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DeepSeek moment for EVs? China's battery giant unveils cell that can run 520 km on 5-minute charge
Months after DeepSeek unveiled its advanced capabilities, the West is now facing the reckoning in the domain of the electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries.
Chinese EV battery-maker CATL on Monday said that its latest battery, Shenxing, offers a range of 520 kilometres from just five minutes of charge.
The announcement by CATL came weeks after Chinese EV- and battery-maker BYD said its latest battery offers a range of 470 km from just five minutes of charge.
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Chinese EV-makers outdo Western companies
With such capabilities, BYD and CATL have developed an edge over Western companies, such as Tesla.
In recent years, legacy Western automobile companies as well as newer companies like Tesla have faced stiff competition from Chinese companies like BYD and SAIC.
Such a competition had already turned into a losing battle, particularly in the domain of EVs. Currently, China's BYD is the world's leading EV-maker and the second-largest maker of EVs' batteries. CATL is the world's largest battery-maker.
While CATL claims its latest battery offers a range of 520 kilometres from just five minutes of charge and BYD claims its latest battery offers a range of 470 km from, Tesla currently only offers a range of 321km in charge of 15 minutes and Mercedes-Benz's offers range up to 325 km in 10 minutes of charge at a fast charging station.
While announcing the range of the latest battery, CATL Chief Technology Officer Gao Huan said that the company looks forward to 'collaborating with more industry leaders to push the limits of supercharging through true innovation' and wants to make these batteries 'the standard for electric vehicles'.
Such long range of batteries would work towards removing range-related fears of people regarding EVs, according to analysts.
Such long-range batteries are expected to make the transition of petrolium-based vehicles to EVs easier as long range would allow them to make long journeys without the fear of batteries running dry mid-journey.
Geopolitics weighing over trade
Ideally, such batteries should be adopted by companies across the world because of the range but the ongoing trade war between the United States and China complicates the situation.
At the moment, CATL supplies batteries to several car-makers, such as Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, and Ford, according to CNN.
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Currently, CATL has 38 per cent of the world's batteries' markets and BYD has a market share of 17.2 per cent.
Since the previous Joe Biden administration, Chinese EVs have been facing US tariffs. As President Donald Trump has slapped 25 per cent tariffs on automobiles on top of 145 per cent tariffs on China, there does not appear to be a way of CATL and BYD's batteries to be used in US-made cars.
Without such batteries, US-made cars may be at a significant disadvantage in the world where they would face cars with much better batteries — if claims of CATL and BYD are indeed correct.
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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
MEA dials down Trump noise: India, US weathered challenges, focus on future
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We remain focused on the substantive agenda that our two countries have committed to and are confident that the relationship will continue to move forward.' Asked about India-US defence ties in the wake of reports of India refusing to consider F-35 fighter jets, the MEA spokesperson said, 'We have a strong defence partnership with the U.S. which has been strengthening over the last several years. There is potential for this partnership to grow further under the India-US COMPACT for the 21st century.' Responding to Trump's talk of a penalty on India for buying energy from Russia, Jaiswal said: 'In securing our energy needs, we are guided by what is on offer in the markets, and by the prevailing global circumstances.' Incidentally, this has been Delhi's position for the last three years, since the war in Ukraine broke out after the Russian invasion in February 2022. On Trump's tirade against India-Russia ties and that they are both 'dead economies', the MEA spokesperson said: 'Our bilateral relationships with various countries stand on their own merit and should not be seen from the prism of a third country. India and Russia have a steady and time-tested partnership.' On Trump's anger at India buying Russian defence equipment, he said, 'The sourcing of our defence requirements is determined solely by our national security imperatives and strategic assessments.' While India does depend on Russia for the defence supplies, much of it is because of the legacy from the Soviet Union era. Although the dependency is about 60 to 70 per cent, India has, in the past few years, steadily diversified its defence purchases from countries including the US. Yet, the framing by Trump — 'I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care' — has been seen as offensive by many. While his criticism of India putting high tariffs has been a pet grievance from his first term — when he called India a 'tariff king' — the US President's latest statement described India's trade policies as 'most strenuous and obnoxious'. Trump's remarks deepen Delhi's diplomatic challenge when India and the US are negotiating a bilateral trade deal. There are two possible impulses that guide Trump's responses, according to Delhi's analysis. First, his negotiating style to browbeat and bully the adversary by imposing high tariffs and try and get the deal on his own terms. This has been seen with China, where he imposed 145 per cent tariffs and then dialled down to 35 – after talks in Geneva. Second, some in the Indian establishment feel that the US President has not taken very kindly to Delhi fact-checking Trump's claims on brokering a ceasefire. Not only has PM Narendra Modi conveyed this in the phone call with Trump on June 17, but Indian ministers and officials have repeatedly denied the claim. Despite not stating that President Trump is a 'liar' — as demanded by Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi — the Indian government has forcefully contradicted the US President. But New Delhi feels that Trump's remarks threaten to undo the hard work made by the two countries as 'strategic partners' in a relationship that was framed as the 'defining partnership of the 21st century' by US President Barack Obama. South Block is, however, trying to not get drawn into an emotional and angry response, and is projecting restraint amid the US President's verbal tirade and social media blitzkrieg of epithets directed at India. While the Commerce ministry said it has 'taken note' of Trump's statement on bilateral trade and the Government is studying its implications, sources said that any response had to be shorn of emotion. 'India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective,' the Commerce ministry statement had said. Sources said that negotiators from both sides are in touch and they have to be immune from the noise. The diplomatic challenge is three-fold, sources said: how long can Delhi stand its ground against the US; whether India can engage with Trump's inner circle; and whether they can overcome the distrust fuelled by the Trump's comments in the long term. 'We will not get drawn into the tit-for-tat response with the US President, and our negotiators have been asked to not pay attention to Trump's unique style of public negotiations. Those are best left to be done away from the public gaze,' a source said. Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. 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Indian Express
an hour ago
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Why Trump talk of Pak's ‘massive oil reserves' is hot air — not much else
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He went to the extent of saying that 'maybe' Pakistan will be 'selling oil to India some day', a remark that many have interpreted as a veiled jibe at New Delhi over its heavy imports of Russian oil, which has surfaced as an irritant in the India-US relationship. The backdrop also features the heightened tension between India and Pakistan following their military conflagration in May due to the Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he brokered the ceasefire between the two countries, while India has maintained that there was no mediation by any other third country. To be sure, Pakistan's proven recoverable conventional crude oil reserves are pegged between 234 million and 353 million barrels by various estimates, while India's proven reserves are estimated at 4.8-5 billion barrels, or nearly 14 times of Pakistan's. By proven oil reserves, Pakistan is ranked between 50 and 55 in the world, compared to India's ranking in the early 20s. As for natural gas, OPEC's latest annual statistical bulletin pegs India's proven reserves at 1.15 billion cubic metres (bcm), 2.7 times of Pakistan's 0.43 bcm. Pakistan's oil production is estimated at around 60,000 barrels per day, only about a tenth of India's domestic oil output of over 580,000 barrels per day. Both Pakistan and India are heavily reliant on energy imports to meet their domestic demand, and oil is among the top imports for both countries in value terms. Going by this current data, it is hard to fathom a scenario wherein Pakistan would be in any position to sell oil to India, barring a realisation of Pakistan's hope of some miraculous, fate-altering hydrocarbon discoveries. Theoretically, at least, impossible is nothing, although exploration efforts so far in Pakistan have yielded very limited success. Then what is the source of this hypothesis of Pakistan sitting on 'massive' oil reserves that Islamabad, and now Trump, appear to be proposing? The basis of this premature assessment might lie in a decade-old report. In 2015, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report that estimated around 9.1 billion barrels of 'technically recoverable' shale oil resources in Pakistan based on available data and technical analysis, but without any exploratory effort. The same report had pegged India's technically recoverable shale oil resources at 3.8 billion barrels. These estimates, however, cannot be equated to proven reserves, which rests two rungs higher on the ladder of hydrocarbon resource recoverability. In fact, only a fraction of such technically recoverable estimates might eventually be produced, if at all, according to experts. Technically recoverable resources mean the oil and gas that can theoretically be produced based on current technology, industry practice, and geologic knowledge. 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And again, much of the claims are reported to have been based in surveys and studies, and without any significant exploratory effort. It is also worth noting that hydrocarbon exploration itself is an extremely expensive and long-gestation endeavour that could last multiple years, which is usually followed by another years-long development phase, before commercial production can start. For Pakistan, this would mean a significant lead time before any of its potential oil reserves can be tapped into, apart from billions of dollars' worth of investments that its fragile economy may not be able to afford. Perhaps that is where one or more of the American oil majors might come in with their deep pockets.
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
‘He Likes Swiss Watches!': Trump Shocks Horology With Tariffs
The Trump administration jolted Switzerland with punitive new tariffs. Few seemed to be more taken aback than buyers and sellers of Swiss watches. Oliver R. Müller, a luxury watch consultant based in Switzerland, was indignant at the blow that tariffs will likely inflict on the country's watch industry, which has recently been relying on demand from the US to offset fading sales in China. 'It's another burden that comes on top of many others,' Müller said in an interview. The administration's 39% tariff on all Swiss imports, if passed along from sought-after brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe and Omega to distributors in the US, would likely lead to retail-price increases of 12% to 14%, Müller estimated. That would add about $1,000 to the $9,500 price of a stainless steel Rolex Submariner. Swiss watches are a longstanding signal of affluence, and over the years the president has been seen wearing various high-end timepieces, including a Rolex. Members of his family and his administration have also sported Swiss watches in public. For observers, that made the 39% levy all the more vexing. 'On top of it all, he likes Swiss watches!' Müller said. High-end watches have been drawing a growing American fan base in recent years, with obsessive owners showing off their collections on social media. The chain retailer Watches of Switzerland, which has locations in tony shopping areas across the US, said in a statement that it would 'continue to work closely with our brand partners to mitigate any potential impact.' Trump administration officials didn't seem to be focused on watches when they put the tariffs in place, instead citing pharmaceuticals as a driving force in the trade imbalance between the countries. The US has no large luxury-watch making industry of its own. Online watch enthusiasts have long clocked the make and reference numbers of the high-end watches of Trump officials. FBI Director Kash Patel has been spotted wearing a Breitling. Former DOGE czar Elon Musk has a TAG Heuer with the SpaceX logo. Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who in a previous political life declared that Trump, had he not inherited a fortune from his father, would be 'selling watches in Manhattan' — has worn a Rolex, too. There were already warning signs in the Swiss watch industry before Trump's tariffs. Exports fell 5.6% in June compared with a year earlier, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, a trade group. That was driven by 'significant declines' in sales in the US, as well as Japan and Hong Kong, the group said in a monthly report. Trump lent his name and signature to a line of MAGA-coded timepieces last year, including a $100,000 'Swiss-made' Tourbillon. The makers of the watch, a firm registered as TheBestWatchesonEarth LLC, didn't respond to a request for comment sent through an intermediary. The site states that the watches 'are not political and have nothing to do with any political campaign.' With assistance from Chris Rovzar.
