Xpeng

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. With Alibaba, Foxconn and Xiaomi, three strategic partners are 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.

Since summer 2020, the shares of XPeng are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. 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. 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). After LG Energy, CATL is the world’s second-largest producer of batteries for electric cars. 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, there have been accusations that XPeng stole the technology from Tesla. An accusation that could not be substantiated. Lidar sensors are also no longer a rarity in automotive engineering.

When it comes to charging stations, XPeng is going the same route as Tesla. Buyers of an XPeng are allowed to charge their vehicle for free anywhere in the world. That is, if a charging station owned by the company or a cooperative partner is nearby. In China, XPeng maintains 1,000 charging stations, but their number is growing rapidly. In addition, there are 200,000 charging stations from partner providers.
How many cars has XPeng already sold in 2021?
In 2021, XPeng is able to continuously increase its sales and presents record numbers. 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 didn’t begin until May 2021. Both should drive the rest of the year’s sales numbers up significantly. 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’s very difficult for electric cars and new brands like XPeng to break into 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 started selling 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 to expand in Europe. Which countries these could be, Brian Gu, the president of Xpeng, did not want to reveal in an interview with Automotive News Europe. A production plant in Europe is also planned. 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. Battery cell production is also not planned. 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.