\nZeekr goes on a hiring spree, Tesla kicks off a price war and Hesai files for an IPO<\/br>
\n2023-01-23 22:19:42<\/br><\/p>\n
The Station is a weekly newsletter dedicated to all things transportation.\u00a0Sign up here \u2014\u00a0just click The Station<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to receive the full edition of the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Welcome back to The Station<\/a>, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Before I jump into our regular news roundup, I wanted to bring your attention to Zeekr<\/strong>, the premium electric car brand owned by China\u2019s Geely Holdings. You might recall that about a month ago, Zeekr filed confidentially for an initial public offering<\/a> in the United States. Zeekr, which will spin out of Geely, reportedly aims to raise more than $1 billion and is seeking a valuation of more than $10 billion, according to initial reports by Reuters.<\/p>\n As the IPO process creeps forward, Zeekr is busy scaling up. And in a big way. Zeekr already employs some 4,500 people, according to the company. Now it\u2019s aiming to add two-thirds more workers to its roster.<\/p>\n The company posted on WeChat<\/a> this week that it is hiring 3,000 new workers in more than 30 cities around the world, including for its R&D center in Ningbo and Shanghai in China, and Gothenburg, Sweden. It\u2019s also opening an office in Silicon Valley, although it should be noted an exact location has yet to be decided.<\/p>\n Most of these posts are for R&D and engineering in areas like software, battery management, thermal management and electric\/electronic architecture. A few hundred are for its sales network, according to the company.<\/p>\n Zeekr is not even two years old<\/a> yet. Prepare to start hearing a lot more from this brand.<\/p>\n Last week, you may recall I wrote about how Tesla<\/strong> and its CEO Elon Musk<\/strong> had entered into a pressure cooker, of sorts.<\/p>\n That pressure continues to build as we get new insight into an infamous 2016 \u201cPainted In Black\u201d video that promoted Tesla\u2019s claimed \u201cself-driving\u201d technology. A senior engineer testified that the video was faked<\/a> and apparently Musk oversaw the direction<\/a> of the video, even dictating the words that pop up at the start of the video saying the car is driving itself. The video has been criticized for years now, so for many this will come as no surprise and validates their stance.<\/p>\n Question is, can consumers or shareholders argue (in a court perhaps) that they were defrauded by a video that convinced them Tesla\u2019s self-driving technology was more capable than it actually was?<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Tesla slashing its prices earlier this month appears to have kicked off a price war with rivals like China\u2019s Xpeng<\/strong> reducing the cost of its EVs. Tesla has one weapon that other automakers lack: one of the highest profit margins in the biz.<\/p>\n Tesla earned $15,653 in gross profit per vehicle in the third quarter of 2022; that\u2019s more than twice as much as Volkswagen Group, four times the comparable figure at Toyota and five times more than Ford Motor, according to a Reuters analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Price wars don\u2019t always work out. But high profit margins buy Tesla some time.<\/p>\n Oh, and against that backdrop, a trial is underway<\/a> in San Francisco to answer the\u00a0question of whether Musk is a fraud or is just too careless with his words. Under the microscope was Musk\u2019s notorious 2018 tweet that stated funding was \u201csecured\u201d to take Tesla private at a potential value of $420 per share<\/a>. Tesla shareholders who traded the company\u2019s stock in the days after Musk\u2019s tweet are suing the executive for billions of dollars in damages.<\/p>\n You can drop us a note at tips@techcrunch.com. <\/span><\/i>If you prefer to remain anonymous<\/i><\/b>, <\/span><\/i>click here to contact us<\/span><\/i><\/a>, which includes SecureDrop (<\/span><\/i>instructions here<\/span><\/i><\/a>) and various encrypted messaging apps.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The folks over at <\/span>Micromobility Industries <\/b>held their online Micromobility World event this week, with top speakers including Kara Swisher, Gabe Klein and Matthew Yglesias. I listened to Yglesias discuss how important land use reform is for micromobility adoption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As communities grow and new housing is added, more cars will inevitably join the roads, which will exacerbate current traffic problems. Yglesias says new housing policy has to go hand in hand with transportation initiatives to offer solutions and make it easier for residents to bike or scoot to where they need to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat just means taking geometry seriously and so, if everybody all the time is carting empty space with them wherever they go, we don\u2019t fit and we become this very sort of pessimistic, zero-sum, oh-my-god-don\u2019t-let-them-build kind of people, which is a bummer,\u201d said Yglesias.<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond <\/b>(formerly Brooklyness), the Brooklyn-based e-scooter subscription and retail company, is shutting down. \u201cWe had a fantastic run, but ultimately, delays in the supply chain and the overall macroeconomic climate made it impossible for us to secure more funding to grow the business,\u201d wrote founder Manuel Saez in an email blast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Gogoro<\/b> is working with the Indian state of Maharashtra to establish<\/span> state-wide battery charging<\/span><\/a> and swapping infrastructure as part of a deal valued at $2.5 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n Helbiz<\/b> is <\/span>leaving unprofitable markets<\/span><\/a> by spring 2023, but is also actively seeking new markets to enter that might be more sustainable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Didn\u2019t know this was a thing, but apparently in <\/span>Japan<\/b>, e-scooter riders in Japan needed a driver\u2019s license to ride the vehicles. <\/span>Starting this July<\/span><\/a>, riders on stand-up e-scooters that have a max speed of 20 kph will no longer need a license, but they\u2019ll need to comply with the same rules as cyclists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Check out this <\/span>podcast<\/span><\/a> from <\/span>The New Republic <\/b>on the high cost of cheap e-bikes, where they discuss the fires caused by poorly made lithium batteries, the populations most at risk, the challenges of regulating e-bikes and the consequences of our on-demand culture.<\/span><\/p>\n Parisians <\/b>are voting this weekend on whether they want to <\/span>ban free-floating e-scooters<\/span><\/a> or not. At stake in the short-term is the renewal of permits for Lime, Dott and Tier. But in the long-term, Paris\u2019s decision might affect how other cities deal with shared e-scooters.<\/span><\/p>\n Ride1Up<\/b> launched the Revv1 e-bike<\/span><\/a>, a moped-style bike that can reach 20 mph on throttle or pedal assist. The bike starts at $1,899 for the front suspension version and $2,399 for the full-suspension model.<\/span><\/p>\n A <\/span>Washington, D.C. <\/b>council member has <\/span>proposed<\/span><\/a> a $400+ rebate for e-bikes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This didn\u2019t get a lot of press attention in the United States, but it should have. Hesai,<\/strong> a Chinese lidar company widely considered a lead supplier of the sensor, filed for a $100 million IPO<\/a> and plans to list on the Nasdaq exchange.<\/p>\n Hesai has attracted a lot of venture capital in its lifetime, raising more than $500 million<\/a> to date from strategic backers like Baidu, Xiaomi on-demand services giant Meituan and CPE, the private equity platform of Citic as well as VC firms GL Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Qiming Venture Partners.<\/p>\n I wrote about Hesai as part of a larger piece on the lidar industry<\/a> and how there are still TOO MANY companies. The upshot? A lot of lidar companies will be sifted out in 2023; the following year will be a \u201cmake it or break it\u201d moment for those that remain.<\/p>\n While Hesai is in a leadership position today, that doesn\u2019t mean it will remain there. And it\u2019s not yet profitable. It should be noted that unlike many other lidar companies out there, Hesai is actually producing and shipping sensors and generates revenue. The company reported in a securities filing that it brought in $112 million in revenue in the first nine months of the year and had a net loss of $23 million during the same period.<\/p>\n Other deals that got my attention \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Black Sesame Technologies<\/strong>, a developer of AI chips and systems for vehicles, is considering a Hong Kong initial public offering, Bloomberg reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n MacroFab<\/strong>, a cloud manufacturing platform for building electronics from prototype to high-scale production, raised $42 million<\/a> in a round led by Foundry and joined by BMW i Ventures, as well as existing investors Edison Partners and ATX Venture Partners.<\/p>\n Outrider<\/strong>, a Golden, Colorado startup developing autonomous electric yard trucks, closed a $73 million Series C round<\/a> led by FM Capital and attracted new investors Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Nvidia\u2019s venture capital group, NVentures. Other new investors included B37 Ventures, Lineage Ventures, Presidio Ventures, the venture arm of Sumitomo Corporation and ROBO Global Ventures. Existing backers Koch Disruptive Technologies and New Enterprise Associates also participated.<\/p>\n Volta<\/strong>, the EV charging network operator, will be acquired by a\u00a0U.S.-based subsidiary of oil company Shell<\/strong> for\u00a0$169 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Waabi<\/strong>, the Toronto-based self-driving trucks startup, landed Volvo Group Venture Capital AB<\/strong> as a strategic investor<\/a>. The companies didn\u2019t disclose the amount invested, nor many other details about the deal. Waabi contends that having Volvo on board will both provide it with access to the automaker\u2019s extensive industry network and help it explore opportunities for large-scale commercialization.<\/p>\n Aurora<\/strong> put out its forecast<\/a> for the AV industry and among its top takeaways (this coming from the CFO) is this nugget<\/a>: \u201cIndependent AV companies will be positioned to advance more quickly toward product deployment and profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n Blink Charging<\/b> announced an <\/span>exclusive agreement<\/span><\/a> with <\/span>Mitsubishi Motors North America<\/b> to provide Bling chargers and installation service for all of the manufacturer\u2019s dealerships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chevrolet <\/b>unveiled its <\/span>2024 Corvette E-Ray<\/span><\/a>, the first semi-electric version of the iconic sports car. The E-Ray has a small 6.2L V8 and an electric motor. It charges the battery through regenerative braking and when the vehicle is coasting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n EVgo<\/b> launched <\/span>EVgo ReNew<\/span><\/a>, a maintenance program designed to make sure that when you finally find that public charging station you so desperately need, you\u2019re not met with multiple broken charge ports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hertz <\/b>is launching a <\/span>public-private partnership initiative<\/span><\/a>, Hertz Electrifies, in Denver to bring 5,200 rental EVs to the city, increase charging capacity at the airport and Hertz locations, support the installation of public EV chargers and more. The company is hoping to mirror this partnership model with other cities in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n Kate<\/strong> is a new micro EV car company<\/a> that clearly was inspired by the mini Moke.<\/p>\n Revel<\/b> is adding <\/span>five new EV fast charging hubs<\/span><\/a> to New York City, adding a total of 136 public charging stalls to the city\u2019s landscape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Joby Aviation<\/strong> appointed Lt. Gen. (ret.) Scott Howell, former Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), to the company\u2019s Advisory Board.<\/p>\n Kodiak Robotics<\/strong> has named former USA Truck CEO\u00a0James Reed<\/strong> as its chief operating officer.<\/p>\n TuSimple<\/strong> appointed independent board members James Lu<\/strong> and Wendy Hayes<\/strong> to serve on its government security committee after receiving a non-objection from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.<\/p>\n Wisk Aero CEO<\/strong>\u00a0Gary Gysin<\/strong> is retiring from his position. He is also leaving the board effective February 1, 2023. Dr. Brian Yutko<\/strong> will be the new CEO. Yutko was most recently vice president and chief engineer of sustainability and future mobility at Boeing.<\/p>\n Didi <\/b>has <\/span>gotten approval from China <\/span><\/a>to re-launch its ride-hailing service after an 18-month probe from the country\u2019s cyberspace watchdog. The <\/span>Cybersecurity Review Office was investigating whether Didi\u2019s cross-border data practices were secure before going public in the U.S.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Authorities in <\/span>Tanzania<\/b> have <\/span>increased the fee<\/span><\/a> that ride-hail companies like <\/span>Uber<\/b> and <\/span>Bolt<\/b> can charge drivers, from 15% to 25%. Nice for the companies\u2019 earnings, but bad news for the earnings of the drivers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Uber<\/b> has expanded <\/span>an agreement<\/span><\/a> with <\/span>Hertz<\/b> to get up to 25,000 EVs to ride-hail drivers in European capital cities by 2025. Separately, <\/span>in its race to electrify<\/span><\/a>, the company is also in talks with automakers to build EVs that sacrifice speed, and even a wheel or two, to drive down sticker price.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/br><\/br><\/br><\/p>\n
\nMicromobbin\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"the](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-station-scooter1a.png?resize=1140%2C286&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn other news\u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n
Deal of the week<\/h2>\n
![\"money](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/money-the-station.png?resize=1140%2C285&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNotable reads and other tidbits<\/h2>\n
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<\/a><\/h3>\nAutonomous vehicles<\/h3>\n
Electric vehicles, charging & batteries<\/h3>\n
People<\/h3>\n
Ride-hail<\/h3>\n