An avalanche of batteries and connected cars – China’s latest business and technology news

Two things:

• Bloomberg says “China is about to bury Elon Musk in batteries,” as Chinese companies gear up to produce batteries that provide more than 120 gigawatt hours a year by 2021. According to Bloomberg, that’s enough batteries “for around 1.5 million Tesla Model S vehicles or 13.7 million Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrids per year.”
• Auto makers have a big presence at the Mobile World Conference currently underway in Shanghai. TechNode reports that Volkswagen, Toyota, and BYD all displayed connected cars, while Alibaba showed off its Yun operating system, which it hopes to install in 700,000 cars this year.
  Easy connection of a phone to a car’s onboard system and use of phones to operate cars remotely, music and radio apps, and navigation appear to be the major offerings.

Chinese tech abroad

• Tencent dominates in China. The problem is the rest of the world / Bloomberg
  On Tencent’s media-shy president Martin Lau 刘炽平 and the Chinese internet giant’s struggle to gain traction globally despite its remarkable success in China.

Ivanka Trump

• China releases activists scrutinizing Ivanka Trump shoe factory / NYT (paywall)
  “Three undercover investigators who were seeking evidence of abusive labor practices in the manufacture of Ivanka Trump-branded shoes have been released on bail from a detention center in southeastern China pending a trial.”

Bike sharing

• Chinese bike-share scheme launches in rainy Manchester / The Guardian