China • Xpeng • News

What does XPeng do?    

The XPeng car brand is a Chinese company that produces electric cars. In the People’s Republic, the company is also known as Xiaopeng Motors. The manufacturer’s headquarters are in Guangzhou in southern China. There is another subsidiary in Mountain View, California, in the USA. XPeng’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.     

He Xiaopeng is the CEO of XPeng. In 2014, Xia Heng and He Tao had founded the company. They were previously employed in Guangzhou Automobile Group in the field of automotive technology, research and development as executives. He Xiaopeng, a former employee at Alibaba, was an early supporter. Because of his experience, he also took over the company management.    

Is XPeng owned by the Alibaba Group?  

Behind XPeng are financially strong investors who are well-known and established in the Chinese market. Alibaba, Foxconn and Xiaomi are three strategic partners on board. Alibaba has repeatedly increased its shares over the years. Most recently in the fall of 2019 to 19 percent. In addition, there are investors from Qatar and Abu Dhabi and the American venture capitalist Sequoia Capital from California.     

XPeng shares have been traded on the New York Stock Exchange since summer 2020. In its IPO, the Chinese electric carmaker raised $1.5 billion. Another share issue raised another $2.5 billion. In January 2021, XPeng raised another $2 billion in loans. The Peoples Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China granted the electric car maker new funds.  

XPeng: the technology behind China’s electric cars    

XPeng needs the money to make massive investments in the technology behind its electric cars. The battery, autonomous driving, service centers and charging stations are considered the key technologies in the industry. There is no single, global solution. Accordingly, manufacturers must convince customers with their concepts.   

For battery technology, XPeng is working with Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). This is the world’s second-largest producer of batteries for electric cars, behind LG Energy. The battery packs are to be recyclable. Like Tesla, XPeng relies on lithium iron phosphate batteries. The reason is that they are longer-lasting, safer and cheaper because no cobalt is needed. On the other hand, the capacity is lower.  

XPeng: Lidar sensors and a dispute with Elon Musk    

For autonomous driving, XPeng relies on a combination of high-resolution cameras, millimeter-wave and ultrasonic sensors, and lidar sensors. Because of the lidar sensors, accusations were made that XPeng had stolen the technology from Tesla. An accusation that could not be substantiated. Lidar sensors are no longer a rarity in automotive engineering either.   

When it comes to charging stations, XPeng is going the same way as Tesla. Buyers of an XPeng are allowed to charge their vehicle for free worldwide. If there is a charging station of the company or a cooperation partner nearby. In China, XPeng maintains 1,000 charging stations, but their number is growing rapidly. In addition, there are 200,000 charging points from partner providers.  

How many cars has XPeng already sold in 2021?  

In 2021, XPeng can continuously increase its sales and present record figures. As of May 2021, XPeng has sold 5,585 electric cars. This is ten percent more than April 2021 and 483 percent more than the same month last year. In March 2021, the company delivered its 50,000th car.   

Deliveries of the XPeng G3 SUV and Xpeng P7 sedan did not begin until May 2021. Both should drive the sales figures for the rest of the year significantly upwards. The same goes for the XPeng P5 sedan, which extends the model lineup downward. There are already 10,000 pre-orders for it.   

Is Germany attractive for XPeng?    

It is very difficult for electric cars and new brands like XPeng to establish themselves on the German market. Even an established brand like Nissan, with an existing, very large service network has failed to establish another brand with Infiniti. Although the models have relied on a conventional combustion engine.     

To gain a foothold in the European market, XPeng has therefore begun sales in Norway. The market is considered a much easier target. 54 percent of all vehicles newly registered there in 2020 were electric cars. In Germany, the figure was just 6.7 percent, and in China, only six percent. Unlike Germany, Norway also has no domestic car brands, which are often preferred.   

 XPeng: Market outlook and news    

Despite the difficult market situation, Xpeng is planning a European expansion. Which countries that might be, Brian Gu, president of Xpeng, would not reveal in an interview with Automotive News Europe. A production plant in Europe is also planned, he said. Before that, however, a competitive infrastructure must be secured, Gu explained further.   

Xpeng plans to limit its business to China and Europe. The vehicles will not be sold in the USA. There are also no plans for battery cell production. Xpeng wants to concentrate on building electric cars. These are intended to capture the very high-volume market segment of vehicles between $30,000 and $45,000. All relevant news on the development of XPeng is available from the Table.Media editorial team.