Smart mobility is taking center stage at the ongoing 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition.
Also known as Auto China 2024, the country's largest auto show, it has witnessed the release of 117 new cars and 41 concept automobiles.
More than 80 percent of the vehicles on display are new energy vehicles.
Industrial insiders say with electric vehicles (EV) dominating the market, it reshapes industry dynamics.
"Petro will come to an end. It doesn't have a limited supply. We also are concerned about CO2 emissions and environment. There is no way around electricity and batteries. That would be the way everyone has to go," said Nicolas Declunder, marketing director of 1NFinitX Distribution SAS.
Six of the top 10 EV battery makers are from China, holding more than half of the global market share, which experts say have given China an upper hand in global competition.
"So if you look at the size of the battery and the range, the Chinese EVs are already ahead of the European and north American EVs," said William Wardle, global vice president of sales and marketing of Magna.
"I believe China has a big advantage here because they are the manufacturers of all those batteries, solar panels, infrastructures to produce electricity. In Europe we are going to be held, because we do not have the supply chain. You will have three to five years before we will be able to catch up, as you said," said Declunder.
The adoption of EVs also brings along the possibility of a driverless future.
According to McKinsey, China will become the world's largest market for autonomous vehicles. Its sales of autonomous-vehicle-based services are expected to hit 260 billion dollars by 2030.
The auto show runs from April 25 to May 4.
Smart mobility takes center stage at ongoing 2024 Beijing Int'l Automotive Exhibition
Smart mobility takes center stage at ongoing 2024 Beijing Int'l Automotive Exhibition
Smart mobility takes center stage at ongoing 2024 Beijing Int'l Automotive Exhibition
Smart mobility takes center stage at ongoing 2024 Beijing Int'l Automotive Exhibition
The migrant crisis at America's southern border with Mexico has become an intractable malaise as the U.S. elections approach in November, while the authorities and migrants are playing cat and mouse in blockading and breaking siege at the treacherous and insidious borderline.
Amid the ongoing migration crisis, a key issue in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, the United States and Mexico released a joint statement last month, directing their national security teams to collaborate on implementing measures to curb irregular border crossings. Consequently, Mexican authorities have adopted a hardline stance, intensifying security measures along crucial routes leading to the border.
The Sonora Desert in Northern Mexico represents the final stretch for migrants striving to reach the U.S. border. However, scattered along this sole 360-kilometer highway are Mexican patrols and checkpoints designed to stop them, creating a tense game of cat and mouse.
Neyany Silva and her group have made it a third of the journey, navigating extreme terrain to avoid highway checkpoints.
"We have to hide, walk through the desert, run if they spot us, and come back to the road where they can't see us. There are animals, broken glass and it's dangerous, especially at night," said Neyany Silva, a Venezuelan migrant.
Catching rides along this stretch of highway is a daunting task, as local Mexicans fear being accused of human smuggling. Even if they manage to board a bus, there are no guarantees of reaching the border city of Ciudad Juarez.
Forty-two kilometers from Ciudad Juarez, the Precos checkpoint is where Mexican authorities search vehicles for undocumented migrants, seeking to detain them before they cross into the United States.
For those caught, it means being transported all the way back to Mexico's southern border with Guatemala - a journey that had taken Neyany and her children two months to cover.
"Getting sent back is a disaster, it cancels out all the effort made just getting this far. They send us back, but then they let us go and try again, that's the game they're playing," said Silva.
At the end of the trial lies Ciudad Juarez and the U.S. border. Migrants like Oliver Perez have made it, but it nearly cost him his life.
"We had lost hope, our water and food ran out, and there's nothing but desert out there. If I had gone alone, I would have died in the attempt, but my children gave me the strength to continue," said Oliver Perez, another Venezuelan migrant.
Reaching the Rio Grande, Oliver has succeeded where many fail, but the final five-meter-tall border wall still stands in his way.
"It's nearly a dream come true: we can see the U.S., but we're still in Mexico," said Perez.
Those who make it to Ciudad Juarez and the U.S. border face another watershed decision - wait indefinitely for an asylum appointment at the port of entry, or attempt to cross illegally into America.
Migrant crisis at US border with Mexico harasses American elections
