General Motors vs. The Digital Gods

BYD, Tesla Model S, Indonesian Nickel, CATL, GM, Ford, EQG G Wagon, Mark Twain

Apr 05, 2023

The Big 5 This Week

1. GM Disses CarPlay. GM cannot stand having Apple and Android dominate the in-car digital experience. So, all new GM EVs will come without CarPlay and Android Auto. Instead, you will get a GM-developed alternative called The Ultifi Platform.

“GM thinks it can do software better than Apple and Google”. Difficult to see how booting Apple from their cars does not end in tears for the General. Link

2. BYD March Beast Mode. In the world’s largest EV market, there is BYD and then there is everyone else. BYD delivered 207,000 NEVs in March. The next largest player (GAC-Aion) sold 40,000. Link

3. CATL Goes To Texas. CATL, which already controls 39% of the global EV battery market and 40% of the global power battery usage segment, is moving into Texas. Link

4. Ford-Nickel-Indonesia. Ford abruptly withdrew from the Indonesian market in 2015. But now Dearborn is returning to the spice islands, investing $4.5 billion with Indonesian and Chinese partners to source nickel for future batteries. Link

5. Tesla S / X Drift. Tesla S and X models together accounted for just 3% of Tesla global sales in Q1 2023. More worrisome: Production outpaced demand by almost 2:1. Link

Listen Up

BYD Exponential. Has any automaker ever gone from 190K to 3.6 million in three years? BYD believes it can get there.

2020: 190,000

2021: 603,000

2022: 1,870,000

2023: 3,600,000 (target)

BYD Atto 3 Launching in Germany, UK & Japan

Future EVs, Batteries, Charging

EVs

Rivian Rickety. Rivian hopes to double production in 2023 to 50,000 vehicles. The company built 9,300 and delivered 7,900 trucks and SUVs in Q1. Rivian and rival EV startup Lucid both shed several hundred workers this year. Link

Barcelona BYD. Spanish car buyers can now order a $77,000 BYD Han sedan, a Tang SUV or a BYD ATTO 3. Spain is BYD’s 9th market entry in Europe since 2022, including Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands. Link

Spain will have to wait for the BYD Seal.

Batteries

Lithium Price Dive. One of China’s leading battery makers sees lithium prices falling from a peak of 600,000 RMB in July 2022 to as low as RMB 100,000 this Spring - a drop of more than 80%. Link

Charging

Tesla Supercharger Supermoat. Is there anything more valuable to an EV maker than a kick-ass charging network? “With both hardware and deployment costs up to 75% lower than its competitors, Tesla has a huge advantage over other networks.” Link

New Pivots / Milestones

Global Automakers China Squeeze. Global mass market carmakers saw their market share drop to 41% of China passenger vehicle sales, a level not seen in 40 years. Only Tesla, Toyota and the German luxuries managed to stay even or grow. Link

EQG G Wagon’s 20% Silicon Range Boost. The all-electric EQG G Wagon will travel 20% further thanks to silicon battery innovation from Sila. Link

And…Your Weekly Modicum of Wisdom

“The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.” – Mark Twain