NEV startups to do battle as each pass production targets

According to industry experts, Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto, which have crossed the threshold of 10,000 delivered vehicles, will compete in fields including services, marketing channels and technologies.

As a follow-up move after getting a 7-billion-yuan ($1.05 billion) investment from the Hefei government in April, Nio opened its China headquarters in the capital city of East China's Anhui province on Oct 9.

The NEV maker is ramping up its efforts to promote not only its core businesses－including research and development, supply chain and sales and services－but infrastructure development such as charging piles and power charging facilities.

By the end of August, the number of Nio's charging piles in China had reached 1,326.

Li Auto is accelerating its development of technology and marketing channels.

The startup reached a cooperation agreement with Nvidia, a world leader in computer technology, and the automobile electronics supplier Desay SV last month.

Based on the tripartite strategic cooperation, Li Auto will independently conduct automatic driving programming and algorithmic logic setting, in an attempt to become the first NEV maker in China to fully develop a Level 4 autonomous driving system.

At the end of September, Xpeng started the construction of an intelligent automobile plant in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

The intelligent plant is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2022.

The plant will be used for Xpeng's R&D of new models, vehicle production, sales and smart mobility testing.