Xiaomi EV trial production underway

Tech giants are racing to claim a slice of the electric vehicle pie and Xiaomi is keen to be among the first ones with their own car. According to local press, the Chinese smartphone mogul has just taken the next step towards the EV realm.

The company has began trial production of its first EV - in fact it has been going for over a month. The company is making about 50 cars per week, providing all the prototypes needed for the road tests and also ironing out all kinks in the manufacturing process.

A recent green light from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) means that Xiaomi's EVs are almost ready to go on sale. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is the final hurdle that needs to be cleared for each individual model. After that it will be up to Xiaomi to scale up manufacturing and decide when to launch its cars.

Xiaomi invested RMB 1.4 billion (that's a cool $191 million) into their EV business in the second quarter of this year alone and the company has earmarked a total of $10 billion for the first 10 years of its new automotive arm.

Xiaomi's maiden EV has reportedly finished its summer and winter testing and apparently, things are looking up. Lu Weibing, Xiaomi's president, voiced the company's ambition to mass-produce its first EV model by the first half of 2024. And we really can't wait to see it!

Via