Alexander Klose’s Post

This Wedensday, along with a few other executives from Chinese companies in Bavaria, I attended an exclusive business dialogue at the invitation of State Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Hubert Aiwanger at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs in #Munich. We had the opportunity to address our wishes, questions, as well as our worries and concerns.For me, this meeting is a must-attend event because when and where else can you directly speak to one of the most important political decision-makers, ask questions, and get immediate answers?   The biggest topic for me and my esteemed colleague Hui Zhang was, of course, the looming tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles by the European Commission. We were very pleased to hear that State Minister Aiwanger neither supports this tariff initiative nor leaves it uncommented. We hope his visit to China at the end of October will lead to positive decisions in this regard.   I found Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited's initiative on external power storage parks in container format on no longer needed power plant sites very interesting – best of luck, great initiative dear Matthias Zentgraf.   All in all – as always, a fantastic exclusive networking opportunity. Thank you Invest in Bavaria - The Business Promotion Agency of the State of Bavaria and Andreas Fischer. I look forward to attending again next time. 💼🌐🚗📈   #BusinessDialogue #Networking #Bavaria #EconomicAffairs #TradeRelations #ElectricVehicles #Innovation #China #Germany #EnergySolutions

The future of the economy and climate protection: who is leading the race? 🌍🔋 The three largest economies in the world are the USA 🇺🇸, China 🇨🇳 and Germany 🇩🇪. It is interesting to note that the EU 🇪🇺 as a whole is in second place. But what about climate protection? The USA and China are implementing gigantic transformation programmes. China is investing massively in renewable energies and electromobility 🚗⚡, while the USA under President Biden is investing billions in the green transformation with the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act. It is interesting to note that most investments in the USA are being made in Republican-governed states, which means that even if former president Trump would become president again, the programme will not change. Germany and Europe are lagging behind. While the world is focussing on renewable energies, the internal combustion engine is still being discussed here in Germany. Disruptive technologies are changing markets faster than traditional companies and political players often want to admit. Opportunities for electromobility 🚗⚡: Electromobility offers enormous opportunities. Electric vehicles are continuously becoming cheaper and better, which makes them increasingly attractive. The production and use of electric cars significantly reduces CO₂ emissions and thus contributes to climate protection. Countries such as China are already benefiting from this development and could, indeed will, dominate the global market in the long term. Warning that Europe is falling behind ⚠️: I agree with Christian Stoecker, cognitive psychologist and professor of digital communication, who warns that Europe must embrace change or risk being left behind technologically. Without a significant increase in the level of investment in renewable energies and electromobility, Europe risks losing touch with the global market leaders. The USA and China are showing how it can be done - Europe must now follow suit to avoid being left behind as a technologically backward region. We support this and are ready to help bring about change! #Economy #Climate protection #Renewable energies #Transformation #Innovation #Electromobility #Investment

Today is a sad day for the fight against climate change and the enhancement of European competitiveness. The European Commission has decided to impose punitive tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) from China. Unfortunately, even scientific institutes that I previously considered leading in their field (like Kiel Institute for the World Economy) seem not to understand the implications of this decision and support the simplistic ideas of the Commission. 😔🌍   The irony is that the industry the EU aims to protect understands the developments that will unfold with the permanent implementation of these tariffs better and argues vehemently against it. I recently listened to Carlos Tavares of Stellantis , one of the most innovative CEOs in the automotive industry, who should actually have been vocally advocating for protection measures – but he did and does not. The European industry wants to transition to greener and more affordable individual mobility, yet suddenly the European Commission is slamming on the brakes, and very hard so. 🚗💨   Maybe you think I'm biased, and I am. I believe that Europe should participate in the global transformation of the automotive industry rather than be threatened and stifled like the European mobile phone industry was. I am also old enough to see that protectionism has never saved a struggling industry – opening up and supporting the domestic industry has. Comparing the Chinese automotive industry of 2005 and today makes clear what I mean. Only when the Chinese automotive industry found its own path and strengthened its research and development could it establish itself as a serious threat. It seems the European Commission has not observed this development. 🌐🚙   Furthermore, I fear, like Mr. Tavares, that after this round of tariffs, more will follow in the coming years to protect the European automotive industry against even more advanced Chinese vehicles. This also means that European consumers will have to pay dearly for then very non-competitive vehicles. Take Proton from Malaysia as a cautionary example – the consumers paid the price for it. 💸🚘   My hope is that the tariffs can be avoided, otherwise, the European automotive industry will follow the path of the European solar industry. I see strong car manufacturers in Europe, all invested in Chinese companies and wanting to learn from them (apologies if I hurt the pride of some Europeans). In the worst case, the tariffs will lead Chinese companies to localize their production in Europe and continue to build better EVs because the Commission is focusing on a (scientifically) nonsensical tariff dispute instead of pursuing a coherent policy for the transformation of the automotive industry. 🌞🔧   So I hope that there won't be majorities for these tariffs, even though some – even large and powerful – European countries will push for it. I rely on the economic reason of the elected politicians. 🤞🌍

Süddeutsche Zeitung Sustainability Summit: A Reflection on an Inspiring Event 🌍 As announced, here is my next update on the already finished, but very good and still resonating SZ Summit Sustainability of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. I was not only very interested in the discussions about the global economy or possible punitive tariffs, but the transformation from the classic combustion engine industry to the electric age was also a major topic. ⚡🚗 I was particularly impressed by the interview with Peter Weber from BMW Group. Not only because I am still somewhat connected to this company as a former employee, but also because I am closely following how BMW is transforming itself from a pure combustion engine into the electric age. The customer approach is an exciting one, probably the right solution for classic OEMs. Peter Weber explained how he, as head of plant for the Munich plant, is converting the BMW Group's main plant within the #Munich city limits from a combustion engine plant with automobile production to the first all-electric plant. So it doesn't always have to be a new building, as nice as the "greenfield" approach is. It's difficult to see how this can be done during ongoing operations, but it apparently works. Kudos to BMW Group: preserving traditions, going into the future with the right technology. 👏🚙 For me as the managing director of an electric car start-up, there was an exciting panel afterwards, which at first glance has nothing to do with us/myself. The topic: Heating law, municipal planning - chaos? How the heating transition can work actually has nothing to do with e-mobility. But it does! For me the most important contribution to the discussion came from Dr. Wolfgang Gründinger from Enpal. It's exciting to see how a company that emerged from the photovoltaic business is now turning its attention to all aspects of future sustainable energies. From complete PV systems with storage solutions, to its own heat pumps and cooperation with intelligent electricity tariffs. This is where it becomes interesting for us as an electric car manufacturer. Our vehicles can serve very well as intermediate storage units to regulate the energy balance. We need to push ahead with bidirectional charging, it's great that you are taking a visionary approach to these issues Wolfgang Gründinger. We support this with everything we can and have. 🌞🔋🚗 The sentence from Robert Habeck stuck in my mind: "...we – in Germany - must not lose the increased competition in the world!" Let's tackle it! 💪 Thank you Süddeutsche Zeitung, strong participants, great summit - see you next year! 🌟🎉

🗓️ Yesterday and today, we had the opportunity to take part in the SZ Gipfel Nachhaltigkeit organized by the Süddeutsche Zeitung. I am thrilled about the many exciting topics and discussion rounds. Many theses and arguments underpin my position on the topic of transformation, but critical topics such as the possible punitive tariffs and the threat of a more difficult trade relationship between Europe and China were also discussed. 🌍💼   🎙️ As opener and first keynote speaker, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck was digitally connected. He had exciting statements on how the German economy should move forward. I was particularly struck by the fact that he vehemently demanded that we should not lose the increased competition in the world. I am very curious to see whether these strong words will be followed by action. I certainly have a few suggestions. 📝   👥 We listened intently - as did all 500 or so participants in the room - to his comments on his recent visit to China. It was probably not only about the countervailing duties that were discussed there, which, as we know, have so far only been threatened by the EU, but attempts are being made to avert them. I found his comments on China particularly impressive. We should not patronize this large country, he said, as China is well aware of the necessities and needs - especially when it comes to environmental protection - and is acting accordingly. This must not and should not be minimized or underestimated. A correct and, in my opinion, strong statement from a trade minister. 🇨🇳🌱   🔄 Afterwards, the exchange with experts live on the podium was exciting. Kerstin Andreae from BDEW Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft e.V., Christian Hartel from WACKER, Till Oberwörder from Daimler Buses GmbH, and Moritz Schularick from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy discussed whether Germany can manage the transformation.   🚍 In my opinion, my mobility colleague Till Oberwörder from Daimler in particular had mentioned the most important points for this: While it is a challenge for everyone, it doesn't matter which energy will be used in the future - the framework conditions must be clearly defined and the respective infrastructure must be upgraded. My opinion is the same! And thank you Christian Hartel for the statement: Everything is feasible, planning must be possible. It's no use changing the rules of the game in the meantime. Strong, correct words. 💪   🌟 Interesting summit, thank you dear Süddeutsche Zeitung, I'll keep reporting.

During the last weeks we had some negative news about batteries in Europe. Northvolt’s cancellation of a contract with BMW Group was the last example. For Europe and BEVs this is bad news and good news at the same time. The essence of the cancellations of contracts or cooperations seems to be the fact that the partners found out the batteries that they were supposed to get are no longer competitive. This does not mean that there is a super battery around the corner – far from it. However, the step by step improvement of batteries is taking a speed that was not expected. The bad thing: it seems that neither the European machine tool manufacturers that would supply machines for cell and battery factories in the past don’t seem to be competitive any more – the most competitive machines now come from China. The other bad thing: there seems to be no plan for an immediate competitive battery supply in Europe. These are developments in the industry that should be fixable by the right investments and the right support for innovation in this field, be it from governments or from companies. The good thing, however, is that we seem to have a continuous development in batteries that will lead to affordable BEVs without subsidies from the government, be it Chinese or European. OEMs need to adapt to this continuous and fast improvement, which is different what they were used with ICEs, but if they can do this, the success of BEVs will be unstoppable.

Ich war dieses Jahr schon mehrfach in China – und immer wieder überrascht. Rennradfahren ist mittlerweile so populär, daß meine frühere Rennradgruppe aus Expats nun eine beinahe rein chinesische Gruppe geworden ist, was mich freut und ob der fitness der neuen Mitglieder dann auch wieder stresst. Es hat auch dazu geführt, daß es in Europa mal wieder Wartezeiten gibt, weil Shimano nicht mehr mit der Produktion für Komponenten nachkommt, um den Bedarf in China zu stillen. Was auch immer mit der Wirtschaft dort passiert, das Land ist so groß, daß es uns sehr beeinflussen wir in der Zukunft. Endlich habe ich nun ein Video gefunden, das ein bisschen das Elektrowunder in China beschreiben kann, ohne das mit trockenen Zahlen zu tun, sondern so, daß es fassbar und begreifbar wird. Der Car Maniac Christopher Karatsonyi macht einen super Job, uns allen in Europa plastisch klar werden zu lassen, welche Revolution in der Fortbewegung in China passiert. Wem es auf YouTube https://lnkd.in/dubgtCC8 zu lange ist, der kann es sich auch auf TikTok in Häppchen geniessen.

I was visiting the trade fair ‘The smarter E Europe’ in munich yesterday. It is about everything of the new Electrical Energy – 🌞 solar, 🔋 battery storage, 📈 energy management and 🚗 mobility/charging solutions. It now is the biggest fair ever in Munich – seems there is a lot of activity and innovation. Exactly what we need in Europe, rather than tariffs being slapped on electrical vehicles. What I found particularly encouraging is that there are a lot of start ups with innovative solutions. Maybe not as many as we wished and need, but still. Not all of them will survive, but they will all contribute to the innovation that is necessary to bring solar and battery electric vehicle to life. The innovation cycle clearly is heating up in this area. Who would have thought a year ago that you still have a large number of companies in the supercharger or wallbox area? I personally would have bet that consolidation would set in – but instead we see ever more innovation. There is the The Mobility House house now supported by our friend Herbert Diess, there is our own partner Lade – all in specific, interesting areas with a lot of potential to completely change the way we charge and use vehicles. All of this in the middle of Germany, which has become the Negativity incarnate for electric vehicles. I think this will change soon, as all arguments against BEVs are being swept away with the help of the other European nations who are speeding ahead with registrations, and the OEMs from Europe, China, and other areas that supply more and more affordable EVs.

Last week I was lucky to participate in the Ifa Autohausgipfel hosted by Prof. Dr. Stefan Reindl and Prof. Dr. Benedikt Maier of the Institut für Automobilwirtschaft (IfA). For me it was an eye opening event to see how fast the changes are happening in the car retail. One of the hot topics was obviously the ‘new brands’ from China . None of them has a full success story. Whilst we, Aiways , pride ourselves to have been the first in Europe, we have been hampered by issues in our production base in China. Others simple have not had the management in Europe to really understand what is require to be successful here. All together this leads to a relatively meagre market share so far – one really has to wonder what the tariff discussion is all about. I have, however, been very positively surprised that in all this negativity around EVs in Germany, the issues of Chinese brands in operations, there were still dealers interested in taking up Chinese brands. Their arguments: Electrical will be the future, we have to adapt early, and even if it is difficult now, we are certain that some Chinese brands will make it happen. As we had announced before we are currently going through a strategic reassessment phase – and after viewing such entrepreneurial spirit, seeing how others fail – both Chinese and local Euroepan (Volkswagen Group, Mercedes-Benz AG, BMW Group, Stellantis, Renault Group) – we are very clear that dealers will be part of our setting in Europe. Modern entrepreneurial dealers will be able to face up to the change coming to car retail – less locations, less people, less reliance on aftersales, more requirements to keep customers – and they will win in this change. I even had the impression that in quite a lot of aspects dealers are ahead of manufacturers. But then again, I had this impression even when I was on the dealer side in China. The change will clearly not come as easy as just taking over retail by making all dealers agents that only execute exact directives from the manufacturer.