Having formally announced its plans last September for manufacturing electric vehicles, Xiaomi, which is building a large plant in Beijing capable of making 300,000-vehicles a year, is said to be working on four electric car models --- two in the middle-range and two in the high-end segments.
According to a report in the Chinese automotive industry media outlet Auto Bit, the first prototype is expected to be unveiled in the third quarter of this year.
The mid-range models will support Level 2+ autonomous driving and the high-end models will support Level 3 autonomous driving, the report added.
Xiaomi's impending EV plant is being constructed at an investment of $10 billion over 10 years. Initially, the plant will have the capacity for 150,000 EVs, and then soon it will double to 30,000 EVs per year.
Xiaomi may launch one EV every year from 2024
Last March, Xiaomi officially announced that it was getting into the EV manufacture bandwagon. The Chinese tech company, primarily known for its budget smartphones had gone official with its electric vehicle venture in September with its CEO Lei Jun suggesting that he would directly be in charge of the new venture.
And last November, the company, under its newly formed subsidiary, Xiaomi Automotive Co, reportedly signed a contract with the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area Management Committee to build a headquarters there for its automotive business and its sales and R&D base in Yizhuang (a suburb of Beijing).
The first Xiaomi branded EVs are likely to hit the market in two years by 2024. It will like likely release one model in each of the following three years.
Earlier Chinese media reports also had it that Xiaomi is among two companies to invest in a Chinese battery firm. The investments, worth around $780 million was made in the Beijing Weilan New Energy Ltd., a company that is focusing on the next generation of all solid state batteries.
Xiaomi had also revealed that about 14,000 people had been deployed at their research and development center, of whom 500 were employed on the EV project.
