XIAOMI Auto has linked arms with Nio, Xpeng Motors, and Li Auto to share more than 29,000 charging piles nationwide with the three leading Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) makers.

Xiaomi car owners can use the charging map on the Xiaomi Auto app to view and access 14,000 Nio charging piles, over 9,000 Xpeng piles, and more than 6,000 Li Auto piles, the Chinese electronics giant’s auto unit announced Wednesday.

Xiaomi Auto has not yet developed a large-scale self-operated charging network as it is a latecomer in the NEV industry. However, despite only launching deliveries of its first model, the SU7, in April, its sales will likely top 120,000 units this year, necessitating finding convenient and appropriate places for users to charge their vehicles.

Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi, said that the company has no plan for large-scale construction of supercharging stations in August, noting that its top mission is to produce good vehicles and make the SU7 compatible with and convenient for recharge via public charging piles. In April, he announced that the building of some such stations is in the preparation phase, with the first to be in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou.

Other carmakers, including Changan Automobile, Geely Holdings, SAIC-GM, a joint venture of China’s SAIC Group and General Motors from the U.S., and IM Motors, have also chosen to ally with NEV startups with relatively complete charging networks to share battery charging and swap facilities.

The number of public charging piles in China reached around 3.5 million as of Nov. 30, according to data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance.

(SD-Agencies)