00:00Let's talk now to David Bailey, Professor of Business Economics at Birmingham Business School.
00:04David, good to see you again. Thanks for talking to us about this.
00:07So, for those of us who aren't familiar with exactly how these handles work,
00:11why did they come in and why is there an issue with them now?
00:15That's a good question. So, it really began with Tesla, the Model S,
00:18where you had these very sleek door handles that were recessed in the bodywork,
00:23and as you walked up to the car or clicked your key, they kind of stuck out and presented themselves.
00:27Partly it was for aerodynamic reasons, partly it was to look futuristic and like a sort of spaceship,
00:33and also it was to connect with your phone or your key so as you walked up it synced.
00:38The problem is, as you said, if they were kind of electrically operated,
00:42if there was an accident or the 12-volt battery wasn't supplying electricity, you could be stuck.
00:47In another case, a couple of years ago, the Tesla app wasn't working on my phone and I couldn't open the car door.
00:53So, because of that, China's basically decided, look, there has to be a mechanical backup,
00:58and that has to be easily accessible from somebody inside and clearly accessible from outside.
01:04So, we said that these are common in Teslas, but what other brands will be affected by this,
01:10and how hard will it be to put it right?
01:12Quite a few, actually.
01:14So, there's about 30 brands globally that sell cars with this feature, of which up to 20 sell them in China,
01:22and maybe 15 are going to require hardware changes.
01:25So, Tesla, but right through to Gigli, BYD, Chang'an, GAC.
01:31So, potentially quite significant.
01:34The cost of reworking it, I don't think it's going to be massive.
01:36It might be up to 10 million U.S. dollars per vehicle.
01:42So, you're looking potentially at a total cost in the industry of about 150 million U.S. dollars per car,
01:49probably going to mean another $40 per car in terms of new engineering work on those cars.
01:54So, if you've got one, it's not a matter of a whole recall and a replacement, perhaps more of a minor tweak, you think?
02:01It'd be interesting whether this applies to existing cars or just new ones.
02:04My bet is it will be just new ones going forwards, although it could be that at a service interval,
02:10they could do some sort of override to the vehicle and add some kind of mechanical feature to enable you to get out.
02:17But I think what's really interesting about this is that it's China that is setting the standard.
02:22China previously tended to copy European regulations, but here it is.
02:26There's the global leader in electric vehicle sales, you know, with a huge number of electric vehicles,
02:31basically saying, this is now a problem, we're going to do something about it.
02:35Well, I wanted to ask you about that because that looks like a big shift, doesn't it?
02:37Do you think we will continue to see China leading the way in safety?
02:42Yes, I do. I think we will.
02:44So, globally, historically, there's been three sort of blocks that have set regulations,
02:47which is the US, Europe and China, and China traditionally follow European regulations.
02:54Now, this is the first time it's emerged as kind of the standard setter,
02:58and I expect both other regions to kind of follow suit in different regulatory ways that do roughly the same thing,
03:05but also China going forwards to increasingly be at the forefront of regulations
03:10as it develops the new technologies, not only in the electric vehicles,
03:13but also autonomous cars, which are also coming down the line as well.
03:18Professor, great to speak to you as always.
03:19Thank you for coming on the programme.
03:20That's Professor David Bailey from Birmingham Business School.
Comments