China-based Li-ion battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) has begun construction of its first lithium-ion battery factory in Thuringia, a state in east-central Germany. CATL has developed partnerships with a number of European companies in the automobile industry including BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler, Volvo, and Bosch. Germany is home... Read more →

Buick launched the VELITE 6 PLUS MAV (multi-activity vehicle) electric vehicle in China. The newest member of the VELITE 6 family, the VELITE 6 PLUS has a constant-speed range of up to 410 kilometers (255 miles) under New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) conditions on a single charge. This enables it... Read more →

Loop Energy, a provider of fuel cell range extenders for medium- and heavy-duty motive applications, has established a joint venture and non-exclusive license agreement with IN-Power, a leading power electronics supplier to the transport sector in China. Under the terms of the Agreement, the two companies will collaborate to produce... Read more →

Siemens Digital Industries Software has partnered with Tianmu Lake Institute of Advanced Energy Storage Technologies (TIES), a major Chinese energy storage research and development center, to build an Advanced Battery Technology Innovation Center. The Innovation Center, to be located at the CNY500-million (US$70-million), 51,000 square meter facility in Liyang, China,... Read more →

Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital arm of the Bosch Group, has invested in Trunk, a startup based in Beijing. Trunk provides combined hardware and software solutions for autonomous trucking. Trunk is the first company to go into production with autonomous trucking solutions for the container... Read more →

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation signed a Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement to deepen their partnership in the fields of electrification and intelligent networking. Chairman of Guangzhou Automobile Group Zeng Qinghong (left) and Toyota President Akio Toyoda (right) Under the agreement, based on the basic concept that... Read more →

Ideanomics Inc. announced that its MEG Group, through its joint venture with iUnicorn, has finalized its first order of EV Taxis for the city of Chengdu. As part of the deal, MEG took over a previous order of 4,000 EV taxis from a third-party and helped facilitate the delivery of... Read more →

UL, a leading global safety science organization, is establishing a large-scale electric vehicle (EV) battery laboratory to support the growing EV market. To be fully operational by April 2020 and located in Changzhou, China, the facility will be one of the most advanced in the world and provide comprehensive EV... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has completed its creation of a global innovation network with the establishment of Hyundai CRADLE Beijing. With sites in Seoul, Berlin, Tel Aviv, and Silicon Valley, the China office is the fifth center in the network, which exists to explore and utilize various innovation opportunities and... Read more →

Ideanomics Inc. and its strategic Mobile Energy Group (MEG) announced a strategic partnership with the China National Petroleum Corporation Nanjing (CNPC or PetroChina) to begin converting existing fossil fuel gas stations in the city of Nanjing. PetroChina is the world’s third-largest oil company and plays a leading role in energy... Read more →

StreetScooter GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post and market leader for electric light commercial vehicles (eLCV), has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Chinese automobile manufacturer Chery Holding Group (Chery) establishing a joint venture between the two companies. Total investment could be up to €500 million. Chery is... Read more →

Silicon Valley-based Plus.ai has formed a joint venture with FAW Jiefang, China’s oldest and largest truck manufacturer, to develop autonomous trucks for China. Plus.ai specializes in developing full-stack self-driving technology to enable large scale autonomous commercial fleets. The exclusive partnership is also launching its first product, the first production-class L2... Read more →

Polestar, the electric performance brand jointly owned by Volvo Car Group and Zhejiang Geely Holding, opened its first production facility. Polestar also announced its World Manufacturing Identifier, which officiates the brand as a standalone car company. The new Polestar Production Center in Chengdu, China will produce the Polestar 1—a carbon... Read more →

In 2015, ship emissions increased summer PM2.5 concentrations and O3 mixing ratios by 1.4 μg/m3 and 1.9 ppb, respectively, within the Pearl River Delta (PRD), China, according to a new study by a team from Emory University and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). This resulted in an estimated... Read more →

In June 2019, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were responsible for 91% of all passenger electrified vehicle battery capacity deployed globally (in GWh) versus just 84% in June 2018, according to Adamas Intelligence’s latest ‘EV Battery Capacity Monthly’ report. There are two causes for the increase in capacity deployed by BEVs... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group opened Hyundai Hydrogen World—an exhibition hall dedicated to the fuel-cell electric vehicle, related technologies and energy—at the center of the Century Square in Shanghai. The exhibit is open to the public from 26 August through 8 September. The oval-shape arena covering 406 square meters enables visitors to... Read more →

A study by a team of researchers from China, the US and Germany suggests that future climate change may worsen air quality for more than 85% of China’s population, leading to an additional 20,000 deaths each year. An open access paper on their work is published in Proceedings of the... Read more →

A team of researchers in China suggest that, in the context of promoting the use of clean fuel vehicles and increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, CO2 emissions of China’s urban passenger transport sector could reach a peak of 225 MtCO2 in 2030. If the mode share of public transport could further... Read more →

Daimler AG, with its wholly owned subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Energy GmbH, and Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. (BJEV), a subsidiary of the BAIC Group, have entered into a development partnership to establish second-life energy storage systems in China in the future. Together, Mercedes-Benz Energy and Beijing Electric Vehicle plan to set... Read more →

Adamas Intelligence reports that according to the Association of China Rare Earth Industry (ACREI), China’s domestic manufacturers produced approximately 7.6 million liters of vehicle exhaust gas catalyst in the first half of 2019—a decrease of 13% year-over-year on weak passenger vehicle production. Vehicle exhaust gas catalysts comprising platinum-group metals are... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) concluded an agreement with Didi Chuxing (DiDi) to expand collaboration in Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in China. As part of this agreement, Toyota will invest US$600 million in DiDi and a joint venture, which the two companies will establish with GAC Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.... Read more →

Magna and the BAIC Group have signed a framework agreement governing their electric vehicle manufacturing joint venture (earlier post) in Zhenjiang, China, which marks another milestone of their continued cooperation. The transaction, which is pending regulatory approval and other closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of... Read more →

BMW China Automotive Trading Ltd. and Tencent signed an agreement to work together on building the BMW Group China High Performance D³ (Data-Driven Development) platform. The BMW Group will use the platform to develop automated driving technologies and products which suit the complex local traffic conditions and meet local customer... Read more →

BYD Company Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corporation have signed an agreement for the joint development of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The two parties will jointly develop sedans and low-floor SUVs as well as the onboard batteries for these vehicles and others with the aim to launch them in the Chinese... Read more →

Groupe Renault and Jiangling Motors Corporation Group (JMCG) announced the official establishment of their joint venture to further promote the development of the EV industry in China, following a first agreement on 20 December 2018. Groupe Renault will increase its share capital by RMB 1 billion (about €128.5 million) to... Read more →

China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and Toyota Motor Corporation have entered into a comprehensive partnership agreement for the stable supply and further development of New Energy Vehicle (NEV) batteries. The two companies have also commenced discussions that cover a wide range of fields, including: supply of batteries, new... Read more →

New battery company SVOLT Energy Technology Co. Ltd, whose precursor was the Battery Business Unit of Great Wall Motor Co. Ltd, introduced its cobalt-free lithium-ion battery cell (NMx) and four-element lithium-ion battery cell (NCMA). SVOLT product roadmap. In the product launch event, Yang Hongxin, General Manager of SVOLT, said that... Read more →

Researchers from the University at Buffalo (UB), with colleagues in the US and China, have provided pathophysiologic evidence of the effect of air pollution on cardiovascular disease in China. Their findings also suggests that China may need to revise its standard for one type of pollutant. Spatial Distribution of Estimated... Read more →

BASF and Sichuan Lutianhua Co., Ltd. (Lutianhua) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to co-develop a pilot production plant that will significantly reduce carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency in producing dimethyl ether (DME) from syngas compared to the traditional process. DME is a methanol equivalent and can be used... Read more →

A study by researchers at Tsinghua University in China has concluded that the overall impact of autonomous vehicle deployment on greenhouse gas emissions is not significant in the near-to mid-term. In the study, published in the journal Energy Policy, the researchers found that autonomous vehicles potentially affect the total greenhouse... Read more →

LG Chem Ltd. will establish an electric vehicle (EV) battery joint venture (JV) in China with Geely Automobile. Under the terms of a new joint venture agreement, LG Chem and Geely Automobile will establish a 50:50 venture. LG Chem and Geely will each invest US$87 million. The factory site and... Read more →

China’s first seagoing LNG bunker vessel will operate with a comprehensive and integrated package of solutions from the technology group Wärtsilä. The ship is being built by the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (DSIC) for an affiliate of the ENN Energy holdings, one of the largest users of LNG in China.... Read more →

BYTON’s first M-Byte body-in-white (BIW) successfully rolled off the line at the company’s new factory in Nanjing, China, late last week. This event verifies the manufacturing equipment and processes that will be used on customer cars when production starts at the end of this year. The M-Byte electric SUV (earlier... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group is further expanding its business in its most important market, China, with the entry of SEAT, a member of the Volkswagen Group, and the Smart City Project. Volkswagen Group China, SEAT and the Chinese auto manufacturer JAC, which together form the joint venture JAC Volkswagen, continue to... Read more →

BASF plans to build an engineering plastics compounding plant and a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) plant at the company’s proposed integrated chemical production (“Verbund”) site in Zhanjiang, China. These will be the first production plants to come onstream at the site. The Verbund site in Guangdong would be BASF’s largest investment,... Read more →

Low-speed electric vehicles (LSEVs) could reduce China’s demand for gasoline and, in turn, impact global oil prices, according to a new issue brief by an expert in the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “Low-Speed Electric Vehicles: An Underappreciated Threat to Gasoline Demand in... Read more →

Alliance Ventures, the strategic venture capital fund that invests in technology start-ups for Groupe Renault, Nissan Motor Company and Mitsubishi Motors, announced a partnership with Plug and Play China to cooperate on open innovation in the world’s second-largest economy. China is leading innovation in the automotive industry. By harnessing the... Read more →

ABB signed a formal agreement with SAIC Volkswagen to provide robotics painting solutions for the first New Energy Vehicle (NEV) factory of the Volkswagen Group based on the Modular Electric Driver Kit (MEB), an automotive platform specifically designed for the mass production of electric vehicles. Financial details were not disclosed.... Read more →

Ballard Power Systems reached agreement with Weichai Ballard Hy-Energy Technologies Co., Ltd. (Weichai-Ballard JV) for the supply of a mix of certain fuel cell products and components that will be used in the assembly of modules to power zero-emission fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in China. The order will have... Read more →

The combined total of light-duty all-electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) sold in China in 2018 was more than 1 million, or 8.1% of the light-duty vehicle market there, according to the US Department of Energy (DOE). This compared to 386,000 plug-in vehicles sold in Europe and... Read more →

Air Liquide and Chengdu Huaqi Houpu Holding co., Ltd finalized the creation of a joint venture—Air Liquide Houpu Hydrogen Equipment co., Ltd—for the development, production and distribution of hydrogen refilling stations for fuel cell electric vehicles. This joint venture will enable the companies to develop projects together with a view... Read more →

Grove Hydrogen Automotive Co. Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement with the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil to proceed with the production and distribution of Grove hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for Brazil. Much like China, Brazil is a country rich in geographic resources. Grove is focused on establishing sustainable mobility worldwide,... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation and Tsinghua University are establishing the Tsinghua - Toyota Joint Research Institute (Joint Research Institute). The two plan to conduct various research together over the next five years through the institute. By establishing the Joint Research Institute, Toyota sees an opportunity to further contribute to the development... Read more →

At Auto Shanghai 2019, Mercedes-Benz is premiering the close-to-production show car Concept GLB and the Mercedes-AMG A 35 L 4MATIC developed exclusively for China. Alongside the Concept GLB are the battery-powered EQC (electricity consumption combined: 20.8 – 19.7 kWh/100 km) (earlier post) and the new GLE, both of which celebrate... Read more →

Buick has launched the VELITE 6 MAV electric vehicle in China. As Buick’s first global all-electric vehicle and SAIC-GM’s first electric vehicle for the mass market, the VELITE 6 MAV (which stands for Multi-Activity Vehicle) integrates GM and SAIC’s resources and advanced technology in new energy and connected vehicles. It... Read more →

BYD debuted its E-SEED GT concept car and Song Pro SUV alongside its all-new e-series models at the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition. The company also showcased its latest Dynasty series of vehicles, which were recently unveiled at the company’s spring product launch in Beijing. A total of 23 new... Read more →

Toyota premiered its C-HR and IZOA battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as part of its activities on the opening day of Auto Shanghai 2019. The C-HR and IZOA will be the first battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) to launch in China under the Toyota brand. Sales on the new models are slated to... Read more →

Volkswagen is planning an extensive model offensive in China; the brand will double its SUV range by 2020. During Auto Shanghai 2019, Volkswagen announced that the share of SUVs is expected to rise to up to 40%. Volkswagen is targeting the traditional part as well as the growing e-mobility sector.... Read more →

Volkswagen Group China aims to produce more than half (11.6 million) of the group’s global objective of 22 million battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2028. Initiatives with all three Chinese vehicle production joint ventures – FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC VOLKSWAGEN and JAC Volkswagen – will enable this target to be reached. To speed... Read more →

At Auto Shanghai 2019, Audi is introducing the Audi AI:ME, an electric showcar offering compact dimensions, a spacious, futuristic interior, and the ability to drive autonomously at level 4. The Audi AI:ME offers a broad range of high-tech features for communication, entertainment, or relaxation. Audi took a targeted approach to... Read more →