Volvo To Produce Trucks in China in 2022

Jack Hao
Jack Hao

Volvo Trucks expects to start production of the new heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks in Taiyuan for local customers in China late next year.  Volvo Trucks has agreed to acquire a subsidiary of China’s Jiangling Motors Co to produce trucks for the local market starting late next year. JMC Heavy Duty Vehicle Co, which includes a manufacturing site in Taiyuan, capital of North China’s Shanxi province, will be purchased for $120.4 million (780 million yuan), said the Swedish truck maker.

Source:  China Daily     Read The Article

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The Impact of Coronavirus on China Society and Economy – A Personal Perspective

(ST. PAUL, Minn., USA) – Our team members in China face daily challenges as they navigate the myriad regulations and safety measures implemented by local authorities and the national government attempting to control the spread of coronavirus (COVID19).  

Confinement to home is the hardest part.  Schools have yet to re-open after the Spring Festival holiday.  Special IDs proving one is a local resident must be presented when going outside.  Store visits are restricted to one person per household every two to five days, depending on your location. 

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VW To Build $3 Billion EV Plant in East China

Jack Hao
Jack Hao

VW China has increased its share in the electric vehicle joint venture JAC Volkswagen to 75% and obtained joint venture management rights. At the same time, it has obtained a 26% stake in the EV battery maker Gotion High-Tech to support the future electrification of the group. The total investment of the above two projects is estimated to be about €2 billion.

The plant, which has an estimated investment of US$3.06 billion (20 billion yuan) from both Volkswagen and JAC Motors, will be finished by the end of 2022, and its first vehicle will roll off the assembly line in 2023.

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China and South Korea Increase Investment in Indonesia

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

China and South Korea are increasing their investments in Indonesia. According to BKPM (Indonesia’s Investment Coordination Agency), China (including Hong Kong) accounted for $8.4 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, up 11% from the previous year, and South Korea accounted for $1.8 billion, up 64%.

Japan, which has been the driving force behind investment to date, has seen a clear decline of 40% to $2.6 billion. Singapore ranked first in FDI in 2020 with $9.8 billion, followed by China and Japan in second and third place, then the European Union in fourth place, and South Korea in fifth place.

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South Korea’s SK and LG to Build EV Battery Plant in the U.S. Joint Venture in the Gap between U.S.-China Conflict

South Korean automotive battery giants are moving into the U.S. market, with SK Innovation teaming up with Ford and LG Chemical with GM to promote the construction of an automotive battery plant. SK plans to invest about 300 billion yen in the plant to produce 22 gigawatt-hours of automotive batteries, enough to power 220,000 EVs a year, and in a joint venture with Ford, the two companies will invest 600 billion yen to build a giant 60-gigawatt plant.

SK’s annual production capacity as of 2019 is only 5 gigabytes at its Korean plant. The capacity is expected to increase to 30 gigawatts in 2020 with the launch of plants in China and Hungary, to 85 gigawatts in 2023 with the addition of the US plant, and to exceed 185 gigawatts in 2025 with the addition of the joint venture with Ford. SK, a late entrant to the market, ranks sixth with a 5% share of the global market in 2020.

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Komatsu To Cut China Production Capacity by 40%

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

Komatsu says it plans to restructure its business in China this year, cutting its annual production capacity of construction machinery equipment in China by nearly 40% to 10,000 units.

At the same time, due to sluggish market demand, it will merge its equipment production subsidiary and its parts subsidiary in Jining City, Shandong Province. The production subsidiary and casting subsidiary based in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, also will be merged.

Komatsu’s production subsidiaries in the two provinces previously terminated their joint venture relationship. Even if the annual production capacity is reduced to 10,000 units, it is expected that local production capacity will enable Komatsu to increase exports to Southeast Asia and other regions.

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China Faces Limits on Power and Production

Jack Hao
Jack Hao

The global energy structure has accelerated the adjustment to green energy, and the investment in traditional energy is insufficient. Under the influence of COVID-19, energy supply and demand are disrupted, exacerbating the contradiction between supply and demand, resulting in global power shortage.

China recovered from the epidemic earlier than many other countries and is now almost the only major manufacturer, so industrial power consumption has increased significantly. Power rationing is mainly to alleviate the power shortage and achieve the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction. China is dominated by thermal power generation, and there is a serious shortage of clean energy. There are still big problems in the energy structure.

Source:  Weixunso     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: In 2021, China’s electricity demand will grow by more than 10%, which greatly exceeds the previously estimated demand growth of 6% to 7%. At present, the substantial growth of power demand has put great pressure on power supplies. Coal accounts for about 70% of China’s electricity consumption, but the output of coal is far lower than the demand for electricity.

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China 2023 EV Sales To Grow To 8.4 Million Units

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

The development trend for the new energy vehicle (EVs) market remained positive through 2022. In November, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 598,000 units, with a year-on-year growth of 58.2%. From January to November, the domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles were 5.03 million units, with a year-on-year growth of 100.1%.

As for December, the Passenger Transport Federation believes that the subsidy for new energy vehicles will decline by 12,600 RMB this year, which is much more than the decline of 5000 RMB in the previous two years. In addition, some vehicle enterprises have announced a price increase for next year, which may promote strong pre-buying of new energy vehicles at the end of the year and boost sales.

This year, the new energy vehicle market is expected to achieve the annual sales of 6.5 million vehicles.

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China-led Proton Is Revitalized

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Sales of Malaysia’s national carmaker Proton are booming, with its market share in the country reaching 27.3 % in February, hot on the heels of another national carmaker, Produa’s 38.8 %. This is not a single month irregularity; for the full year 2020, the rate is 20.5%. For the full year 2020, the share is 20.5%, almost doubling in just two years from a record low of 10.8% in 2018. This is the first time in seven years that the market share has recovered to the 20% level.

The turning point of the turnaround offensive was a capital/business alliance with a Chinese manufacturer: in September 2017, the company accepted a 49.9% stake from Geely Automobile’s parent company and began importing the right-hand drive version of the X70 SUV, which it produces and sells in China, at the end of 2018. As soon as this became a hit, the company switched to domestic assembly in Malaysia at the end of 2019, and introduced an additional small SUV, the X50, in September 2020.

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Penetration Rate of Intelligent EVs in China in 2030 May Exceed 90%

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

“China has the largest automobile production in the world, the most complete industrial foundation, supply chain foundation, talent foundation and market foundation,” said Li Bin, chairman of Weilai automobile.

These factors provide China with a significant advantage in developing intelligent EVs, he said “In fact, if we can have the advantages of these four aspects at the same time, China is the only one in the world,” he added.

The penetration rate of new energy has exceeded 10% in 2021. From the trend, this target will exceed 20% in 2025. China’s penetration rate of intelligent electric vehicles in 2030 will exceed 90% in new car sales. In recent years, with the accelerated popularization of intelligent electric vehicles, the automotive industry will once again become the commanding height of scientific and technological innovation.

Source:  Beijing News     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Today, new bus procurement is fully electrified. Buses have fixed routes, and the operation range is relatively stable. At the end of 2020, all buses in key regions and major cities have been replaced with new energy. The trend of bus electrification will continue to be promoted nationwide and gradually electric buses will replace diesel vehicles.

Considering that the running distance and working environment are relatively controllable, the market promotion of oil and electricity price difference, and the gradual completion of bus electrification, taxis will also accelerate electrification.

The second step is to accelerate the electrification of trucks such as urban logistics, environmental sanitation and muck trucks. The State Council proposes to promote green and low-carbon means of transportation, port and airport services, urban logistics distribution and postal express to give priority to the use of new energy or clean energy and strengthen the charging and switching facilities of new energy vehicles.

The penetration rate of private car electrification will also continue to increase. According to the current situation, electric vehicles can replace unified fuel vehicles in terms of price and mileage around 2025. At the same time, with the promotion of electrification in the field of public transport and trucks, driving the continuous improvement of infrastructure, the electrification of private cars will proceed more smoothly.  PSR

Jack Hao is Senior Research Manager – China, for Power Systems Research