After hinting at its release for several months, technology firm Xiaomi, has recently unveiled its first electric vehicle. The smartphone and gadget behemoth takes on the likes of Tesla and fellow Chinese automotive giant, BYD, in what is becoming an increasingly congested market with its sporty ‘SU7’ sedan. Revealed in the last week of 2023,…
Off-road enthusiasts rejoice as one of China’s premier automotive manufacturers, BYD, has revealed its flagship YangWang U8 sports utility vehicle has an ‘Emergency Float Mode’, allowing it to wade through water using its wheels as a makeshift propeller system. While the luxury SUV has been available for purchase for several months, the BYD-owned brand only…
In a landmark moment for urban passenger mobility, Chinese authorities have green-lit the world’s first flying taxi. Designed and manufactured in Guangdong province, southeast China, the EH216-S uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) loosely resembles a scaled-up hobbyist drone. Passengers sit in a car-sized protective bubble above the UAV’s propulsion and lift system of 16 powerful rotors…
A team of Chinese geologists has uncovered a deposit of rare metal ore that could revolutionise the country’s steel, aviation, energy and medical industries. The substance has been dubbed niobabaotite by its discoverers, researchers from the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology of the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The metal, which consists of several…
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up, Haomo.ai, has announced it has created an affordable autonomous driving assistance system that it claims is cheaper and better than the products offered by its competitors. The Beijing-based company revealed three new ‘L2’ autonomous systems, which it has made available to motor vehicle companies starting from $411 per unit. Each ‘Hpilot’…
After three years of industry speculation, luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz confirmed it will power its new range of electric vehicles (EVs) with the Chinese-developed BYD Blade lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. The announcement came when the Stuttgart-based automotive giant revealed its CLA sedan EV concept car at the International Mobility Show in Munich. Mercedes is…
One of China’s premier automotive brands has revealed it will integrate a ChatGPT-like bot into some of its product line up. Great Wall Motors (GWM), the country’s most successful SUV manufacturer, released a statement in early August announcing it had established a partnership with ‘Ernie Bot’ developer and search engine giant, Baidu, as the firm…
Automotive giant, Volkswagen, has tapped Chinese start-up, Xpeng, to jointly develop new energy vehicles. The Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer would invest $700 million to purchase a 4.99 per cent stake in the company and an observer’s seat on the board, according to a LinkedIn post by Volkswagen China chief executive, Ralf Brandsatter. Both companies have outlined…
Chinese engineers have created “supersized” cast parts that have the potential to cut production costs and assembly times in lightweight electric vehicles (EVs) significantly. Much like Tesla’s “gigacasting” technology, the process involves casting two roughly 2.2-square-metre magnesium alloy parts from a single mould – the car’s chassis and the battery box housing cover. Magnesium alloys…
A group of researchers from China claims to have set a new energy density record when they developed a battery pack with a reported capacity of 711 watt-hours per kilogram – roughly three times more than the Tesla Model 3 ‘4680’ cell. Concerns about battery capacity in electric vehicles (EVs) have been one of the…