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About one year after first catching wind that EV newcomer Xiaomi Automobile was working on an SUV we’d come to know as the YU7, the company is finally set to launch the new model in China. This will be a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y and has the potential to reimagine the all-electric SUV market in China.

It’s pretty wild to think about the massive success (and growth) Xiaomi Automobile has had in four years since the Chinese smartphone developer announced it would also start building BEVs. Much of that early clout in the market has come from its flagship model, the SU7 sedan, which hit the market in 2024 and saw 200,000 customer deliveries in a lightning-fast 119 days.

Shortly after launching the SU7, Xiaomi shared that it was already developing a second model—an all-electric SUV to compete against the Tesla Model Y in China. By June 2024, we had our first spy images of the SUV, followed by news in December that it was called the Xiaomi YU7.

Other than some images (one of which you can peep below), Xiaomi’s details of the YU7 have remained light. Following the December 2024 naming announcement, some of the core details of the SUV became available via a regulatory filing in China.

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That filing said the Xiaomi YU7 measures 4,999 mm in length, 1,996 mm in width, and 1,600 mm in height and has a wheelbase of 3,000 mm. The SUV weighs 2,405 kg (5,302 lbs) and can reach a top speed of 253 km/h (157 mph). The lone model in the filing featured front and rear motors with a peak power of 220 kW and 288 kW, respectively. A Lithium-ion ternary battery from CATL will power those motors, but its capacity was unknown at the time.

At that time, Xiaomi also said the YU7 would launch in June or July of 2025. According to a recent Weibo post from the young automaker, the new SUV will officially be unveiled this week.

Xiaomi SUV

Xiaomi YU7 will be unveiled in China on May 22

Per the post, Xiaomi intends to officially unveil its new YU7 SUV during a product launch event in Beijing on May 22. The event will mark a “new beginning for Xiaomi’s 15th anniversary.” In addition to the YU7 debut, Xiaomi will launch its first mobile system on a chip (SoC) called the “Xring O1,” the 15S Pro smartphone, and the 7 Ultra Tablet.

We hope to learn more about the Xiaomi YU7 during this event and see if the tech company can confirm some of its 2024 regulatory filing specs. Launching the YU7 earlier than initially targeted fits Xiaomi’s mode of operation, but it could also be a strategic move from an optics perspective.

The debut of an exciting new vehicle could offer a new and positive topic of conversation surrounding the Xiaomi Auto brand, as it has faced a significant amount of public backlash in China following a SU7 crash that killed three people in late March.

As a result, SU7 sales have slightly decreased, but the young automaker continues to deliver over 20,000 BEVs to new customers month after month. The YU7 should only bolster those numbers when deliveries begin. We’d imagine that will be soon following the May 22 unveiling, scheduled for 7 PM Beijing time. Stay tuned.

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Enphase debuts a new US off-grid solar and battery system

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Enphase debuts a new US off-grid solar and battery system

Enphase Energy just launched a new off-grid system that lets homeowners power their homes without a utility connection – even for extended periods. The California-based Enphase says the off-grid setup delivers a seamless way to live independently from the grid while still using solar, batteries, and a standby AC generator.

A full off-grid setup

The new system combines Enphase’s IQ Battery 5P with embedded grid-forming microinverters, IQ8 Series Microinverters with Sunlight JumpStart, and a third-party standby AC generator. The components work together to supply power to a home and automatically manage energy sources to maximize efficiency and reliability.

If the batteries are drained and the generator runs out of fuel, the Sunlight JumpStart feature can automatically recharge the batteries the next morning once the sun comes up.

The IQ Battery 5P delivers 3.84 kVA of power per 5 kWh of capacity, and systems can be scaled up to 40 kWh and 15.4 kVA. That’s enough power to start big household appliances like HVAC systems or water pumps. The IQ System Controller 3G provides the backbone, managing solar, batteries, and generator inputs to deliver up to 46 kVA of off-grid power.

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Smarter control and connectivity

Each system connects to the cloud through Enphase’s IQ Combiner 5C HDK, which bundles solar interconnection, communications, and metering into one box. For homes without reliable broadband, the built-in 4G LTE Cat 4 modem keeps the system online for monitoring, firmware updates, and remote support.

Homeowners can manage everything from the Enphase App – from solar generation and battery status to generator integration and load control.

Why it matters

As grid outages become more common and homeowners look for ways to gain energy independence, off-grid systems like this are becoming more appealing.

“With the launch of our off-grid solution, we are giving homeowners a reliable path to complete energy independence,” said Nitish Mathur, Enphase’s SVP of customer experience. Enphase says over 100 homes are already operating entirely off-grid using its technology. The company plans to expand availability beyond the US in 2026.

Read more: Battery boom: 5.6 GW of US energy storage added in Q2


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Global offshore wind surges ahead as Trump sinks US progress

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Global offshore wind surges ahead as Trump sinks US progress

Global offshore wind targets are still strong enough to triple global capacity by 2030, despite the US’s offshore wind stagnation under Trump. A new analysis from energy think tank Ember and the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA) shows that the rest of the world is charging forward, underscoring confidence in offshore wind as a cornerstone of future clean energy systems.

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Tesla ‘Robotaxis’ keep crashing despite ‘safety monitors’

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Tesla 'Robotaxis' keep crashing despite 'safety monitors'

Based on the latest NHTSA report, Tesla’s ‘Robotaxis’ keep crashing in Austin, Texas, despite ‘safety monitors’ preventing an unknown number of crashes.

Under an NHTSA Standing General Order SGO, automakers are required to report crashes involving their autonomous driving (ADS) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) within five days of being notified of them.

For years, Tesla was only reporting ADAS crashes, since, despite the names of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems, they are only considered level 2 driver assistance systems.

Since the launch of the Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, where Tesla moved the supervisor from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat, it has now reported its first few crashes under the ADS reporting.

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In the first month of operation in July, Tesla reported three crashes with its ‘Robotaxi’ service in Austin.

This week, NHTSA has updated its crash report and revealed a 4th crash that happened in September:

Report ID Incident Date Incident Time (24:00) Make Model Model Year Automation System Engaged? Highest Injury Severity Alleged Crash With Roadway Type Weather
13781-11687 SEP-2025 01:25 TESLA Model Y 2026 ADS Property Damage. No Injured Reported Other Fixed Object Parking Lot Partly Cloudy

As we previously highlighted, when it comes to both ADS and ADAS crash reporting, Tesla abuses the redacting capacity and hides most information about its crashes, unlike most of its competitors.

Therefore, we don’t have much information about this new crash, but it reportedly occurred in a parking lot and involved a Tesla Robotaxi crashing into a “fixed object,” resulting in property damage.

What’s most interesting about this crash is that it comes as Tesla released the first bit of data about its Robotaxi program in Austin.

During its earnings call last week, Tesla confirmed that the Robotaxi fleet has traveled 250,000 miles since its launch in late June.

Therefore, Tesla Robotaxi currently crashes at a rate of about once every 62,500 miles. That’s with a safety monitor with a finger on a kill switch, ready to stop the vehicle at all times.

We have no data on how often Tesla’s safety monitors prevent crashes in its robotaxis.

For comparison, the NHTSA report lists 1,267 crashes involving Waymo vehicles. However, Waymo’s robotaxis have covered over 125 million fully driverless miles since inception. That’s a crash every 98,600 miles and without any onboard safety monitor.

Electrek’s Take

That’s the problem with comparing Tesla and Waymo.

At least we can now clearly see that Waymo’s incident rate is much lower than Tesla’s, but that’s with a safety monitor in Tesla robotaxis that prevents an untold number of crashes.

The actual difference could be 10x higher. We simply don’t know. Tesla has always refused to share any data regarding disengagement or intervention rates.

One thing is clear: Tesla is way behind Waymo in autonomous driving safety.

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