Tesla (TSLA) was under pressure again on Tuesday, closing down over 5% as a slew of competitors in China announced updates that again signaled competition on the mainland ramping up for the EV giant.
Tuesday’s loss follows a 5% drop for Tesla stock to start the week, and shares are now down over 53% from highs reached back in December.
At close: March 18 at 4:00:01 PM EDT
BYD (BYDDY), China’s top automaker, announced a huge milestone with its battery technology on Tuesday, sending shares listed in Hong Kong to a new record high.
BYD said its new battery and charging system — dubbed the Super e-Platform — can charge at peak speeds of 1,000 kW, providing around 250 miles of range in just five minutes, per BYD chair and founder Wang Chuanfu.
By contrast, Tesla’s fastest superchargers max out at 250kW, or a quarter of BYD’s claimed feat.
“To completely solve users’ anxiety over charging, our pursuit is to make the charging time for EVs as short as the refueling time for fuel vehicles,” Wang added.
BYD, whose cars you still cannot buy in the US, said it will start selling EVs with the Super e-Platform next month — and plans to add 4,000 high-power charging stations in China.
Upstart EV maker Xiaomi (XIACY), best known for making smartphones, announced it would expand production capacity for its vehicles.
The maker of the SU7 sedan — which looks like a Porsche Taycan sedan crossed with a McLaren supercar— will up its production target to 350,000 EVs from its prior 300,000 target, CEO Lei Jun posted on Weibo, per Bloomberg.
The SU7, with its striking looks and tech-forward interior powered by a version of Android called HyperOS, has clearly been a hit with Chinese consumers who look to their cars as extensions of their digital devices.
Xiaomi’s phones connect seamlessly to its vehicles and give users a unified experience across the products, a level Western automakers have not been able to achieve in China.
Tuesday’s move to boost production comes as the company struggles to meet customer demand.
In December, Xiaomi announced it will expand its product offerings with the YU7 crossover SUV EV, which will have a similar footprint to Tesla’s Model Y and will officially launch midyear.
Additionally, Chinese pure-play EV maker XPeng (XPEV) announced strong financial guidance for the first quarter.
XPeng expects first quarter revenue of 15 billion to 15.7 billion yuan ($2.07 billion to $2.17 billion) and expects to deliver between 91,000 and 93,000 vehicles in the first quarter — up over 300% compared to a year ago.
This comes as fourth quarter revenue hit 16.11 billion yuan ($2.21 billion), up 23% from a year ago, with deliveries of 91,507, up 52% in the same time span.
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