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Byton was one of the big showcases to attract visitors in CES 2020

The Chinese electronic automobile startup, Byton, showed its own product again, which is called “M-byte”, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, held January 2020. “M-byte” showed at the CES again, but the new electric SUV was taking a more realistic view of sales since it was reported that Byton’s fascinating products are planning to be sold in the US by 2021. Therefore, lots of people came to see them and looked forward to the news about sales. The price of them seems around fifty thousand (50,000) US dollars and it will be competitive price in EV market. However, after the CES in 2021, the Chinese company was struggling for a mass production. As a result, as we see the other article, Byton made a partnership Foxconn.

One of the notable features of “M-byte” is the 48-inch resolution display and people will be able to watch the movies or something. Does this mean that our new automobiles can be a home theater? We think it could be. Like Sony’s concept car “VISION S”, future cars will be our new living spaces. Byton is a totally new company, but we have to keep eye on them.

Who is Byton?

Byton was founded in 2016 by Mr. Daniel Kirchert, who was experienced Managing Director of Infiniti China, President of Dongfeng Infiniti Motor Co., Ltd. and Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd.. Other key members are Zhanwang Ying, who was former Chief Expert of Chang’an Automobile Co. Ltd., and Qingfen Ding, who was former general manager of public relations at Infiniti China. Headquarter, R&D and Production is located in Nanjing and other offices are in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Also, the Chinese electronic vehicle startup has the office in Santa Clara for Interface and Software and the other office in Munich for Concept and Design.

Made in China 2025

“Made in China 2025” is the national initiative to upgrade Chinese industry and drew an inspiration from Germany’s “Industry 4.0” strategy. The aspirational policy aims to make the country industrial powerhouse by 2025 and defined 10 key industry sectors. Green vehicles is one of them, so it means that China itself wants to increase production and sales of green vehicles including electronic ones. Therefore, the nationwide policy can be strong incentives for start-ups in EV industry, even though there are still many technological challenges that should be solved.

Solid State Batteries

One of the big technological challenges of electric vehicles is the cost of batteries, which accounts for about one third of total cost. The problem of batteries is not only their cost but also several technological issues such as short lifetime, being flammable and explosive. Solid state batteries are one of possible solutions and could transform industries drastically. However, they are not ready for mass production and still the stage for Research and Development. In order to develop these important and innovative products, Chinese Academies of Sciences and Tsinghua University are supposed to be main institute for basic research of them. Thus, China will be a main and essential player in EV market as well as the development of solid state batteries. In Samsung SDI’s homepage, we can see what a solid state battery is.