China EVs & More podcast hits 1000+ downloads!
I’m excited to share that as of today, September 8, 2021, the China EVs & More Podcast has hit a big milestone: 1,000 downloads!
I know it’s not much, but it means a lot to both me and my co-host, Tu Le of Sino Auto Insights. So a huge thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all of you who have downloaded or listened to any one or more of the 19 episodes we have published so far.
Looking back, it’s been a little under 4 months since we published our first episode on May 20, and a little under 7 months since we recorded (“livestreamed”) our first ever episode on February 18 via Clubhouse.
When Tu and I started the China EVs & More room on Clubhouse earlier this year, we didn’t envision it becoming a weekly event (now on Twitter Spaces), nor did we envision extending the weekly discussion into a podcast medium. But that is where we are, having done this for already 30 weeks in a row.
The best thing is? Tu and I have never actually met in person. We have been doing this all virtually since the very beginning. To that we thank the pandemic and technology!
(By the way, we completed our 30th episode on Twitter Spaces last Thursday and will be back at it again this Thursday for our 31st episode. If you haven’t already done so, follow me or Tu on Twitter @leixing77 and @SinoAutoInsight. You can search for the China EVs & More Podcast on all major podcast platforms).
Why are we doing this and what is our goal?
First, it is to inform and to educate.
We want to create awareness of how dynamic and fast changing the Chinese EV/AV/mobility market is and how it will affect the other regions either directly because Chinese companies will enter their markets or because of the responses from moves that are happening there that will have ripple effects globally.
In fact, China & co. is already changing the rest of the world and decisions being made there as we speak when it comes to EVs, AVs and mobility.
These companies aren’t a monolith and are as diverse as, if not more than, the U.S. Big Three and the big European brands, or Japanese and Korean brands, for that matter. Management styles differ, strategies differ, and importantly profits differ.
So our job is to bring clarity to all of this, and provide “the wheels behind the wheels” (borrowing the motto from China Auto Review where I was the chief editor) insights as they’ll help our target audience, which includes investors, automakers, suppliers, tech companies, EV startups, and anyone else who has been enamored with how disruptive and/or how quickly the Chinese EV/AV/mobility sector has gone from 0–100 mph in such a short period of time, better understand the dynamics.
And it looks like a lot of the interests are coming from two major locations: North America and Europe, where the race is on to catchup with China. More than two-thirds of the 1,000+ downloads so far have come from these two regions, which validates the value of what we’re doing and that we are confident that more people will want to tune in especially because both regions are pivoting strongly toward EVs.
Second, for me personally (and I’m sure for Tu as well), it’s a learning experience. Not only the intricacies of doing a podcast, but the fact that the weekly nature of it forces us to be on top of things as far as what’s happening in the industry is concerned. It actually takes a lot of planning behind the scenes such as selection of topics to be discussed and perspectives to be offered. So, yes, there is a lot of work involved for each episode but in the process we remain sharp about what is going on in the industry.
Third, the podcast medium is a platform for us to share our respective expertise gained over our respective careers. We feel that with my decades of experience on the ground covering the Chinese auto industry and deep understanding of the historical industry context, combined with Tu’s experience having worked at multiple OEMs and consulting companies on doing business in China, plus our respective resources that we have accumulated over the years, we are the best “tag team” to host the podcast. The fact that Tu is on the ground in China and I’m in the U.S. also adds an additional layer of perspective to what we discuss and debate.
I’m looking forward to hitting the 2,000th download milestone.
And more!
Best,
Lei Xing
Tu Le
For more on the China EVs & More Podcast, please check out a previous post:
https://leixing77.medium.com/introducing-the-china-evs-more-podcast-95bb7e0c14b4
