China is the world’s largest market for EVs, estimated to reach ~$360 billion by 2030.This is driven both by the sheer size of China’s population and economy, as well as the Chinese government’s focus on developing the EV market. Here, we profile a few of the top EV players in China.
NIO
NIO (NYSE: NIO) is a Shanghai-based EV manufacturer with ~$2.5B in 2020 revenues. Launched in 2014, it currently competes in the premium end of the market, vying against Tesla and BMW, with its electric SUVs and recently unveiled sedan. It still has yet to turn a profit, though industry pundits see it as a viable competitor to unseat Tesla as the top EV maker in China. In May 2021, NIO launched its first European sales center in Norway, showing its global ambitions. NIO envisions itself as more than just an automotive manufacturer. Its goal is to establish an ecosystem encompassing cars, services, digital experiences, and the NIO lifestyle.
One of NIO’s defining strategic differentiators is its Battery as a Service (BaaS) model. Customers can subscribe to NIO’s battery service for a monthly fee, and quickly switch out used batteries at one of NIO’s 143 Power Swap stations. This option is unique and one that Tesla tried and failed at, and could prove to create a significant improvement for the EV customer experience.
Xpeng
Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) is headquartered in Guangzhou, with offices in California. In 2020, it reported ~$896M in revenues. Similar to NIO, Xpeng was also founded in 2014, and started in the SUV market with the Xpeng G3 before expanding into sedans in 2020. Also in line with NIO, Xpeng has plans for European expansion, starting with the Norwegian market which it entered in December 2020.
Xpeng doesn’t yet offer battery swapping services, though there was news from early 2021 that Xpeng may plan to offer this model in the future. For now, Xpeng customers can instead use Xpeng more than 1,000 supercharging stations across China, which Xpeng offers for free.
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