U.S. Listed EV Startup XPeng Inc Delivers Nearly 13,000 Vehicles in January, its 5th Consecutive Month of Over 10,000 Units

author: Eric Walz   

The XPeng P7 sedan.

Electric vehicle startup XPeng, which is one of Tesla's biggest competitors in China, is off to a strong start in the new year. The company announced its delivered 12,992 vehicles in the month of January. It was the company's fifth consecutive month of over 10,000 EV deliveries and represents a 115% increase year-over-year.

As of Jan. 31, 2022, XPeng's cumulative deliveries surpassed 150,000 as the company continues to gain EV market share in China, which is the world's biggest auto market. 

Xpeng is emerging as a strong competitor to Tesla in China with its advanced electric vehicles. The company's EVs offer the same level of technology, including autonomous driving capability, for around half the price of a comparably equipped Tesla model in the China market.

Deliveries in January 2022 consisted of 6,707 units of XPeng's flagship P7 smart sedan, which represent an 81% increase year-over-year. 

Xpeng delivered 4,029 units of its newest model, the P5 fastback, which brings its total deliveries to over 11,000 since it launched last fall. The P5 officially hit the market on Sept. 15 with the first vehicles rolling off the assembly line at XPeng's factory in Zhaoqing on Oct. 20.  

The January totals also included 2,186 G3 and G3i compact SUVs, which was Xpeng's first model launched in Dec 2018. XPeng revealed a refreshed version called the G3i in July 2021. It now offers autonomous driving capability and self-parking. All of Xpeng's EVs support OTA software updates like Tesla vehicles.

XPeng said the latest G3 has received 15 major firmware OTA upgrades since its launch in 2018. 

The Xpeng G3i compact SUV.

In Sept 2020, Xpeng exported the first shipment of G3 SUVs to Norway in a bid to take advantage of the growing European EV market. Norway has one of the world's highest EV adoption rates, making its an attractive market for EV startups like Xpeng, as well as for its primary rival Tesla. Plug-in hybrid and fully-electric vehicles make up 85% of all new car sales in Norway. 

Over the Chinese New Year Holiday, XPeng said it was taking advantage of the downtime to perform upgrades at its factory in Zhaoqing in order to boost production. XPeng said the upgrades will accelerate its delivery timelines and address the significant order backlog carried over from 2021. Some of the backorders were the result of not having the needed semiconductors to complete final assembly.

In October, Xpeng announced it was delivering its new P5 without the millimeter wave radar units installed that support the vehicle's advanced driver assist system (ADAS) due to the ongoing semiconductor shortages that have been hindering the world's automakers since 2020.

XPeng's P5 is the world's first production vehicle to come with automotive-grade lidar installed at the factory to support XPeng's "XPILOT" automated driving feature. At the time, the company offered customers the option to take delivery first then having the radars installed sometime in March when the parts are expected to become available.

The XPeng P5.

In addition to posting a steady increase in EV deliveries each month, XPeng continues to build out its EV charging network in China. Xpeng says its building out the largest supercharging network among all Chinese auto brands.

As of Jan 22, XPeng has opened 813 branded supercharging stations across 333 Chinese cities.

In November, XPeng unveiled its fourth electric vehicle and first full-size electric SUV called the G9, at the 19th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition. The G9 is one of XPeng's most advanced electric vehicles.

The G9 is the first EV in China to implement a "Gigabit Ethernet" communications architecture, allowing the vehicle to transmit and receive data much faster. The faster data transfers support the G9's advanced driver assistance system and autonomous driving. But the architecture also allows for faster OTA firmware updates.

The new G9 was conceived and designed from the outset for both domestic Chinese and international markets as Xpeng continues its expansion outside of its home country of China. The SUV is compliant with global standards, including the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) 5-star safety design standards. The G9 alos meets more stringent EU WVTA vehicle certification standards.

The G9 will launch later this year.

The XPeng G9 electric SUV.

XPeng launched its U.S. IPO in Aug 2020 in order to take advantage of the strong investor interest in EV stocks and related companies that pushed the stock price of rival Tesla to record highs in 2021. 

XPeng shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "XPEV". Despite the company's growing EV sales and the upcoming launch of the G9 SUV, Xpeng's stock is down almost 28% since the start of the new year and was trading at $36.26 on Tuesday.

XPeng is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, with satellite offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, San Diego and Amsterdam. 

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.