Input 2021.01.11 16:27 | Revision 2021.01.11 16:42
Alibaba “Invested in battery technology innovation following smart car”
“With the Chinese government’s promotion policy, the electric vehicle market will grow five times in four years.”
Following Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, Baidu, the largest search engine company, also referred to as “China’s Google,” has officially announced its entry into the electric vehicle business. As China’s information technology (IT) giants enter the automobile industry one after another, the global smart car market is expected to change in perception.
Baidu made an official statement on the 11th and officially announced that it would enter the electric vehicle business. On this day, Baidu announced its ambition to become an innovator in the smart car era using artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving technology that it has accumulated, saying that it will establish’Baidu Motors’ in cooperation with Chinese automaker Geely. However, it did not disclose concretely the composition ratio of the joint venture.
Since 2017, Baidu has been intensively developing autonomous vehicle technology under the name’Apollo’. In the past, Baidu specialized in developing autonomous driving technology that can be commonly sold to several finished product companies, but this time it changed its strategy to make a car.
Recently, large Chinese technology companies are jumping into the electric vehicle business one after another, which is emerging as a promising industry. Prior to Baidu, Alibaba established Ziji Motors, a smart electric vehicle manufacturer, together with Shanghai Motor Company and the government of Shanghai’s Pudong New District.
Zuji Motor Company attracted attention by investing 10 billion yuan (about 1.68 trillion won) of funds only at the beginning of its establishment. In particular, the company is developing electric vehicle batteries in partnership with Chinese CATL. Although it did not disclose the release date, it is reported that it is designed to support wireless charging and running 1000km on a single charge.
China, which is growing into the world’s largest electric vehicle market, is expected to grow further thanks to the government’s active promotion policy. The Chinese government announced last month’s’Eco-friendly car industry development plan’, suggesting an aggressive goal of raising the proportion of eco-friendly car sales in the country to 20% in 2025.
There were about 1.2 million eco-friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrid vehicles) sold in China in 2019, but it is estimated that by 2025 it will increase by more than five times to more than 6 million.
While BYD, the No. 1 market capitalist in the Chinese auto industry, has already established itself as a large-scale electric vehicle manufacturer, traditional automobile manufacturers such as Shanghai and Guangzhou are also pouring out electric vehicles with market competitiveness. In addition, Wei Lai (蔚來·Nio), Xiaofeng, and Li Xiang (理想·Li Auto), the three electric car start-ups called the’Chinese version of Tesla’, are also trying to expand their market share by gradually increasing the scale of mass production.
In addition, it is evaluated that the era of a spring and autumn war has been opened in the Chinese electric vehicle market with the participation of Alibaba and Baidu, the leading IT giants in China. In addition, foreign media analyzes that the electric car market in China will expand rapidly for a while as electric car models are actively introduced to not only Chinese local companies, but also overseas companies such as Tesla and Mercedes, Hyundai Kia Motors, and Toyota.