EU-China summit falls short + Growing support for battery swapping

Dear reader,

The EU-China summit should be a crucial event. The EU represents the world’s largest common market and the third-largest economic area, trailing only behind China, the second-largest economy. However, China seems to dismiss the Europeans, offering them mere rhetoric.

Two main factors contribute to this situation. On the one hand, Brussels lacks effectiveness in many areas, given the chronic discord among member states. On the other hand, China has no interest in elevating the EU as a partner because as long as Europe remains fragmented, Beijing holds a relatively stronger position.

The current visit of the Commission President and the Council Chief to Beijing for the EU-China summit is all the more important. However, Xi Jinping did not even grant Ursula von der Leyen a reception in the Great Hall of the People. This mild rebuff is analyzed by Amelie Richter.

While the conventional wisdom used to be that filling up a gas tank takes five minutes, charging an EV takes forever, this stereotype has been debunked by fast-charging technology. Chinese automaker Nio, however, aims to challenge traditional cable charging by focusing on battery swapping, with thousands of stations. Now, Nio has also collaborated with other providers. Julia Fiedler examines the advantages and disadvantages of this technology.

Your
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk

EU-China summit: many issues, no results

Xi Jinping with EU Commission President von der Leyen and EU Council President Michel.

By

Amelie Richter

During the first in-person meeting of the EU and China in four years, European leaders criticized the trade deficit between the European Union and the People’s Republic. “The root causes are known, and we have discussed them,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a press conference.

According to von der Leyen, the causes range from a lack of market access for EU companies to preferential treatment for Chinese companies and overcapacity in Chinese production. The trade imbalance is not sustainable, von der Leyen said. EU Council President Charles Michel emphasized that Beijing must promote fair access and investment conditions for European companies.

Xi, on the other hand, warned against considering China as a rival and adopting a confrontational course. Beijing is ready to view the EU as an important economic and trade partner. Xi also offered cooperation in the fields of science and technology, including artificial intelligence. However, Xi did not provide an answer on how trade imbalances would be addressed.

Panic purchases at ASML boost numbers

Trade data released by the Beijing Customs Administration on Thursday underscored the Europeans’ point: China’s trade with almost all EU states has declined throughout the year. Exceptions include the Netherlands and Lithuania.

Imports from the Netherlands increased by 29 percent in November. One reason for this could be panic purchases by Chinese semiconductor companies equipping themselves with machines from the Dutch market leader ASML before they are subject to export restrictions. In the case of Lithuania, China had recently eased trade restrictions. Concurrently with the decline in trade with the EU, China’s trade with no other country developed as it did with Russia, according to customs data.

There were not many expectations for concrete results from the summit meeting anyway. The fact that the meeting took place in person could almost be considered a success.

Frosty atmosphere in the guesthouse

It was the first time in four years that both sides saw each other face to face. President Xi had warm words for the visit upon arrival. He referred to China and the EU as “the two great forces promoting multipolarity, the two great markets supporting globalization, and the two great civilizations advocating diversity”.

In contrast to the grand words, Xi did not receive the European leadership in the Great Hall of the People -instead, he only let them into the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. After Xi, von der Leyen, Michel and EU Foreign Chief Josep Borrell also met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

There was no joint statement after the meeting. However, this was also the case with previous summit meetings. The atmosphere of the first in-person summit between the EU and China was nevertheless noticeably frostier than the last meeting in 2019. At that time, photographers captured EU Council President Donald Tusk, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Premier Li Keqiang in Brussels with a cheerful, broad three-way handshake. Not only has the personnel changed on both sides since then.

Many topics, few concrete results

The situation of the topics has become more complex since then, with positions within the EU becoming more diverse. The Europeans held the press conference after the summit alone. The discussion points were extensive:

Geopolitical conflicts: Xi emphasized China’s role as a responsible actor. However, the security policy issues of the war against Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East were not directly addressed in the first official statements from Beijing. “We strongly encourage China to participate constructively in the Ukraine peace formula,” said EU Council President Michel. The EU reiterated that China should not supply weapons to Russia. China must prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions, von der Leyen emphasized. Progress has been made in combating circumvention by speaking with the respective states, according to the Commission President. Whether Beijing will take action against sanctions circumventions by Chinese companies remained open.

Middle East: There was agreement with Beijing on providing life-saving aid to Gaza, said Michel. This had top priority. “Together we support the revival of the political process based on a two-state solution.” After the meeting, Chinese state television explained the self-interpreted EU approach: The EU is ready to “communicate closely with China and work together to protect multilateralism, uphold the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter, and promote the resolution of sensitive issues in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other regions.”

Taiwan: EU Council President Michel expressed concern about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea: “We are against any unilateral attempt to change the status quo with violence,” Michel said. He trusted that China was fully aware of the political consequences of destabilization in the strait, emphasized the EU Council President.

New Silk Road and Global Gateway: A day after the official announcement of Italy’s official exit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Xi praised the benefits of the Chinese prestige project. This had brought “real benefits” to more than 150 “countries and their peoples”. Xi advocated cooperation between the two initiatives “to help developing countries grow faster.” Moves in this direction have not been seen as an option in Brussels so far. Global Gateway aims to clearly differentiate itself from the BRI.

Digital: Regarding artificial intelligence, “both the great opportunities and the great risks” are seen, said EU Commission President von der Leyen. On the one hand, security must be ensured, and on the other hand, the door must remain open for innovations. “Although our governance models are different, we agreed that we should strive for cooperation on AI on a global level,” von der Leyen said. She welcomed China’s announcement of a mechanism to facilitate cross-border data flow. European companies had long expressed concerns about this, von der Leyen said. However, further progress still needs to be made in this dossier. Based on national security, China had restricted the administration and exchange of data.

Climate: The EU Commission President welcomed China’s commitment to the global methane pledge at COP 28. She called for further concessions from Beijing. “It would also be a strong message from China if it joined the global promise for renewable energy.” China must also “take a strong position” on phasing out fossil fuels.

Battery swapping: sensible – but still too cumbersome

A vehicle at a Nio battery swapping station in Suzhou.

By

Julia Fiedler

On Nov. 21, Nio announced a battery swapping partnership with Changan. On Nov. 29, the next announcement followed: Geely is also on board. And talks with other companies are already underway. The goals of the partnerships are:

Shared use and expansion of Nio’s battery swap station network.
Joint development of models with swappable batteries.
Development of standards for battery swapping.
With Geely, a partnership for battery swapping for commercial vehicles is also planned.

Some see it as a great opportunity, while others see it as a dead-end. One thing is clear: In Germany, Nio stands alone with its eight battery swap stations. At home in China, the manufacturer has built the largest network by far, with almost 2,200 stations, which, however, can currently only be used exclusively by its own customers. All Nio vehicles are battery swap capable, and more than 33 million batteries have been swapped so far. In addition to Nio, a handful of other manufacturers in China also rely on battery swapping, including battery manufacturer CATL. With its modular battery bars Choco-SEB, the company offers a comprehensive concept that is already used by individual models.

Changan and Geely: strong partners

Zhu Huarong, Chairman of Changan, described the introduction of Nio’s battery swapping model as a “milestone for the industry“. Changan is a state-owned company and the third-largest automaker in China, headquartered in Chongqing. The manufacturer has secured just under five percent of the market in EV sales. Its EVs are sold under the brand name Changan, as well as under the brands Qiyuan, Deepal and Avatr. However, battery-swappable vehicles are not currently among them.

The Geely automotive giant includes brands such as Zeekr and Lynk & Co, as well as international brands such as Volvo, Polestar and Lotus. Until October, Geely sold 346,464 EVs in China, accounting for 5.8 percent of the Chinese EV market. Geely is not a newcomer to battery swapping; the company has been developing technologies in this area since 2017 and has been operating a battery swapping system for commercial vehicles with Yiyi Power for several years.

Several months before the partnership with Nio, Changan and Geely had already entered into a strategic agreement with each other. In May, the two companies declared their intention to cooperate on the development of battery cells, charging technology and battery swapping technology, among other things.

Battery swapping has its limits in attractiveness

The idea sounds good: stop at the swapping station, exchange the empty car battery for a fresh one and continue driving. All of this takes only a few minutes with Nio. The Chinese manufacturer is not the first to try out the concept. In 2012, the start-up Better Place attempted a battery swapping concept but failed; no major automaker wanted to invest, especially not when Tesla announced its Supercharger network.

A few years ago, battery swapping technology seemed attractive as an alternative to waiting at the charging station. However, this situation is changing rapidly, also due to innovations from China. The Zeekr 001 from Geely, based on an 800V platform with a 100 kWh Qilin battery from CATL, can be charged from 10 percent to 80 percent in 15 minutes. When fully charged, it can cover 580 kilometers according to WLTP. CATL plans to launch the 800 kW Supercharger V3 in 2024; currently, Geely Superchargers can already deliver 360 kW. With such charging speeds, the need for battery swapping becomes questionable.

Battery swapping as part of state strategy

“Swapping stations compete with the further development of batteries. The more powerful the batteries are in terms of charging capacity, the less necessary swapping stations become,” says Professor Stefan Reindl, Head of the “ifa automotive business school” in Geislingen. “One simply has to ask the question: Is this effort worthwhile?“

However, in China, the idea of battery swapping can also prove itself outside of competition. It is being pursued there even at the request of the state. The New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan for 2021 to 2035 not only sets the goal of 20 percent EVs by 2025 but also the expansion of battery swapping and hydrogen infrastructure in China. This is promoted with state pilot projects in selected cities.

Infrastructure is expensive

Batteries can also be charged at lower current strengths in battery swapping stations. This is better for the grid and preserves the batteries. They can also be charged at times when the grid is not fully loaded. At least in theory. Because the stations always have to have enough batteries in stock, and the slower they are charged, the more batteries must be available – a significant cost factor for expensive EV batteries.

Another cost factor: The stations themselves, as they are more expensive than charging stations, and the infrastructure is still in its infancy. To be attractive to users, the network must not be less dense than charging stations. Because a detour would negate the time advantage. The advantage is also lost if customers have to queue at the station behind other vehicles and wait because the station is currently occupied.

So, many stations have to be built, which costs money and time. In this respect, the alliance of Nio, Changan and Geely is a positive signal – not only for the build-up but also for the utilization. Because stations that can only be used by vehicles from one manufacturer are at risk of not being fully utilized.

Common standard has its challenges

With its EVOGO stations, which are now being set up in some Chinese cities, CATL offers such a comprehensive concept. Vehicles can use it if they use the modular battery bars Choco-SEB from the manufacturer. So far, this is the case with the Aiways U5, FAW Bestune NAT and Dongfeng Fukang ES600. In other words, there are still few vehicles.

For batteries to be interchangeable, a common standard is needed. Agreeing on this is likely to be difficult. But that is precisely what Nio and others intend to do. However, it is questionable how many manufacturers will go along with this.

Volkswagen is closely monitoring developments

In the premium segment, Professor Stefan Reindl considers it unlikely that companies could swap batteries and possibly even develop common platforms for this: “Large corporations, especially in the premium segment, will use their own platforms. An EQE, for example, simply has to be a Mercedes. But perhaps it would be an option in the Golf class because the margins are very low there. It is not so brand-specific what is under the sheet metal.”

For one of the most important German manufacturers, Volkswagen, which announced a platform cooperation with Xpeng for the Chinese market only a few months ago, swapping batteries is out of the question in Europe, according to the company.

In China, however, Volkswagen sounds more open: “By using a uniform cell for up to 80 percent of the models of the group brands, the costs for batteries can be reduced by up to 50 percent. Battery swapping is an interesting technical approach for a quick ‘charging and swapping’ process of the battery in China, which we are closely monitoring,” says a company spokesman to Table.Media.

Special case: electric trucks

In another segment, charging stations for EVs could still become interesting here in Germany: with electric trucks. In China, batteries are already being swapped for trucks, concrete mixers and other heavy-duty vehicles. One of the manufacturers offering swap stations there is Geely.

There are some relevant differences compared to passenger cars: with commercial vehicles, routes can be better planned than with private vehicles. Due to their size and weight, much larger batteries are used, which realistically cannot be charged quickly enough to make the use of electric trucks economical. Megawatt charging would be required for this, but the infrastructure for this is not yet available in Germany.

Stefanie Marker, a professor at the Technical University of Berlin, is leading a research project for which Europe’s first automatic battery swapping station for electric trucks was put into operation at the end of November. It is located on the A13 near Luebbenau. Technically, battery swapping in trucks is easier to handle than in passenger cars because the swapping robot can access the batteries more easily, she says. There are also fewer manufacturers who would need to be brought on board for standardization.

“Our cost-benefit analysis shows that battery-swapping trucks will have roughly the same costs as megawatt charging and only slightly less than overhead line trucks in an optimistic scenario. Thus, they can have lower total costs of ownership than diesel trucks as early as 2025,” Marker reports. On the logistics side, a battery-swapping system is already actively demanded, she says. Operators are also willing to buy vehicles from China if it preserves flexibility and still allows for electric driving.

Xi Jinping travels to Vietnam

President Xi Jinping will travel to Vietnam next week, announced the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday. During the summit meetings with Vietnam’s Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong and President Vo Van Thuong on Dec. 12-13, both sides will “discuss the expansion of relations between China and Vietnam, focusing on six key areas, including politics, security, practical cooperation, public support, multilateral issues, and maritime affairs”.

This will be Xi’s first trip to the Southeast Asian country since 2017. Bloomberg had recently reported that Vietnamese officials were preparing for the visit of the Chinese head of state. Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Hanoi in early December to prepare for the summit.

Xi’s visit highlights how regional states like Vietnam balance their relationships with the two major powers. Just three months ago, US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam, where the US and Vietnam sealed a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” the same designation used for China and India. ck

FDP board’s European program identifies China as a systemic rival

The FDP’s Federal Executive Board is on the verge of adopting its program for the European Parliament election next year, with China playing a crucial role in the foreign and trade policy section. The document, available to Table.Media, defines the relationship with China as that of a “systemic and economic rival”, against which the EU must improve its competitive position. The final European election program of the FDP will be adopted at a party congress at the end of January.

The FDP’s paper signals a shift in attention towards Taiwan. “With Taiwan, we want to initiate discussions on a free trade and investment agreement without waiting for progress on the rightfully stalled Comprehensive Agreement on Investment with China (CAI).”

According to the FDP’s vision, instead of an agreement with China, the EU should seek a trade deal with Taiwan – a move that would likely be met with disapproval in Beijing. The FDP would also support Taiwan in becoming a member of international organizations, a status typically blocked by China. This position is already known from the FDP’s 2021 federal election program.

The FDP’s paper also questions dependencies and how to deal with them. “The EU must become more independent from China, which is a competitor and an increasingly systemic rival.” In terms of trade policy, the EU must counter the Belt and Road Initiative more effectively to prevent Africa or Latin America from falling under Chinese influence. fin

More layoffs at Nio

Chinese electric start-up Nio has reportedly laid off employees again, citing increased competition and sluggish demand, according to a Bloomberg report. Just a few weeks ago, there were reports of job cuts at Nio. Some departments have now been asked to create additional lists for layoffs, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. This could potentially increase the initially planned job cuts from ten percent to 20 to 30 percent.

According to the report, the cuts primarily target business areas that are not part of the core operations or those that require high investments without yielding quick returns. Central business areas of Nio, such as sales, will continue to hire employees, it said. Nio founder William Li stated last week that the company employs around 5,700 sales staff, with over 3,000 added in recent months. He emphasized that Nio intends to focus overseas only on markets that have already been developed.

Nio has significantly missed its sales targets recently and continues to incur losses. The price war initiated by Tesla is putting pressure on automakers in the fiercely competitive market. Therefore, Nio announced its first cost-cutting measures in early November. The company was not immediately available for comment. jul

Export yay, import nay

To the surprise of many economists, China’s export sector experienced growth in November after six consecutive months of decline. In a Thursday announcement, the Chinese customs agency revealed that exports rose by 0.5 percent year-on-year, reaching 291 billion dollars (270.3 billion euros). This positive development comes after a sharp 6.4 percent decline in exports in October compared to the previous year.

The growth in November was primarily attributed to increased exports to Russia, which saw a significant rise of 50.2 percent. However, it’s noteworthy that Russia’s economy is relatively small, comparable to the size of Spain. On the other hand, the sluggish economic conditions in Europe and North America continued to result in weak demand for Chinese goods last month. Chinese exports to the United States plummeted by 13.8 percent, and exports to Europe saw an eleven percent decrease.

“The data indicates that foreign demand is stronger, and domestic demand is weaker than we thought,” concluded Dan Wang, Chief Economist of Hang Seng Bank China. “Despite an improvement in exports, it is not certain that exports will contribute significantly to growth next year,” warned economist Zhiwei Zhang of Pinpoint Asset Management, according to the AFP news agency. “China must rely on domestic demand as the main driver.” However, even domestic demand is currently weakening, with Chinese imports declining by 0.6 percent in November. flee

Egg fried rice, Mao and Xi

A star Chinese chef on the internet announced on Nov. 27 that he would never cook egg fried rice again. Wang Gang (王刚), who has a total of about 20 million followers on social media platforms, also bowed deeply in his apologetic video for showing the audience how to make this everyday Chinese dish around a sensitive date. Both the fried rice video and the sorry-video were deleted afterwards. Other Youtubers have kept the latter.

On Nov. 25, 1950, Mao Zedong’s eldest son, Mao Anying, died under US airstrike during the Korean War at the age of 28. There have been different accounts about circumstances surrounding his death. One of them gained particular popularity during the past two decades. According to this version, the young Mao broke rules and cooked during the day in an unprotected house. Smoke from the stove brought US pilots’ attention and then bombs. Egg fried rice was what he was cooking, wrote his fellow officer Yang Di in a memoir first published in 1998 by the People’s Liberation Army Publishing House.

A prime example of creative resistance

Mao Zedong didn’t send his son to Korea without a purpose. He is believed to be grooming the son for higher positions, or even as his successor. Chairman Mao had three sons. The youngest one went missing at an early age. The middle one was mentally handicapped. With Mao Anying’s sudden death, the possibility of a Mao Dynasty was eliminated.

The North Koreans were less lucky. With the assistance from Soviet Union and China, the Kim family managed to keep firm grip since the DPRK’s establishment in 1948. After veteran Yang published his book, a tongue-in-cheek quip started to circulate in the Chinese world: a bowl of egg fried rice saved China from becoming the second North Korea.

Nov. 25, the day Mao Anqing died, started to be celebrated by some as Egg Fried Rice Festival, a perfect example of creative defiance against the Mao cult, the official propaganda on the communists heros’ so-called sacrifice, and the party’s history narratives in general.

‘The most vicious rumor’

Authorities must have decided to stay silent, hoping what they must have seen as an obnoxious “festival” die out by itself. The official media outlets always speak in a grand, pompous tone. They simply couldn’t find the right voice even to criticize something like this. An official deny of such a facetious story would look awkward and most likely give it more publicity.

Its popularity, however, grew steadily, seemingly at a speed even faster than the Chinese economy. In 2010, the junior Mao’s wife couldn’t tolerate it anymore. She openly accused the story as “cold-hearted fabrication”. In the following years, official media ran lengthy reports citing sources other than the memoir to discredit it. In 2020, the Chinese Academy of History, the highest official institution for history research, joined the struggle, issuing stern statements every year condemning it as “the most vicious rumor”.

Politically incorrect, but amusing

Farcically funny it might sound, armies of nationalists were indeed roused to put egg fried rice onto the keyword list for cyber policing. Together with paid trolls and forced labor in prisons, they would act voluntarily or answer government organizers’ calls to attack people posting egg fried rice photos or comments on the wrong dates.

But all these also made more people know about this politically incorrect but funny festival. Each year on Nov. 25, photos of different kinds of egg fried rice would pop up across different social media apps.

Then the poor chef Wang entered the scene. Since he started to post cooking videos in 2017, the chef never included into his videos anything unrelated to the food he cooked. Nor did he show the slightest possible trace of interest to comment on social or political topics.

All the rice clips dug out

But on Oct. 24, 2020, which was Mao Anying’s birthday, he published a clip of Yangzhou Fried Rice, a type of fried rice originated from Yangzhou, Jiangsu. He was consequently massively harassed and had to apologize and delete the video.

Gods know how, on Nov. 27 this year, a video of another variation of fried rice was uploaded to his channel. It was already two days after the proper day, but the passionate defenders of the “revolutionary martyrs” would not let him get away with it. They dig out all the fried rice clips he posted in the past to show he had been consistently repeating the insult, although, apart from the two mentioned above, they were all posted far from the two sensitive dates.

Under the huge pressure, Wang apologized again and bid a remorseful farewell to egg fried rice.

More than 500 nicknames

In fact, egg fried rice is not the only foodstuff that is used as nickname for political figures in China. Mao the father has the epithet of là ròu (腊肉, cured pork meat) because of his preserved body in his mausoleum; Xi Jinping is often referred to as bāo zi (包子, steamed stuffed bun) for his badly performed visit to the Beijing local chain eatery Qingfeng Baozi during his early days as the party boss. And he also has baozi-like fat face.

Xi is given not only this nickname. In an October report, the New Yorker magazine said Chinese censors has collected more than five hundred nicknames created for Xi. That might be an exaggeration, but he is indeed very rich in this regard. Some of them are very hard to censor. So the mouse and cat game will go on.

The following are the most well-known ones:

The Accelerator in Chief (总加速师 zǒng jiā sù shī): he is believed to have been accelerating the communist regime’s eventual collapse.
Emperor Qingfeng (庆丰帝qìng fēng dì), from the name of the Baozi shop he visited;
Elementary School Pupil (小学生 xiǎo xúe shēng), because the proper education he really finished properly was elementary schooling and he really behaved a not well-educated person.
Èr Bǎi Jīn (二百斤) or 100 kilos: He bragged in an interview in 2004 that while he worked in the countryside in Shaanxi in his youth, he could carry a bag of 100 kilos of wheat and walk five km of mountain trail without changing shoulder.
Xitler, first used by Hong Kong activists
A man in Beijing (北京一男子 běi jīng yì nán zǐ )
↗↘↗ The signs for the tones of his name’s three characters (xí jìn píng).
翠 (cuì), this character refers to the color emerald green. But in this context, it is a curse. The character’s upper half happens to be the double appearance of Xi’s last name 习; the lower part is 卒, which could mean death.
That person.
He. In certain context, only a “he” is enough, if not otherwise indicated. For example: Will real estate become a key driver for growth again? No, he (or that person) doesn’t like the idea.

At one time, 46 loudspeakers from this system on the Taiwanese island of Kinmen broadcasted messages towards the People’s Republic of China. The distance to the Chinese mainland is only about two kilometers. Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Kuomintang, which fled to Taiwan, aimed to reclaim the Chinese mainland from the strategically positioned island of Kinmen. Both sides engaged in mutual bombardments until the 1970s.

Today, regular border crossings occur between Kinmen and the opposite Five-Million-Metropolis of Xiamen. As a reminder of the once propagandistic confrontations, a speaker continuously plays the popular and now deceased Mandopop singer Teresa Teng’s hit “Tian Mimi” (“Sweet Honey”) on both sides.

CHINA.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE

Amelie
Richter

Marcel
Grzanna

Fabian
Peltsch

Julia
Fiedler

Angela
Köckritz

Jörn
Petring

Dear reader,

The EU-China summit should be a crucial event. The EU represents the world’s largest common market and the third-largest economic area, trailing only behind China, the second-largest economy. However, China seems to dismiss the Europeans, offering them mere rhetoric.

Two main factors contribute to this situation. On the one hand, Brussels lacks effectiveness in many areas, given the chronic discord among member states. On the other hand, China has no interest in elevating the EU as a partner because as long as Europe remains fragmented, Beijing holds a relatively stronger position.

The current visit of the Commission President and the Council Chief to Beijing for the EU-China summit is all the more important. However, Xi Jinping did not even grant Ursula von der Leyen a reception in the Great Hall of the People. This mild rebuff is analyzed by Amelie Richter.

While the conventional wisdom used to be that filling up a gas tank takes five minutes, charging an EV takes forever, this stereotype has been debunked by fast-charging technology. Chinese automaker Nio, however, aims to challenge traditional cable charging by focusing on battery swapping, with thousands of stations. Now, Nio has also collaborated with other providers. Julia Fiedler examines the advantages and disadvantages of this technology.

Your
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk

EU-China summit: many issues, no results

By

Amelie Richter

During the first in-person meeting of the EU and China in four years, European leaders criticized the trade deficit between the European Union and the People’s Republic. “The root causes are known, and we have discussed them,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a press conference.

According to von der Leyen, the causes range from a lack of market access for EU companies to preferential treatment for Chinese companies and overcapacity in Chinese production. The trade imbalance is not sustainable, von der Leyen said. EU Council President Charles Michel emphasized that Beijing must promote fair access and investment conditions for European companies.

Xi, on the other hand, warned against considering China as a rival and adopting a confrontational course. Beijing is ready to view the EU as an important economic and trade partner. Xi also offered cooperation in the fields of science and technology, including artificial intelligence. However, Xi did not provide an answer on how trade imbalances would be addressed.

Panic purchases at ASML boost numbers

Trade data released by the Beijing Customs Administration on Thursday underscored the Europeans’ point: China’s trade with almost all EU states has declined throughout the year. Exceptions include the Netherlands and Lithuania.

Imports from the Netherlands increased by 29 percent in November. One reason for this could be panic purchases by Chinese semiconductor companies equipping themselves with machines from the Dutch market leader ASML before they are subject to export restrictions. In the case of Lithuania, China had recently eased trade restrictions. Concurrently with the decline in trade with the EU, China’s trade with no other country developed as it did with Russia, according to customs data.

There were not many expectations for concrete results from the summit meeting anyway. The fact that the meeting took place in person could almost be considered a success.

Frosty atmosphere in the guesthouse

It was the first time in four years that both sides saw each other face to face. President Xi had warm words for the visit upon arrival. He referred to China and the EU as “the two great forces promoting multipolarity, the two great markets supporting globalization, and the two great civilizations advocating diversity”.

In contrast to the grand words, Xi did not receive the European leadership in the Great Hall of the People -instead, he only let them into the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. After Xi, von der Leyen, Michel and EU Foreign Chief Josep Borrell also met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

There was no joint statement after the meeting. However, this was also the case with previous summit meetings. The atmosphere of the first in-person summit between the EU and China was nevertheless noticeably frostier than the last meeting in 2019. At that time, photographers captured EU Council President Donald Tusk, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Premier Li Keqiang in Brussels with a cheerful, broad three-way handshake. Not only has the personnel changed on both sides since then.

Many topics, few concrete results

The situation of the topics has become more complex since then, with positions within the EU becoming more diverse. The Europeans held the press conference after the summit alone. The discussion points were extensive:

Geopolitical conflicts: Xi emphasized China’s role as a responsible actor. However, the security policy issues of the war against Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East were not directly addressed in the first official statements from Beijing. “We strongly encourage China to participate constructively in the Ukraine peace formula,” said EU Council President Michel. The EU reiterated that China should not supply weapons to Russia. China must prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions, von der Leyen emphasized. Progress has been made in combating circumvention by speaking with the respective states, according to the Commission President. Whether Beijing will take action against sanctions circumventions by Chinese companies remained open.

Middle East: There was agreement with Beijing on providing life-saving aid to Gaza, said Michel. This had top priority. “Together we support the revival of the political process based on a two-state solution.” After the meeting, Chinese state television explained the self-interpreted EU approach: The EU is ready to “communicate closely with China and work together to protect multilateralism, uphold the goals and principles of the United Nations Charter, and promote the resolution of sensitive issues in Ukraine, the Middle East, and other regions.”

Taiwan: EU Council President Michel expressed concern about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea: “We are against any unilateral attempt to change the status quo with violence,” Michel said. He trusted that China was fully aware of the political consequences of destabilization in the strait, emphasized the EU Council President.

New Silk Road and Global Gateway: A day after the official announcement of Italy’s official exit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Xi praised the benefits of the Chinese prestige project. This had brought “real benefits” to more than 150 “countries and their peoples”. Xi advocated cooperation between the two initiatives “to help developing countries grow faster.” Moves in this direction have not been seen as an option in Brussels so far. Global Gateway aims to clearly differentiate itself from the BRI.

Digital: Regarding artificial intelligence, “both the great opportunities and the great risks” are seen, said EU Commission President von der Leyen. On the one hand, security must be ensured, and on the other hand, the door must remain open for innovations. “Although our governance models are different, we agreed that we should strive for cooperation on AI on a global level,” von der Leyen said. She welcomed China’s announcement of a mechanism to facilitate cross-border data flow. European companies had long expressed concerns about this, von der Leyen said. However, further progress still needs to be made in this dossier. Based on national security, China had restricted the administration and exchange of data.

Climate: The EU Commission President welcomed China’s commitment to the global methane pledge at COP 28. She called for further concessions from Beijing. “It would also be a strong message from China if it joined the global promise for renewable energy.” China must also “take a strong position” on phasing out fossil fuels.

Battery swapping: sensible – but still too cumbersome

By

Julia Fiedler

On Nov. 21, Nio announced a battery swapping partnership with Changan. On Nov. 29, the next announcement followed: Geely is also on board. And talks with other companies are already underway. The goals of the partnerships are:

Shared use and expansion of Nio’s battery swap station network.
Joint development of models with swappable batteries.
Development of standards for battery swapping.
With Geely, a partnership for battery swapping for commercial vehicles is also planned.

Some see it as a great opportunity, while others see it as a dead-end. One thing is clear: In Germany, Nio stands alone with its eight battery swap stations. At home in China, the manufacturer has built the largest network by far, with almost 2,200 stations, which, however, can currently only be used exclusively by its own customers. All Nio vehicles are battery swap capable, and more than 33 million batteries have been swapped so far. In addition to Nio, a handful of other manufacturers in China also rely on battery swapping, including battery manufacturer CATL. With its modular battery bars Choco-SEB, the company offers a comprehensive concept that is already used by individual models.

Changan and Geely: strong partners

Zhu Huarong, Chairman of Changan, described the introduction of Nio’s battery swapping model as a “milestone for the industry“. Changan is a state-owned company and the third-largest automaker in China, headquartered in Chongqing. The manufacturer has secured just under five percent of the market in EV sales. Its EVs are sold under the brand name Changan, as well as under the brands Qiyuan, Deepal and Avatr. However, battery-swappable vehicles are not currently among them.

The Geely automotive giant includes brands such as Zeekr and Lynk & Co, as well as international brands such as Volvo, Polestar and Lotus. Until October, Geely sold 346,464 EVs in China, accounting for 5.8 percent of the Chinese EV market. Geely is not a newcomer to battery swapping; the company has been developing technologies in this area since 2017 and has been operating a battery swapping system for commercial vehicles with Yiyi Power for several years.

Several months before the partnership with Nio, Changan and Geely had already entered into a strategic agreement with each other. In May, the two companies declared their intention to cooperate on the development of battery cells, charging technology and battery swapping technology, among other things.

Battery swapping has its limits in attractiveness

The idea sounds good: stop at the swapping station, exchange the empty car battery for a fresh one and continue driving. All of this takes only a few minutes with Nio. The Chinese manufacturer is not the first to try out the concept. In 2012, the start-up Better Place attempted a battery swapping concept but failed; no major automaker wanted to invest, especially not when Tesla announced its Supercharger network.

A few years ago, battery swapping technology seemed attractive as an alternative to waiting at the charging station. However, this situation is changing rapidly, also due to innovations from China. The Zeekr 001 from Geely, based on an 800V platform with a 100 kWh Qilin battery from CATL, can be charged from 10 percent to 80 percent in 15 minutes. When fully charged, it can cover 580 kilometers according to WLTP. CATL plans to launch the 800 kW Supercharger V3 in 2024; currently, Geely Superchargers can already deliver 360 kW. With such charging speeds, the need for battery swapping becomes questionable.

Battery swapping as part of state strategy

“Swapping stations compete with the further development of batteries. The more powerful the batteries are in terms of charging capacity, the less necessary swapping stations become,” says Professor Stefan Reindl, Head of the “ifa automotive business school” in Geislingen. “One simply has to ask the question: Is this effort worthwhile?“

However, in China, the idea of battery swapping can also prove itself outside of competition. It is being pursued there even at the request of the state. The New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan for 2021 to 2035 not only sets the goal of 20 percent EVs by 2025 but also the expansion of battery swapping and hydrogen infrastructure in China. This is promoted with state pilot projects in selected cities.

Infrastructure is expensive

Batteries can also be charged at lower current strengths in battery swapping stations. This is better for the grid and preserves the batteries. They can also be charged at times when the grid is not fully loaded. At least in theory. Because the stations always have to have enough batteries in stock, and the slower they are charged, the more batteries must be available – a significant cost factor for expensive EV batteries.

Another cost factor: The stations themselves, as they are more expensive than charging stations, and the infrastructure is still in its infancy. To be attractive to users, the network must not be less dense than charging stations. Because a detour would negate the time advantage. The advantage is also lost if customers have to queue at the station behind other vehicles and wait because the station is currently occupied.

So, many stations have to be built, which costs money and time. In this respect, the alliance of Nio, Changan and Geely is a positive signal – not only for the build-up but also for the utilization. Because stations that can only be used by vehicles from one manufacturer are at risk of not being fully utilized.

Common standard has its challenges

With its EVOGO stations, which are now being set up in some Chinese cities, CATL offers such a comprehensive concept. Vehicles can use it if they use the modular battery bars Choco-SEB from the manufacturer. So far, this is the case with the Aiways U5, FAW Bestune NAT and Dongfeng Fukang ES600. In other words, there are still few vehicles.

For batteries to be interchangeable, a common standard is needed. Agreeing on this is likely to be difficult. But that is precisely what Nio and others intend to do. However, it is questionable how many manufacturers will go along with this.

Volkswagen is closely monitoring developments

In the premium segment, Professor Stefan Reindl considers it unlikely that companies could swap batteries and possibly even develop common platforms for this: “Large corporations, especially in the premium segment, will use their own platforms. An EQE, for example, simply has to be a Mercedes. But perhaps it would be an option in the Golf class because the margins are very low there. It is not so brand-specific what is under the sheet metal.”

For one of the most important German manufacturers, Volkswagen, which announced a platform cooperation with Xpeng for the Chinese market only a few months ago, swapping batteries is out of the question in Europe, according to the company.

In China, however, Volkswagen sounds more open: “By using a uniform cell for up to 80 percent of the models of the group brands, the costs for batteries can be reduced by up to 50 percent. Battery swapping is an interesting technical approach for a quick ‘charging and swapping’ process of the battery in China, which we are closely monitoring,” says a company spokesman to Table.Media.

Special case: electric trucks

In another segment, charging stations for EVs could still become interesting here in Germany: with electric trucks. In China, batteries are already being swapped for trucks, concrete mixers and other heavy-duty vehicles. One of the manufacturers offering swap stations there is Geely.

There are some relevant differences compared to passenger cars: with commercial vehicles, routes can be better planned than with private vehicles. Due to their size and weight, much larger batteries are used, which realistically cannot be charged quickly enough to make the use of electric trucks economical. Megawatt charging would be required for this, but the infrastructure for this is not yet available in Germany.

Stefanie Marker, a professor at the Technical University of Berlin, is leading a research project for which Europe’s first automatic battery swapping station for electric trucks was put into operation at the end of November. It is located on the A13 near Luebbenau. Technically, battery swapping in trucks is easier to handle than in passenger cars because the swapping robot can access the batteries more easily, she says. There are also fewer manufacturers who would need to be brought on board for standardization.

“Our cost-benefit analysis shows that battery-swapping trucks will have roughly the same costs as megawatt charging and only slightly less than overhead line trucks in an optimistic scenario. Thus, they can have lower total costs of ownership than diesel trucks as early as 2025,” Marker reports. On the logistics side, a battery-swapping system is already actively demanded, she says. Operators are also willing to buy vehicles from China if it preserves flexibility and still allows for electric driving.

Xi Jinping travels to Vietnam

President Xi Jinping will travel to Vietnam next week, announced the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday. During the summit meetings with Vietnam’s Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong and President Vo Van Thuong on Dec. 12-13, both sides will “discuss the expansion of relations between China and Vietnam, focusing on six key areas, including politics, security, practical cooperation, public support, multilateral issues, and maritime affairs”.

This will be Xi’s first trip to the Southeast Asian country since 2017. Bloomberg had recently reported that Vietnamese officials were preparing for the visit of the Chinese head of state. Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Hanoi in early December to prepare for the summit.

Xi’s visit highlights how regional states like Vietnam balance their relationships with the two major powers. Just three months ago, US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam, where the US and Vietnam sealed a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” the same designation used for China and India. ck

FDP board’s European program identifies China as a systemic rival

The FDP’s Federal Executive Board is on the verge of adopting its program for the European Parliament election next year, with China playing a crucial role in the foreign and trade policy section. The document, available to Table.Media, defines the relationship with China as that of a “systemic and economic rival”, against which the EU must improve its competitive position. The final European election program of the FDP will be adopted at a party congress at the end of January.

The FDP’s paper signals a shift in attention towards Taiwan. “With Taiwan, we want to initiate discussions on a free trade and investment agreement without waiting for progress on the rightfully stalled Comprehensive Agreement on Investment with China (CAI).”

According to the FDP’s vision, instead of an agreement with China, the EU should seek a trade deal with Taiwan – a move that would likely be met with disapproval in Beijing. The FDP would also support Taiwan in becoming a member of international organizations, a status typically blocked by China. This position is already known from the FDP’s 2021 federal election program.

The FDP’s paper also questions dependencies and how to deal with them. “The EU must become more independent from China, which is a competitor and an increasingly systemic rival.” In terms of trade policy, the EU must counter the Belt and Road Initiative more effectively to prevent Africa or Latin America from falling under Chinese influence. fin

More layoffs at Nio

Chinese electric start-up Nio has reportedly laid off employees again, citing increased competition and sluggish demand, according to a Bloomberg report. Just a few weeks ago, there were reports of job cuts at Nio. Some departments have now been asked to create additional lists for layoffs, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. This could potentially increase the initially planned job cuts from ten percent to 20 to 30 percent.

According to the report, the cuts primarily target business areas that are not part of the core operations or those that require high investments without yielding quick returns. Central business areas of Nio, such as sales, will continue to hire employees, it said. Nio founder William Li stated last week that the company employs around 5,700 sales staff, with over 3,000 added in recent months. He emphasized that Nio intends to focus overseas only on markets that have already been developed.

Nio has significantly missed its sales targets recently and continues to incur losses. The price war initiated by Tesla is putting pressure on automakers in the fiercely competitive market. Therefore, Nio announced its first cost-cutting measures in early November. The company was not immediately available for comment. jul

Export yay, import nay

To the surprise of many economists, China’s export sector experienced growth in November after six consecutive months of decline. In a Thursday announcement, the Chinese customs agency revealed that exports rose by 0.5 percent year-on-year, reaching 291 billion dollars (270.3 billion euros). This positive development comes after a sharp 6.4 percent decline in exports in October compared to the previous year.

The growth in November was primarily attributed to increased exports to Russia, which saw a significant rise of 50.2 percent. However, it’s noteworthy that Russia’s economy is relatively small, comparable to the size of Spain. On the other hand, the sluggish economic conditions in Europe and North America continued to result in weak demand for Chinese goods last month. Chinese exports to the United States plummeted by 13.8 percent, and exports to Europe saw an eleven percent decrease.

“The data indicates that foreign demand is stronger, and domestic demand is weaker than we thought,” concluded Dan Wang, Chief Economist of Hang Seng Bank China. “Despite an improvement in exports, it is not certain that exports will contribute significantly to growth next year,” warned economist Zhiwei Zhang of Pinpoint Asset Management, according to the AFP news agency. “China must rely on domestic demand as the main driver.” However, even domestic demand is currently weakening, with Chinese imports declining by 0.6 percent in November. flee

Egg fried rice, Mao and Xi

A star Chinese chef on the internet announced on Nov. 27 that he would never cook egg fried rice again. Wang Gang (王刚), who has a total of about 20 million followers on social media platforms, also bowed deeply in his apologetic video for showing the audience how to make this everyday Chinese dish around a sensitive date. Both the fried rice video and the sorry-video were deleted afterwards. Other Youtubers have kept the latter.

On Nov. 25, 1950, Mao Zedong’s eldest son, Mao Anying, died under US airstrike during the Korean War at the age of 28. There have been different accounts about circumstances surrounding his death. One of them gained particular popularity during the past two decades. According to this version, the young Mao broke rules and cooked during the day in an unprotected house. Smoke from the stove brought US pilots’ attention and then bombs. Egg fried rice was what he was cooking, wrote his fellow officer Yang Di in a memoir first published in 1998 by the People’s Liberation Army Publishing House.

A prime example of creative resistance

Mao Zedong didn’t send his son to Korea without a purpose. He is believed to be grooming the son for higher positions, or even as his successor. Chairman Mao had three sons. The youngest one went missing at an early age. The middle one was mentally handicapped. With Mao Anying’s sudden death, the possibility of a Mao Dynasty was eliminated.

The North Koreans were less lucky. With the assistance from Soviet Union and China, the Kim family managed to keep firm grip since the DPRK’s establishment in 1948. After veteran Yang published his book, a tongue-in-cheek quip started to circulate in the Chinese world: a bowl of egg fried rice saved China from becoming the second North Korea.

Nov. 25, the day Mao Anqing died, started to be celebrated by some as Egg Fried Rice Festival, a perfect example of creative defiance against the Mao cult, the official propaganda on the communists heros’ so-called sacrifice, and the party’s history narratives in general.

‘The most vicious rumor’

Authorities must have decided to stay silent, hoping what they must have seen as an obnoxious “festival” die out by itself. The official media outlets always speak in a grand, pompous tone. They simply couldn’t find the right voice even to criticize something like this. An official deny of such a facetious story would look awkward and most likely give it more publicity.

Its popularity, however, grew steadily, seemingly at a speed even faster than the Chinese economy. In 2010, the junior Mao’s wife couldn’t tolerate it anymore. She openly accused the story as “cold-hearted fabrication”. In the following years, official media ran lengthy reports citing sources other than the memoir to discredit it. In 2020, the Chinese Academy of History, the highest official institution for history research, joined the struggle, issuing stern statements every year condemning it as “the most vicious rumor”.

Politically incorrect, but amusing

Farcically funny it might sound, armies of nationalists were indeed roused to put egg fried rice onto the keyword list for cyber policing. Together with paid trolls and forced labor in prisons, they would act voluntarily or answer government organizers’ calls to attack people posting egg fried rice photos or comments on the wrong dates.

But all these also made more people know about this politically incorrect but funny festival. Each year on Nov. 25, photos of different kinds of egg fried rice would pop up across different social media apps.

Then the poor chef Wang entered the scene. Since he started to post cooking videos in 2017, the chef never included into his videos anything unrelated to the food he cooked. Nor did he show the slightest possible trace of interest to comment on social or political topics.

All the rice clips dug out

But on Oct. 24, 2020, which was Mao Anying’s birthday, he published a clip of Yangzhou Fried Rice, a type of fried rice originated from Yangzhou, Jiangsu. He was consequently massively harassed and had to apologize and delete the video.

Gods know how, on Nov. 27 this year, a video of another variation of fried rice was uploaded to his channel. It was already two days after the proper day, but the passionate defenders of the “revolutionary martyrs” would not let him get away with it. They dig out all the fried rice clips he posted in the past to show he had been consistently repeating the insult, although, apart from the two mentioned above, they were all posted far from the two sensitive dates.

Under the huge pressure, Wang apologized again and bid a remorseful farewell to egg fried rice.

More than 500 nicknames

In fact, egg fried rice is not the only foodstuff that is used as nickname for political figures in China. Mao the father has the epithet of là ròu (腊肉, cured pork meat) because of his preserved body in his mausoleum; Xi Jinping is often referred to as bāo zi (包子, steamed stuffed bun) for his badly performed visit to the Beijing local chain eatery Qingfeng Baozi during his early days as the party boss. And he also has baozi-like fat face.

Xi is given not only this nickname. In an October report, the New Yorker magazine said Chinese censors has collected more than five hundred nicknames created for Xi. That might be an exaggeration, but he is indeed very rich in this regard. Some of them are very hard to censor. So the mouse and cat game will go on.

The following are the most well-known ones:

The Accelerator in Chief (总加速师 zǒng jiā sù shī): he is believed to have been accelerating the communist regime’s eventual collapse.
Emperor Qingfeng (庆丰帝qìng fēng dì), from the name of the Baozi shop he visited;
Elementary School Pupil (小学生 xiǎo xúe shēng), because the proper education he really finished properly was elementary schooling and he really behaved a not well-educated person.
Èr Bǎi Jīn (二百斤) or 100 kilos: He bragged in an interview in 2004 that while he worked in the countryside in Shaanxi in his youth, he could carry a bag of 100 kilos of wheat and walk five km of mountain trail without changing shoulder.
Xitler, first used by Hong Kong activists
A man in Beijing (北京一男子 běi jīng yì nán zǐ )
↗↘↗ The signs for the tones of his name’s three characters (xí jìn píng).
翠 (cuì), this character refers to the color emerald green. But in this context, it is a curse. The character’s upper half happens to be the double appearance of Xi’s last name 习; the lower part is 卒, which could mean death.
That person.
He. In certain context, only a “he” is enough, if not otherwise indicated. For example: Will real estate become a key driver for growth again? No, he (or that person) doesn’t like the idea.

At one time, 46 loudspeakers from this system on the Taiwanese island of Kinmen broadcasted messages towards the People’s Republic of China. The distance to the Chinese mainland is only about two kilometers. Following their defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Kuomintang, which fled to Taiwan, aimed to reclaim the Chinese mainland from the strategically positioned island of Kinmen. Both sides engaged in mutual bombardments until the 1970s.

Today, regular border crossings occur between Kinmen and the opposite Five-Million-Metropolis of Xiamen. As a reminder of the once propagandistic confrontations, a speaker continuously plays the popular and now deceased Mandopop singer Teresa Teng’s hit “Tian Mimi” (“Sweet Honey”) on both sides.

CHINA.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE

Amelie
Richter

Marcel
Grzanna

Fabian
Peltsch

Julia
Fiedler

Angela
Köckritz

Jörn
Petring

Feature

EU-China summit: many issues, no results

Panic purchases at ASML boost numbers

Frosty atmosphere in the guesthouse

Many topics, few concrete results

Battery swapping: sensible – but still too cumbersome

Changan and Geely: strong partners

Battery swapping has its limits in attractiveness

Battery swapping as part of state strategy

Infrastructure is expensive

Common standard has its challenges

Volkswagen is closely monitoring developments

Special case: electric trucks

Events

News

Xi Jinping travels to Vietnam

FDP board’s European program identifies China as a systemic rival

More layoffs at Nio

Export yay, import nay

China Perspective

Egg fried rice, Mao and Xi

A prime example of creative resistance

‘The most vicious rumor’

Politically incorrect, but amusing

All the rice clips dug out

More than 500 nicknames

Executive Moves

Dessert

China.table editorial team

CHINA.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE

Feature

EU-China summit: many issues, no results

Panic purchases at ASML boost numbers

Frosty atmosphere in the guesthouse

Many topics, few concrete results

Battery swapping: sensible – but still too cumbersome

Changan and Geely: strong partners

Battery swapping has its limits in attractiveness

Battery swapping as part of state strategy

Infrastructure is expensive

Common standard has its challenges

Volkswagen is closely monitoring developments

Special case: electric trucks

Events

News

Xi Jinping travels to Vietnam

FDP board’s European program identifies China as a systemic rival

More layoffs at Nio

Export yay, import nay

China Perspective

Egg fried rice, Mao and Xi

A prime example of creative resistance

‘The most vicious rumor’

Politically incorrect, but amusing

All the rice clips dug out

More than 500 nicknames

Executive Moves

Dessert

China.table editorial team

CHINA.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE

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