Xpeng Motors Partners with Plugsurfing for EV Charging in Europe

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) company Xpeng Motors has partnered with Plugsurfing for charging infrastructure in Europe. The company has been looking to expand its sales in the continent, which has among the highest EV penetration rates globally, and the partnership with Plugsurfing will provide its customers in the region with 940,000 charging points spread across 27 countries.

The partnership was announced by Xpeng Motors’ CEO, He Xiaopeng, during the ‘Global Brand Night’ in Hong Kong. “By leveraging Plugsurfing’s aggregated network in Europe, XPENG enables its users to enjoy a seamless end-to-end charging experience via the in-car system and XPENG app – including one-click navigation and payment,” said XPEV in its release.

Xpeng Motors Partners with Plugsurfing for EV Charging Infrastructure

It added, “Plugsurfing provides XPENG with its product, the Drive API (Application Programming Interface), to integrate charging station data, including real-time availability, pricing, remote charging start/stop, card-based initiation, payment, and receipt generation.”

Longer charging times, low range, and a lack of charging stations are among the reasons that hamper EV adoption rates. Notably, a well-entrenched EV charging network coupled with lower charging time helps address range anxiety, which is among the key reasons many people refrain from buying an electric car. Tesla, which is the largest EV seller in the US, has built a wide network of charging stations named Superchargers, which are its competitive advantage.

Tesla Also Shares Its Superchargers

Over the last couple of years, Tesla has partnered with Ford, General Motors, Rivian, and Polestar to share its Superchargers. The deal was a win-win for all the companies. While rival automakers would get access to Tesla’s charging network and would need to spend less on their own charging network, Tesla would realize revenues whenever one of their EV charges at one of its Superchargers.

Xpeng Motors Is Building EV Charging Infrastructure in China

Earlier this year, Xpeng Motors signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Volkswagen to jointly build a super-fast charging network in China with mutual access to the networks. As part of the agreement, the two companies will build over 20,000 charging piles spread across 420 cities in China. The MOU was an extension of Xpeng Motors’ partnership with the German auto giant.

In 2023, Volkswagen partnered with Xpeng Motors to build two EVs on its platform and also bought a stake in the company for a total consideration of $700 million. The deal was a pathbreaker for not only XPEV but also the Chinese EV ecosystem, as it reflected the confidence of the German auto giant in a startup EV company. It was also a testimony to Xpeng Motor’s self-driving capabilities. The two companies have expanded their partnership and last year announced a joint sourcing program to cut down on costs.

China is by far the biggest market for new energy vehicles (NEVs), a category that includes hybrids as well as battery electric vehicles (BEVs). China is home to BYD which is the world’s largest seller of NEVs. While EV adoption rates in the US have sagged, they have surged past 50% in China and every second car sold in the country is a NEV now.

BYD Also Announced Fast Charging

Earlier this year, BYD unveiled its “Super e-Platform” technology, which it says adds a range of 400 kilometers (248 miles) in only 5 minutes. Days after that announcement, Chinese battery giant CATL unveiled a new dual-power battery, which it says can offer a range of 1,500km (932 miles) on a single charge. The stated range is much higher than what EV makers, including Tesla, are currently offering.

Notably, the battery is a hardware component of an EV and is also the most expensive. Companies like NIO offer battery swapping and subscription services wherein the buyer can purchase the EV without the battery, which can then be bought on subscription.

Xpeng Motors Has Been Reporting Strong Growth in Deliveries

Coming back to Xpeng Motors, the company has been reporting impressive growth in deliveries. The company sold 35,045 vehicles last month, which was 273% higher YoY. Its company’s deliveries have been over 30,000 for six straight months.

The demand for its Mona MO3 which it launched last year have been quite strong and in April the model’s cumulative deliveries surpassed the milestone of 100,000.

In 2023, Chinese ride-hailing app Didi took a 3.25% stake in Xpeng Motors in exchange for its electric vehicle and autonomous driving assets. As part of that agreement, Xpeng Motors is producing budget cars under the “MONA” brand. The model’s sales have been quite brisk and helped drive a 34% rise in Xpeng Motors’ 2024 deliveries.

While peers like NIO are launching a flurry of new models, Xpeng has managed strong growth with only a couple of new models. For instance, in just five months, its P7+ achieved the production milestone of 50,000.

Chinese EV Companies Are Giving a Tough Fight to Western Automakers

Chinese EV companies are threatening the dominance of Western automakers – not only in China but also globally. While Chinese EV companies are allegedly able to sell cars at low prices due to the alleged subsidies, some others believe that they are simply more efficient than automakers in other countries. On multiple occasions, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has praised China’s manufacturing ecosystem and EV companies. Last year, during Tesla’s Q4 2023 earnings call, he said, “Frankly, I think if there are no trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other companies in the world.”

Xpeng Motors is Looking to Launch EREVs

Xpeng Motors is looking to launch extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) in China. These cars come with a fuel tank that can extend the vehicle’s range. These vehicles have been quite popular in China. Li Auto, which gets the bulk of its revenues by selling EREVs, delivered over 500,000 vehicles last year, and its cumulative deliveries topped 1 million.