Xpeng Motors (Xpeng) kicked off the delivery of its Xpeng G3 2020 Edition EV at the Chengdu Motor Show this weekend and thus hit another milestone. Less than 2 months after launching the new, enhanced, high-performance version of its G3 SUV series, the company beat most delivery estimates while continuing its steady rollout strategy.
Tesla has agreed to source battery cells for the Model 3 cars it makes at Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai from LG Chem. The cells will be made in China. CATL and Panasonic may also provide battery cells in the future.
After an end-of-incentives derived surge in June, July saw the expected hangover, with the Chinese plug-in vehicle market dropping 7% year over year (YoY), and the 70,000 units of last month representing less than half of the deliveries of the previous month. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) sank 22% YoY in July, their worst drop in over two years, while, amazingly, fully electric vehicles (BEVs) still managed to grow, if only by 1%, despite the gloom all around them (the overall market also dropped 4%).
Welcome to the next issue of China x Cleantech, our July 2019 edition.
After a slow May, with just 2% growth, June saw the Chinese plug-in vehicle market return to full charge, thanks to some 147,000 registrations, up 72% year over year (YoY). Fully electric vehicles (BEVs) grew faster than that, at +97%, and because the mainstream market is falling (-8%), June’s plug-in vehicle (PEV) share reached a record 8.5%, pulling the PEV market share to 6.3%, well above the 2018 result (4.2%) and on target to reach my forecast of 8% for 2019.
BYD and Toyota announced this morning that the two industry powerhouses have entered into an agreement that will see them partnering on the development of electric vehicle batteries.
Honda says it is working on a modular chassis for electric cars that will be ready in 2025. Toyota has partnered with CATL for battery production and research.
Xpeng is announcing an updated G3 electric crossover, which we will see in San Francisco at SemiCon. So, what’s new with the hot electric crossover?
Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has announced it will increase its investment in a German battery factory to 1.8 billion euros. It says battery demand in Europe will reach 100 MWh by 2030.
After a strong start of the year, May saw the Chinese plug-in market hit the brakes. With some 104,000 registrations in the month, the plug-in vehicle (PEV) market was up only 2% year over year (YoY). However, because the mainstream market is falling significantly (−17%!), the May PEV share reached an amazing 6.6%, pulling the 2019 PEV market share to 5.6%, well above the 2018 result (4.2%).
