BEIJING, October 6 (TMTPost)— China’s leading smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi Corporation could expand development into a kind of hybrid electric car for its highly-anticipated automaking business.

Credit：Visual China

Xiaomi has decided to develop Range-Extended Electric Vehicle (REEV) and made planning about relevant products, Chinese news media outlet 36Kr reported, citing several people familiar with the matter. A REEV is an EV that runs on electricity but includes an auxiliary power unit known as a range extender. The range extender drives an electric generator which charges a battery that supplies the vehicle’s electric motor rather than driving the wheels. This allows for an increased range from the vehicle.

Xiaomi is said to being looking for product breakthroughs in the subsector of electric vehicle (EV). Out of Xiaomi ‘s multiple generations of EV platforms currently under development, the first generation is set to roll out next year and the second to come in 2025, the sources revealed. Given the development schedule, the company could launch REEV following the second generation of platform.  

The report noted Xiaomi has offered research and development (R&D) job openings related to REEV, such as engineers for range-extended system design and development, fuel system, and exhaust system.

Xiaomi hasn’t responded to the report yet. Recent news suggested the Beijing-based company is entering final countdown of its auto unit.

Xiaomi announced in March, 2021 to set up a wholly owned subsidiary to make EVs, with the initial investment of RMB10 billion and the total input in the coming decade expected amount to US$10 billion. Lei Jun said in August 2022 that his company established an R&D team of more than 500 talents, and plans to create a fleet of 140 test vehicles in the first phase of the technology development, targeting to become a leader in the smart EV industry in 2024.

Xiaomi aims to become one of the top five automakers in the world within the coming 15 to 20 years, Lei Jun said in an interview in March. “We are on track to achieve our goal of mass production in the first half of 2024,” Xiaomi disclosed in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the same month.

At an earnings conference for the first quarter in May, Xiaomi management said development of EV project is still very well, so they maintained the previous target of mass production in the first half of 2024. Xiaomi President Lu Weibing told analysts at an earnings call in September that the EV business has very well progress, and part of recent progress has even much better than the company’s expectations. He said Xiaomi didn’t change its plan to mass produce EVs in 2024. 

Xiaomi’s EV venture has obtained approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner that regulates production capacity and investments in auto industry, to produce EVs, Reuters reported in September. Chinese digital news media outlet Jiemian later that month learned Xiaomi’s venture will obtain approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in the coming two months, allowing it to begin full-scale production. Jiemian reported Xiaomi’s unit has started pilot production for less than a month in its factory in Beijing. The unit was said to hire around 100 workers initially, then launch a large-scale recruitment at the end of the year or early next year.