Young Buyers Eye Chinese EVs, Kia's EV SUV, Mobile Superchargers

Shoot us a Text.

It’s a busy Thursday as we roll towards the holiday weekend. Today, we explore the surprising interest in Chinese EVs among young Americans, Kia's launch of a new compact electric SUV amid cooling EV demand, and Yoshi Mobility's innovative mobile fast charging solution for EVs.

Show Notes with links:

• A recent survey by AutoPacific reveals that younger Americans are increasingly open to purchasing vehicles from Chinese brands, despite privacy worries.
  • 35% of respondents aged 18 to 80 would consider a Chinese car.
  • 76% of those under 40 are open to buying a Chinese vehicle, compared to only 26% of those over 60.
  • Ed Kim, President of AutoPacific, attributes this trend because it's easier to see what’s happening in other parts of the world, saying “Social media has simply just made the world a lot smaller,”
  • Privacy concerns are significant, with over 70% of respondents expressing worry across all age groups.
  • Manufacturing Chinese vehicles in the U.S. could increase purchase willingness among 16% of respondents.
  • "[Negative] political connotations associated with China just don't apply to younger people," said Kim

• Kia has introduced its first compact electric SUV, the EV3, built on its dedicated EV platform, aiming to attract buyers with competitive pricing despite a cooling global EV market.
  • The EV3 is part of Hyundai Motor Group's plan to introduce over 31 electric models by 2030.
  • The EV3 will be priced between $35,000 and $50,000 and offers two battery options with a long-range model capable of 600 kilometers (373 miles) on a single charge.
  • Kia plans to achieve an annual sales target of 200,000 units worldwide, although they declined to say what year that target is for.
  • Kia aims to sell approximately 1.6 million EV units by 2030.
  • "We are making the EV3 very much accessible to our customers with the pricing level that customers are expecting for our vehicle," said Kia President Song Ho Sung.

• Yoshi Mobility has launched a mobile DC fast charging unit, dubbed "a supercharger on wheels," to address the need for convenient EV charging where infrastructure is lacking.
  • The 240 kW mobile DC fast charger can provide multiple charges in a single trip.
  • It is mounted on GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s, with more vehicles to be added through 2024.
  • Initial customers include “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers.
  • The service can be deployed within 10 days once under contract.
  • Full commercialization is expected by Q1 2025.
  • "We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging," said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/

JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/

Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email

Episode Transcript

Paul J Daly (00:19):
Oh my goodness.
Right Trigger button. You knowwhy? Because my hat is
backwards. We'll tell you whatthat means in a second. Today
we're talking about youngbuyers, ie Chinese EBS key is
new little Evie, and mobilesuperchargers.

Kyle Mountsier (00:34):
And it's not so little, is pretty big. I

Paul J Daly (00:37):
bet it's really heavy.

Kyle Mountsier (00:41):
Really heavy. I didn't worry about that fact,

Paul J Daly (00:43):
in the soda verse amongst our team here. When the
hats are backwards, it is it isa just visual indicator that
like the processor is runninghard. And so the wrong trigger
button. I didn't even realize ittill I turned like I logged in
the stream. I was like, Oh, myhats backwards already. I don't
know why. Every once in a whilecalm and I'll jump in. It just

(01:05):
ends

Kyle Mountsier (01:05):
up that way.
There's like this weird. It youknow, just like it just happens.

Paul J Daly (01:11):
It's kind of did you ever see the movie over the
top? Or is that am I datingmyself? Okay, there's a movie
called over the top wasSylvester Stallone many years
ago. I watched his movie like1000 times when I was a kid,
when I was probably like, 1011 Idon't know. And he had this
thing. He had a hat. He was anarm wrestler and he's trying to
reconnect with his son. It wasthis whole thing. But when he
was like, things were reallyhappening. He'd flip the switch.

(01:33):
He called it and the hat wouldgo backwards. And I think in
that, yeah, sometimes called anarm wrestling. Yeah, the arm
wrestling. I

Kyle Mountsier (01:39):
don't know it well, but I know that. Yeah, it
was a scene in there where likethat was on TBS at five P Oh,

Paul J Daly (01:45):
it was on TBS. All day, all day every day. Well,
it's a busy Thursday today. Havea lot going on. Man. My daughter
went to the prom last night. Oh,no. Yeah, but it was knit she's
15 So she kind of like got anearly on this little prom. She
didn't go with the boys. So itdidn't quite feel that official.
But when you see your daughterthere next to your wife and
you're like, oh my gosh, it'shappening. It's like it's all

(02:09):
kinds of messed up ready forthat

Kyle Mountsier (02:10):
and my tears away from that I'm not ready for
it.

Paul J Daly (02:14):
We've been having fun though. We know we're gonna
say like one more time and thiswill be the last time we said on
the show but we have releasedthe ASOTU CON 2025 dates may 12
through 16th The week aftermother's day we are officially
claiming that as a solo kind ofweek for now hence forth into
automotive future that will be asolo kind of week we're having

(02:34):
in the same spot because it wasunbelievable already have a lot
of thoughts and ideas but likecircle the circle the week on
your calendar if you're anindustry partner circle the week
on your calendar we're gonnahave some some good thoughts
ideas prospectus if you want tobe a sponsor, I have a feeling
it's gonna be a little morecrowded this year, depending on
who wants to be the presentingand like all the other stuff
going on. But it'll be a lot offun. Also cross 10,000 10,000

(02:58):
subs on our LinkedIn pageyesterday.

Kyle Mountsier (03:00):
Thank you to everyone that follows I looked
in like it's it's a superengaged community that's
interesting that you can callyou know, a LinkedIn following a
community but like everyinteraction in the in the
threads in the comments in theinner and the engagement and the
Repost is just it's a highlightfor us.

Paul J Daly (03:17):
Yep, we're gonna be leaning into that even more this
year. Just that's where themajority of our conversation
happens. So if you don't followit, just go to LinkedIn search
asoto it'll come up with sodamore than cars. Follow along.
Let's see if we can get you inthe conversation. All right,
let's have some conversationshave some conversation. Let's
uh, here we go. We have a littlebit of an Eevee theme today

(03:37):
emerging things about EVs. Arecent survey by auto Pacific
reveals that younger Americansare increasingly open to
purchasing EVs from Chinesebrands, despite privacy worries,
35% of respondents 18 to 80years old, that's a big broad
demographic, pretty much anyonewho's alive and can drive would
consider a Chinese car. However,76% of those under 40 are open

(04:03):
to driving a Chinese vehiclecompared to only 26% of those
over 60. So that's where we seethe split happen. Ed Kim,
President of auto Pacificattributes the trend, because
it's easier to see in otherparts of the world what's going
on. So basically saying socialmedia has made the world a lot
smaller. So like people areseeing on social media, all of
these things going on theseChinese EVs privacy concerns,

(04:26):
though, are significant withover 70% of respondents
expressing worry across all agegroups, and probably a lot of
those are ones that have ticktock on their phones. So do they
really care? ManufacturingChinese vehicles in the US
definitely could increasepurchase willingness among 16%.
And here's a quote from Mr. Kim,he says negative political
connotations associated withChina just don't apply to

(04:49):
younger people. It's across theboard.

Kyle Mountsier (04:51):
And I agree with that. It's just Well, yeah, I
mean, you kind of said, like,you know, younger people want
Tik Tok to stay and then are notreally concerned why or why not?
You know? Yeah, I mean, youknow, this one's it's kind of
interesting to me, it's like,the younger crowd is always

(05:11):
going to want to buy the nextcool thing. Regardless, the next
cool thing regardless, it'scoming from Chinese
manufacturers. And that's thehype right? At least that's the
hype, you know. And also, like,I, it's just an inch. It's this
one is the same question line tome of like, you know, online,

(05:32):
and it's

Paul J Daly (05:33):
absolutely, yeah, I guess. Yeah, sure. That sounds
great. Yes, sir. That

Kyle Mountsier (05:37):
sounds cool.
It's, it's, um, you know, Ithink I'm taking this as a
little bit anecdotal. However,the reality is, is that at least
people like this is one of thoseheightened awareness things,
where it's like, oh, peoplerecognize that that's an option
now. And it starts to get intothe mode of conversation. This
is we've been talking about thisover the last few years, the

(05:58):
cultural moment of cars being inthe continual conversation of
everybody is there. Absolutely.
No, it wasn't there seven yearsago.

Paul J Daly (06:09):
I think there are I think some of the, the things
I've seen from Chinese EVs are alot of bells and whistles right?
A lot of these like kind ofluxury luxury or just like
little cool little tech thingsthat you see in the short videos
on Instagram Tik Tok, etc.
However like I think we've allseen I think build quality is
something that's come up a tonof people who have actually
gotten their hands on the solike the the Brian Ben stocks

(06:32):
greenfields, they talk aboutbuild quality and how there is
some noticeable differences. Andwe've all had the experience
where we bought the electronicitem that had that like extra
features like how is thischeaper and it has more
features? I'll take that one.
And then you get it and we'relike, oh, like these button
press. Really funny. Thatdoesn't really work broken two
weeks, so like, there aren't anyon the road. Right? The closest

(06:54):
we're getting as a pollster.
Right and when by Gilly butstill like that, so step
removed, so it'll be interestingto see. But public opinion goes
a long way because what happens?
People vote for politicians andpoliticians make laws so that's
right, worth paying attention tospeaking to paying attention.
Segue. Kia has introduced theEevee three, it's the first

(07:18):
compact electric SUV built ontheir dedicated Evie platform,
looking to attract buyers withvery competitive pricing.
Despite the fact that the globalEvie market is cooling a little
bit. It's part of Hyundaigroup's plan to introduce over
31 electric models by 2030. Icould have pressed the button I
didn't. The EB three will bepriced between 35 and $50,000.

(07:39):
Okay, we'll see what reallylands and offers two battery
options with a long range modelcapable of this is pretty
healthy 373 miles on a singlecharge. They're looking to sell
200,000 of these annuallyworldwide. Although they
declined to say what year thattarget is for. Okay, that's
great. I love that game. Theywant to sell 1.6 million Evie

(08:01):
units globally by 2030, thoughthey said and quote Kia
president so song Han Sung Hosung said we are making the EB
three very much accessible toour customers with the pricing
level that they're expecting forour vehicles. Yeah, I mean, you
know, it does a good job.

Kyle Mountsier (08:17):
Yeah, I mean, the key is paying attention.
They're hitting all theirnumbers. Yes. The, you know, a
compact SUV between 35 and50,000 is pretty in line with
the market these days. Yep.
Like, you know, there you lookat a model Y is a compact SUV,
right? Not many SUVs that youcan even find under 30 grand and

(08:38):
when you're looking at an Eeveeyou know, prices are a little
bit higher. It's not that crazy

Paul J Daly (08:46):
is a model why a compact SUV? Or is it like a mid
sized they the classificationsof SUV you would never look at
that vehicle and say it's like athird row option. That's

Kyle Mountsier (08:57):
fine as an SUV these days. Yeah, I

Paul J Daly (09:00):
know. I know. So I but it's small. I saw the EB
three it's small, like it'sprobably more like what's their
smallest one right now? seltosYeah, so it's it's probably that
size on their new platformbasically. Although Why is
Nathan our producer saying thewise a mid size crossover SUV,
okay.

Kyle Mountsier (09:18):
I'm right. You know, good for them.

Paul J Daly (09:22):
Good for them. All right. Well, we'll see. I mean,
and our third little piece ofthis Evie puzzle today has to do
with

Kyle Mountsier (09:28):
a very heavy charger. Oh, very heavy charger.
So Yoshi mobility has lost amobile DC fast charging unit
dubbed a supercharger on wheelsto address the need for
convenient Evie charging whereinfrastructure is lacking. It is
a 240 kilowatt mobile DC fastcharger. It's mounted inside the

(09:48):
back of AGM bright drops 06 100s with more types of vehicles to
be added through 2024. So someof the customers Is that they
initially have some OEMsautonomous vehicle companies and
rideshare operators becausethey're basically looking for
places where it's a littleharder to, you know, charge. And

(10:12):
maybe you're running out ofbattery, you get to this right
drop coming up, boom, boom,boom, full commercialization is
expected by early q1 of 2025.
Go. Sounds getting through theYoshi mobilities cheapy. V
officer and co founder down, DanHunter said we recognize the
demand among our customercustomers for listening to this

(10:34):
convenient daily charging, no

Paul J Daly (10:39):
way. I think the thing looks cool. It looks
really cool. And it's probablyinsanely, insanely heavy. I'm
trying to think about this, likefrom a business model
standpoint. I know basically,how much you pay to charge a car
because I have a charger out ofmy office here. It's not a lot.
No, right? So you think aboutlike, I mean, what are they
going to charge? Even if it's aconvenience like thing, and you

(11:02):
charge $50? To charge someone'slike, model why? And it can do
multiple charges. So say you cando three, that's $150. It's
gonna take a minimum todegenerate that a minimum of an
hour and a half plus travel timeto and from, like, how do you
make that a business? And thenhow long does it take to charge
the truck backup? How fast canyou charge that?

Kyle Mountsier (11:24):
Man, we're still trying to figure it out.

Paul J Daly (11:27):
We got to figure it out. I love that I love them get
checked the DEA carry the tworight? Play some asphalt. It'll
be interesting to see how thiscomes out. But this obviously is
a major component to charge theuncharged doubles, we'll call it
Yep. But I like the daily dailycharging, right? So like I think

(11:47):
of even I'm trying to think oflike, who wouldn't have the
ability to build in, like fixedinfrastructure, or maybe places
that aren't able to make theinvestment, right. So you have a
parking lot next to an officebuilding who isn't ready to drop
half a million dollars or amillion dollars to install some
level three chargers, andinstead you can have a little
service where they come out,they top the cars off. I'm sure

(12:07):
it will someday it'll be appbased. They'll scan the thing,
plug it in, and they'll getcharged to the right and count
off we go.

Kyle Mountsier (12:13):
Like people that run out of charge. I know from
you know,

Paul J Daly (12:19):
triple A's gas service they already are a lot
heavier. Right I think the factthat it's a level three is no
big deal. Right? The fact thatit's charging that quickly that
you can get that much but hey,this is this is part of the
climb and figuring it out. Ilove that GM as a part of the
part of the action with thebrake job fans. Those things are
cool. And we're taking baby

Kyle Mountsier (12:39):
steps and baby.

Paul J Daly (12:42):
Oh, there we hope you have a good day today. We
hope you get out there, babystep made some progress care
about some people make yourbusiness better. And if you
really want to level up, you cango to LinkedIn and follow the
asoto page