After serving as Skoda’s largest market for years with deliveries of over 300,000 between 2016 and 2018, sales in China collapsed to just 15,000 in 2025, as foreign automakers face tough competition from local brands, especially in the EV domain. The 2025 figures also resulted in a sales decline of more than 95%, which reduced the brand’s market share to below 0.1%.

“The company will continue to sell Skoda models in the Chinese market in collaboration with a regional partner until mid-2026,” Volkswagen said in a statement, while announcing the automaker’s next focus area: strengthening the brand’s presence in India and Southeast Asia, where it saw growth ‌in ⁠2025.

“After-sales services for Skoda vehicles will continue to be provided in China,” the company said.

Skoda’s move isn’t surprising, given that its parent Volkswagen has been facing a tough time in China, where local brands BYD and Geely have overtaken the German company in terms of sales. Not only Volkswagen, but almost all Western legacy carmakers have also been struggling to keep up in a growing EV market, with Chinese companies excelling in terms of introducing cost-friendly, yet feature-laden cars.

Volkswagen, however, along with its subsidiary Audi, is still holding ground in the world’s second-largest economy through product launches and increasingly localised production activities.

Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume recently told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that Germany could learn from China’s industrial policy approach, when it comes to reforming both the European country’s automobile sector and the broader domestic economy.

“The Chinese take a very systematic approach with so-called five-year plans and have clear priorities with that too. It’s optimally structured. And what we find very positive in China is a high level of discipline and willingness to implement these initiatives,” he said, while adding that in the Asian country, Volkswagen currently faces “over 150 competitors ⁠and strong innovation dynamics.”

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It was funded under the first call for proposals of Italy’s “National Recovery and Resilience Plan” and partly backed by the European Union’s “Next Generation EU Recovery Fund.”

The charging stations are spread across five regions, namely Campania, Lazio, Lombardy, Puglia, and Sicily, which cover around 21 provinces. The densest clusters are in the major cities, with Rome leading at 396 charging points, followed by Naples with 298, Milan with 227, Bari with 111, and Catania with 112.

Southern Italy boasts most of the charging stations, with around 40%. It’s important to note that the region had a weaker charging infrastructure historically and has now gotten a meaningful boost.

The new charging stations operate by providing an output of approximately 90 kilowatts of power per connector, allowing two electric vehicles to charge simultaneously and reducing driver wait times. Users can access this charging network through the “Enel On Your Way” app or card, or via 160 interoperable mobility service providers available in Italy and abroad. This system ensures that multiple EV brands can plug in without any difficulty.

The stations have POS terminals so customers can use their debit or credit card just like they would at a petrol station.

The first PNRR batch accounts for about 50% of the grants awarded so far. The three PNRR calls for urban charging infrastructure. PNRR stands for “Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza,” which translates to National Recovery and Resilience Plan in English.

This plan is Italy’s effort to modernise its economy after the COVID-19 crisis through a huge package of grants and loans from the EU fund.

The PNRR pumps 191-194 billion euros into six big missions, which include digitalisation, green transition, and sustainable transport. Additionally, the funds also target educational research, inclusion, and healthcare.

The project funds various initiatives, including electric vehicle charging networks, renewable energy projects, school upgrades, and digital government reforms. PNRR also absorbs a large share of the cost. Companies bid for calls for proposals run by ministries.

The 3,730 EV charging points in Italy were partly financed under the first PNRR call for urban electric vehicle charging infrastructure, which is why you see PNRR linked to that rollout.

Enel is already working on an additional 200 charging points through the second and third PNRR calls, which will bring its total to around 5,000 charging points across nine regions, including Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, and Tuscany.

For the business and retail sectors, EV expansion makes logistics easier while supporting the European nations’ energy transition goals.

The post Through 3,730 charging points, Enel plugs in Italy’s EV future appeared first on International Finance.

“The people are very open. And then from the government, from everybody there, they are open to enjoying the technology,” she said.

BYD, often hailed as Tesla’s direct rival, has ramped up sales of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in the Middle East and North Africa region, particularly in GCC countries, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which have some of the world’s fastest-growing EV markets.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has been very active in the electric vehicle sector, investing in Lucid Motors, launching its own brand “Ceer,” and supporting charging infrastructure.

But vehicles represent just over 1% of total car sales, and high costs, limited charging infrastructure, and extreme weather are still challenges. After the Elon Musk-led venture entered the Saudi market, BYD said it planned to triple its footprint in the region, aiming for 5,000 electric vehicle sales and 10 showrooms by late 2026.

Stella Li said the company is investing heavily in the region, constructing a strong dealer network and introducing advanced technology. She imagined Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East as a future “dreamland” for innovation, or as she put it, “a Silicon Valley for the region.”

Talking about the Saudi government’s electric vehicle-related plans, Stella Li said, “If they have a goal, they will achieve it. And then they want a technology company like us to enable their… 2030 Vision.”

In other news, BYD is now improving its battery warranty across Europe, just a few weeks after the Chinese manufacturer took the same step in Norway. The warranty now covers eight years or 250,000 kilometres, whichever comes first. This applies to both new car buyers and existing customers.

Image Credits: BYD

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The pitch is simple and provocative as Dot targets neighbourhood distances at up to twenty miles per hour with a thirty-pound payload while an Autonomous Delivery Platform decides in real time whether a robot, a human Dasher, a sidewalk bot, or a drone is the best option.

Why this robot and why now?

The last mile has always been a series of last metres, and DoorDash argues that many everyday errands do not require a car, which is why Dot is designed to move through streets, bike lanes, sidewalks, and driveways rather than living only on the curb or only on the road. Phoenix and its nearby cities provide the proving ground with broad lanes, active cycling infrastructure, and a mix of suburban and urban blocks that let a small robot show it can coexist without clogging sidewalks or becoming a rolling hazard.

The company frames early access as a data gathering phase that tunes dispatch logic, improves merchant handoffs, and learns from friction in parking lots, curb cuts, and crosswalks before expanding to reach an estimated one and a half million residents in the region. That choice reflects hard lessons in autonomy where reliability at scale tends to favour orchestration over a single mode and where flexibility beats bravado in diverse neighbourhoods and rulesets.

The test is not just whether a robot can drive a good route on a good day, but whether a blended system can deliver on time, keep food quality high, minimise interventions, and earn enough goodwill among pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers to share space peacefully.

DoorDash’s public stance is that autonomy is additive rather than subtractive, with robots taking lightweight, predictable trips so people can focus on complex, time-sensitive, or higher-touch deliveries that still demand judgment and access skills.

That hybrid approach aims to absorb demand spikes and detours by matching each order to the right agent in real time, informed by distance, traffic weight, and readiness rather than one-size-fits-all dispatch.

It is a bet that the future of local logistics looks less like an all-or-nothing automation moonshot and more like a network that quietly blends people and machines to reduce cost and delay without compromising safety or access.

What Dot actually is

Dot is a compact four-wheeled electric vehicle that DoorDash describes as roughly one-tenth the size of a car, built to travel up to twenty miles per hour while carrying up to thirty pounds, which is enough room for about six large pizza boxes inside a front-opening storage bay.

The robot is designed to handle the transitions that often trip small sidewalk bots, including threading through driveways, crossing curb cuts without blocking traffic, and navigating parking lots to reach pickup counters rather than stalling at the edge of a plaza.

Company materials highlight a six-to-eight-hour battery endurance window with a swappable pack architecture to keep utilisation high during peak periods instead of tanking throughput on long charge cycles.

The platform emphasises visibility and legibility at a human scale with a bright red hull and lighting that reads clearly to other road and sidewalk users, which matters when operating near strollers, wheelchairs, scooters, cyclists, and cars.

Sensors and perception stacks combine cameras, radar, and lidar in configurations intended to perceive complex urban scenes where occlusions, construction, and parked trucks often mask cross traffic and pedestrians until the last moment.

The cargo area supports modular inserts such as cup holders or coolers so merchants can secure drinks and temperature-sensitive orders to reduce spills and condensation, because real-world delivery quality depends on small choices that prevent messes and go far beyond route planning.

Every design choice is meant to serve a simple thesis that a slightly larger, faster, and more robust robot than a sidewalk cooler can preserve food quality by moving at neighbourhood speeds without demanding the footprint of a car.

The point is to demonstrate predictability and courtesy, allowing a robot to blend into bike lanes and low-speed roads without becoming an obstacle or an irritant. This is exactly how trust is built, one quiet trip at a time.

The brains behind the wheels

Dot is only as useful as the dispatcher that assigns trips, which is why DoorDash launched an Autonomous Delivery Platform that weighs speed, cost, location, order composition, and conditions to route an order to a robot, a person, a sidewalk bot, or a drone.

SmartScale sits on the merchant side, using AI to validate bag weights, signal readiness, and improve order accuracy so the dispatcher does not send an overweight or mispacked order to a constrained mode that cannot carry it safely.

The idea is to cut idle time and avoid preventable errors, which are the small hinges that swing big doors in unit economics by reducing rework and lowering intervention rates across the fleet. DoorDash says Dot has been tested across millions of simulated and real-world miles, which reflects an industry-wide shift toward deploying learning machines with structured fallbacks rather than claiming literal full autonomy that ignores operational realities.

Remote assistance and documented handoff procedures are treated as part of the system because real streets throw edge cases constantly, and the fastest way to improve perception, prediction, and planning is to keep the service live while capturing those edge cases for training.

The platform’s advantage lies in more than route choice. It involves orchestration across people and multiple types of robots, enabling each agent to handle what it does best while the system as a whole smooths surges and detours that would otherwise jam a single mode.

That is why the early Phoenix footprint includes Tempe and Mesa, where Dot has already navigated bike lanes, parking lots, and sidewalks, placing real stress on the full stack from dispatch to the final handoff at curbs and driveways.

The company and press observers have stressed that safety and reliability matter more than flashy demos and that the metric to watch is not a viral video but consistent on-time deliveries with minimal friction for everyone sharing the lane.

What history says

If this sounds ambitious, it is also tempered by recent history as companies with deep pockets rethought sidewalk robots when support costs and exception handling overwhelmed early optimism.

Amazon scaled back its Scout programme, and FedEx shut down Roxo, illustrating that last-mile autonomy is a grind that punishes naive scaling plans and underestimates of real-world complexity.

Coverage of those decisions emphasised that robotics remains a strategic pillar at both companies even as they redirected resources away from costly field tests that did not meet near-term value requirements.

The lesson is less that robots cannot deliver and more that the operational design domain matters, which is why Dot’s remit includes streets, bike lanes, and driveways rather than constraining itself to narrow sidewalks with constant obstacles.

It also explains DoorDash’s hybrid posture that centres Dashers and multiple modes, because a blended network can keep service flowing when a single mode would stall due to rules, blockages, or unexpected detours.

Meanwhile, Serve Robotics has shown an urban path with sidewalk bots integrated onto platforms like Uber Eats, crossing the 1000-robot milestone and reiterating plans to reach about 2000 deployed by the end of 2025.

Serve’s disclosures focus attention on the levers that decide winners in autonomy: utilisation, intervention rates, and software revenue per unit, rather than raw robot counts, which is why cutting remote assists and idle time is the boring frontier that matters most.

DoorDash’s scale as the largest American food delivery marketplace could provide a data advantage if its dispatcher consistently routes robot-fit orders to bots while keeping humans on the hairier trips, improving network flow without stepping on the customer experience.

True test of success

The near-term markers to watch are pragmatic expansion pace in Phoenix, the diversity of merchants participating, and any disclosures around delivery completion times and intervention rates once the honeymoon phase gives way to the long tail of weird Tuesdays.

Local rules and public sentiment will shape the path because cities are still figuring out how to regulate small delivery vehicles on sidewalks and bike lanes in ways that protect accessibility and safety for everyone sharing the space.

Company materials and media coverage have underscored Dot’s ability to blend into bike lanes and low-speed roads without becoming a hazard, a design mission that must be lived on the street day after day rather than asserted on a stage.

If Dot consistently expands the range of trips where a small electric self-driving vehicle is the fastest, most affordable, and least impactful option, it will become a commonplace utility. That commonality will then be the true measure of success.

If interventions stay high and public patience runs thin, the platform will fall back on Dashers for routes robots cannot handle economically at scale, and the orchestration layer will remain the product that quietly allocates work to the right hands and wheels.

In the end, the case for Dot is a system shot, and Phoenix will show whether brains and form factor can outpace the city’s appetite for new edge cases while maintaining speed, safety, and goodwill.

So here is the test that matters: not the demo reel but the daily grind of orders, lanes, curb cuts, and human patience that does not care about press releases. Can an AI dispatcher keep choosing the right agent and shaving minutes without fraying nerves or spilling soup when the bike lane is blocked, and the driveway is tight?

If Dot keeps interventions low and completion times tight, the economics tip from novelty to inevitability and scale follows quietly. If exceptions dominate and goodwill thins, the platform routes work back to people and redraws the robot’s map with humility. Phoenix is only chapter one, and the verdict arrives when dinner arrives hot and on time, which is the only referendum that counts.

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The crisis has utterly annihilated the company’s famously stellar operating margins, which typically ranged between 15% and 18%, rates that once made it the envy of the global automotive industry. Management has now desperately lowered its forecast, projecting operating margins will clock in between a disastrous 0% and 2% for the year.

This collapse forced the sudden departure of CEO Oliver Blume, who struggled to manage dual roles at Porsche and Volkswagen effectively, and now requires the immediate elimination of 1,900 permanent jobs alongside other restructuring measures.

The company’s market value is now halved since its public listing three years ago, a loss of shareholder confidence that directly reflects the high cost of failing to adapt to a changing industrial landscape. Porsche’s financial health has been utterly exposed, demonstrating definitively that brand legacy is insufficient protection against fundamental structural flaws.

Software Failure And Chinese Humiliation

A core failure of Porsche’s strategy was its disastrous miscalculation of the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, particularly in the most critical growth markets. The company misjudged customer appetite for high-performance battery-powered sports cars, leading to the abandonment of its ambitious goal of 80% of sales from electric vehicles by 2030.

The attempt to reverse this course, steering the firm back toward petrol and hybrid power, is proving excruciatingly expensive and logistically disruptive, requiring billions in restructuring costs, including the decision to scrap plans for in-house battery production.

The Macan, a highly successful small SUV, will be sold only as an electric vehicle starting in 2026, for example, but the petrol replacement has been embarrassingly delayed until 2028, creating a competitive chasm in a crucial segment.

The most profound failure, however, occurred in China, once Porsche’s largest pillar of global growth, where sales volume has plummeted sharply, projected to be only 40,000 vehicles this year, down from 93,000 in 2022.

The contraction is driven by technological displacement from hyper-agile local competition, a true humiliation for the German giant. Local manufacturers like Xiaomi, with its SU7 model, are offering a car that mirrors the performance and braking of the Taycan EV, but for roughly half the price. Worse, Chinese consumers prioritise software and connectivity, integrated artificial intelligence (AI) features that European-developed infotainment systems fail to deliver, falling “well below the expectations of Chinese buyers.”

Porsche suffered a digital collapse, a failure to verticalize the critical software layer, handing tech-native rivals the perfect weapon to seize market share and dictate pricing.

Why German inertia will cost billions

Further compounding Porsche’s troubles is its acute and entirely unnecessary exposure to geopolitical risk, particularly in North America, which has now overtaken China as the company’s single largest market, accounting for a quarter of sales in 2024.

This exposure is a direct result of the company’s structural inertia, its insistence on relying entirely on exports from Germany, unlike competitors such as BMW or Mercedes-Benz, which wisely localised manufacturing in the US.

The fatal lack of a US manufacturing footprint has made Porsche a willing hostage to American trade policy. The projection of President Trump’s potential 15% tariff on cars imported from the European Union (EU) is anticipated to wipe 700 million euro directly from Porsche’s profits this year.

To offset this crippling damage, Porsche is forced to raise vehicle prices in the United States in the coming months, a move that is likely to impact sales volume, undermine growth stability, and threaten the market position the region has provided.

This is the crushing cost of strategic inflexibility, the penalty for prioritising an inherited German export model over adapting to global supply chain and political realities. The incoming CEO, Michael Leiters, faces an unenviable, perhaps impossible, task, trying to put the powerful oomph back into a company that has been brought to its knees by its own self-inflicted wounds.

The post IF Insights: Unpacking Porsche’s financial collapse appeared first on International Finance.

The vast Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) lies here, an underwater plain that stretches across approximately 1.7 million square miles (around 4.5 million km²) between Hawaii and Mexico. It’s an alien world where life has adapted to crushing pressure and eternal night. In fact, recent research catalogued over 5,500 species living in the CCZ, with an astonishing 88–92% of them new to science.

This zone is not alone in its significance. Scientists estimate that millions of species, perhaps up to 10 million, may inhabit the deep ocean below 200 metres. Yet as rich and mysterious as this marine biodiversity is, these same deep-sea floors are also home to something else of extraordinary value: untapped stores of critical minerals.

According to some estimates, a single swath of the CCZ contains more nickel, manganese, and cobalt than all known terrestrial reserves combined. Potato-sized black rocks called polymetallic nodules litter the seabed here.

First noted by 19th-century ocean expeditions, these nodules are rich in metals vital for modern technology, from copper and nickel for electric vehicle batteries to cobalt and manganese for renewable energy systems. For decades, the idea of harvesting this deep-sea mineral treasure was confined to theory.

With advancing underwater mining technology, that vision is hurtling toward reality. The year 2025 could mark a turning point. Dozens of exploratory missions have already probed the deep, and full-fledged commercial seabed mining looms on the horizon.

Treasures of the deep

In an era obsessed with smartphones, electric cars, and clean energy, these deep-sea minerals are often described as the “new oil” powering the global economy. Demand for critical raw materials is surging, and policymakers argue they are indispensable for the green transition.

Polymetallic nodules, which form over eons in the abyssal muck, are packed with these high-value elements. In fact, a study by the United States Geological Survey found that the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone could hold more nickel, manganese, and cobalt than all land-based reserves worldwide. One consulting firm even valued the CCZ’s metal bounty at roughly $18 trillion.

Commercial interest in these “rocks” has been growing since at least the 1970s, but it accelerated after the International Seabed Authority (ISA) was established in 1994. The ISA, a body affiliated with the United Nations, is tasked with regulating mineral activities in international waters. To date, the ISA has issued 31 exploration contracts covering more than 1.5 million square kilometres of seabed—an area roughly four times the size of Germany.

Major economies like China, Russia, and South Korea are among those sponsoring deep-sea exploration ventures. Private companies have also entered the fray. A Canadian firm, The Metals Company, successfully tested a robotic nodule collector in 2022, proving that harvesting these seabed minerals is technically feasible. All signs point to the race to the ocean bottom now truly underway.

Proponents of deep-sea mining argue that it could relieve pressure on terrestrial mines, potentially sparing rainforests and communities from the ravages of surface extraction. However, this optimism glosses over a critical fact. Mining is destructive, no matter where it’s done.

On land, digging up minerals means clear-cutting forests, blasting open pits, and generating toxic waste. It leads to habitat loss, polluted waterways, and greenhouse gas emissions from energy-intensive processing.

If surface mining is any indication, doing it in the deep sea, an environment even more delicate and completely unspoiled by humans until now, could be catastrophic. Heavy machines would churn up seabed sediments and vacuum up nodules by the ton, disrupting a world that has existed in silence for millions of years.

Crucially, polymetallic nodules are not just inert rocks; they are a habitat. Some deep-sea creatures live on or around them, and even use them to lay eggs (scientists recently observed the “ghost octopus” breeding on these nodules in the CCZ). Removing the nodules is akin to ripping out the foundations of an ecosystem.

Life finds a way

What makes the prospect of deep-sea mining especially alarming is how little we know about the environments poised to be disturbed. The deep ocean is Earth’s largest ecosystem, comprising roughly 90% of the total volume of our oceans. Yet it remains mostly unexplored. By some estimates, 80% of our oceans have never been mapped or observed by humans.

In the past century, scientists have made one staggering discovery after another, revealing that life thrives even in the most extreme depths. In 1977, researchers diving near the Galapagos Islands found hydrothermal vents teeming with bizarre organisms, from giant tubeworms to clams the size of dinner plates. These creatures survive not through photosynthesis, but chemosynthesis, harnessing chemical energy from the vent fluids, an entirely new paradigm of life independent of sunlight.

Since then, numerous expeditions have catalogued countless oddities of the deep. Fish with transparent heads, crustaceans that withstand immense pressure, and corals that form forests in perpetual darkness are among them.

As new species are discovered on virtually every deep-sea expedition, scientists now believe the deep ocean’s biodiversity may rival or exceed that of shallow waters. Yet, these extraordinary creatures are equally fragile. Having evolved in an environment of constant conditions, even slight changes in temperature, chemical makeup, or light can be devastating.

Unlike surface ecosystems that might rebound after disturbances, deep-sea life often grows and reproduces slowly. A coral colony in the abyss might be hundreds or thousands of years old, and a disturbed nodule field might never recover at all in human terms.

The threats from seabed mining are manifold. Directly on the seafloor, bulldozing through sediment will smother organisms and eliminate habitats. But the impacts won’t be confined to the deep. Mining ships at the surface will shine bright lights into waters that have been dark for millennia, potentially disorienting animals adapted to near-total darkness.

The operation of machinery will introduce intense noise pollution, adding to the cacophony that marine mammals already struggle with. Whales and dolphins, which rely on sound to navigate and find food, could be gravely affected by the continuous roar of seafloor mining equipment.

Moreover, grinding up the seabed will create vast plumes of fine sediment that can drift for dozens of miles, clouding the water and clogging the gills and feeding apparatus of fish and filter-feeders far from the mining site.

Crossing the Rubicon

In April 2025, US President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order aimed at fast-tracking deep-sea mining in American waters and international high seas. The order directed American agencies to expedite permits for seabed mining and even asserted American intent to allow mining “beyond national jurisdiction,” effectively thumbing its nose at international oversight.

This move is unprecedented. The United States is the only major economy that hasn’t ratified the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and thus isn’t a member of the ISA. By unilaterally authorising seabed exploitation outside its exclusive economic zone, the United States is bypassing the ISA’s long-running effort to develop a global mining code for the oceans.

By creating its own parallel system for granting mining rights, the US has crossed a diplomatic Rubicon, clashing with global consensus and raising the spectre of a free-for-all scramble on the high seas.

This American stance comes at a time when much of the world is pumping the brakes on deep-sea mining. In late 2024, Norway’s government agreed to pause its plans for the first commercial deep-sea mining licenses after an outcry from environmentalists and a small support party in Parliament.

The decision halted what would have been the world’s first large-scale mining of the Arctic seabed. Likewise, a coalition of over 30 countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, and many Pacific Island nations, has called for a moratorium of at least 10 years on all deep-sea mining.

Several major global corporations like BMW, Volvo, Google, and Samsung have pledged not to use any deep-sea minerals in their products until rigorous scientific studies demonstrate that mining would not harm ocean environments.

These companies, alongside environmental groups like the WWF, support a precautionary pause, noting that with so much of the deep ocean unexplored, forging ahead now would be “recklessly short-sighted.”

Even within the mining and metals sector, some executives quietly admit that the optics and risks of deep-sea extraction are troubling. Many have begun investing in improved recycling and terrestrial alternatives instead.

Need or greed?

Supporters of deep-sea mining insist they are driven by necessity, not greed. The narrative goes like this: The world’s appetite for metals is skyrocketing, and we will soon face critical shortages that could derail the clean energy revolution.

By some oft-cited projections, demand for minerals could increase by nearly 500% by 2040 as electric vehicles, solar panels, and batteries proliferate. “We have no choice,” say mining advocates. To meet climate goals and maintain supply chains, one must find new sources of metals, and the deep sea is our best option.

However, a closer look at market realities paints a far less dire picture. In fact, recent years have seen gluts and price collapses in several key minerals, calling into question the inevitability of shortages. The global production of lithium hit a record high in 2024. And instead of a shortage, the result was a surplus of roughly 154,000 tonnes of lithium (measured in lithium carbonate equivalent) that year.

Weaker-than-expected electric vehicle sales contributed to this oversupply, sending lithium prices plummeting by nearly 80% from their 2022 peak. Similarly, a massive expansion of nickel mining in Indonesia has flooded the market.

Indonesia now produces over 60% of the world’s nickel, and the surge in supply has led to three consecutive years of oversupply, driving benchmark nickel prices down to nearly half of what they were in early 2022.

Cobalt, another battery metal, is also in a state of excess. Record-high cobalt output (thanks in part to major producers in the Congo and China) has so outpaced demand that cobalt prices plunged to their lowest levels since 2016.

And even copper, often touted as the most crucial green transition metal, is currently abundant. Global copper inventories in mid-2024 reached their highest level in four years, reflecting the biggest glut in the copper market in at least four years.

In short, the doomsday supply crunch that proponents of seabed mining warn about has yet to materialise. Metals markets are cyclical and notoriously difficult to forecast. Demand forecasts can be wildly off the mark, swinging with new technologies, economic shifts, and policy changes.

For example, battery makers are already adapting to material concerns. Tesla, the world’s leading electric car maker, revealed that by early 2022, nearly half of its new vehicles were built with cobalt-free batteries (using lithium-iron-phosphate chemistry instead).

Other automakers and tech companies are investing in reducing reliance on rare minerals, from developing nickel- and cobalt-free batteries to improving designs for recyclability. Meanwhile, recycling programmes are ramping up for existing electronics and EV batteries.

According to the International Energy Agency, a major scale-up in critical mineral recycling could cut the need for new mining by 25–40% by 2050. In the face of such innovations, the rationale for an urgent dive into seabed mining starts to look shaky.

All of this begs the question: Is deep-sea mining truly about meeting an unavoidable need, or is it about opportunism and profit? The sceptics argue it’s the latter. They point out that many companies involved are junior mining firms and investors looking for the next frontier, hyping the deep sea as a trillion-dollar opportunity to boost their stock values. Governments, for their part, may be invoking “resource security” to justify power plays in regions beyond their sovereignty.

The Trump administration projected that domestic deep-sea mining could add $300 billion to US GDP over a decade and create 100,000 jobs, lofty numbers that critics say gloss over the likely colossal environmental cost. As one prominent marine policy expert noted, the economic merits of deep-sea mining are still far from clear. What is clear is that once the seabed is torn up, the damage cannot be easily undone.

The ocean floor

The push to mine the ocean floor cannot be separated from the broader context of international competition. Nowhere is this clearer than in the rivalry between the United States and China. For the past two decades, China has methodically cornered the market on critical minerals.

It accounts for about 61% of global rare earth element production and an overwhelming 92% of rare earth processing, essentially a near-monopoly on turning those raw oxides into usable materials.

“While the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths,” Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping famously quipped in the 1980s.

That statement has proved prophetic. Through heavy state investment and strategic partnerships, China built a dominant supply chain. Today, it effectively controls which countries or companies receive many crucial minerals, using this power as a geopolitical tool.

Potential exploitation

Our oceans produce most of the oxygen we breathe, regulate the climate, and sustain millions of people with food and livelihoods. And yet, they remain one of the least understood frontiers. Every deep-sea expedition yields new wonders, species and ecosystems we didn’t even know existed.

To disturb these habitats irreversibly before we’ve even documented them would not only be tragic, but it would be foolish. As one marine conservation group bluntly put it, the decision to mine the deep sea is “not just an economic question, it is an existential one.”

Companies and a handful of nations are ready to take the plunge. Giant machines sit poised to descend and crawl upon the abyssal plains. The regulatory net that should restrain them is frayed and incomplete. The ISA has been debating a mining code for years, with meetings in 2023 and 2024 struggling to finalise environmental safeguards.

However, with the two-year trigger rule invoked by one small nation (Nauru) in 2021, the ISA faces pressure to allow mining even without comprehensive rules in place. The governance gaps and loopholes are large enough for a mining vessel to sail through. If powerful countries now start ignoring the ISA entirely, the notion of collective stewardship of the “common heritage” could collapse overnight.

The post Mining the abyss: A dangerous gamble? appeared first on International Finance.

Chinese automakers like BYD, NIO, and Xpeng have leveraged this massive home market to build global export businesses. As one analysis notes, China went “from a net car importer as recently as 2022” to a major manufacturer and exporter of finished vehicles within a few years. This has unleashed a wave of affordable, feature-packed Chinese electric vehicles across global markets, from Southeast Asia and Latin America to Europe, bringing significant economic, political, and environmental consequences.

Economically, China’s low-cost EVs are squeezing Western carmakers and forcing new trade debates. Geopolitically, Chinese dominance of batteries and supply chains creates new dependencies and potential leverage. From a climate perspective, we must ask whether the Chinese EV boom helps or hinders global sustainability. International Finance will unpack each dimension, drawing on industry data and expert commentary.

Cheap cars

Chinese EVs have hit international markets with a price shock. Models that cost the equivalent of $7000–$10000 in China can still undercut many rivals abroad, even if marked up for profit. In fact, BYD often sells its cars for much more in Europe than in China, sometimes double the price, but even those export prices are highly competitive.

The sheer scale and breakneck speed of China’s electric vehicle rollout have caught Western executives off guard. Ford boss Jim Farley, after touring China, warned that Beijing’s carmakers now pose an “existential threat” to Western incumbents. Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius described the competition as a “Darwinistic price war” that could wipe out many current players. In short, Chinese EV makers are no longer content to play catch-up; they’re sprinting into new markets.

These concerns are grounded in reality. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China’s share of global electric vehicle production and exports has significantly increased. In 2024, China manufactured over 70% of all the world’s EVs, and Chinese brands represented 40% of global EV exports, totalling 1.25 million cars. Alarmed by this surge, the European Union and the United States have initiated investigations and threatened to impose tariffs.

As EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently put it, global markets have been “flooded with cheaper electric cars” from China, prompting a probe into possible unfair subsidies. The EU has proposed steep tariffs, ranging from 40% to 50%, on Chinese electric vehicles in an effort to level the playing field. Similarly, Washington is pushing back with EV-specific tariff legislation and “China-free” content requirements embedded in the Inflation Reduction Act, all aimed at curbing imports.

Western carmakers are racing to adapt, some slashing prices and pouring money into next-gen EV technology, while others hedge their bets by shifting production strategies. For example, BMW has announced a new plant in South Africa to serve African and European markets, and Ford plans to build EVs in Mexico rather than rely on Chinese imports.

Industry analysts note that Chinese brands have deliberately kept their early export prices high to build profit and brand equity, so they have room to slash prices in the future if needed.

As Ben Townsend of Thatcham Research observes, Chinese EV firms “aren’t looking to undercut” for now, but have the financial flexibility to do so. In a price-sensitive global market, that is a chilling prospect for established makers.

Chinese models are also stepping up in quality and features. A recent press study found BYD outperforming even Tesla in Europe. In April 2025, BYD’s sales jumped 359% year-onyear, overtaking Tesla (which fell 49%) in European registrations.

JATO Dynamics’ analyst Felipe Munoz called this a “watershed moment.” Tesla had long dominated Europe’s EV scene, but BYD, which only entered Europe in late 2022, is quickly catching up.

In fact, the once-derided notion of “cheap Chinese knockoffs” has faded. Chinese EVs now boast competitive range and technology. As one source notes, Chinese cars “are no longer knockoffs; they’re a serious threat with competitive range, features, and price.” Innovations like BYD’s new Blade Battery, safer, energy-dense, and lower-cost, show Chinese firms pushing technical boundaries as well.

Former Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess warned on German TV in late 2024 that Chinese manufacturers are struggling, especially in terms of profit, and urged Europe not to concede defeat. Diess noted that Chinese EV makers, aside from BYD, “are burning through their capital” and are still unprofitable.

In practice, Chinese strategies seem mixed: building global sales and brands but not profitably so far. Nevertheless, governments see plenty of cause for alarm, and trade disputes are already brewing. The European Union and United States may well increase tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and automakers are lobbying hard for protection.

Chinese EVs have become massively cheaper and more advanced, grabbing market share worldwide. Western automakers now face a cutthroat price war, prompting protective responses such as tariffs and investigations, and a push to innovate. Analysts warn Europe and the US risk losing their lead unless they act aggressively.

Geopolitical leverage

China’s EV rise isn’t just an economic story; it’s also a geopolitical one. The world’s shift to electric mobility could wind up making many countries dependent on Chinese batteries, parts, and technology, giving Beijing new influence. At the heart of this is China’s stranglehold on battery supply chains. Chinese firms control roughly 70% of the global EV battery market.

CATL (Contemporary Amperex) alone has about a 37% share, and BYD around 17%. These companies supply virtually all the major automakers, including Tesla, Ford, and VW. In raw materials, China already dominates the mining, refining, and processing of critical minerals.

A US analysis notes that China intentionally poured some $100 billion into subsidies and investments over the past decade to lock in global lithium refining capacity, then even dumped excess product abroad to squeeze out rivals. China similarly cornered cobalt, nickel, graphite, and other key EV inputs.

Why does this matter? As one logistics analyst warned, “He who controls the supply chain controls the battlefield, economic or otherwise.”

In practical terms, major Chinese control of EV supply chains means that even if Western governments buy cars from other brands, they are still tied to China for batteries and materials.

This creates leverage. For example, Chinese companies like CATL already have plants overseas, and Beijing could, in theory, restrict exports or raise prices if it wanted to gain a political advantage, as it has done in the past with rare earths. Indeed, CATL has already drawn scrutiny as a national security concern. In January 2024, the United States labelled CATL a “Chinese military company” (an action CATL denies), reflecting Washington’s unease about Chinese firms’ role in key technologies.

Some analysts openly warn of national security risks. A recent policy brief argues that US dependence on Chinese battery and mineral supply is a direct vulnerability, and disrupting China’s supply could “cripple the US EV sector” as badly as cutting off critical weapons components. The Council on Strategic Risks notes that “the US dependence on China for critical minerals and battery supply chains represents a national security risk.”

It points out that China controls a substantial share of the entire value chain, from mining through final battery production. In response, governments are trying to diversify. The US is funding domestic battery projects and sourcing raw materials from allies, while Europe is pushing partners like Indonesia and Africa to develop their own supply chains.

Beijing is actively building EV manufacturing abroad to hedge against potential trade barriers and embed Chinese tech overseas. BYD’s huge Brazil plant, with assembly lines and battery production, is a case in point.

NIO and Xpeng are selling in Europe, and forming joint ventures to sidestep tariffs. The IEA notes that as Chinese exports face new tariffs in places like Brazil and Thailand, manufacturers have been frontloading shipments and seeking alternative markets.

Still, Chinese auto factories abroad remain a small share, which is around 5% of EV sales in emerging markets, and rising. For now, most of the global EV fleet still depends on Chinese-made parts.

The leverage shows up in politics. In 2024, Brazil imposed tariffs on electric vehicles to shield its emerging domestic industry, prompting China to delay shipments, while European capitals faced mounting pressure to follow suit.

Germany and France have considered “resilience” criteria for EV subsidies, making Chinese models less eligible, and the EU imposed antidumping duties of up to 38% on some Chinese EV brands.

Even in China itself, leaders talk openly about EVs as a geopolitical tool. At Davos 2025, CATL co-founder Pan Jian stressed that “it’s not going to be a one-country effort,” implying China intends to be the EV hub for the world. Experts warn this is a strategic vulnerability for the West. In response, governments are initiating new trade defences and subsidies to reshore or diversify their EV supply chains, but China’s first-mover advantage remains formidable.

Green dreams or dirty details?

On the upside, there’s no doubt that China’s EV fleet has cut fuel use. China is now the world’s largest EV market by far, so every Chinese EV on the road replaces one fossil-burning car.

According to the IEA, EV sales have driven China’s overall car market to grow, thanks to the EV segment, even as conventional car sales slump.

By enabling millions of drivers to switch off oil, China’s EV push can significantly reduce carbon emissions if the cars are charged from clean sources. The Chinese government is also rolling out renewables aggressively. Wind and solar capacity in China is booming, which will lower the carbon intensity of electric driving over time.

And Chinese manufacturers are adopting greener technologies. For example, CATL touts new battery chemistries and recycling plans to reduce waste. BYD and others are setting emissions targets for their factories. BYD even reports that its customers’ use of its EVs has saved 2.4 million tonnes of CO2, equivalent to planting 100 million trees.

But the current picture raises concerns. First, building EVs is carbon and energy-intensive. Producing the heavy batteries emits substantial CO2. One analysis finds a typical EV’s manufacturing embedded carbon is about 8.8 tonnes of CO2 (43% of that from the battery alone), compared to roughly 5.6 tonnes for a conventional car. In China, this matters especially because much industrial power still comes from coal.

Indeed, a 2024 lifecycle study of Chinese vehicles found that battery EVs in China emit only about 11.8% less CO2 than similar petrol cars, a modest gain, while they increase emissions of sulphur dioxide and fine particulates (SO2 up by 10%, PM2.5 up by 20%) due to coal-fired power and heavier vehicles.

In cold northern regions of China, EVs can even have higher lifecycle carbon intensity than ICE cars, because heating and coal use spike. In short, the climate benefit in China today is smaller than expected, and local air quality gains are uneven.

There are other environmental costs also. EVs are heavier and wear out tyres faster, generating particulate pollution. Studies estimate EV tyre wear currently spews millions of tonnes of microplastics per year, worse than on lighter cars. And then there are raw materials.

The mining of lithium, cobalt, and nickel for batteries often has serious environmental impacts. For instance, investigators once halted lithium mining in Yichun, China, after finding toxic pollutants in local water supplies.

Chinese companies have been criticised for labour and environmental abuses in mining projects overseas. Such issues have prompted some NGOs to argue that cheap Chinese EVs can’t be considered fully green unless their entire supply chain cleans up.

Moreover, electricity matters. An international study published in April 2025 warned that EV adoption by itself will not cut CO2 unless power grids decarbonise. In countries still reliant on coal, such as China, India, and even parts of Europe, charging an EV can produce more CO2 at the power plant than a fuel-efficient petrol car would at the tailpipe.

The University of Auckland study found that higher EV uptake often correlates with higher national CO2 emissions when grids are dirty. For China, this means the full climate payoff of its EV fleet will only come as coal plants retire and renewables expand.

The Chinese government is aware of these issues. In 2025, Beijing tightened battery safety regulations, not directly for emissions, but indicating higher production standards. It is also gradually redirecting industry toward greener factories under its “dual carbon” goals, which target peak emissions by 2030 and neutrality by 2060.

Some Chinese automakers are pushing carbon-neutral manufacturing. BYD has pledged to cut carbon intensity by 50% by 2030, and CATL claims to develop next-generation ultra-low carbon batteries. However, critics say that for now, Chinese regulators still favour rapid growth over strict environmental oversight, and that cheap pricing sometimes comes from cutting corners in sustainability.

China’s electric car revolution is already well underway, reshaping markets and politics worldwide. For consumers, it means more affordable EV options and faster innovation. For automakers, it means intense new competition and the imperative to adapt. For governments, it means balancing the climate benefits of faster electrification against the strategic risks of import dependence.

European and American industries are mobilising, building their own gigafactories, tightening supply chains, and exploring alliances. For example, the US and EU recently unveiled a joint plan to strengthen non-Chinese EV supply.

Meanwhile, Chinese firms are expanding overseas, betting that scale and state backing will eventually let them dominate. As VW’s Herbert Diess put it, “the automotive landscape…is still open for a second round.”

But he also warned that China’s domestic EV scene is a brutal, capital-burning contest, suggesting that not all Chinese newcomers will survive. The same could be said for the auto industry worldwide, as this is a round in which only the strongest, and perhaps luckiest, will be left standing.

What’s clear is that affordable Chinese EVs won’t disappear quietly. Their presence will continue to pressure prices and profits, shaping how the transition to electric transport unfolds. They could accelerate global decarbonisation by making EVs truly mass-market, or they could undercut environmental standards if shortcuts are taken. Vigilance is required because trade policies will need to evolve, supply chains may need safeguarding, and environmental regulations must catch up.

China’s EV surge is both a breakthrough and a challenge. It has sped up the global switch from oil to electrons, which is a win for climate goals, but it has also introduced new security and sustainability questions. Navigating this moment demands smart policy and industry strategy on all sides.

As one commentator puts it, China’s EVs show what careful long-term industrial planning can achieve, a lesson the West will not soon forget.

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Against this background, Slate likely faces a long road to profitability. While the EV business has proven to be a money loser for most industry players, partly because of “expensive batteries,” the start-up’s founders believe the company can overcome those obstacles by offering something that is in short supply in the current American car market: affordability. While the average new-vehicle selling price is above USD 45,000, Elon Musk’s Tesla has recently backtracked on plans to introduce an electric vehicle in the mid-USD 20,000s. Slate hopes to fill the shoes here by taking a bare-bones approach to its two-seat pickup, which is slightly smaller than a Honda Civic hatchback.

Going For Radical Simplicity

The start-up states, “When the auto industry keeps jacking up their prices, we’re keeping the price of the blank Slate low. Where they make you pay for trim packages and features you’ll never use, we let you hand-pick the ones you want. And unlike every other vehicle, a Slate is never finished. You can add new accessories, swap colours, reconfigure body types, and more whenever you want. As many times as you want.”

With the vision of “making the most affordable new vehicle possible” and the mission of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the Midwest region of the United States, Slate’s creation started with an idea from Miles Arnone, the CEO of “Re:Build Manufacturing,” a Massachusetts-based start-up that includes several former Amazon employees. Arnone believed workers needed better access to affordable vehicles.

Arnone shared his idea with Jeff Wilke, the company’s chairman and a former Amazon executive, and eventually, a small team was formed. The group hired Christine Barman, who spent most of her career as an engineering executive at Fiat Chrysler, now part of Stellantis. Barman, while interacting with Reuters, said that her venture will be able to absorb the loss of the USD 7,500 tax credit because the truck’s price still will undercut competitors.

With a plan to build the flagship pickup vehicle at an old catalogue factory in Warsaw, Indiana, Slate’s “radical simplicity” approach will see costs held down by starting with a simplified design that uses about 500 parts in the truck’s assembly, compared with a few thousand for a traditional truck. The plan to build all of its trucks in a basic package – what the company calls a “SKU of one” – will allow customers to choose to add a stereo, centre console, special lighting, and other features later.

Bring Your Own Tech

The pickup will be built with composite body panels in gray, with an option for a vinyl wrap, thereby sidestepping the need for a paint shop, which is one of the most expensive investments in a typical car factory.

“We think everyone should be able to personalise their car. But vehicles aren’t built to be customised by non-gearheads (we love you, gearheads). So, we changed that. A Slate is designed for easy DIY (yes, even you). It’s built with over 100 Slate Attach Points that fit our ever-expanding range of accessories. So, you can make it whatever you want, whenever you want,” the start-up stated.

While traditional vehicles aren’t built to be easily customised, Slate will challenge the idea by designing its pickup for easy DIY (Do It Yourself). It will be built with over 100 “Slate Attach Points” that fit the user’s ever-expanding range of accessories and features. The start-up will also enable its pickup buyers to select their preferred colour, with the vehicle being designed to be easily wrapped. The wrap kits will start around USD 500.

The customer can also bring the apps they know and love to create the preferred experience. Instead of a bulky, distracting, and quickly outdated infotainment system, the Slate pickup will come with something simpler: a smartly designed mount that fits a phone or tablet, and a holder for a portable Bluetooth speaker. Heating and air conditioning will be included.

While most cars are built based on their user’s present needs, the Slate pickup has been made keeping the future in mind. The vehicle’s design will allow it to easily transform from a two-seat truck to a five-seat SUV, along with the addition of the start-up’s “SUV Kit.”

While average American vehicle owners drive around 37 miles a day, Slate claims that their customers can perform the same act on a single charge of the start-up’s standard battery. And if they need to grab a charge while on the road, the Slate App will let them know when and where to plug in. For long road trips, the Slate pickup’s extended range battery will increase the range to a projected 240 miles from a projected 150 miles.

“A Slate comes with everything you need to charge at home, no need to buy anything extra. With the included charging cable, you can charge using a regular household outlet. If you have access to a 240-volt outlet (the outlet used for dryers, stoves, and other appliances), you can charge faster with Level 2 charging. Many EV owners choose to purchase an optional wall-mounted charging station, which can add convenient features like cable storage and Wi-Fi connectivity, but you don’t necessarily need one to charge at home,” the start-up commented.

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According to Jerome Saigot, BYD’s managing director in the Kingdom, the automobile giant intends to grow to ten locations from its current three showrooms by the end of 2026.

The expansion follows Tesla’s April 2025 entry into the Saudi market, when it opened a showroom in Riyadh, joining BYD and fellow Chinese company Geely. The firm now expects to sell more than 5,000 vehicles this year in the Kingdom, a drop in the bucket for BYD’s overall sales but sizeable in a market where petrol-guzzling cars dominate the roads and electric vehicle adoption has been slow.

The move is in line with Saudi Arabia’s larger aim to become a regional electric vehicle hub. As part of its “Vision 2030” economic diversification strategy, Saudi Arabia has set a 2030 EV adoption target of 30%.

“The Saudi market is complicated. You must move quickly. You have to have a big vision. We are not here to stay at five thousand or ten thousand cars a year,” Saigot stated in an interview with Bloomberg.

By financing Lucid Motors, introducing its brand Ceer, and assisting in the construction of charging infrastructure, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has been making significant investments in the electric vehicle industry.

However, according to Bloomberg, which cited statistics from PwC, electric vehicles still only make up a little more than 1% of all automobile sales due to high prices, a lack of adequate charging infrastructure, and severe weather.

“Tesla’s presence in the Kingdom is a positive development, helping to boost consumer awareness of EVs,” Saigot told Bloomberg. Saigot, who joined BYD in April after working for Nissan Motor and Great Wall Motor, stated, “The more Tesla communicates on marketing, the better it is for us.”

After outselling the American EV giant in Europe for the first time in April 2025, BYD has been catching up with Tesla on a worldwide scale.

With Tesla’s recent market launch viewed as a potential catalyst for faster adoption, the Kingdom’s push toward electric transportation is gathering steam. In an interview, Oliver Wyman partner Alessandro Tricamo told Arab News that over half of Saudis are now thinking about buying an EV.

“Tesla’s entry into the Saudi market is potentially a significant win-win situation,” he said, pointing to the brand’s appeal in a car-centric market and the company’s need to expand beyond declining Western sales.

Recently, Taline Vahanian of Marsh UAE also cautioned about the sector’s vulnerabilities, including expensive insurance rates and battery deterioration in intense heat, which might impede adoption.

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REE, whose customers include American van rental firm U-Haul and European aviation giant Airbus, is known for avoiding the costly manufacturing investments that have hindered several electric vehicle startups. Instead, it has staked its future on licensing its technology.

The USD 770 million deal is another remarkable chapter in REE’s journey, as the move will also help the start-up become profitable in the coming days.

The start-up’s technology allows vehicles to be software-defined, with most features and functions (performance, safety, and entertainment) controlled mainly through software. It also simplifies wiring by grouping functions into zones, making it easier to integrate self-driving capabilities.

REE Automotive expects to start generating revenue from software and services as part of the deal in the second half of 2025. As of March, the venture had order backlogs worth USD 150 million, and the agreement would bring that figure closer to a billion.

The unnamed customer, which develops mobility solutions, will license REE’s technology to produce thousands of self-driving passenger vehicles starting in 2027.

Knowing The Company

REE Automotive, an electric platform leader reinventing e-mobility, has developed two core innovations: the REEcorner, which integrates all traditional vehicle components into the arch of the wheel, and the REEboard, a completely flat and modular electric platform.

The start-up’s approach is cost-efficient and offers multiple customer benefits, including vehicle design freedom, package optimisation, increased energy efficiency, faster development times, ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) compatibility, reduced maintenance costs, and compliance with global safety standards.

REE is supported by an exclusive network of Tier One automotive partners providing access to 320 global production lines, effectively positioning the start-up as the next-generation electric vehicle business poised to carry the future of e-mobility.

REE Auto has become a disruptive force in the e-mobility sector, redefining the commercial vehicle industry with its fully modular, software-defined electric vehicle platforms.

REE Auto’s platforms distinguish themselves from industry competitors by offering vehicles that are optimised for volumetric efficiency, manoeuvrability, serviceability, and safety. They achieve this while minimising aerodynamic drag and energy consumption.

Additionally, they offer reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and faster delivery cycle times, improving overall driver ergonomics and reducing time to market.

Revolutionary Modular EV Platform

At the cornerstone of REE’s game-changing EV technology lies the REEcorner, which integrates all critical vehicle components (steering, braking, suspension, powertrain, and control) into a single compact module between the chassis and the wheel.

Each REEcorner is completely independent and controlled by its own electronic control unit (ECU), with a REEcenter ECU that manages all corner-level functions. The REE platform is fully flat from end to end, scalable, and modular, enabling complete design freedom and optimal volumetric efficiency for class one to six commercial vehicles.

“REE’s proprietary x-by-wire technology provides full steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, and drive-by-wire independent wheel control. This technology eliminates mechanical components between the wheels, thus enabling a fully flat chassis, driver position flexibility, low step-in height, improved vehicle manoeuvrability, low noise, zero emissions, and excellent visibility,” the start-up stated.

Now, talking about the best application of REE’s x-by-wire technology, we have the P7-C EV chassis cab, which focuses on ensuring improved operational efficiencies. It has been designed around four ingenious REEcorner modules. Each is individually controlled by REEcorner ECUs, and the four corners’ functions are controlled by the REEcenter ECU.

Traditional mechanical components have been eliminated between the wheels to create a fully modular design that’s nothing short of revolutionary. REEcorner technology gives the 16,000lb truck impressive manoeuvring capabilities, with efficient servicing as a bonus. REEcorners are easily replaced, minimising downtime for fleets by keeping vehicles on the road and out of the shop.

Inside the P7-C, REEcorners pack critical vehicle components into the area between the chassis and the wheel, thus enabling a fully flat electric chassis end-to-end with up to 35% more interior volume for passengers, cargo, and batteries. Electric vehicles built on the P7 Chassis come with the industry’s lowest step-in height, apart from being autonomous-ready, and are powered by either batteries or fuel cells.

The REE P7 Chassis, which is currently offered in two configurations—stripped chassis and cab+chassis—can be customised to customer specifications and use cases, providing the greatest interior space on the smallest footprint, easy manoeuvrability (a must for urban zones and loading docks), complete design freedom according to the customer’s operational preferences, and most importantly, a fail-safe and independent wheel control mechanism.

The P7-S electric stripped chassis has been designed to provide the optimal base for upfitters, offering a completely flat floor, effortless manoeuvring, easy serviceability, and low step-in height, so customers can maximise operational efficiencies and lower their total cost of ownership.

Last but not least, we have Proxima, a first-of-its-kind drive-by-wire fully electric walk-in step van, which has been realised due to REE Automotive’s partnership with body manufacturers Morgan Olson & EAVX. The vehicle, a last-mile delivery solution, is powered by REEcorner technology and the start-up’s P7 platform, delivering a class five electric van purpose-built for last-mile delivery fleets. The electric walk-in van prototype aims to achieve industry-leading manoeuvrability, visibility, low step-in height, greater volumetric efficiencies, improved aerodynamics, and improved serviceability.

All Set To Rewrite The EV Manufacturing Playbook

Considering the challenges faced by logistics companies in transitioning their fleets to electric, REE Automotive is targeting two areas: efficiency and strategy. As REE Automotive’s revolutionary EV platform provides a fully flat, scalable, and modular solution for customers to implement vocational-specific electric vehicles efficiently, the payoff for customers includes industry-leading manoeuvrability, visibility, low step-in height, improved aerodynamics, and ease of service.

The start-up’s dealers offer a streamlined purchasing process, including financing options and service packages, thereby helping logistics companies secure the necessary funding to make the seamless transition to EVs through vehicle and charging infrastructure financing.

REE’s state-of-the-art integration centre in the United Kingdom has brought together the best in technology and unparalleled expertise to assemble the innovative REEcorner. The facility has deployed a cloud-based robotic assembly system, including components like 12 assembly cells, 10 AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots), and 20 AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles).

The cloud-based robotic assembly method helps REE Automotive ensure its manufacturing ecosystem remains centrally automated and connected, making it a comparatively asset-light enterprise while reducing the overall carbon footprint of its global operations. Additionally, component assembly at integration centres without complex manufacturing helps the start-up keep its CapEx lighter. Another benefit of the cloud-based robotic assembly is the possibility of assembly cells and production lines being efficiently lifted and installed at future integration centres as required, as the start-up applies a global standard using the plug-and-play format.

The start-up is also applying game-changing methodologies like “No Faults Forward” in its UK facility, maintaining an integrated quality control, error-proofing, and traceability mechanism. Advanced robots are deployed across the business’ auto stations to maximise assembly line efficiency.

Image Credits: REE Automotive

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