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xpeng motors may be developing extended-range electric vehicles.

recently, according to 36kr, xpeng motors' first extended-range vehicle is under full development and is expected to be mass-produced in the second half of 2025. according to the report, xpeng motors' first extended-range vehicle will be a large suv, developed based on the g9 prototype, and mainly targeted at the price range of more than 200,000 yuan. by then, xpeng motors will have two major product series: pure electric and extended-range.

in this regard, the reporter of "daily economic news" asked xiaopeng motors for confirmation, and the other party said: "please pay attention to xiaopeng technology day on october 24 this year."

it is worth mentioning that he xiaopeng, chairman and ceo of xpeng motors, had previously stated that xpeng motors will announce a new power form on this year's 1024 xpeng technology day.

plug-in hybrid model appears in new factory environmental assessment

just last year, he xiaopeng said that xpeng motors still adheres to the pure electric route and predicted that the market share of extended-range vehicles will gradually decrease after 2023. however, since this year, xpeng motors' attitude towards extended-range vehicles has gradually become clear, and he xiaopeng has also talked about extended-range electric vehicles many times in public.

in this year's first quarter earnings conference call, he xiaopeng said: "hybrid is a real demand for customers. we have surveyed many users. after they accepted hybrid, they found that they only filled up the gas a few times a year and charged more often. so when they choose a car next, they will accept pure electric (models)."

"from a technical perspective, the difficulty of making the leap from extended-range to pure electric is much higher than that of making the leap from pure electric to extended-range. but we have seen that the current generation of extended-range has encountered challenges. what the next generation of extended-range will be like is something we are thinking more about, and we will share our views on this with you later," added he xiaopeng.

in an interview after the launch of xiaopeng mona m03 in august this year, when he xiaopeng was asked whether xiaopeng motors would launch extended-range products in the future, he said: "next time we plan to share our views with you on 1024. our views are not exactly the same as those in the current market."

regarding the layout of xiaopeng motors' technology route, an industry insider told reporters that xiaopeng motors' future technology route may be differentiated by vehicle size. small and medium-sized vehicles will adopt the "pure electric" mode, and medium and large vehicles will adopt the "pure electric + extended-range" mode. the channels will also be extended to third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities. many advantages of the jupiter project and the penetration of extended-range technology will complement each other.

it is worth mentioning that the reporter checked the "xpeng motors guangzhou intelligent connected vehicle manufacturing base phase ii project environmental impact assessment pre-approval information disclosure" released on the website of the huangpu district government of guangzhou and found that the product plan in the document listed a plug-in hybrid model code-named model b, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles. extended-range electric vehicles are plug-in hybrid models.

image source: information disclosure before the environmental impact assessment of the second phase of the guangzhou intelligent connected vehicle manufacturing base of xiaopeng motors

according to the above report, xpeng motors' extended-range vehicle project has completed the ordering of core components in the first half of this year, of which the range extender has been designated by dong'an power, and the new car is expected to be mass-produced in the second half of 2025. "(xpeng motors' launch of the extended-range vehicle) will not be later than the fourth quarter of next year," the above report quoted a source as saying.

many brands are adding extended-range models

it is understood that the extended-range model was once ignored by car companies with an engineering mindset due to its simple structure and inability to achieve more driving modes. however, as the price war continues, the growth rate of pure electric models has gradually slowed down due to the difficulty in significantly reducing battery costs and the ever-present anxiety of recharging.

on the other hand, extended-range electric vehicles have many advantages, such as the internal combustion engine always running in the high-efficiency range, the elimination of the transmission mechanism and the potential for price reduction, and the improvement of small battery fast charging technology. their sales and market share have begun to rise significantly. judging from the current sales situation in the market, most of the new power brands that adopt the extended-range hybrid technology route have good sales performance. for example, ideal auto, wenjie, leapmotor, etc.

image source: photo taken by reporter zhang jian of meijing (file photo)

from the perspective of the entire new energy vehicle market, according to the china passenger car association, in july this year, the wholesale sales of pure electric vehicles reached 505,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 0.9% and a month-on-month decrease of 9.0%. during the same period, the sales of narrow plug-in hybrid vehicles were about 318,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 73% and a month-on-month increase of 3%; the wholesale sales of extended-range vehicles were about 122,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 115% and a month-on-month increase of 5%.

from the perspective of the entire new energy vehicle market structure, in the wholesale structure of new energy vehicles in july 2024, pure electric models accounted for 53%, narrow plug-in hybrid models accounted for 34%, and extended-range electric vehicles accounted for 13%. in july 2023, these three figures were 68%, 25% and 8% respectively. extended-range electric vehicles showed a growth trend.

in this context, many automobile companies have also announced that they will increase their investment in the extended-range track. on august 21, avita released the kunlun extended-range technology. the first model will be the most entry-level model in the product line, avita 07. the 11 and 12 models that have been launched will also add extended-range versions to cater to the market; and zeekr also announced that its flagship large suv to be released next year will adopt hybrid technology.

zhu xican, a professor at the school of automotive engineering of tongji university, believes that with the electrification of the european and american markets slowing down, the transition period for extended-range models may last for 20 to 30 years; cui dongshu, secretary-general of the national passenger car market information joint conference, also said that the current extended-range market is mainly concentrated in two price ranges: 300,000 to 400,000 yuan and 100,000 to 200,000 yuan. in the market price segment of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, extended-range models still have huge potential.

as for xpeng motors, its sales in august this year were approximately 14,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of approximately 2.5% and a month-on-month increase of approximately 25.9%. although this set a new monthly sales record for the brand, there is still a certain gap with ideal auto, leapmotor and others. it may hope to further boost sales by taking advantage of the "trend" of extended-range electric vehicles.