Electromobility. The future is in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou, the metropolis on the Pearl River Delta with 14 million inhabitants, is also known as the factory of the world! A name that you have to remember - because it will play a major role in the future of mobility. NEVS main shareholder Xu Jiayin pulled out the big checkbook in town on June 12th, and it is gradually becoming clear in which league NEVS and the Evergrande Group intend to operate.

NIO ES8
NIO ES8. Picture: GAC

Because it seems pretty high up. We experience firsthand how much energy investors from China use to buy a group. With spectacular takeovers and new entrants, Xu Jiayin is building a worldwide mobility empire at a breathtaking pace in the shortest possible time. You have to look carefully so as not to lose sight of the details. The latest development from June 12: In Nansha, a district of Guangzhou, there will be buildings for research and development and three factories for one million electric cars annually. Jiayin is also building a mega-battery factory on site with an annual capacity of 50 GWh. It fits that the Evergrande Group has its own battery technology and production with CENAT.

The new super battery factory in Guangzhou will be about half the size of Tesla's Gigafactory 1. Their capacity is estimated at least twice that. But Evergrande celebrates with the recent investments a huge start worth a little more than 20 billion €.

Mobility Hotspot Guangzhou

The Guangzhou location is carefully chosen by Evergrande. The metropolis is a focus of the automotive industry in China. With Honda, Nissan and Toyota, the representatives of the "old" industry are based. Countless smaller suppliers and international suppliers produce components for almost all brands around the world. The region is also a hotspot for electric mobility.

GAC produces the subbrand on site NIO, Of course, the numbers are still low, in May were only 1.089 NIO ES8 delivered, But among the 486 startups looking to build electric cars in China, NIO is one of the few brands that could be successful internationally. GAC sees the ES8 as a direct competitor to the Audi Q8 e-tron. Cheaper, faster, a little lighter, with a pleasing, progressive design and surprisingly innovative technology. The NIO has a unique feature of a removable battery, which can be exchanged in just 5 minutes. For the moment, because GAC promises that the battery replacement will go even faster in the future. Of course, like any other electric car, the ES8 can tap its power at the fast charging station. The SUV is already driving autonomous according to Level2, the NIO's own OS is being developed in China and the United States.

Group construction with the goodwill of Beijing

With Pony.ai Another internationally acclaimed startup has settled in Guangzhou. The company is a pioneer of autonomous driving and cooperates with many manufacturers. In this environment, with short distances, rapid growth and innumerable innovations, the Evergrande Group expects to find the optimal basis for their ambitious plans. The announcementWanting to build a million electric cars a year in 3 years should be taken seriously.

NEVS production plans worldwide
NEVS production plans worldwide

Of course, the ambitious plans can not be realized without the expressed benevolence of the Beijing administration. Xi Jiayin is rightly said to have connections to the top ranks of the party and the state leadership. Critical comments in the local media, which could be read at the start with battery manufacturer CENAT, have since fallen silent.

Strategic venue Trollhättan

Trollhättan is a strategic outpost in this big-money game, and more than that. Nestled in a politically stable European Union country, NEVS AB guarantees free access to one of the largest domestic markets in the world. The former Saab factory in the Stallbacka is to be upgraded to an annual capacity of 200.000 units. From the year 2020 finally electric cars from Sono Motors and hybrid sports cars from Koenigsegg will be built in the factory.

But that's just the beginning. NEVS and the Evergrande Group are still missing their own product, which would be internationally competitive. The 9-3 EV, whose production will be delayed to next year, would only have outsider opportunities in European markets. In the medium term, however, Trollhättan could play a similar role in the Group as Göteborg for the Geely Group. Design and development for high quality electric cars could come from Sweden, maybe their production. The large quantities then produced the plant in Guangzhou.

24 thoughts on "Electromobility. The future is in Guangzhou."

  • eMobility does not hurt. You do not have to be afraid of it. We separated from our Saab 95 two years ago and added a Tesla Model X to the family. The 93 Aero Convertible we have once kept, but is very much without being moved. Anyone who has ever driven an e-car is eaten by it. I've been following news for a while now at NEVS, with the new owner. I would definitely take a close look at a NEVS on the Phoenix 3 platform.
    Fuel cell: Depending on how hydrogen is recovered, it is inefficient or a byproduct. The efficiency of the reconversion is again bad. Generating hydrogen with electricity and not chemically is actually insanity. Building a gas station network for H2 is an endeavor, also the supply of this. I can get electricity from a solar system at home, I have electricity at Nordkapp. I'll never get H2 that wide.
    The energy density of the batteries will make another leap. With the now increased charging power (also retroactively at Tesla), charging breaks on the Supercharger have shortened once again. New batteries will offer even higher charging power on the track and also offer more range due to their higher energy density. Range is, depending on the vehicle, no longer a problem. The discussion should focus on the charging network and charging speed.
    A NEVS with e-drive would be an asset ..

    • All well and right, but all written very much from a user's perspective ...

      You could also say from the perspective of a consumer. Which would be almost disrespectful in view of our problems caused by consumption. On the other hand, also just as applicable ...

      It's not about whether an EV with a corresponding technical effort for vehicle and charging structure could be suitable for everyday and even travel. Of course it can.

      The point is whether the effort required is ecologically and economically sensible. In order to firstly draw a positive conclusion and secondly underpin it, you would have to explain from which environmentally neutral sources (or storage systems) the electricity for your EVs should come during a nightly charge ...

      You yourself excluded hydrogen as a sensible storage medium. I can add that at night and without storage, there is no solar energy available for a charging process. And since they mention the North Cape, I'll add that the nights there can be very, very long ...

  • It's all very confusing and sometimes you do not understand the world anymore. You get information from different directions and can not actually assign them. Is it true or not? No matter what technique prevails, one thing is for sure, the cost of getting around will increase your own car in the garage may become a rarity and buy the gas for our valued trolls in the pharmacy. I find it sad and I think there are much more important things in our world that deserve attention and action.

    • APOTHEKE

      When the time comes, Maptun, in cooperation with a Swedish manufacturer of stoves, launches a wood gasifier. It will then be distributed and installed exclusively in the Stage 9 package. An entire set of Gränsfors (split hammers, ax and hatchet) is also part of Stage 9, as are more stable pistons and a larger turbo. A Husqvarna chainsaw is also included.

      Then we all accelerate with birch wood in 4,3 seconds from 0 to 100 and drive up to 302 km / h and we shoot funny YouTube videos ...

      But kidding aside, you are absolutely right. There are more important things in terms of environmental and energy policy alone. There is no need to begin with human rights issues and clean drinking water, which 2,2 billion people lack, in order to wonder about the priorities that have been set ...

  • When reading the article, the same questions as Ebasli went through my head. Especially with regard to new mobile technology, “Saabian” lateral thinking and engineering skills would be required. But that is exactly what seems to be zero at NEVS. At most they are good for announcements as world champions! I hope you save yourself the money to buy the brand name. Would be the final step in the decline of the brand ...

    • You just have to wait and see what happens. In fact, there is not a single product from NEVS to date. Stuffed cash registers, and the possibility to realize an interesting product (possibly in Saab tradition) exist only since the entry of Evergrande. The coming years could be exciting for Trollhättan. But not mandatory.

      • Full coffers, probably for the first time in the history of NEVS. Exciting, and somehow dramatic. The company could have built SAAB's if she had the money. But the coffers were always empty and the plans bigger than the account balance gave.

        Past…

        Electric cars can be developed quickly Perhaps there would be room for a small hybrids from the Saab plant? I would be there!

  • Nice for NEVS and maybe good for jobs in Troll Town (next to Sion and Koenigsegg). But otherwise? Does that have anything to do with SAAB as we love it or her (the vehicles)? Does that bring something to our beloved brand? Does it again bring similar beautiful, perfectly designed and self-evident vehicles, technically up to date and with the courage to lateral thinking and understatement?

    I do not think so. Quite apart from the more than questionable humanitarian, political and economic framework conditions of the Chinese politics and economic offensive - when I look at the other “Swedish” Chinese, I turn with horror from the exterior and interior design without any line, with a lot of ostentation and bling- Bling and nested control menus!

    Nevertheless, of course, thanks to Tom, that he keeps us up to date on NEVS!

    • THE TROLLJAN HORSE

      Yes, it will be interesting to see how NEVS knows how to use this location. And you have to be careful. Big money and big production will be in China. All financial, economic and geopolitical interests are also pursued there. And it will be a self-interest ...
      It cannot be ruled out that a Sion and a handful of Koeniggseggs will end up being the wood for a Trojan horse and little more than a little Tiger Balm for the European soul ...

  • IMPRESSED …

    … I am too. Tom always writes so thrillingly. And there is no question that much, very much, is in motion and in upheaval. You almost want to join in, become part of the hype and hysteria surrounding EV and be one of the first to get one. Or at least be the second or third person in the neighborhood to just feel like a trendsetter ...

    But then the old questions arise again in the head ...

    • Why do not we just heat cheap and environmentally friendly with electricity?

    • Why are new oil heating systems (heating oil = diesel) being subsidized by the state?

    • How can it be that a Koenigsegg with E85 in the tank and 1140 PS under the hood emits less fossil CO2 per km than an average EV in the German power mix?

    • Who has the raw materials for EVs (batteries) and almost a monopoly on them?

    I don't even want to start with open questions about the infrastructure and charging structure or the overall ecological balance (etc.). Just this much: Some time ago I heard a professor XY who, in an interview with the GEZ-financed ÖR (InfoRadio RBB), made it very plausible that China would primarily pursue geopolitical and financial interests with the aid of electromobility. He warned explicitly about the dependencies that would arise in the future if you didn't go your own way, didn't look for alternatives, but made yourself dependent on Chinese raw materials ...

    The poor man must face almost physical pain in the face of the news on the subject, domestic industrial announcements, trends and political requirements. And I can understand that very well. The fact that we have no plans B and C, that we are not treading and testing multiple paths in parallel, is simply irresponsible - geopolitically and ecologically irresponsible.

    Every idiot makes regular backups of his vacation photos. But when it comes to important environmental and geopolitical issues, do our self-proclaimed elites pursue a single-track strategy without a backup? It cannot and must not be, but it is still exactly the same and not different ...

    • Heating with electricity is and will not (yet) be feasible. If one looks at the gross electricity consumption in Germany in connection with the net electricity production, with today's capacities it would not even be possible to fully electrify transport. Countries like France etc. can only heat cheaply with electricity because here (in some cases) over 80% of the electricity mix comes from nuclear power - but this is known to be over in Germany.

      The promotion of oil heating has the (main) reason to modernize the sometimes extremely obsolete burner technology. Tends to make sense, since the transition to another technique often proves difficult.

      Hope that helps !

      • Thank you for your AW Jan_HH,

        but to be honest, it doesn’t help me to understand more about political decisions, nor does it help the environment ...

        We are export world champions. Strom has also long been a German export good. We already have more electricity today than we consume, but we keep prices artificially high. And it is not just the nations that rely on nuclear power, in which electricity is often used. Also Denmark and Norway are in these races.

        What I miss is an intelligent use and a corresponding political control for the use of given and different, possibly all resources.

        Let's stick with electricity and heating oil so as not to get out of hand ...

        Even the most modern of all possible burners is outdated and should not be eligible because it uses only the thermal energy of the heating oil. The kinetic energy dissipates completely unused. Just look at the performance data of a stunted 2,0 TTid 9-5 with 190 PS, then you know what's going wrong.

        With a combined heat and power plant that would be different and they are already eternal and for three days and for a long time small and quiet enough to be installed in each house. The kinetic energy is transformed into electricity and the thermal energy is used for hot water and heating. Efficiency and efficiency are thus better in the double-digit percentage range.

        Now the power: We had ever memory techniques and had different electricity rates for day and night.
        At that time, of course, it was a matter of the fact that power plants could not be turned up and down at will and that the night power should not fizzle out unused. Therefore, night storage heaters were in vogue and cheap ...

        This also fits the wind energy like a fist on the eye. What do we do with the night stream when the wheels turn at night? It would be great to heat the hot water tank for the next day. You could not only shower and bathe with it, but also run the heating.

        The water in my heating system is just 35 ° C. In the well-insulated wooden house of modern Scandinavian design that is enough for 10 ° plus room temperature even at -23 ° outside temperature ...

        But not CO2-neutral, but with a Gasbrennwerttherme, because the nunmal time is now clearly cheaper than excess electricity from renewable sources national self-consumption.

        That understand who wants. I do not understand that. And I feel like the day I understand it would be the day some synapses failed me.

        • Certainly, the political back and forth regarding the energy transition seems illogical (which it mostly is). Nowadays we have a similar problem as a few years ago - the performance of the power plants. There is either far too much electricity in the grid or far too little. The excess renewable electricity is only partially (or not at all) suitable for covering the base load. This extremely volatile feed-in is one of the reasons why a sensible use of the excess energy from sun and wind is not (yet) possible.

          Certainly that is only a very small part of this problem - we find the main cause on the economic side. But more on that at some point - we're on an autoblog here, and not on a page for energetic questions 😉

          • BILBLOG

            Yes, that's true 😉

            But the immobile and automotive aspects of energy are becoming more and more similar. The only exception is gasoline. That is and will remain reserved for mobility. Other energy sources and storage technologies are used, tested and discussed, both mobile and stationary. Be it gas, hydrogen, heating oil / diesel or batteries ...

            Maybe no coincidence that there is currently a run on petrol and vintage cars?

            They will not save the world, but they will not make false promises.
            They are honest skins (also worth something) and, above all, they have long been discussed ...

  • The Chinese are stepping on the gas, or rather electricity ... What is going to be bought up and we watch. NEVS is playing with really big money and you can be curious what that brings for Troll-Town. I keep my fingers crossed!

  • I wonder why most countries focus exclusively on electric vehicles?
    Why is not much research into the fuel cell (eg South Korea or Japan) or alternative fuels being carried out?

    • The impression is deceptive. The Chinese administration is funding the fuel cell with several billion euros a year. In addition to the battery-electric drives, this technology is used by more and more manufacturers. Last week, China opened the world's largest hydrogen refueling station. For NEVS Evergrande, however, this technology does not (yet) seem to be an issue.

      • The utilization of the hydrogen is a source of energy and the production is ecological. Elle permet beaucoup plus que les batteries seules, faire rouler des voitures mais also des camions, voler des avions par les turbines, voguer des bateaux…

      • I think Car manufacturers thought they had more time, until the Diesel emissions scandal came along, and more so, people realized that their health could be at risk in larger city's etc.
        Silently the development of the fuel cell is continuing.

        Electric drive cars are the here and now (and a decade or so into the future), then the fuel cell will be fully developed, and will become the norm in traction, home energy, etc ....

        • I have doubts.

          All fuel cells and the fuel itself are still terribly inefficient. Especially the volume needed to supply significant amounts of electric energy is literary an enormous big flaw ...

          Elements and chemicals involved in the production of many known e-fuels today are another.

          A large scale production, storage and transportation of that kind of fuel won't happen. If progress has been made and an environmental friendly way is found to increase capacity by at least three times, we might see fuel cells some day really far, far away into the future ...

          • Sorry, I take it all back ...

            I was confused about fuel cells, hydrogen, e-fuel and flow battery ...
            Not technically but by language. My skepticism was meant for all e-fuels and redox flow batteries, not fuel cells.

            But still, hydrogen is not fully mastered yet. It is a damned tricky element and very hard to tame. Transportation and storage take huge efforts and vast amounts of energy. The best use of hydrogen is to consume it nearby and within time and to do this central and large scale. It could work to some extend as a buffer for the peaks and lows we get from solar power and wind energy ...

    • …………..I ask myself this exact question too! Especially since the CO2 balance of an electric car is a disaster. The Swedish study calculates that a vehicle with a conventional combustion engine could be driven for eight years before it had as much impact on the environment as battery production for a Tesla Model S, especially since the power consumption when driving is not taken into account. And the extraction of so-called rare earths for the production of batteries is growing. China is responsible for around 90 percent of the quantities of these important raw materials produced worldwide. The rare earths include 17 metals; some electric motors contain the magnetic neodymium and dysprosium etc. It is really important to find alternatives!

  • The numbers are impressive, no question. Now, if Mr. Xi Jiayin picks up a few million, or pulls out the checkbook to license the SAAB naming rights, then everything would be fine.

    • Would be nice. Does the man know SAAB at all? Well, it was in the museum the other day.

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