China’s Geely puts US$23.4 billion research budget behind 2025 goal for electric cars to make up 40 per cent of its production

Four in every 10 Geely cars will be partially or fully electric by 2025, the carmaker’s chief executive Gan Jiayue said on Sunday

The carmaker will set aside 150 billion yuan for research over the next few years, with the goal of developing so-called L5 autonomous driving capability

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A worker assembling Geely’s Lynk 05 crossover sport utility vehicle (SUV) in the Zhejiang provincial city of Ningbo on April 28, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg.

Published: 2:00pm, 1 Nov 2021Updated: 10:25pm, 1 Nov 2021

Geely Automobile Group, China’s largest private carmaker, has earmarked one of its biggest research spending budgets to drive itself towards a 2025 electrification target, where four in 10 vehicles delivered will be powered fully, or partially, by electric battery packs.

The carmaker, based in the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou, will set aside 150 billion yuan (US$24.3 billion) into research and development over the next few years, with the ultimate goal of developing so-called L5 autonomous driving capability, according to a statement.

“Geely will aim to build the most reliable, safest, and responsible autonomous vehicle in the industry,” said the company, whose parent Geely Holdings owns Volvo Cars and is the largest single shareholder of Daimler.

Geely is jumping on the bandwagon of enhancing the intelligence of its vehicles, as such driver assistant functions as voice commands, valet parking, and auto-navigation are increasingly becoming standard applications among cars in China, where younger, technically savvy drivers and owners take them for granted.

Geely’s Preface sedan at the Beijing Auto Show on September 26, 2020. Photo: AFP

These smart functions add up to the fully autonomous vehicle, where the ultimate goal is the so-called level-5 (L5) full driving automation, where humans are not required to intervene under any circumstances, and vehicles need not be equipped with steering wheels, brakes or acceleration pedals. L4, currently under development among China’s smart EVs, is defined as the ability where vehicles can handle themselves under most driving circumstances without human intervention, such as on highways and sparsely populated areas.

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