Xpeng to offer battery rental in future
Similarly to competitor Nio, Xpeng Motors is now decoupling battery costs from the purchase price of its vehicles and offering customers the option of renting the battery over a period of seven years.
On 1 September, Xpeng launched its battery leasing service, which allows customers to pay for the battery packs in 84 instalments over seven years. For the time being, the service will only be offered for selected versions of the G3 and P7. For the SUV G3, it will be the 520i series, for the electric sedan P7 the AWD performance version and the super-long-range model with rear-wheel drive. Battery leasing is currently apparently being tested in a pilot project in twelve Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The idea behind battery leasing is the same as that of Renault and Nissan: without the cost of the battery, the vehicle itself should be offered at a much lower price. The compact E-SUV G3 520i costs at least 182,800 Yuan, currently around 22,550 euros. Without the battery, customers should pay only 122,800 yuan, or 15,145 euros, for the vehicle itself. The battery rental w0uld then be 780 yuan per month (96 euros). With the 84 monthly instalments – after which the customer has paid for the battery and it belongs to them – the offer is more expensive at 188,320 Yuan than buying a vehicle with a battery.
There is also an option for customers who do not want to use the full range of the battery. In this case, only part of the capacity is released by software, but the monthly rate drops to 580 yuan, around 71 euros, in the case of the G3 520. The extent to which the battery capacity is limited with this option is not clear from reports in Chinese media. However, customers should be able to switch to the standard rate with a higher range and rate at any time.
In the case of the P7, the vehicle itself is to be offered for 75,000 yuan (9,250 euros) less, but the rate is slightly higher at 980 yuan (121 euros).
There is, however, one major difference to the battery leasing announced by Nio in August: whereas with Xpeng the battery belongs to the customer after seven years (and is thus quasi financed), with Nio the battery always remains in the possession of the company. With Nio, this also makes sense, because the battery exchange stations are used to mount different batteries under the vehicles anyway, so the user does not keep “their” battery.
But the prices are similar at Nio: The vehicles are 70,000 yuan (around 8,500 euros) cheaper, the monthly rate for the 70 kWh pack is 980 yuan. Nio offers the program for the ES8, ES6 and EC6.
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