Alibaba Enters the EV Market, Launching IM Motors, a New Joint Venture with SAIC
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) have combined forces to create a new EV brand. The brand is called IM Motors which stands for Intelligence in Motion. The Chinese name is ZhiJi. Alibaba is certainly not the first big tech company to join China’s race towards an EV-only world. However, the Alibaba SAIC combination has clear advantages including big data, money, and experience.
Other Tech Companies Also Vying for a Piece of the EV Market
Alibaba is not the only big Chinese tech company to develop an EV. Baidu, Foxconn, Huawei and Xiaomi have all announced they are developing electric vehicles.
In January, Baidu announced it would partner with Chinese car maker Geely on an EV. That same month, Foxconn gave Chinese EV maker Byton a much-needed injection of cash. In February, rumors started milling that Huawei is in talks with Changan. And then in late March, Xiaomi officially announced it would begin developing an EV as well.
It appears Alibaba’s IM Motors is far ahead of the other players. Though they only announced the joint venture between Alibaba Group, SAIC motor and ZhangJiang high tech group on December 25th, 2020, only weeks later they had already revealed two concept vehicles.
The IM Motors Concept Vehicles
The company plans to launch two vehicles, a luxury sedan and a SUV. Both vehicles are currently still at the concept stage, although according to reports, the sedan is further along. They want to open orders for the sedan this coming April at the Shanghai Auto Show. Then in 2022, the electric SUV will hit the market, shortly after deliveries of the sedan.
The Specs
According to the company website, both vehicles will have the option of a standard range model with 93 kWh battery and a long-range version that has 115 kWh battery. The highest performance model will have AWD, around 536 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. They will be able to do 0 – 62 mph under 4 seconds. The company also teamed up with F1 Racing team Williams to develop vehicle handling and chassis tuning.
The company also plans to be the first brand to commercially use silicone anode lithium batteries. The batteries will be sourced from CATL, a Chinese battery supplier that also supplies to Tesla China. The batteries have energy density of 300 Wh per kilogram (cell) and no degeneration within 124k miles of normal usage. They are wireless charging capable.
The vehicle’s brain will be powered by NVIDIA. According to NVIDIA “These models will have multi–NVIDIA Orin SoCs (system-on-a-chip) at the core of a centralized computer system, achieving 500 to 1,000+ TOPS of performance for automated and autonomous capabilities.”
The body will be entirely made from aluminum to reduce weight and it has a coefficient of drag of 0.22 to further increase range.
The IM Motors Advantages: Big Data, Money, and Experience
Big Data
Alibaba is currently the biggest e-commerce company in China and holds massive amount of data that can be used to understand consumer demand. What’s more, in the EV industry, access to data will allow IM Motors to develop it’s in-car AI system at a much faster pace. Data can also be used to develop more sophisticated self-driving and vehicle management algorithms that can combat the complex traffic in China.
Investment
The financial foundation of an EV startup must be solid. Especially after seeing what happened to Byton when cashflow dried up during the pandemic. Auto startups can burn through funding before the car even reaches the showroom. It takes years to have positive revenue. So, having Alibaba as one of the investors secures the company’s future. Not only is Alibaba able to invest heavily, but other investors will be willing to join in knowing that Alibaba is backing the brand. In fact, IM motors has managed to raise over $1.5 billion dollars so far.
Experience
SAIC is one of China’s largest automotive manufacturers. It also has joint ventures with General Motors, Volkswagen, and other major car brands. The company has well established manufacturing facilities across China and it also has mature supply chain of raw materials. This will further strengthen the company’s foothold in the China EV market.
I stopped questioning if China would lead the global EV race a while ago. Whether it’s the new independent brands like NIO and Li Auto, or the big tech backed brands like IM Motors, it is clear that China is leading the way in EV innovation and adoption.
