Tesla has been and continues to be the dominant company in the electric vehicle industry. What is unknown is whether it will continue to be so in the coming years in the face of the advance of its Chinese rivals, such as XPeng or Nio; local, such as Lucid Motors, or such traditional brands as Ford, Volkswagen or BMW that are increasingly committed to the future.
Regarding the Chinese market, XPeng is working on flying cars and robots to complement the mobility offering. Its founder, He Xiaopeng, predicts that all automakers will also become robotics companies, a process that he says could take 10 to 30 years.
The Guangzhou-based company, aspiring to rival Tesla, estimates that the crisis caused by the semiconductor shortage will last 18 more months and could “even get worse.” Xiaopeng sees this crisis as “the biggest challenge” for his company.
In terms of numbers, Chinese electric car maker XPeng sold 17,398 electric vehicles in the second quarter of 2021, according to official data from the company, which aims to reach 300,000 vehicles each year. This represents an increase of 30% compared to the first 3 months of the year. Its revenue was about 492 million euros, 28% more than the previous quarter.
For the future, XPeng plans to include larger 5 or 7 seat models. In addition, it will launch more cars with prices that will range between 26,000 and 52,000 euros. Currently, its cheapest electric, the G3, costs around 20,000 euros.
Lucid’s differentiating autonomy
Lucid Motors is another of the companies that focus their commitment to the electricity sector and that intends to hunt down the almighty Tesla in the not too distant future. This California-based company could have beaten Tesla on a key element of the electric car industry: autonomy. A key concept for buyers, given the difficulties with the charging infrastructure in most countries, and even in the United States.
Going into the matter, the limited edition Air Dream Edition can reach, according to the Californian company, 830 kilometers on a full charge, which would surpass the Tesla Model S by almost 200 kilometers, which for years has dominated this section. In a test with the specialized website MotorTrend , the vehicle traveled 716 kilometers that separate Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay on a single charge and still had about 30 miles of autonomy.
If Lucid manages to produce a vehicle with this autonomy, it would be well ahead of its competitors, even with the high price of its model, which would be 143,700 euros. “Lucid Air represents the next generation of electric vehicles and sets new standards for interior comfort, range, efficiency and power. We are on track to meet our planned sales for the next two years,” said the CEO and Chief Technology Officer of the company.
Nio’s aspirations
Chinese electric car makers are stepping up their efforts to dethrone Tesla on the mainland by launching new models just as the American automaker is facing a series of scandals in China involving power-assist defects, spontaneous battery fires and malfunctions. in remote software updates.
All existing Nio models are priced higher than Tesla’s Model 3 sedan, last year’s best-selling electric vehicle in China, and the locally made Model Y crossover SUV. To fight Tesla, Nio has in mind to launch three models by 2022 that include its first premium sedan, the ET 7, and a cheaper variant. “We would like to launch a product that can be competitively priced compared to Tesla products, but that can offer much better products and services,” they declare from the company.
Nio’s sales increased 112% to a record 21,896 cars in the three months ended June 30. That helped the company reduce its net loss to $ 101.77 million in the second quarter. Still, the Chinese company expects sales in the current quarter to rise from 23,000 to 25,000, an increase from 88.4% to 104.8% over the previous year, despite production challenges.
Last Tuesday, Nio shares plunged after filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell another $ 2 billion in the US, which implied a sharp 6% drop in the stock market in the last week, leaving almost a 30% so far this year.