Electric shock of the new—How to be the next Tesla

A traffic jam of upstarts is vying to follow in Elon Musk’s tyre tracks. Does any stand a chance? 

（接上一部分） 

Novel intellectual property is a "good visiting card" for investors, says Pedro Pacheco of Gartner, a consultancy. But it is not enough to stick big touch screens onto a standard electric power train, as many of the Chinese Tesla copycats are doing. The over-the-air software updates, proprietary charging networks and online direct sales pioneered by the American firm are now seen as table stakes.

Novel ：这里做形容词，表示新奇的                Gartner：n. 高德纳公司（美国咨询公司）

over-the-air：无线

So the newcomers are trying to stamp their own technological mark on the industry. Lucid's techies have extracted range of up to 517 miles (82km) from its batteries. Nio offers a three-minute battery-swap service, to reassure Chinese buyers without access to home charging. Xpeng claims that its voice-activation system is the best in the business. Fisker and Canoo offer subscriptions that give motorists access to car use rather than ownership.

Ultimately, buyers will decide which of these are desirable features and which are gimmicks. But not before the new models are produced and sold. Making a few thousand cars a year is hard enough (though losing money doing so is easy). Actually selling hundreds of thousands at a profitis another matter entirely." Production hell "nearly sent Tesla under. A lead on flashy software must be backed up with giant presses, paint shops and assembly lines. As such, manufacturing an EV is in many ways not much different to making a petrol car, according to Bernstein, a broker—and no less expensive. A new purpose-built car factory that can churn out 100,000 or So vehicles a year costs at least $1bn.

Gimmick  n. /ˈɡɪmɪk/（为引人注意或诱人购买而搞的）花招，把戏，噱头 • a promotional/publicity/sales gimmick 以推销╱宣传╱销售为目的的花招

Flashy  adj. /ˈflæʃi/ 1. (物品)  俗艳的；（因昂贵、巨大等）显眼的•a flashy hotel 奢华的旅馆；2.(人) 穿着奢华的；3. 炫耀技艺的•He specializes in flashy technique, without much depth. 他就会些没有深度的花招。

churn out 快速大量生产 • He began to churn out literary compositions in English. 他开始用英文很快地创作出大量的文学作品。

To get around this problem some of the challengers are instead repurposing existing factories, as Tesla did by acquiring a disused one in Fremont, California, for a song. Rivian has moved into an old Mitsubishi factory in Illinois. Other newcomers are teaming up with the old guard, with experience of maintaining long and complex supply chains. Baidu has entered into a partnership with Geely and Huawei with its domestic rivals, BAIC, Changan and GAC. Fisker and Nio are taking an asset-light route by using contract manufacturers of the sort used by big carmakers to make small runs of cars or those with finicky features such as folding roofs.

for a song：非常便宜地；廉价地                               team up with：与···合作

Mitsubishi：三菱（日企）                                           the old guard：保守者

Finicky  adj. /ˈfɪnɪki/1. （对衣食等）过分讲究的，过分挑剔的•a finicky eater 过分挑食者；2.需认真仔细对待的；需要注意细节的 •It's a very finicky job. 这是个很细致的工作。

BAIC： 北京汽车工业控股公司（Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation）

GAC：广汽集团

Arrival's approach may be the most innovative. Where Tesla and others are going "giga", the British firm says "micro". Commercial vehicles do not require the styling or customisation of passenger cars, so it is eschewing production lines for "cell assembly of composite panels. This can be done in small industrial units that cost just $4om-5om to buy and retool. These can produce 10，000 vehicles a year close to markets, adding scale with less risk.

Customisation： ["kʌstəmaɪzeɪʃən]定制化服务

Eschew  v./ɪsˈtʃuː/（有意地）避开，回避，避免 

Retool：v. /ˌriːˈtuːl/ 1.更换，重新装配（机器设备）；2.重新安排；重组

译文

Novel intellectual property is a "good visiting card" for investors, says Pedro Pacheco of Gartner, a consultancy. But it is not enough to stick big touch screens onto a standard electric power train, as many of the Chinese Tesla copycats are doing. The over-the-air software updates, proprietary charging networks and online direct sales pioneered by the American firm are now seen as table stakes.

高德纳咨询公司顾问 Pedro Pacheco表示新奇的知识产权是扣响投资者大门的“优质名片”。但像许多中国特斯拉模仿者正在做的那样，仅仅在普通的电力驱动车上安装大屏幕触摸屏是远远不够的。特斯拉首创的无线软件更新、专有充电网络和在线直销现在被认为是竞争的筹码。

So the newcomers are trying to stamp their own technological mark on the industry. Lucid's techies have extracted range of up to 517 miles (82km) from its batteries. Nio offers a three-minute battery-swap service, to reassure Chinese buyers without access to home charging. Xpeng claims that its voice-activation system is the best in the business. Fisker and Canoo offer subscriptions that give motorists access to car use rather than ownership.

因此，新来者试图在该行业打上自己的技术印记。Lucid的技术人员从其电池中提取的续航里程可达517英里(82公里)。蔚来汽车提供3分钟换电池服务，让无法在家中充电的中国消费者放心。小鹏汽车声称其语音激活系统是业内最好的。Fisker和Canoo提供订阅服务，让驾车者可以使用汽车，而不是拥有汽车。

Ultimately, buyers will decide which of these are desirable features and which are gimmicks. But not before the new models are produced and sold. Making a few thousand cars a year is hard enough (though losing money doing so is easy). Actually selling hundreds of thousands at a profitis another matter entirely." Production hell "nearly sent Tesla under. A lead on flashy software must be backed up with giant presses, paint shops and assembly lines. As such, manufacturing an EV is in many ways not much different to making a petrol car, according to Bernstein, a broker—and no less expensive. A new purpose-built car factory that can churn out 100,000 or So vehicles a year costs at least $1bn.

最终，买家将决定哪些是理想的功能，哪些是噱头。但这都是在新车型生产和销售之后的后话。一年生产几千辆汽车已经够难的了(尽管这样赔钱是很容易的)。而实际上卖出数十万辆汽车并且盈利则完全是另一回事。“生产地狱”差点让特斯拉完蛋。一个炫酷软件背后必须有大型的挤压机器、油漆车间和装配线作为后盾来引领。因此，根据经纪公司伯恩斯坦(Bernstein)的说法，在许多方面，制造电动汽车与制造汽油汽车没有太大区别，而且价格也不低。一家每年能生产大约100万辆汽车的新工厂，成本至少是10亿美元。

To get around this problem some of the challengers are instead repurposing existing factories, as Tesla did by acquiring a disused one in Fremont, California, for a song. Rivian has moved into an old Mitsubishi factory in Illinois. Other newcomers are teaming up with the old guard, with experience of maintaining long and complex supply chains. Baidu has entered into a partnership with Geely and Huawei with its domestic rivals, BAIC, Changan and GAC. Fisker and Nio are taking an asset-light route by using contract manufacturers of the sort used by big carmakers to make small runs of cars or those with finicky features such as folding roofs.

为了解决这个问题，一些新起之秀转而对现有工厂进行改造，比如特斯拉以极低的价格收购了位于加州弗里蒙特(Fremont)的一家废弃工厂。Rivian搬进了位于伊利诺斯州的一家三菱老工厂。其他和传统汽车势力达成合作，这些传统汽车制造商有维护长而复杂供应链的经验。百度与吉利联盟，华为和吉利国内的对手—北汽集团，长安和广汽集团合作。菲斯克和蔚来汽车采取了轻资产路线，利用大型汽车制造商进行外包合同制造，从而实现小型汽车或者有讲究功能的汽车制造，比如可折叠车顶。

Arrival's approach may be the most innovative. Where Tesla and others are going "giga", the British firm says "micro". Commercial vehicles do not require the styling or customisation of passenger cars, so it is eschewing production lines for "cell assembly of composite panels. This can be done in small industrial units that cost just $4om-5om to buy and retool. These can produce 10，000 vehicles a year close to markets, adding scale with less risk.

Arrival的方法可能是最具创新性的。特斯拉和其他公司要去的地方是“千兆”，而这家英国公司称之为“微”。商用车不需要对乘用车进行造型或定制，因此它避开了“复合材料面板单元组装”的生产线。这可以在小型工业单位中完成，购买和重组只需4 -5万美元。这些公司可以在接近市场的情况下每年生产10万辆汽车，以更小的风险扩大规模。