Two XPeng air cabs collided during a rehearsal for the Changchun Air Show on Tuesday. As a result, Xpeng Aeroht, which claims to be "Asia's largest flying car company," could be massively set back in its expansion plans.
By Fabian Peltsch
XPeng or Xiaopeng Motors is a producer of electric cars from China. Its headquarters are in Guangzhou. All relevant news about the manufacturer is available from the China.table editorial team. What does XPeng do? The car brand XPeng is a Chinese company that manufactures 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 branch in Mountain View, California, in the USA. XPeng's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange and He Xiaopeng is the CEO of XPeng. Xia Heng and He Tao founded the company in 2014. They were previously employed in Guangzhou Automobile Group as executives in the field of automotive technology, research and development. He Xiaopeng, a former employee at Alibaba, was an early supporter. Because of his experience, he also took over the management of the company. Does XPeng belong to the Alibaba Group? XPeng is backed by financially strong investors who are well-known and established on the Chinese market. Alibaba, Foxconn and Xiaomi are three strategic partners on board. Alibaba has repeatedly increased its stake over the years. Most recently in fall 2019 to 19%. There are also investors from Qatar and Abu Dhabi and the American venture capitalist Sequoia Capital from California, and XPeng's shares have been traded on the New York Stock Exchange since summer 2020. The Chinese electric car manufacturer raised 1.5 billion US dollars at the IPO. A further share issue raised another USD 2.5 billion. In January 2021, XPeng raised a further two billion dollars in the form of loans. The Bank of China, the China Construction Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China granted the electric car manufacturer new funds. XPeng: The technology behind the electric cars from China XPeng needs the money to make massive investments in the technology behind the electric cars. The battery, autonomous driving, service centers and charging stations are considered the key technologies in the industry. There is no standardized, global solution. Manufacturers must therefore convince customers with their concepts, and XPeng is working with Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) on battery technology. This is the world's second largest producer of batteries for electric cars after LG Energy. The battery packs should be recyclable. Like Tesla, XPeng relies on lithium iron phosphate batteries. The reason is that they last longer, are safer and cheaper because no cobalt is required. However, the capacity is lower. XPeng: Lidar sensors and a dispute with Elon Musk In autonomous driving, XPeng relies on a combination of high-resolution cameras, millimeter wave and ultrasonic sensors as well as lidar sensors. Because of the lidar sensors, there have been accusations that XPeng has stolen the technology from Tesla. An accusation that could not be substantiated. Lidar sensors are no longer a rarity in automotive engineering, and XPeng is taking the same approach as Tesla when it comes to charging stations. Buyers of an XPeng can charge their vehicle free of charge worldwide. If a charging station of the company or a cooperation partner is nearby. XPeng has 1,000 charging stations in China, but the number is growing rapidly. There are also 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 figures. In May 2021, XPeng sold 5,585 electric cars. This is ten percent more than in April 2021 and 483% more than in the same month last year. The company delivered its 50,000th car in March 2021, and deliveries of the XPeng G3 SUV and the Xpeng P7 saloon only began in May 2021. Both should significantly boost sales figures for the rest of the year. This also applies to the XPeng P5 saloon, which extends the model range downwards. 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 are based on a conventional combustion engine, XPeng has started selling in Norway in order to gain a foothold in the European market. The market is considered a much easier target. 54% of all new vehicles registered there in 2020 were electric cars. In Germany, the figure was only 6.7%, in China just 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. In an interview with Automotive News Europe, Brian Gu, President of Xpeng, did not want to reveal which countries this might be. A production plant in Europe is also planned. However, a competitive infrastructure must first be secured, Gu continued, explaining that Xpeng plans to limit its business to China and Europe. The vehicles are not to be sold in the USA. Battery cell production is also not planned. Xpeng wants to concentrate on building electric cars. These are intended to conquer the very voluminous market segment of vehicles between 30,000 and USD 45,000. All relevant news on the development of XPeng is available from the China.Table editorial team.
