader in components, assemblies and systems for global automotive and commercial vehicle customers, have signed a broad, global strategic collaboration partnership agreement to accelerate the... Read more →

DeepRoute.ai has closed a Series B funding round with the investment totaling to more than US$300 million. The funding will further research and development, help scale automaker collaboration and fleet operation, and support the expansion of the team. DeepRoute.ai’s long-term strategy includes developing medium-duty trucks for urban logistics, improving transit... Read more →

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) recently put its first hydrogen station in Beijing into operation. Jointly built by CNPC and Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. (Foton), the hydrogen station covers an area of about 1,700 square meters in Changping District. With a daily refueling capacity of 600 kg, it can... Read more →

Following the approval of all relevant authorities, BASF and Shanshan have formed the joint venture “BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co., Ltd.”. The new entity will be majority owned by BASF (BASF 51% and Shanshan 49%). The newly formed company has four sites in Hunan and Ningxia, China, with more than... Read more →

Following a series of major expansion announcements in 2021, China’s cathode industry is moving closer to having its first producer with a capacity of one million tonnes per annum (tpa), according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. With battery cell producers worldwide undertaking massive expansion plans and with battery capacity in the... Read more →

Volkswagen is intensifying its e-offensive in China as part of its ACCELERATE strategy. The ID.3 will also be available on the world’s largest market for e-mobility from the fourth quarter. The compact car made its Chinese premiere at the Chengdu Motor Show. After the ID.4 and the ID.6, we are... Read more →

Geely’s Zeekr electric vehicle brand (earlier post) has raised $500 million in Pre-A funding from five strategic partners: Intel Capital; CATL; Bilibili; Cathay Fortune Group; and Boyu Capital. Intel is the leading investor amongst all five partners. The Zeekr brand is owned jointly by Geely Automobile Holding Ltd. and Zhejiang... Read more →

FTXT Energy Technology, a Great Wall Motor (GWM) subsidiary, along with partners Dayun, Dongfeng and Foton, has successfully delivered a fleet of 100 hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty trucks for the Xiong’an New Area construction project in Hebei Province, China. The heavy trucks are fitted with high-power 111 kW hydrogen fuel... Read more →

Chinese EV manufacturer XPeng signed an agreement with the Zhaoqing Municipal Government and the Zhaoqing High Technology Industry Development Zone to build the Phase Two expansion project of the XPeng Zhaoqing Smart EV Manufacturing Base located in Guangdong Province. Zhaoqing Xpeng Motors Intelligent Industrial Park Upon completion, the Phase Two... Read more →

Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) has proved another 34.029 billion cubic meters of natural gas at the Zhongjiang Gas Field, bringing the total known natural gas reserves in the Sichuan Basin to 106.1 billion cubic meters. The Zhongjiang Gas Field (Zhongjiang County of Deyang City) main gas reservoir has... Read more →

Renault Group and Geely Holding Group, China’s largest privately-owned automotive group, announced an MoU framework agreement to create a cooperation focused on China and South Korea as initial key core markets. The cooperation will allow Renault Group and Geely Holding to share resources and technologies. The focus will be on... Read more →

BorgWarner will supply dual inverters for two premier Chinese OEMs. The dual inverters will be featured on both hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) versions of the Great Wall Motor (GWM) LEMON platform, and the other major Chinese OEM will utilize the technology on its own... Read more →

Israel-based Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. (earlier post) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a multiphase business cooperation with Wuhu Chery Technology Co., LTD (Chery), a global Chinese vehicle manufacturer and Xuanyuan Idrive Technology Co. Ltd. (XY), a subsidiary of Wuhan Guide Infrared Co. (Guide Infrared), a leading Chinese developer... Read more →

GAC Group and Huawei: the two firms are partnering to develop a medium- to large-size electric SUV Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities. Mass production is targeted for the end of 2023. The SUV will be the first joint product of the two enterprises. GAC is also working with Didi on... Read more →

Haldor Topsoe and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum have formed a joint venture with the aim of delivering locally produced MK-151+ methanol synthesis catalysts to the Chinese market. The joint venture will secure fast delivery to local customers, who demand high-performance catalysts for energy-efficient methanol production. The mechanical strength of methanol synthesis... Read more →

Volvo Cars announced its autonomous driving (AD) software development subsidiary Zenseact has received a strategic investment by ECARX, a privately-owned Chinese provider of connected car technology. ECARX will take a 15% shareholding in Zenseact and make a strategic investment in the company’s continued development of leading and safe autonomous driving... Read more →

China-based self-driving startup AutoX unveiled its full Gen5 self-driving system this week. The autonomous driving platform, which is specifically designed for robotaxis, uses NVIDIA DRIVE automotive grade GPUs to reach up to 2,200 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of AI compute performance. In January, AutoX launched a commercial robotaxi system... Read more →

Air Liquide Houpu Hydrogen Equipment Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Air Liquide Group, supplied and installed 8 hydrogen dispenser units (each with two fueling nozzles) for the Daxing hydrogen station, owned and operated by Beijing Hypower Energy Technology Ltd. With a capacity of 4.8 tonnes, this station can refuel 600... Read more →

The first phase of the traction battery production project of Sichuan Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL-SC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CATL, is now in operation. Since September 2019, CATL and the city government of Yibin have successively signed contracts for the CATL-SC traction battery phase I to phase VI projects,... Read more →

China-based Minmetals Group subsidiary Minmetals Salt Lake announced the successful testing of an improved direct lithium extraction process. The process, developed by Xi’an Lanshen New Material Technology, uses aluminum hydroxide as an adsorbent to separate lithium from other impurities. R&D investment totalled RMB44.8 million (US$7.0 million) and a 1kt-scale pilot... Read more →

Rheinmetall AG, the German technology group, and Tongji University in Shanghai have recently set up a joint lab to foster cooperation in new energy vehicle technology. The joint lab, which will focus primarily on research and innovation in fuel cells, forms part of an endowed chair at the School of... Read more →

BASF and Shanshan, a leading lithium-ion battery materials supplier serving both the e-mobility and the consumer electronics (CE) market, have agreed to form a BASF majority-owned joint venture (BASF: 51%; Shanshan: 49%) to produce cathode active materials (CAM) and precursors (PCAM) in China. Closing of the transaction is targeted for... Read more →

Israel-based StoreDot, a developer of extreme fast charging (XFC) battery technology for electric vehicles (EVs), announced a new framework agreement with its strategic battery manufacturing partner EVE Energy Co., Ltd (EVE) to support the commercialization of StoreDot’s silicon-dominant anode XFC FlashBattery for EVs. The first prototypes will be available for... Read more →

Baidu will open fully driverless robotaxi services to the public in Beijing starting tomorrow. This will be China’s first paid autonomous vehicle service where users can hail a robotaxi without a safety driver behind the steering wheel. The fully driverless Apollo Go Robotaxi service will first be launched in Beijing’s... Read more →

Loop Energy, a developer and manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell-based solutions, has received and fulfilled an order for ten units of the company’s proprietary eFlow fuel cell modules from Beijing IN-Power for integration by Skywell New Energy Vehicles Group (Skywell) in Nanjing, China. The shipment marks the second phase of... Read more →

Volkswagen Group China has begun construction of an all-new MEB plant at Volkswagen Anhui. The third of the Group’s pure-electric vehicle manufacturing facilities in China, following completion of the Anting (SAIC VW) and Foshan (FAW-VW) plants, the Volkswagen Anhui plant will be powered by green energy from day one. Due... Read more →

The BMW iX electric SUV (earlier post) has its world premiere at the Auto Shanghai 2021 show. Market launch in China will get underway over the course of 2021. The BMW iX is first model in the brand’s line-up to feature the new Operating System 8 and the latest generation... Read more →

Volvo Cars and DiDi Autonomous Driving, the self-driving technology arm of Didi Chuxing, the world’s leading mobility technology platform, have signed a strategic collaboration agreement on autonomous vehicles for DiDi’s self-driving test fleet. Volvo Cars will provide DiDi with XC90 cars equipped with necessary backup systems for functions such as... Read more →

Volkswagen unveiled the third model in the ID. family, the ID.6, at the Auto Shanghai. The vehicle is the first model of the ID. family developed specifically for a single market. Two versions of the fully electric family SUV are available: The ID.6 CROZZ is being manufactured in the north... Read more →

The new Mercedes-Benz EQB is making its debut at Auto Shanghai 2021 this week. Following the EQA 250 (combined electrical consumption: 15.7 kWh/100 km) it is the second fully electric compact car from Mercedes-EQ. The market launch in China is scheduled for this year. After Europe, the international version of... Read more →

NIO and Sinopec unveiled the NIO Power Swap Station 2.0 at Sinopec’s Chaoying Station in Beijing. This is NIO’s inaugural second-generation battery swap station and also the first under the NIO-Sinopec partnership, representing the rollout of NIO Power Swap Station 2.0. (Earlier post.) As a smart battery swap system enabled... Read more →

Bosch and China-based premium commercial vehicle manufacturer Qingling Motors have established a joint venture in China: Bosch Hydrogen Powertrain Systems (Chongqing) Co. Ltd. The new company will develop, assemble and market fuel cell systems for the Chinese market. The goal is to pool the technology and market expertise of both... Read more →

China is positioning itself to dominate the global supply of copper, a material in high demand as the world transitions to alternative energy systems, according to experts from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “If China’s dominance of rare earth element supplies is the global energy transition’s ‘elephant in... Read more →

China-based Great Wall Motors (GWM) released its hydrogen energy strategy. GWM says it will build an international supply chain ecology integrating hydrogen “production-storage-transportation-refueling-application”; break barriers on core technologies ;and connect the downstream industry chain, accelerating the commercial popularization of hydrogen energy. The hydrogen energy strategy of GWM covers both the... Read more →