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Chinese EV firms face new hurdle as battery supply bottleneck leads to delays in deliveries
- Last week, Xpeng had to apologise to customers for delays in deliveries of P5 sedans due to insufficient battery supply
- Tesla asks buyers to wait for as long as four months before its vehicles are delivered
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China’s booming electric vehicle (EV) sector has hit yet another speed bump, a shortfall of batteries, which is leading to delays in the delivery of cars.
“The EV market is growing at a torrid pace that keeps beating estimates by assemblers and component suppliers,” said David Zhang, an automobiles industry researcher at the North China University of Technology. “It will take time for key battery manufacturers to expand production capacity to meet demand.”
Last December, Xpeng Motors, one of China’s top EV start-ups, in China faced consumer complaints after deliveries of some of its models were delayed. Last week, it once again apologised to customers for delays in deliveries of its P5 sedans due to insufficient battery supply.
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Tesla, the runaway leader in China’s premium EV segment, said buyers would have to wait for as long as four months before its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles were delivered. A senior Tesla sales manager in Shanghai said a supply constraint involving chips and batteries had kept the US carmaker from selling and delivery more units in the world’s largest EV market.
02:18
Chinese XPeng electric car can drive and park by itself
Chinese XPeng electric car can drive and park by itself
Battery makers have been wary of building facilities aggressively because a lacklustre EV market could result in redundant production capacity.
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