91 Ten Articles: Webasto says Tesla rights activist has nothing to do with it, 360 invests in Nezha Auto

1. Porsche CEO Blume said, "Batteries are a key technology for the German automotive industry, and we must also have this technology in our own country." He believes that there will be a niche market for high-performance batteries. The Germans have developed high-performance internal combustion engines in the past, and now they want to be at the forefront of high-performance batteries.

Not long ago, Porsche announced that it was working on its own battery cell technology, using a silicon anode instead of a graphite anode, which would allow the battery pack to operate comfortably at higher temperatures, making it suitable for high-performance applications. Currently, Porsche is working with Custom Cells to produce the batteries.

2. Nezha Auto announced the launch of its Series D financing with a financing amount of approximately 3 billion yuan. 360, a leading Internet security company, strategically led this round of financing and is expected to become the second largest shareholder of Nezha Auto.

Nezha Auto was founded in October 2014. It currently has two models on sale, Nezha V and Nezha U Pro, with cumulative sales exceeding 35,000 units. In the first quarter of 2021, Nezha Auto achieved sales of 7,443 units, a year-on-year increase of 390%. Among them, the undelivered orders for Nezha V exceeded 4,000 units, and the orders for Nezha U Pro exceeded 5,000 units since it was announced on April 19.

3. Ferrari said that its first electric car will be launched in 2025, and that a single charge of only 800 kilometers is not what Ferrari is pursuing, "it can run longer." The industry predicts that Ferrari's first electric supercar model is likely to compete with Lotus Evita EV and Rimac Concept 2.

4. Tesla has achieved profitability for seven consecutive quarters, and its non-GAAP net profit exceeded $1 billion for the first time in the company's history. In the first quarter of this year, Tesla produced a total of 180,338 vehicles worldwide, up 76% from 179,757 in the previous quarter; global deliveries reached 184,877 vehicles, of which 182,847 were Model 3/Y deliveries, and the remaining 2,030 were Model S/X sales. Total sales soared 109% year-on-year, and both production and sales hit record highs. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the sale of Bitcoin also contributed $101 million to Tesla's profits this quarter.

5. Toyota subsidiary Woven Planet acquires Lyft's autonomous vehicle division Level 5. The deal includes a multi-year non-exclusive commercial agreement between Lyft and Woven Planet to accelerate the development of autonomous driving technology and improve its safety. Lyft has spent nine years building a scalable autonomous transportation network.

6. France announced a 50 million euro fund to retrain workers who produce cast auto parts. These workers are at risk of losing their jobs as the automotive industry transitions to electric vehicles. "The situation in the French foundry industry is worrying. Our production is too small, too fragmented, and our market position in the coming years is not the most promising," said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. He said three-fifths of the fund will come from the French government, and the rest will come from Renault and Stellantis, which owns the PSA Group.

7. U.S. Senators Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, proposed legislation requiring U.S. regulators to force automakers to install driver monitoring systems inside their vehicles to ensure that drivers pay attention to road conditions when using systems such as Tesla's Autopilot.

8. Toyota will produce plug-in hybrid vehicles in Europe, and the factories in the UK and Turkey are likely to become its first European factories to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles. The analysis company expects that C-HR and Corolla will be the first models to receive electric powertrains, and will be launched in mid-2022 together with the next-generation models.

9. Webasto’s official Weibo account released a clarification statement, saying that Webasto provided media day passes to some media participating in the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show Media Day event for normal work needs. The Shanghai Auto Show organizers and public security authorities have confirmed that Webasto used the media day passes within the scope of normal work, and Webasto and its staff have no connection with a certain brand rights protection incident or person. Founded in 1901, Webasto is a professional company that produces car sunroofs, folding roofs, car heating systems, power batteries, and charging solutions. It is also a well-known global supplier to the automotive industry.

10. Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture between Stellantis and energy giant Total, will build a battery cell plant in Kaiserslautern, Germany, which is expected to be online in 2025 with an annual production capacity of 24GWh. The new plant will jointly produce 48GWh of annual production capacity with ACC's sister plant in Douvrin in northern France, supplying 1 million vehicles per year.

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.