CHINA RECAP: Beijing, Xiaomi test drive, BYD news, and a fresh home battery pilot

CHINA RECAP: Beijing, Xiaomi test drive, BYD news, and a fresh home battery pilot

April 29, 2026 · 9 min

About this episode

Fred discusses his insights from the Beijing Auto Show, including a test drive of the Xiaomi SU7 and news about various automotive brands.

On today's totally true episode of Quick Charge , Fred returns from the Beijing Auto Show with a fresh look at the future of the car business, and a test drive in a 2nd generation Xiaomi SU7 does nothing to convince him that China hasn't just set the bar even higher. We've also got news about the latest from VW's Chinese AUDI and JETTA brands, a passing glance at a big Buick concept with no windshield, and news about BYD's latest new flagship sedan that promises to bring the superfast charging fight to CATL. Source Links I went to the Beijing Auto Show and it’s a glimpse at the future of the auto industry CATL says sodium batteries are mainstream-ready, signs massive 60 GWh deal Xpeng VLA 2.0 test drive: Tesla is not alone with ‘Full Self-Driving’ anymore BYD Seal 08 debuts with Blade Battery 2.0: 1,000 km range, 5-min charging, 684 hp CATL says sodium batteries are mainstream-ready, signs massive 60 GWh deal This US city is putting solar + batteries on 150 homes to cut bills Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , TuneIn , and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. New episodes of Quick…

People in this episode

Host: Fred

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Xiaomi, VW, AUDI, JETTA, Buick, BYD, CATL

Products: Xiaomi SU7, BYD Seal 08, Blade Battery 2.0

Places: Beijing

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