China’s OEM Xpeng follows the footstep of Tesla to make new EV platform
By switching to a digital vehicle architecture, the latest manufacturer, Chinese
electric vehicle
producer Xpeng Inc, just like Tesla is seeking to reduce costs and expedite research and production.The Smart Electric Platform Architecture 2.0 from Xpeng, which was unveiled this week ahead of the Shanghai Auto Show, is essentially built on the same foundation as the Model Y that Tesla has been developing for the past two years. It consists of large, single-piece front and rear underbody castings that are joined in the middle by a sizable battery pack that helps to reinforce the vehicle body structure.
The tiny SUV G6, which is the first Xpeng car to utilise the SEPA 2.0 platform, was introduced at this week's Shanghai exhibition and is frighteningly similar in size and appearance to the car Y. According to Xpeng, the G6 will start a little under $30,000, which is over $10,000 less than the least expensive Model Y made in Shanghai.
According to market analyst Sandy Munro for Reuters, "It's obvious the design of the (G6) came from the Model Y." This is not unexpected. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has stated that he is aware that other businesses will emulate him.
In addition to competing with more established local manufacturers, such as market leaders BYD and Geely. Nio and Li Auto, six-year-old Xpeng is one of several Chinese newcomers.
Xpeng, a Guangzhou-based automaker, is named after its creator and CEO He Xiaopeng, a former leader of Alibaba's Mobile BG division who established the company in 2017.
Munro claims that Xpeng's streamlined vehicle platform design, which is essentially a three-piece chassis that is flexible and expandable, appears to have been copied from Tesla. It reduces the need for parts, tools, development, and assembly time.
A similar platform might provide Tesla, Xpeng, and other automakers thinking about adopting this strategy with a new tool to help recover profits damaged by recent price wars in China and other regions.
This fundamental platform is essential to Tesla's so-called unboxed assembly method, which the carmaker unveiled at its Investor Day on March 1. Tesla executives claimed at the time that the new method would enable the business to drastically reduce its factory footprint and slash production costs in half if it is put into use at its new plant in Mexico early the following year.
Within the next two years, Tesla anticipates that the new manufacturing method it is developing around the streamlined platform will allow it to release an electric vehicle for under $30,000.
A "smart manufacturing system" will be implemented at Xpeng's factories in Zhaoqing and Guangzhou over the following two years in order to create vehicles based on the new platform. SEPA 2.0 will be implemented across at least 10 future models, beginning in late 2024 with the new G6 SUV.