Xiaopeng Automobiles is a Chinese
Internet Car company funded in July through a 2.2 billion yuan
investment by the Shenzhou SPV fund focussed on the auto industry, UCAR
Capital. Internet cars depend on internet infrastructure strengthened by
burst points in cities, which is well established in China. From 2014
to 2017 there has been a total of nine players in the Chinese market,
including the development of the Alibaba/SAIC RX5, the Youxia Ranger, Tencent’s Future Mobility,
Wei Lai and Foxconn. The nine participants carried out 18
financing rounds totaling an investment of 25 billion yuan but have been
dogged by failures resulting in losses such as the Youxia Ranger, LeSee, and Wei Lai. Xiaopeng, which first introduced the Identity September 2016, has partnered with Haima
OEM in producing its first vehicle, the beta Identity X. A small batch
of 100 pilot vehicles is expected by the end of 2017. In early May 2017,
Xiaopeng announced it would settle its electric vehicle manufacturing base
in the high-tech industrial area of Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province
for a total investment more than 10 billion yuan.The plant, which
construction will commence in the second half of 2017, has an annual
capacity of 100,000 and start mass production in 2019.
Xiaopeng’s president is Mr. Xia Heng and vice-president He Tao. Xiaopeng joins other tech-based companies such as Singulato with plans to develop “internet” cars.
EV start-up Xiaopeng unveiled
its first fast-charging station capable of 180kW double DC fast
charging delivering a maximum of 120kW to a single car, allowing for
30min fast charging. The Xpeng fast chargers have a maximum output
current of 200A, with 500A planned for the future. Xpeng will
construct 30 supercharging stations in five cities including Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Wuhan. The Xpeng stations
will provide up to 2 hours of free parking and super fast WiFi service.
Xiaopeng Automobile has completed the signing of 100 supercharging
stations in more than ten first- and second-tier cities and will operate
nearly 200 supercharging stations in nearly 30 cities by the end of
2019.
The four-year-old EV start-up Xpeng Motors Technology which openly targets Tesla in China is raising $600 million this month, valuing the company at $4 billion. Xpeng was
founded by He Xiaopeng who sold his UCWeb internet browsing company to
Alibaba develops “internet connected smart cars” or more fondly called a
smartphone on wheels. Chinese analysts favor EV start-ups such as
Xpeng’s chances above that of Tesla. According to various analysts,
Tesla has squandered its opportunity by arriving late in China while EV
start-ups in the country are benefiting from political goodwill and
learning from Tesla’s mistakes. Tesla had the opportunity to enter China
in 2014 when the Pudong district proposed for the company to establish
there. Tesla did not take the offer as it insisted on sole ownership
which at the time was not possible. He Xiaopeng saw early on that big data
generated through autonomous electric mobility would be
monetized through apps and services and founded Xpeng while still
being employed at Alibaba. Xpeng’s first production EV, the Xpeng G3,
started out as the Identity X Concept EV and was unveiled at the
2018 Las Vegas CES. The first 100 cars assembled by Haima was given to
staff in October 2017 and is expected to be commercially available late
2018. The Xpeng G3’s DNA includes voice controls,
streaming music, live video, driver-tracking maps and a 360-degree
camera with which you can stream the landscape around you to friends via
social media.
The entry of technology companies in the auto sector is further
fragmenting the Chinese auto market where funds are flowing to start-ups
instead of traditional auto brands. Alibaba and Apple supplier, Foxconn, this week led a further investment round in EV start-up Xiaopeng
with a 2.2 billion yuan ($349 million) investment bringing total
investments in X-Peng to $800 million. X-Peng plans to bring its
connected EV, the G3 Crossover,
to market later this year. Haima was contracted to use its spare
capacity to assemble the G3, formally know as the X-Peng Identity X,
through to 2019.
Production plans for the Chinese Internet Car company, Xiaopeng, has been finalized and is set to start this year. In a similar agreement as that of JAC and NIO,
the Chinese start-up outsourced the production of its vehicles this
week with the signing of an agreement with Haima to build 50,000
electric vehicles over the next four years. Haima has been involved with Xiaopeng since 2016 building a beta version of the first vehicle, the Xpeng Identity X
crossover. The contract could not have come at a better time for Haima,
which saw its sales drop nearly 30% for the year to date. The Identity X
will be rolling of the Haima assembly line form this year. Earlier NIO entered into a $1.5 billion agreement with JAC to produce EVs on its behalf starting with the NIO ES8 expected in 2018.
Xpeng Electric Vehicles
Xpeng Electric Car Strategy in the news
Week 12 2019 Xpeng opens fast charging stations
Week 29 2018 Xpeng funding round to raise $600m
Week 5 2019 Successful funding round for Xiaopeng
Week 41 2017 First Xiaopeng outsourced produced EV expecetd by end 2017
Top 5 EV News Week 32 2020
Top 5 EV News Week 32 2020 | Cadillac Lyriq unveiled. Yet another Chinese EV startup IPO. Three new EV models launched this week.
Top 5 EV News Week 31 2020
Top 5 EV News Week 31 2020 | Successful IPO for CHJ Auto, Kandi finally enters the USA, Mitsubishi pays the cost for failing EV strategy.
Top 5 EV News Week 30 2020
Top 5 EV News Week 30 2020 | Chengdu Auto Show, Hozon Neta IPO, VW invest in China, eVito Tourer for sale