Eastly - Issue #20 | EV Innovation: All It’s Cracked Up To Be? 🚗
By Eastly.co | Asia Tech News • Issue #20
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There can be no doubt that the EV (electric vehicle) market’s hotting up – nowhere more so than in China. But, despite the amount of innovation going into building these eco-friendly road runners, it seems that the same legacy ‘issues’ associated with their petrol counterparts persist – Li Auto’s mass recall being a prime example.
When the company tried to dupe the public into thinking it was an upgrade, there was a big backlash – resulting in a sharp drop in Li Auto’s stock. With more and more EV players emerging, what lessons can we learn?
Jack Ma Questioned, Shanghai Stock Exchange Stops Ant Group IPO
Biggest IPO stopped
Date: 03 November, 2020
The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) recently halted Ant Group’s planned IPO.
Following the announcement, Ant Group, the financial arm of Alibaba, suspended its Hong Kong Stock Exchange IPO listing too.
The reason cited by SSE was the fact Ant's actual controller, chairman, and CEO – including Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, were summoned for a compulsory talk by financial regulators, following Ant’s proposed regulatory environment change.
Source: https://en.pingwest.com/a/7959
Baidu Boosts Consumer Cloud With Virtual Smartphone Launch
Why have a real thing when you can have a better virtual thing?
Date: 04 November, 2020
Baidu, the Chinese search giant, recently released what’s being billed as a ‘virtual cloud smartphone’ for the consumer market.
The virtual phone enables users to run Android apps in the cloud through their own physical device – the benefit being that as the software runs in the cloud hardware limitations are eliminated; freeing them to play games, use work apps, and even VR, with ease.
Source: https://en.pingwest.com/w/7970
TikTok Rival Confirms Hong Kong IPO
$5 billion bid to compete with TikTok
Date: 06 November, 2020
Kuaishou, the TikTok rival platform owned by Tencent, submitted its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on the evening of November 5.
The short-video platform – which has grown 48% year-on-year – claims to be the world's largest live streaming platform in terms of virtual gift rewards and average monthly paying users.
According to reports, the company aims to raise $5 billion in its IPO.
Source: https://en.pingwest.com/w/7978
Shares Plummet As Li Auto Faces Fire For Passing Recall Off As ‘Upgrade’
Return after using
Date: 06 November, 2020
Electric car manufacturer, Li Auto is facing a backlash against its recent recall of 10,469 Li ONE sport utility vehicles – half the company’s output since June 1 this year.
According to reports, the company released a statement on November 1 offering to ‘upgrade’ a suspension component. Critics were quick to point out that the announcement did in fact constitute a product recall. Li Auto subsequently released a public apology ‘accepting the criticism’ saying it would replace the component for free over the next three months.
However, this didn’t stop the company’s shares from dropping by some 7% in the aftermath.
100 kWh ‘Battery-as-a-Service’ Unveiled
BaaS after SaaS?
Date: 06 November, 2020
Chinese electric car manufacturer, Nio has launched a 100kWh battery – and is to offer it as part of a ‘Battery As A Service’ (BaaS) solution, which has been available to customers since August.
As well as new car owners, existing BaaS customers can now upgrade their 70kWh car batteries to the newer CATL-built model – or can opt to buy it outright or pay ($130) monthly or ($1190) annually for the switch.
Nio claims that BaaS customers who opt for 100 kWh battery-powered cars will pay $19,300 less upfront with a $220 monthly subscription.
Source: https://www.electrive.com/2020/11/06/nio-launches-100-kwh-battery-also-as-battery-as-a-service/
Notes:
Li Auto: Founded in 2015 by Li Xiang, the Beijing-based company manufactures extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), which can be powered by either electricity or gasoline.
Asia Markets
Overseas market update: strong overnight rally in Asia
Markets Summary: https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/world-indexes/asia-pacific
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