A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
6:28
当中国电动车卷到了马桶：赛力斯的车载厕所专利
Seres Files Patent for In-Car Toilet — Chinese EVs Push Innovation to the Bathroom
HSK 3 Chinese listening practice. Chongqing automaker Seres patents an in-car toilet — the new frontier of China's hyper-competitive EV feature race.
This is an HSK 3-4 Chinese listening episode that runs about 6 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 12 key vocabulary words such as 世界、客厅、目的 and walks through 3 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
Speaking of involution in China's electric car industry, this news might be the best example of the year.
Chongqing-based EV brand Seres applied for a patent.
An in-car toilet.
Voice-controlled.
Hidden under the passenger seat.
You say one sentence and it slides out.
After use it automatically retracts.
This is not a joke.
This is an official Chinese patent.
Number CN224104011U.
Applied for last year.
Just approved this month.
Let's see how this thing actually works.
The toilet is installed under the passenger seat on a rail system.
Rails are sliding tracks.
Like a drawer.
Normally it's completely hidden under the chair.
From outside you'd have no idea there's a toilet underneath.
When you need to use it.
The system supports voice control.
You say one sentence to the car.
The toilet automatically slides out.
After use.
It can automatically retract back under the seat.
How is waste processed?
Under the toilet is a removable storage tank.
Inside the tank is a rotating heating device.
This device's function is to evaporate urine.
And dry solid waste.
This reduces odor and volume.
Additionally there's an exhaust pipe connected to the outside.
Through an exhaust fan, smells are vented outside the car.
So theoretically the car interior won't smell.
But in the end.
That storage tank still needs you to manually remove it.
Manually clean it.
Manually empty it.
Hmm.
This step might turn off a lot of people.
Seres stated in the patent filing.
This design is meant to "satisfy users' toilet needs during long trips, outdoor camping, or overnight car stays."
This statement actually makes sense when you read it alone.
China's territory is very large.
Long-distance car travel is very common.
Beijing to Shanghai is about 1,200 kilometers, roughly ten to twelve hours by car.
Chongqing to Lhasa is over 2,000 kilometers.
Highway rest stops are sometimes 60-70 kilometers apart.
During traffic jams you might be unable to move for two or three hours.
Camping culture in China has also been growing rapidly in recent years.
Many people drive SUVs or MPVs to camp outdoors overnight.
In these scenarios.
"Being able to use a toilet in the car" is a real need.
Most people's solution is to hold it.
Or find a roadside bush.
Seres's answer is engineering-based: install one in the car.
This patent is currently just a concept.
Having a patent doesn't mean it'll become a product.
Millions of patents are filed worldwide every year.
Most of them never become anything.
Seres might just be protecting an idea.
Or maybe testing market reaction.
From the current reaction.
The whole world is laughing.
But after laughing, some people are also thinking.
Does this actually make a little sense?
Why does this news matter?
Not because of the toilet itself.
But because it reflects a phenomenon in China's EV industry.
That is: involution.
How extreme has involution gotten?
Your car has a fridge, my car has a fridge too.
Your car has a big screen, mine has an even bigger one.
Your car can lie flat as a bed.
My car has karaoke.
Your car can cook.
My car has a toilet.
This is the current state of China's EV market.
Product differentiation no longer relies on engines and chassis.
It relies on who can think of the most outrageous feature.
In Europe and America.
A car is still a car.
Four wheels and a steering wheel.
Get to the destination and that's enough.
In China.
A car is no longer just a car.
It's your living room.
Your bedroom.
Your theater.
Your kitchen.
And now maybe your bathroom too.
Is this innovation or over-engineering?
There's no standard answer.
But at least Seres accomplished one thing.
The whole world knows who they are now.
Because of a toilet.
Sometimes the best marketing.
Isn't spending hundreds of millions on ads.
It's making something that makes the whole world laugh.
Then letting the news spread it for you.
Seres's toilet may never appear in a real car.
But it has already appeared in news headlines worldwide.
That itself is a kind of success.
A very Chinese kind of success.
Finally, an interesting piece of background.
Seres isn't a small company.
It has a deep collaboration with Huawei.
Huawei helped Seres build the HarmonyOS car system.
That's the thing that makes the car screen work as well as a phone.
So Seres's cars are actually technically very strong.
It's not a company known for being funny.
Its cars sell quite well too.
That's why this toilet patent is even more interesting.
A technically serious company.
Made something that looks very unserious.
But maybe precisely because they're serious.
They could design a toilet with exhaust pipes, heating elements, and rail systems.
Even the toilet is engineered this thoroughly.
This is Chinese manufacturing.
That's why this toilet patent is even more interesting.
A technically serious company.
Made something that looks very unserious.
But maybe precisely because they're serious.
They could design a toilet with exhaust pipes, heating elements, and rail systems.
Even the toilet is engineered this thoroughly.
This is Chinese manufacturing.
After you stop laughing you'll notice.
They're serious.
Very serious.
Maybe too serious.
Serious enough to put a toilet in a car.
Is this progress or going too far.
This question.
Let the market answer it.
If one day you're really stuck on the highway for three hours.
You might change your mind.
Maybe then you'll say.
"If only there was a toilet in the car."
At that moment.
Seres wins.
With a toilet they win.
This might be the cheapest victory in automotive history.
And the funniest one too.
But it's definitely a victory.
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
HSK 1-3. world.
HSK 1-3. living room.
HSK 1-3. purpose / aim.
HSK 1-3. technology / technique.
HSK 1-3. advertisement.
HSK 1-3. principle / sense / reason.
The fixture you sit on in the bathroom.
Legal protection for an invention or idea.
Operated by speaking commands.
A track that lets something slide in and out.
Pushing air or smells out of a space.
When liquid turns into gas and disappears.
* beyond level超纲词
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