Tech Insider: Tesla’s Huge China Recall, CATL’s Dongfeng Motor Deal

Evergrande EV unit’s stock plunges after vice chairman detained, Meituan moves up fast in Hong Kong’s food delivery market

A Tesla experience store in Beijing, Nov. 7, 2023. Photo: VCG

Tesla recalls almost every car it has ever sold in China

Tesla Inc. recalled virtually every car it has ever sold in China due to issues with the driver-assistance system Autopilot that increase the risk of crashes.

The carmaker will deploy an over-the-air software fix to more than 1.6 million

vehicles produced between August 2014 and December 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation said.

Tesla drivers may misuse Autopilot functions, increasing the risk of collisions, the regulator said. The recall mirrors the carmaker’s response last month to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determining that it wasn’t doing enough to ensure drivers were using Autopilot correctly.

Tesla’s automated-driving systems have been subject to growing scrutiny after hundreds of collisions, some of which resulted in deaths.

CATL secures Dongfeng Motor battery deal as its market share slips

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) has secured a three-year contract as the preferred supplier of Dongfeng Motor Group Co. Ltd.’s electric off-road vehicle subsidiary, as the battery giant fights to retain its market share in the competitive Chinese market.

CATL will supply the M Hero brand with its power cell products and related services until 2026, according to a CATL statement Thursday.

In the first 11 months of 2023, CATL remained China’s No. 1 electric-vehicle battery manufacturer by installed capacity, but its market share shrank to 42.91% from 48.02% in the same period of 2022, industry data shows.

Evergrande EV unit’s stock plunges after vice chairman detained

Defaulted developer China Evergrande Group’s electric vehicle (EV) unit plunged in Hong Kong trading Monday after revealing its vice chairman had been detained.

China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. said in a filing that Liu Yongzhuo “has been detained in accordance with the law on suspicion of illegal crimes,” without providing further details.

The announcement further clouds the fate of the cash-strapped EV unit, following the lapse of a planned $500 million share sale to Dubai-based carmaker NWTN Inc. As one of the three listed arms of China Evergrande, Evergrande NEV’s stock is a key part of the group’s multibillion-dollar offshore debt revamp.

Meituan moves up fast in Hong Kong’s food delivery market

Meituan has become Hong Kong’s second-largest food delivery platform since its launch in the city last May, a sign that splashy subsidies are boosting the company’s first major foray outside the Chinese mainland.

The internet firm’s sister app KeeTa accounted for 37% of the local food delivery market in December, according to data from Measurable AI, a Hong Kong-based firm that tracks business receipts. That trails Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda at 42% but surpassed Deliveroo Plc’s 20% despite a phased rollout that still doesn’t cover the entire territory.

KeeTa has relied on a familiar subsidy-heavy strategy to draw in users and delivery people. The platform expanded rapidly over the past year, starting from the neighborhood of Mong Kok in the heart of the city before covering the most affluent districts on Hong Kong Island.

New energy storage capacity surges in China, but profit margins squeezed

In 2023, China expanded its renewable energy storage capacity by 150% on the previous year to meet rising demand and as part of a clean energy push. But this increased capacity has intensified competition and squeezed margins, experts say.

Accumulated capacity of “new type” energy storage that excludes pumped hydropower reached 34.5 gigawatts (GW) in terms of discharge power at the end of 2023, according to Yue Fen, deputy vice chairman of the China Energy Storage Alliance. This had grown by 21.5 GW during the year, three times the growth in 2022, according to Yue.

He expects this pace of expansion to continue in 2024 with an additional 35 GW of capacity added.

The energy storage industry in China has been booming with measures to encourage investment and develop renewable energy such as solar and wind.