Four Chinese-backed electric-car start-ups planning a run at Tesla
Chinese venture capital investors have put $1.Four billion into electrical vehicles start-ups.
The electrical vehicle market is presently predominated by Tesla Motors, which reached a market cap this week of $48 billion. But as EV sales grow — Tesla pulled in more than $7 billion in revenue last year and just had its best quarter — there are several EV start-ups aiming to catch Elon Musk’s EV company, and they share a common source of support: Chinese investors.
Chinese venture capital investors have poured more than $1.Four billion into electrical vehicle and battery start-ups in the past three years, according to PitchBook, compared to $Two.1 billion in total global venture capital funding for the sector.
Tho’ far more successful than these start-ups, Tesla does have one thing in common with competitors: the latest investment from China. It received an investment equal to $1.8 billion from Chinese messaging hard Tencent, when it purchased a five percent stake in Tesla shares. The investment makes the Chinese giant one of Tesla’s largest shareholders, and is part of Tencent’s pursuit of self-driving cars and electrified vehicles, and it can open doors in China for Tesla.
Its EV rivals also lack one key ingredient: Elon Musk.
Tesla EV rivals worth watching
“While each of those start-ups are run by individuals who don’t bashful from the spotlight, none of those companies are headed by a successful entrepreneur who is continuously challenging, and switching, the world like Elon Musk,” said Michael Harley, executive analyst for the vehicle valuation and research company Kelley Blue Book.
Faraday hopes to bring the car to market next year, but the company has faced widely reported financial troubles, in line with its parent company’s balance-sheet challenges. Yueting took a Jeff Bezos-like treatment to expansion, sacrificing profits to budge into fresh areas, including electrical cars and entertainment, as well as to make a $Two billion acquisition of TV maker Vizio. Faraday says its plans are proceeding in Nevada, but the state has shown concern, with its Treasurer telling the Chinese press late last year that Yueting ran out of money.
The company recently scrapped plans for a 2nd car facility that was to be built in California, but parent LeEco did raise $Two billion in funding in January. The FF ninety one is a large crossover with James Bond-like features, such as facial recognition technology and a retractable LiDAR sensor in the rubber hood to measure distances when it self-parks. The FF 91’s battery pack, developed in partnership with LG Chem, is said to permit a range of almost three hundred eighty miles — more than most Americans drive in a week and a longer range than any Tesla. Top versions of the FF ninety one will have one thousand fifty horsepower and zero to sixty acceleration in Two.39 seconds, according to the company. If true, that would make it almost as quick as the Tesla Model S, the current record-holder as the quickest four-door production vehicle — it hit sixty in Two.28 seconds earlier this year in testing by Motor Trends.
Yueting is also among the Chinese investors in Lucid Motors, an EV start-up founded by a former Tesla executive, which has received more than $130 million in venture funding. Lucid’s very first vehicle, the Air, is a sedan to be manufactured in Arizona. It has an enormous interior and two trunks (with total volume similar to a four-person hot bath). The base 400-horsepower model will have a 240-mile range and begin at $52,500, after federal incentives. Upmarket versions will exceed $100,000 and feature larger battery packs, enabling more than a 400-mile range and a Two.5-second run to 60, according to the company. Lucid plans to begin manufacturing in the very first half of 2019, and produce Ten,000 models its very first twelve months of production. The Air seems to be a very close match to the Model S but is likely to undercut it in base pricing. Also, initial reviews note the Lucid’s interior is more luxurious than the Tesla, with higher-quality finishes.
Lucid has experienced management upheaval. It’s been without a CEO since founder, Bernard Tse, a former vice president at Tesla, left in late two thousand fifteen after friction with Beijing Automotive, according to some reports. But it has avoided the funding issues Faraday is facing. David Salguero, Lucid’s marketing manager, said the company is presently raising Series D funding, and the effort is going well. “We are on track to begin manufacturing the Lucid Air in Casa Grande, Arizona, in the very first half of 2019,” he said.
As a hybrid, not a fully electrified vehicle, the Revero can refuel at any gas station. So while it lacks some of Tesla’s high-tech features, it avoids “range anxiety” — the concern you might run out of juice far from a charging station.
All Teslas have been quick — from the petite Roadster, which could accelerate sixty miles per hour in only Three.7 seconds to the massive Model X, which can do the deed in as little as Two.9 seconds. Musk’s company even has what it is calling a “ludicrous mode” feature. But Tesla doesn’t have a monopoly on speed. Chinese-funded start-up Nio (formerly NextEV), which has offices across the world, including California, Germany and China, generated hum late last year when its limited-production EP9 sports car lapped Germany’s famed Nürburgring race track quicker than any other electrical vehicle. The EP9 made more news this February when it set an autonomous driving record by circling a test track in Texas at one hundred sixty miles per hour without input from a human driver.
Chinese internet provider Baidu recently made a reportedly $600 million investment in Nio’s parent company. The company has raised $1.1 billion in two rounds of funding, according to an estimate from PitchBook, making it the most-funded EV effort backed by Chinese investors: The two deals are the largest given to any company in the EV sector.
Tesla has successfully launched a high-end sports car, a luxury family sedan, and a large crossover and is set to begin selling its very first mainstream suggesting — a smaller family car, commencing at $35,000 — later this year. But it faced near-bankruptcy in its early days, and in two thousand eight Musk said it “narrowly survived.”
Market outlook
LMC Automotive’s Schuster said the long-term prospects for Tesla (which began turning a profit only last year) are still debatable, as large mainstream manufacturers like GM and BMW make inroads into the EV space. Schuster noted that mainstream manufacturers have an appetite for strategic acquisition. Absorbing or partnering with start-ups such as these could provide useful technology as well as an image-boosting shot of Silicon Valley cachet. Ford recently invested $1 billion in robotics company Argo to spur autonomous car efforts. Early self-driving car efforts from the traditional automakers have scored higher in independent studies than those from Tesla, Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo.
“One could argue that Lucid, Faraday Future, Karma, Nio and all of the innumerable others aren’t in this to turn profits,” Kelley Blue Book’s Harley said. “Most are simply attempting to demonstrate viable electrified vehicle technology that puts them in a position to be purchased by an automaker that needs to meet ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) regulations.”
Four Chinese-backed electric-car start-ups planning a run at Tesla
Four Chinese-backed electric-car start-ups planning a run at Tesla
Chinese venture capital investors have put $1.Four billion into electrified vehicles start-ups.
The electrified vehicle market is presently predominated by Tesla Motors, which reached a market cap this week of $48 billion. But as EV sales grow — Tesla pulled in more than $7 billion in revenue last year and just had its best quarter — there are several EV start-ups aiming to catch Elon Musk’s EV company, and they share a common source of support: Chinese investors.
Chinese venture capital investors have poured more than $1.Four billion into electrical vehicle and battery start-ups in the past three years, according to PitchBook, compared to $Two.1 billion in total global venture capital funding for the sector.
Tho’ far more successful than these start-ups, Tesla does have one thing in common with competitors: the latest investment from China. It received an investment equal to $1.8 billion from Chinese messaging stiff Tencent, when it purchased a five percent stake in Tesla shares. The investment makes the Chinese giant one of Tesla’s largest shareholders, and is part of Tencent’s pursuit of self-driving cars and electrified vehicles, and it can open doors in China for Tesla.
Its EV rivals also lack one key ingredient: Elon Musk.
Tesla EV rivals worth watching
“While each of those start-ups are run by individuals who don’t timid from the spotlight, none of those companies are headed by a successful entrepreneur who is continuously challenging, and switching, the world like Elon Musk,” said Michael Harley, executive analyst for the vehicle valuation and research company Kelley Blue Book.
Faraday hopes to bring the car to market next year, but the company has faced widely reported financial troubles, in line with its parent company’s balance-sheet challenges. Yueting took a Jeff Bezos-like treatment to expansion, sacrificing profits to stir into fresh areas, including electrical cars and entertainment, as well as to make a $Two billion acquisition of TV maker Vizio. Faraday says its plans are proceeding in Nevada, but the state has shown concern, with its Treasurer telling the Chinese press late last year that Yueting ran out of money.
The company recently scrapped plans for a 2nd car facility that was to be built in California, but parent LeEco did raise $Two billion in funding in January. The FF ninety one is a large crossover with James Bond-like features, such as facial recognition technology and a retractable LiDAR sensor in the bondage mask to measure distances when it self-parks. The FF 91’s battery pack, developed in partnership with LG Chem, is said to permit a range of almost three hundred eighty miles — more than most Americans drive in a week and a longer range than any Tesla. Top versions of the FF ninety one will have one thousand fifty horsepower and zero to sixty acceleration in Two.39 seconds, according to the company. If true, that would make it almost as quick as the Tesla Model S, the current record-holder as the quickest four-door production vehicle — it hit sixty in Two.28 seconds earlier this year in testing by Motor Trends.
Yueting is also among the Chinese investors in Lucid Motors, an EV start-up founded by a former Tesla executive, which has received more than $130 million in venture funding. Lucid’s very first vehicle, the Air, is a sedan to be manufactured in Arizona. It has an enormous interior and two trunks (with total volume similar to a four-person hot bathtub). The base 400-horsepower model will have a 240-mile range and embark at $52,500, after federal incentives. Upmarket versions will exceed $100,000 and feature larger battery packs, enabling more than a 400-mile range and a Two.5-second run to 60, according to the company. Lucid plans to commence manufacturing in the very first half of 2019, and produce Ten,000 models its very first twelve months of production. The Air seems to be a very close match to the Model S but is likely to undercut it in base pricing. Also, initial reviews note the Lucid’s interior is more luxurious than the Tesla, with higher-quality finishes.
Lucid has experienced management upheaval. It’s been without a CEO since founder, Bernard Tse, a former vice president at Tesla, left in late two thousand fifteen after friction with Beijing Automotive, according to some reports. But it has avoided the funding issues Faraday is facing. David Salguero, Lucid’s marketing manager, said the company is presently raising Series D funding, and the effort is going well. “We are on track to begin manufacturing the Lucid Air in Casa Grande, Arizona, in the very first half of 2019,” he said.
As a hybrid, not a fully electrified vehicle, the Revero can refuel at any gas station. So while it lacks some of Tesla’s high-tech features, it avoids “range anxiety” — the concern you might run out of juice far from a charging station.
All Teslas have been prompt — from the petite Roadster, which could accelerate sixty miles per hour in only Trio.7 seconds to the massive Model X, which can do the deed in as little as Two.9 seconds. Musk’s company even has what it is calling a “ludicrous mode” feature. But Tesla doesn’t have a monopoly on speed. Chinese-funded start-up Nio (formerly NextEV), which has offices across the world, including California, Germany and China, generated hum late last year when its limited-production EP9 sports car lapped Germany’s famed Nürburgring race track swifter than any other electrified vehicle. The EP9 made more news this February when it set an autonomous driving record by circling a test track in Texas at one hundred sixty miles per hour without input from a human driver.
Chinese internet provider Baidu recently made a reportedly $600 million investment in Nio’s parent company. The company has raised $1.1 billion in two rounds of funding, according to an estimate from PitchBook, making it the most-funded EV effort backed by Chinese investors: The two deals are the largest given to any company in the EV sector.
Tesla has successfully launched a high-end sports car, a luxury family sedan, and a large crossover and is set to begin selling its very first mainstream suggesting — a smaller family car, commencing at $35,000 — later this year. But it faced near-bankruptcy in its early days, and in two thousand eight Musk said it “narrowly survived.”
Market outlook
LMC Automotive’s Schuster said the long-term prospects for Tesla (which began turning a profit only last year) are still debatable, as large mainstream manufacturers like GM and BMW make inroads into the EV space. Schuster noted that mainstream manufacturers have an appetite for strategic acquisition. Absorbing or partnering with start-ups such as these could provide useful technology as well as an image-boosting shot of Silicon Valley cachet. Ford recently invested $1 billion in robotics company Argo to spur autonomous car efforts. Early self-driving car efforts from the traditional automakers have scored higher in independent studies than those from Tesla, Uber and Alphabet’s Waymo.
“One could argue that Lucid, Faraday Future, Karma, Nio and all of the uncountable others aren’t in this to turn profits,” Kelley Blue Book’s Harley said. “Most are simply attempting to demonstrate viable electrical vehicle technology that puts them in a position to be purchased by an automaker that needs to meet ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) regulations.”