The Chinese Challenge for Tesla!

Tesla doesn’t have it all its own way though. The European manufacturers have been stepping up, albeit a little slowly in most cases. And that has opened the door to a wave of competition, which is only just starting. Chinese manufacturers of EVs have popped up in their hundreds. Not all will last of course, but some are making a serious impact already. Today we’ve picked out 5 stand out performers.

Nio
Nio are one of the slicker operators, and they’re making their way to Europe in style. Although only founded in 2014, they have made remarkable and rapid progress. They’re traded on the NYSE, and as of 2020 had more than 7,000 employees.
Perhaps their flagship vehicle, and the one that’s coming to Europe is the ET7. It will come with two different battery packs, either the 70.5kWh or the 90kWh, and that is the usable capacity, so you’re looking at a real world range of about 400km and 500km. There is some immense power on tap, with more than 600hp launching you to 62mph in 3.8 seconds! Of course, that’s not their only car. They have a whole range of sedans, sports car and SUVs including the ES6 and the ET5.
Now, charging the ET7 is a little underwhelming at 11kW on AC and 130kW on DC, but they do have an Ace up their sleeve! Nio have been building out a superb battery swap station network. As of May 2022, they had just over 900 stations in China, and had just launched their first one in Norway. Owners of Nio cars, can rock up at a station, and be on their way with a fully charged battery in less than 5 minutes!

BYD
BYD stands for Build Your Dreams. It’s….an interesting name for a manufacturing conglomerate. But don’t let that fool you, BYD are not joking by any means. They have more than a quarter of a million staff members. They make everything from trucks and buses to electric bikes, solar panels and batteries.
We would need a whole 30 minute show to go through BYD’s line up of vehicles, such is their size and clout. But let’s give a mention to their Ocean Series, and in particular the BYD Seal. They name their fully electric vehicles in this series after sea creatures.
The Seal is a fastback saloon, with plenty of range, power and tech. Available as either rear wheel drive or all wheel drive, the Seal has blistering pace. The top of the range car has 520hp and a battery pack just over 80kWh. Production has begun in China, and they are planning to export to Europe also. The car could well be a strong competitor to the likes of the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3.

SAIC Motor
You’ve probably never heard of SAIC Motor, but if you live in Europe then you’ve definitely seen some of their cars around. You see, SAIC are the chaps in charge of the MG brand that they bought out a few years ago.
They’ve gained huge momentum with the success of the MG5 and the ZS EV. They also made some inroads on the commercial side of things with the Maxus badged eDeliver3 and eDeliver9. But it looks like the MG4 is going to launch them to a new level. It’s built on a bespoke platform dedicated to EVs. For as little as £27,000 in the UK, you can get a solid 300km range EV, with a whole host of tech that will do the 0-62mph sprint in 7.7 seconds!
And we just couldn’t leave the Wuling Mini EV out. It’s made in partnership with GM and Wuling. It went on sale in mid 2020, and by early 2022 had sold more than half a million units. It’s not exactly a drag racer, with a maximum 30kW motor and up to 26kWh battery, but we just love it, especially in one of those special edition variants.
Geely
Geely is another name that you probably haven’t heard of, but produce a very surprising amount of cars. They are the 7th largest automotive manufacturer in China. But their reach is far from local. Only in September 2022 they took a near 10% holding in Aston Martin. That’s on top of their own brands such as Geely Auto and Zeekr. They also have foreign-located subsidiaries that include Volvo Cars, Polestar, Lotus, and Lynk & Co.
They produce so many good cars that it’s hard to specify one. But, but! I have to say that I’m a huge fan of the Polestar 2. Sure, it falls short of the Tesla Model 3 on paper with less range and pace. But there’s just something about it that pulls at the heartstrings. I think they’ve absolutely nailed the design, inside and out. It feels great to drive, with plenty of power, grip and enough range for any situation I’d ever find myself in.

XPeng
Another Chinese company that will be coming to Europe is Xpeng with their P5. XPeng are a very new addition, founded in 2014. They have some pretty high profile backers, including Alibaba, Foxconn and the founder of Xiaomi.
The P5 is a fastback saloon with a 60kWh usable battery so range will likely be around 250 miles. It’s due to have a front wheel drive 155kW motor, so around 200hp that will launch you to 62mph in 7.5 seconds. With an overall length of 4.8m and 450 litres of boot space, it’s a nice size and a welcome alternative to all the big SUVs out there.

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