Analyses
17 avr 18

Finally, a list of Chinese EV manufacturers

Reading about the developments of EVs in China might become confusing. There seem to be new players on an almost daily basis, companies like Alibaba & Tencent are all but shy to invest left and right and the global OEM’s have joint ventures with many of the Chinese players. This leaves the reader – and honestly, the journalist alike – confused. Therefore, time for some transparency.

Let’s start with the major players in the Chinese EV game and some interesting info about these companies

  • BYD: Song DM
  • Beijing Electric Vehicle Corp.: EC180
  • Geely
  • Shanghai Auto
  • Zotye

Chery Automobile Cy. Ltd.

Chery produces the popular (4th bestselling EV) eQ, an fully electric minicar that is priced below USD 10K, making it one of the most affordable EVs on the market. Although small, the car has 4 doors and looks a little bit like a Daihatsu Mira from the old days.

Chery has hit the headlines in 2012 as Tata (LandRover / Jaguar) agreed to a 50/50 joint venture to create Chery Land Rover Jaguar and produce JLR vehicles in China

BYD

BYD produces the e6, a VW Polo sized hatchback, that seats 5 and has a 2-hour fast charge option and, according to BYD, a super-fast charge option that charges the battery up to 50% in only 10 minutes. BYD’s popular model, the Song, is also available as PHEV. This vehicle is particularly popular on the Chinese market as it’s one of the few compact crossover hybrids available. Fun fact: Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet’s investment company, has invested USD 230 million in the company in 2007. At that time, BYD was only a battery manufacturer with plans to build cars.

Geely

Full name Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd might be the best known of all the Chinese EV manufacturers for a simple reason: it owns Volvo. But not just Volvo; it also owns London Taxi, Lotus, Polestar and 49,9% of the Malaysian brand Proton – amongst many, many others.

Geely owns the bigger part of a company called Zhi Dou that produces the D2, an ultra-compact (smaller than a Smart) full-electric 2 seater. Although the car looks like a LSEV (low-speed-EV), it is allowed to drive on highways. The car is also produced for Zotye, where it’s called the E20.

Beijing Electric Vehicle Corp.

Or “BJEV” is a subsidiary of BAIC, of which Daimler owns 12% and that has bought the Saab’s assets in 2009 after the brand’s regretted departure from the automotive scene. BJEV produces the cheapest and most popular EV on the Chinese market, priced at less than USD 8000 (after subsidies): the EC180. It’s again a small 4 door vehicle with a pleasingly neutral design. Next to the EC180, BJEV produces a large range of EVs, including mid-sized sedans, SUVs, and more luxurious sedans such as the EH300. The design of some of the sedans reminds of Mercedes models, such as the previous C class sedan.

Shanghai Auto

Better known as SAIC is one of the oldest Chinese car manufacturers, already producing automobiles in Mao’s China. The company has joint ventures in place with VW and GM; it produces and sells vehicles under VW and GM brand names. Maxus, the pick-up and van brand owned by SAIC is also very popular in China and beyond, especially since the launch of the SAIC Maxus EV80, the largest electric van on the market with a range of up to 200km, recently certified and available in Europe.

The premium EVs

  • NIO: Shanghai based; significant investors are Tencent and Baidu, but also Lenovo owns shares in NIO
  • Byton: or “Future Mobility”, Nanjing based; significant investors are Tencent, Foxconn (Taiwanese company that produces Apple products in Shenzhen)
  • XPENG: or “Xiaopeng”, Guangzhou based; significant investors are Alibaba and Foxconn
  • Iconiq, Tianjin based; significant investors are Ping An Insurance and GSR Ventures. Iconiq also has a partnership with Microsoft

Tencent

A name that comes back often, is Tencent, the owner of the ultra-popular WeChat. For those who haven’t been to China, WeChat is where you lead your digital life in China: communication, marketing, buying, selling, paying,… literally everything is possible via this application. The list of Tencent’s investments is impressive, with over 200 participations in mainly tech companies, but also media, healthcare, social media and a lot of mobility suppliers. To name some interesting companies that Tencent has betted on: Ubisoft, Go-Jek (Indonesian ride hailing supplier), Wattpad, Uber, NIO, Ola (Indian ride hailing supplier), Mobike (Chinese shared bicycle supplier), Tesla, hike (India’s WhatsApp), baobao (video streaming), Didi (Chinese “Uber”), Lyft (Uber’s competitor on the US territory),…

Conclusion

We see clearly 2 types of EV developments in China: the traditional manufacturers who expend their product range into electric and the tech companies that produce high-end connected cars with the support of companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, Foxconn. It’s obvious that the latter category conceive vehicles that are entirely different: they are connected, ready for autonomous and intrinsically consumer platforms rather than transportation.

Authored by: Yves Helven