Special Episode - On the Road (Beijing to Shanghai)

Tu and Lei embark on a road trip from Beijing to Shanghai in a NIO ET5, discussing their experiences with the vehicle, insights from the Shanghai Auto Show, and the advancements in battery swapping technology. 

They share their thoughts on the driving experience, the NOP+ intelligent driving features, and the overall user experience, concluding with reflections on their journey and future plans.

Companies discussed:
NIO, Jetour, XPeng, Chery, SAIC Motor, Avatr, CATL

Transcript

Tu Le 

Good morning on the road from Xuzhou. China EV is more special edition. This is our second annual road trip after a Chinese auto show. First year last year was Beijing to Shenzhen in a Xpeng G9. This time we are in a NIO ET5 and we're testing out battery swapping from Beijing to Shanghai. 

and this is going to be over two days. Last year we thought three days was a little bit long so we shortened the trip a bit and right now Lei is driving the car and he's about to put it in NLP plus pretty soon here and we'll record for the next 20-30 minutes. First we're going to recap some of the things that are the highlights from the Shanghai Auto Show today.

 For this first part, let's talk about more of the trip and then we can focus our second part on Friday.

So.

Nio is not paying us. No, they have not told us about anything that we can't say or do. We've been Lao Pong Nio's with Nio for quite some time, so they just let us borrow this car. We're going to deliver it to them at a Nio house in Shanghai. Then we're recording just like we would any other time, except we're on the road north to south from Beijing to Shanghai. So you picked up the car or you

Tu Le 

You got the car delivered to you in Beijing and then you me up

evening of the third and then I've had it on the fourth and then I picked you up on the morning of the fifth. We left on the fifth.

and tell us what you did prior to prep for the trip. You said you had something

So let's go back a little bit. So some of you might.

Tu Le 

Yeah

This is one of the only vehicles available for this type of trip.

Lei Xing 

car was shipped, was driven over on a flatbed on a truck from Shanghai to Beijing for us to drive back. And it was one of the only vehicles available. I think the ET5 is also a very mature model from the Neo lineup. And this is the 2024 edition.

75 kilowatt-hour battery pack the standard size which has a CLTC range of 560 kilometers and this car was registered June of 2024 and We just took it past 10,000 kilometers yesterday on the fifth on the first day of the trip Yeah, so it's pretty warmed up

pretty warm though.

Lei Xing 

All we're trying to do since last year is this is part of our Auto Show. Whether it's Beijing or Shanghai, try a different EV post the Auto Show and try to get an understanding of the car itself. This year especially the power swap process and ecosystem throughout China for this trip. That's why we got this.

vehicle. We tried a few other brands but this was the only one available so we took it.

end

the last two auto shows lay we've seen more and more foreign journalists, foreign media, foreign people come to Beijing last year, Shanghai this year and that's awesome because more people need to understand but I think how we feel we're different is because we're Lao, we're old Beijing hands, we've been Beijing Shanghai many many times dozens of times each and I think this is where we're

We're very different because we kind of are able to understand what's going on as opposed to swooping in swooping out. And it's an opportunity for us to reacquaint ourselves with the country that we've lived in for more than a decade for me and 20 years for you. things come flying back in your mind.

Lei Xing 

I can't I'm not sure about you, but I cannot call myself an expert on the Chinese market I call myself an enthusiast because we're in a constant learning process and we have to be on the ground we have to be here and we try to make an effort Like you said not just swoop in and attend the media press events and then get out We have to be on the ground for an extended period of time

to have this whole experience, have this ownership experience, to understand different brands and different vehicles and the selling points, right? What makes a NIO a NIO? That's our point.

And at the end of the day, you're here two, three, four days, your trip is kind of manicured. And so we work behind the scenes, talk to people, reacquaint ourselves with old friends, some that are still in the industry. And I think that's what's really important. It makes, I think, China Ebiza more a little bit different than some of these other shows and programs. I think all together, it's a net positive that everybody's learning more. Unfortunately,

The people that weren't here, generally speaking, were the Americans. You know, with the exception of you and I, there just weren't that many Americans in the media that were in Shanghai. Now, some of that is not their fault because of visas and things like that, but at the Zika event we went to, we'll talk about that in a little bit, I met people from the Philippines that were there, dealer groups. So the impression I got from the

Shanghai Auto Show was that business as usual except the United States.

Lei Xing 

Yeah, and since I'm driving and this is on NLP plus, the NEO's all scenario navigation based assistant pilot. We try to make a point adding assistance and not trying to make it. That's why I try to focus on the rolling instead of looking at the camera that Duke can do since he's not driving.

Yeah, and speaking of NIO, I mean we've done this show for four years already. Four years. We talk about NIO probably almost every single day of show and we still are learning. And as a matter of fact, we still learn something new about the power swap stations through this experience that we did not know about.

Yeah, I think the irony is that some of these so-called quote-unquote experts could actually learn a thing or two from us. I'm sure they can learn. Sure. But my impression, ET5, great little car, very different characteristics than the G9 that we drove last year, obviously, because it's a small sports sedan versus a large crossover SUV.

and more aggressive steering so that's also good. I had that ET9 in Munich for seven days or six days or ET7 sorry two years ago in Munich and the steering wasn't great you know it just didn't have the feel that I thought it should. This is much better than the ET7 I had. Now the ET7 was also pretty big

And I'm not used to driving huge stands like that. So I think kind of getting used to that and the German roads was another challenge. yeah, so it's a comfy car. It's not small, but it's not big either. Pretty nimble. And yeah, we can get in and out of things pretty easily. But what are your overall thoughts?

Lei Xing 

It surprised me,

It was better than I expected. One of the main things is the NLP plus, which it's currently under. I think we've been talking and it's been... NLP plus. Right, the system is the Vanian 3.10. And I actually think that the NLP plus on the expressways...

We're running 3.1.

Lei Xing 

was better than the G9 last year because of the way it decides to change lanes and sometimes it could be aggressive and more human-like sometimes it's a little conservative and slows down for no reason but overall I think it's and we tried some of the urban NLP plus and I think it was definitely yeah it was definitely better than how the G9 performed

It was love.

Lei Xing 

last year when we entered let's say Zhengzhou or Changsha but the caveat is obviously these systems on all the China EVs they're improving iterating tremendously changes and updates performs better within a matter of weeks if not months right or months if not weeks so that's the caveat but

Current system as is, think LOP+. It's quite impressive in my mind.

The with the systems is that they do obey the laws. So sometimes you and I will get a little bit impatient because...

My hand has been on the steering wheel all this time.

graphic is flowing a little bit faster than the speed limit, but the Nop Plus only allows you to go up to the speed limit. So there are times where it's not doing anything wrong, but we'll want to move a little bit quicker and more aggressively. But it is pretty cool that if the speed limit's 120 and it's going 60, when it finds an opening just like now.

Lei Xing 

Yeah, just now.

moves over and tries to get back to the 120 kilometers per hour because the truck to the right of us is probably going 90 to 100. And so now it's accelerating, trying to catch up, getting back to that 120 kilometers per hour speed. So that's really impressive too. It actually very liberally moves back and forth between lanes without thinking too much about it. And I agree with you, the G9.

there was a bit more apprehension.

But again, it's been a year. Yes. I mean, a year in China, EV time is a long, time.

Especially at the continuous competition levels that we're seeing.

Lei Xing 

second part I think

Lei Xing 

network, the planning on the navigation, the recommended routes, the recommended stations where you can stop by en route, right? We're about 500 kilometers away from Shanghai and it'll automatically recommend the swap stations in the service areas on the expressway so you don't have to get off.

The default so it looks at your range and then recommends and you don't have to do anything it'll Take you to that route if especially if NLP plus Still working but it'll show you to the the exit and then let you know when you need to take over And in addition to that, I'm stealing your thunder a little bit. It'll put you in a queue So that once you arrive

you're already waiting in a queue behind whoever is stopping in front of you.

Once you get close to the battery swap station, actually automatically puts in an order on the head unit on the screen. It'll show, let's say you're within a kilometer, it automatically puts you, puts down an order which puts you officially in the queue and it'll tell you that you want to be there within three minutes. If not, it'll automatically,

get rid of the order to be fair to other ones that could be in the queue to force you to kind of you know it's fair for everyone so that you don't have to wait and then after that I think the battery swap process is off you park in in front of the station that designated the spot and you just press a button you let the system to the rest

Tu Le 

It is pretty, as long as you input the pre-planned presets that you prefer, it's kind of idiot proof.

So for example, we're 210 kilometers from this next one of generation three. It's showing that there's eight out of 11 batteries in the base that are available. Yeah, to be swapped out. But this number could change in the next. It will change. An hour or two since there's others that could be gone.

This is a massive sw-

Tu Le 

And since it's a gen 3, anticipate 3, 3 and 1 4, 4 and 1 half minutes from parking to swap.

Yesterday we did a total of three. We did one at a generation one and we did a two at generation four. The average has been on the the gen four is the minute you press the start button to the minute the system says done. It's been four or four and half minutes. On the gen one it was about six minutes slower.

Still not bad, not bad at all. the challenge, there was a kind of a misunderstanding I think on our end because the recommendations were in the city, which actually added 20 to 40 minutes each time we went to the swap station. This time it looks like it is recommending rest stops right off the highway, which would save us easily. Yeah.

right on the highway.

save a season of 20 minutes each stop because think of it from the standpoint of you're on the outskirts of New York City and then you have to go into Manhattan and then go back out.

Lei Xing 

start the process even before getting to the battery swap station. automatically guides you to the station and start the battery swap.

Lei Xing 

I think it's just a peace of mind when you do it that you feel

Tu Le 

lane there's a semi that was going a bit slower so it automatically signaled.

Tu Le 

captain 120 kilometers per hour. this is a two lane highway. We're also recording here. So hopefully we'll.

Lei Xing 

things are going pretty smoothly. Those are Jet Tours. Jet Tours, one of the Cherry Group brands.

always eye-opening and interesting doing road trips in China. In Shuzhou it felt like Beijing 10 years ago. Still a lot of moped, still a lot of random things going on crossing the streets so...

So yeah, the other thing about why we stopped at Shuzhou was when we left we thought about stopping by Neil's F2 factory in Wufei. So we thought maybe we stop by on the first night in Shuzhou and we try to visit F2 today and then head on to Shanghai and then we looked at the timing of the drive that we need to do.

quite long so since both of us have been to F2 you know we thought we decided at the of the day to just focus on getting to Shanghai today which is about seven hours and change

Tu Le 

and so today's first

Today is the first day. Yesterday was the last day of...

So yesterday on the way into Beijing on the other side of the highway we saw traffic jams. So we're hoping that once we get into Shanghai city,

Lei Xing 

Today we have this thing, which is what you get on the total.

Yes, it's a little bit larger than a US size.

Tu Le 

gonna be pretty expensive for the tolls so so lay any final thoughts on the current trip so far I know we've been tweeting some short videos

Lei Xing 

really have any plans other than say who's gonna give us an EV.

Lei Xing 

worry about charging or battery swapping at all because it just works.

Tu Le 

And they don't sit down with us and for a half an hour explain to us all the features of the car. It's a good and bad thing because I would love to be able to understand all the cool features of the vehicle, but also it needs to be kind of user friendly. And so if you're fumbling around trying to go three or four levels deep on a screen.

You're not paying attention to the road. So I think that's also an important lesson. I have my cheat sheet because my reading is great. so lay is here to really help with or really take over on a lot of stuff. Not how I can barely read that. And I do want to give Nomi a little shout out. Hey Nomi, can you, hey Nomi.

Can you explain who you are and what you do?

Tu Le 

Let me

Tu Le 

I'll try it again. You know me. What's that? Can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do?

Tu Le 

Hey Nomi.

Lei Xing 

Hey Nomi, can you

Tu Le 

there anything specific?

Tu Le 

Where were you born?

Tu Le 

to assist.

Tu Le 

Hey, how far are we from Shanghai?

Tu Le 

in Chujo, approximately 400km

Would you like me to plant a rope for you?

No thank you.

Lei Xing 

That was an interesting interaction. So this system is different from the Nios that are exported, let's say to Europe, or the ASD, let's say English or German, those are well tuned with a better...

Tu Le 

I think CPC is integrated into all these different systems, it's going to be even more powerful and I think being able to speak normally, conversationally is going to be a lot easier. again, Blaze English is better than mine, so think that's why NoMeU understood. And obviously, his Chinese is better than mine.

It's pretty impressive. I don't know of any Western automaker that has this type of available interaction with the AI system.

Lei Xing 

in the Nomi GPT.

Lei Xing 

You

Tu Le 

than a dozen automakers and so we'll talk about this on Friday lay do you have any

Lei Xing 

This is part of the all-out show for us, and I don't think anyone else

thoughts.

Final thoughts, for long distance driving, we have to compare,

Lei Xing 

My butt hurts

older too so we more support

Tu Le 

I actually find these seats to be very comfortable. The cool thing is that these cars all have massage functions, they have lumbar support. So these aren't bare-boned vehicles and anything that's over $35,000, $40,000, you're probably going to get a lot of multifunctional seats. And so huge difference between the China market and what you're going to be able to afford for $45,000, $50,000.

today is a pretty sunny day this has this what do call this the sun not even a moonroof it's not even a turn point and it looks like the UV light production is pretty well done

Tu Le 

And I thought when we left, like, could get hot, but it's not hot at all. And we don't even have air conditioning on that much.

Well, it's 22.5 Celsius for me and 21.5.

car not try to hypermine it just put everything on normal ac

Tu Le 

system will estimate the range that's going to burn the right swap station to swap. So a little housekeeping, quick reminder, we should be in Shanghai tonight around 8, 9 p.m. We'll try to get this video out in the next few days. I'm going to be in Shanghai on a panel with Bill Russo tomorrow morning and then

and I are gonna have a little bit of surprise that afternoon. Hopefully we'll be able to get that out in the next couple of weeks as well. Then I'll be back in the US on Thursday and Friday morning back at the usual bat time 9 a.m. Eastern on Friday. You and I are gonna try to go live again. You from Beijing, me from the United States. Hopefully it works out. If not, we'll just record an episode. This is gonna be part two.

that's more about not just what everybody thought about.

but an insider's view. As your newsletter points out, insider's view.

Tu Le 

There was a lot of events there and lot of interactions and conversations we've had.

Lei Xing 

the that we posted.

Tu Le 

the SSIC motor boot and the words in the backboard says 懂車更懂你 which literally means know the vehicle and

Tu Le 

Perfect.

think we're the two of the most knowledged about knowing the

With the global perspective, think that's important. I've been there, done that. I don't know any

Tu Le 

think you're referring to a few people that...

Tu Le 

Yeah, so anyways, hey.

Tu Le 

Swap it.

Team

Lei Xing 

one in front of us, queuing. But this could change any...

Alright everybody, we'll talk with you soon.