91 Ten Articles: WeRide's valuation exceeds 20 billion, SAIC will launch a battery bank, and Huolala may build cars

1. WeRide raised hundreds of millions of dollars in Series C financing, with a post-investment valuation of approximately RMB 21.2 billion. The investors include IDG Capital, Hechuang Investment, Cornerstone Capital, Cypress Star, Cloud Nine Capital, K3 Ventures, etc., and old shareholders CMC Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Lingfeng Capital continue to participate. In early February, WeRide was awarded an online car-hailing operating license in Guangzhou, becoming China's first autonomous driving company with the qualifications to conduct online car-hailing business.

2. SAIC Motor will launch a "battery bank" with vehicle-battery separation. It will launch a battery pack with unified specifications at the end of this year or early next year, covering 11 models, and can support lithium iron phosphate batteries, ternary batteries, high nickel batteries, and even solid-state batteries. Chen Hong, chairman of SAIC Motor, pointed out that the "vehicle-battery separation" business model for new energy vehicles is a direction encouraged by the country. Analysts pointed out that only when car companies and operators adopt the innovative model of vehicle-battery separation can new energy vehicles reduce their overall costs to below those of fuel vehicles.

3. Great Wall Holdings and Sinopec formally signed a hydrogen energy strategic cooperation framework agreement. The two parties will carry out multiple cooperation in the fields of hydrogen energy industry, hydrogen energy technology and hydrogen energy capital. In the field of hydrogen energy industry, the two parties will jointly promote the demonstration of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, as well as the construction of hydrogen refueling stations or oil-hydrogen combined stations, and jointly create integrated station application scenarios.

4. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the production and sales of the automobile industry in April 2021. In April, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 216,000 and 206,000 respectively, up 1.6 times and 1.8 times year-on-year, continuing to set new monthly records. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles reached 182,000 and 171,000 respectively, up 2.1 times and 2.2 times year-on-year.

5. The China Electric Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance released charging pile operation data for April 2021. In April 2021, there were 17,600 more public charging piles than in March 2021, a year-on-year increase of 58.8%.

6. A driving school in Shanghai launched Tesla driving lessons, with a 10-hour course costing 2,000 yuan. Previously, Tesla Vice President Tao Lin said that it was necessary to strengthen consumer education in the vehicle use process.

7. Xiaopeng released the official picture of its new flying car Traveler X2. It is reported that its empty weight is 360 kg and its maximum take-off weight is 560 kg. Officials said that its endurance time is 35 minutes and its maximum flight speed can reach 130 km/h.

8. BMW MINI stated that the new pure electric convertible version will be officially unveiled and mass-produced in 2025, and it will most likely be produced by the Beam Automotive Factory, a joint venture between BMW and Great Wall.

9. Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda once again expressed his opposition to the Japanese government's "2030 Decarbonization of Fuel Vehicles" policy plan. He said: If the Japanese government continues to plan to stop selling traditional fuel vehicles, then Japanese manufacturers are likely to "lose their advantages" in the automotive industry.

10. Huolala is suspected of launching a car manufacturing project and has begun recruiting talents in the field of new energy truck manufacturing to achieve a closed-loop logistics chain and the "digitalization" of vehicles. In response to the above news about car manufacturing, Huolala said that "it will continue to recruit and reserve talents, but there is no information to disclose about car manufacturing."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.