Episode #49 - China EVs: By The Numbers, the Wollenstein Interview, BYD Nuro & UPower

Lei starts off with a hammer, throwing all of the mindblowing numbers from China EV market from 2021. Tu & Lei marvel at how it really was an amazing year for EV adoption and growth. 

After the long discussion and unpacking of the statistics, Tu and Lei talk briefly discuss the history and catalysts that helped get the sector to where it is now. Inflection points like Tesla entering the market, NIO & XPeng launching, transitioning to Tesla then launching ShanghaiGiga and manufacturing vehicles locally. 

Tu moves onto how western media still tends to lump all of China EV Inc into the same bucket and argues that since the sector is market-driven, a more nuanced discussion needs to take place that includes, pricing segments, features, and positioning. 

Lei moves to discuss the media interview with current Volkswagen China CEO, Dr. Wollenstein, and his post-mortem on 2021. 

Lei and Tu then talk about the announcement of BYD and Nuro partnering to deliver autonomous delivery vehicles to be manufactured in California by BYD.

They close out the pod discussing U Power, an electric vehicle platform developer looking to find partners that can develop top hats for their platform and takeaways from U Power's keynote.