Figure 1. Once Tesla’s electric car
completes its mission in the PC era, China’s Taiwan once again catches up with the development opportunities of the mobile phone era. Taiwan’s huge supply chain of electronic components and subsystems gave birth to the island of China. And ASUS and other global brand personal computer original equipment manufacturers and smart phone supplier HTC (HTC). However, the $64 billion question is if the same game plan is equally effective for a region that is seeking to crack the car market. The traditional view of
is that this is unlikely. Most Western automotive industry analysts believe that although Taiwan has a well-developed supply chain, it lacks the experience needed to establish an integrated safety system and meet strict functional safety requirements. Considering the complexity of automobiles, it takes decades to cultivate this industry in any country and region.
However, some industry observers in Taiwan said that the emergence of electric vehicles may make them preconceived. Chen Liangji, Minister of Science and Technology of Taiwan, is such a reverse thinker. In an exclusive interview with the media, he told us: "Electronics is the core of electric vehicle products, and the electric vehicle industry should be able to give full play to our strength."
Figure 2. The core of electric vehicles is electronics
Consider the former Tesla ( The story of Tesla employee Azizi Tucker. He is now the chief technology officer of Xing Mobility. Xing Mobility is an electric vehicle drivetrain company established in Taipei in 2015. Tucker, an American engineer and entrepreneur, decided to leave Tesla and stay in Taiwan to condense its potential as a leading area for the development of electric vehicles in the future.
Tucker came to Taiwan as a senior supplier development engineer. He told the media: "In this role, I am responsible for ensuring that suppliers can produce the parts required by Tesla. I spend most of my time in Taiwan, and part of my work is helping Tesla's car factory. Operation in Linkou, Taiwan. "With the establishment of Taiwan's motor assembly plant, Tesla therefore has an extensive local supply chain system.
Paul Zhou, secretary general of the Taiwan Telematics Industry Association, predicted: "Today, with the development of internal combustion engines, it may take 50 years to build the automobile industry. But for electric vehicles, we think we can complete it in Taiwan in less than five years. "
sounds good, and it looks like it is possible. It may not be far away to realize Paul Zhou's language, especially when you consider that many electric car startups have already exploded in China.
how it all started...
Paul Zhou believes that in an era when the automotive industry is almost unknown, Tesla is striving to break into the closely integrated automotive supply chain. Then Tesla sent a team of engineers to Taiwan to find parts for the first commercial vehicle, the Tesla Roadster.
Tucker and his team not only searched for willing suppliers, but also came to Taiwan with the arduous task of "developing non-automotive suppliers to achieve excellence standards," Tucker wrote on their LinkedIn page. The
Tesla team can tap any of several Asian countries to meet its needs. Why did you choose Taiwan in the end?
Tucker admits: “My job has brought me to the whole of Asia. During my work in factories in China, Japan, Korea and Thailand, I began to see the benefits of Taiwan’s supply chain. “He believes,” by most small and medium-sized families The Taiwanese supply chain composed of corporate suppliers makes the supply chain of electric vehicles very flexible. This does not exist in mainland China, Thailand or Japan.”
Tucker added, “For electric vehicles (powertrain business) This flexibility is very important. We are developing new technologies and need to adapt existing manufacturing processes to manufacture new parts and components. This is what I think Taiwan is a good choice for starting an electric car company. "
Tesla The fact that the early technology originated from Taiwan is no secret. According to Mr. Zhou’s estimates, the first Tesla sports car purchased 30% to 40% of its parts from a Taiwanese supplier.
For example, the engine of Tesla's Roadster comes from Taiwan's Foton Electronics. Control circuit such as inverter comes from Chroma ATE.
Taiwan’s local electric vehicle company
Today, there are at least two well-known electric vehicle companies in Taiwan, Xing Mobility Company and Electric Power Technology Limited (Electric Power Technology Limited). Royce YC Hong, co-founder and CEO of
(Xing Mobility), explained that although Xing Mobility’s reputation is brought about by the company’s rally electric supercar "Miss R," The business of Xing Mobility is not "building and selling super cars." He pointed out that his company's goal is to be an electric powertrain supplier. "Xing Mobility chose electric super sports cars as our research and development platform and proof-of-concept platform for electric drivetrain technology for the most demanding performance indicators," he said. The
car (Xing Mobility) company is manufacturing a limited number of products (19 units), each priced at $1 million. "This allows us to use the most advanced materials and the most aggressive methods to achieve our performance goals, thereby enabling breakthroughs in battery and transmission technology that cannot be achieved by traditional industry norms and methods," the CEO explained.
But what is the difference between "Miss R" and Tesla's second-generation 2020 Roadster (roadster)?
Contrary to Roadster, which aims to imitate the driving experience of modern sports cars, Royce YC Hong, co-founder and CEO of Xing Mobility, declared that he has a completely different desire for "Miss R", that is, "on the road, Achieve incredible performance on the track and off-road and realize a multi-functional driving experience that the driver has never used before. "
Specifically, he called "Miss R" "the world's first electric motor with on-road and off-road capabilities" Super sports car", it has "four-wheel torque vector control, capable of reaching amazing speed." Driven by four independent 350V motors, Xing’s prototype supercar is expected to accelerate to 0-100 km/h performance in 1.8 seconds, accelerate to 0-200 km/h performance in 5.1 seconds, and exceed 270 km/h. Hour’s maximum speed,” the CEO claimed.
Figure 3. Xing Mobility's "Miss R" sports car (photo: Xing Motors)
It should be clear that Xing Mobility has no intention of competing with other electric car manufacturers. Hong emphasized that his mission is to "empower every car manufacturer in the world." In other words, although Tesla has aspirations to become a world-class car manufacturer, "we are passionate about becoming a driving force for commercial and recreational vehicle manufacturers. The supplier of the assembly system".
Figure 4. Stakeholders of the Taiwan Automotive Research Consortium (TARC) participated in the recent Taiwan Auto Show
Electric Power Technology Limited (Eptech, Electric Power Technology Limited) is another Taiwanese company in the electric vehicle market. Unlike Xing Mobility, it is not an emerging startup company. Eptech was founded in 1987 as a power tool manufacturing company, manufacturing and distributing handheld power tools and components.
Figure 5. The "YangPo" brand
Eptech, which launched ceramic brake pads by Nanhuang Transportation Instrument Co., Ltd. at the recent Taipei Auto Show, started the research and development project of electric vehicles more than ten years ago. By 2015, the company will launch an electric concept car of the Thunder-powered sedan at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Last year, Eptech spun off its electric vehicle team and became an independent investment company called Thunder Power EV. The complete industry chain of
should be the main reason why Tesla chose Taiwan!
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