(FUT) VOLOCOPTER RAISES ANOTHER $182 MILLION

The Volocopter VoloCity electric aircraft performs a demo flight in Singapore in October 2019. The company now has added Saudi Arabia's Neom regional development project to its list of potential markets for the vehicle. (Photo: Volocopter)

Volocopter has raised another $182 million in the second signing of its Series E funding round from Saudi regional development project Neom and Hong Kong’s Gly Capital Management, the Bruschal, Germany-based eVTOL manufacturer said Tuesday. 

Volocopter added that the funding will carry the company beyond the certification of the VoloCity electric passenger aircraft.

Volocopter boasts more than 10 years of development experience and has flown some 1,500 test flights. The only electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) company to receive Design Organization Approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Volocopter expects to launch its first commercial air taxi routes within two years in places such as Singapore, Rome, Paris, and the Neom region.

“Attracting Neom And Gly as investors is a great success and highlights our pole position in the commercial certification race,” said Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke. “This is the key requirement to launching commercial operations and starting to generate revenue.”

Volocopter and Neom signed a joint-venture agreement in December 2021 with a view to integrating the VoloCity air taxi and the VoloDrone autonomous cargo-carrying vehicle into Neom’s mobility systems. The joint venture will design, integrate, and operate the region’s all-electric public flight routes for seven years after the launch of the project.

Gly operates as a subsidiary of Chinese automotive company Geely Holding, which in April 2021 entered a joint venture with Volocopter to bring UAM to Chinese megacities. That deal included a purchase agreement covering 150 Volocopter aircraft.

“Volocopter’s vision encompasses industrial short- and medium-range commercial passenger applications to bring efficiency to the way we move around our cities,” said Gly Capital co-CEO Hrvoje Krkalo. “I look forward to supporting their journey, a journey that promises to be exciting, safe, and scenic in equal measure.”

Volocopter’s Series E funding round remains open, said the eVTOL manufacturer, which added that many interested companies have passed their due-diligence phase. Future Flight - link - Gregory Polek - link - more like this (Geely) - link - more like this (Volocopter) - link - more like this (Neom) - link - more like this (eVTOL) - link

(TMS) GEELY FLOATING LOTUS

The Lotus Evija was unveiled in 2019 is a limited production electric sports car - ALAMY

Lotus, one of the great survivors of what is left of the British motoring industry, is planning a multibillion-pound flotation as the Norfolk-based sportscar manufacturer moves to open a production plant in China and targets ambitious annual sales of 100,000 a year by the end of the decade.

Geely, the Chinese automotive giant which now controls Lotus, has started an international roadshow for investors and wealthy customers which could lead to an IPO, probably in Shanghai, as early as next year. 

Floating the business in New York or London is understood not to have been ruled out. The Times - link - Robert Lea - link - more like this (China) - link - more like this - link

(ANE) GEELY'S LOTUS SIGNS DEAL WITH BRITISHVOLT

BLYTH, England -- Britishvolt said it will develop batteries for a full-electric sports car in partnership with UK automaker Lotus, the first publicly announced customer for the electric-vehicle battery startup.

Britishvolt said the research and development that will go into developing battery cells for a high-performance sports car for Lotus will ultimately trickle down to benefit battery cells for more affordable, mainstream EVs.

Lotus, which is owned by China's Geely and Malaysia's Etika Automotive, has said it plans to sell only full-electric models by 2028.

The automaker will also expand its range to include high-end electric cars and an SUV, the automaker said on Friday in a statement. The company released a sketch of one of its future electric cars.

"Lotus is delighted to be collaborating with Britishvolt to develop new battery cell technology to showcase the thrilling performance that a Lotus EV sports car can deliver," Lotus managing director Matt Windle said in the statement.

Automakers are racing to develop EVs ahead of looming fossil-fuel car bans in Europe and China.

That poses challenges for sports cars and supercars, which need a great deal of sustained power without lots of additional battery weight.

"Lotus is a performance brand with an ambitious plan," Britishvolt executive chairman Peter Rolton told Reuters during a visit to the construction site for Britishvolt's planned battery plant site in the northern English town of Blyth, a large former coal storage site overlooking the North Sea.

"In order for that to work, they need to have performance that goes with the vehicle, and you won't get that from a standard battery."

Rolton said Lotus was the first in a number of customer announcements Britishvolt would make in the coming weeks, including for high-performance vehicles, mainstream EVs and electric commercial vehicles that will require durable, long-lasting batteries.

Last week Britishvolt secured UK government backing for its Blyth plant unlocking 1.7 billion pounds ($2.28 billion) in private funding.

When the 3.8-billion-pound, 45 gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant is fully operational in 2027 it should be able to produce battery packs for over 450,000 EVs annually. Automotive News Europe - link - Nick Gibbs - link - Britishvolt - link - more like this - link

(CNB) JIDU GETS A FURTHER $400 MILLION INVESTMENT

An outline of Jidu’s concept car is pictured here. Jidu is the electric car company set up by Chinese internet giant Baidu and automaker Geely. Jidu plans to begin mass production and deliveries of its first car in 2023. Baidu

BEIJING — Chinese tech company Baidu and auto manufacturer Geely are putting more money into the electric car venture Jidu that they partnered on just about a year ago.

Both companies announced Wednesday they are putting nearly $400 million into Jidu in a Series A financing round. The capital injection comes less than a year after Jidu was launched in March 2021 with $300 million in initial capital from undisclosed investors.

Baidu has majority ownership of Jidu, with a 55% share of the company, while Geely has a 45% stake, according to records accessed through Wind Information. Both companies declined to share how much each contributed to the latest funding round.

The money will fund research and development and mass production, according to Jidu.

Global deal making in electric vehicles has surged in the last two years as companies rush to develop cars that analysts expect will soon replace combustion-engine ones. The Chinese government has been particularly supportive of the domestic industry’s growth, helping spur the rise of many start-ups.

Electric vehicle deals in China tripled in value to $6.61 billion in 2021 from $2.17 billion in 2020, according to Dealogic. Electric vehicle deals in the U.S. more than doubled to $924 million last year from $353 million in value in 2020, the data showed.

Baidu announced in January 2021 it planned to launch Jidu with Geely as a strategic partner and later named Xia Yiping, co-founder of bike sharing start-up Mobike, as CEO of the electric car company.

In 2010, China-based Geely acquired Swedish auto brand Volvo, which previously belonged to Ford Motor. CNBC - link - Evelyn Cheng - link - more like this (China) - link - more like this - link

(FOR) A CHINESE AUTONOMOUS AMERICAN DREAM

Rendering of the Geely robotaxi with Waymo sensors - WAYMO

Waymo announced today it will integrate its technology into a robotaxi base from Chinese manufacturer Geely. Geely owns Volvo and this vehicle was designed in Sweden, it will be under the Geely Zeekr brand and most likely be manufactured in China. 

China has been, for several years now, the leading car manufacturing country in the world but its cars are not seen very often in western countries and particularly not in the USA.

Up to this point, western OEMs have not faced much competition from Chinese makers. Chinese cars are not made to fit US Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standards and can’t be sold in the USA. Chinese brands have no reputation, or even have a negative reputation compared to top western brands — that’s even true in China though it’s been changing there.

Brand is important. Surveys suggest that the nameplate on a car is the top factor in a consumer’s choice of what car to buy. (They say it’s safety when you ask them, but actual buying choices are based on several other things, including brand, performance, cost, luxury and several others.) Maintaining good reputations for their brands has been essential to keeping market position for all major global brands.

This is why the shift to robotaxi is frightening to car OEMs. Customers don’t care a lot about the brand of the car that picks them up. While you might choose between Uber UBER, Uber Select or Uber Black to set the level of car, you don’t care whether your Uber Select is a Lexus PLXS or a Mercedes. 

You don’t care much at all what your Uber is. So while people might not be ready to buy a Geely or SAIC car in the USA, they won’t care about this when taking a ride. The brand they might care about is Waymo, and that brand will be on this vehicle. Forbes - link - Brad Templeton - link - more like this (China) - link - more like this - link

VOLVO LOOKING TO TAKE BACK CONTROL

Volvo Cars, a sister company of Chinese car maker Geely Holding, to take full ownership of its car manufacturing plants and sales operations in China by acquiring Geely Holding's stake, in order to maintain its influence in its largest market, the company told Global Times on Wednesday. 

The acquisition of an additional 50 percent of the shares in Daqing Volvo Car Manufacturing Co and Shanghai Volvo Car Research and Development Co will strengthen Volvo Cars position in China, said the company.

Following the transactions, Volvo Cars will receive full ownership of its manufacturing plants in Chengdu of Southwest China's Sichuan Province and Daqing in Northeast Heilongjiang Province, its R&D facility in Shanghai and its national sales company in Chinese market.

"The acquisition will create a clearer ownership structure within both Volvo Cars and Geely Holding," said Daniel Donghui Li, Geely Holding chief executive officer. Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars also said Volvo Cars will become the first major oversea automaker with full ownership over its Chinese operations after the acquisition.

The transactions will be started in 2022 and be completed in 2023. The transactions are pending regulatory approvals - link