Leapmotor: range-extenders key to hitting EV ‘tipping point’ in 2028

Stellantis’s new Chinese EV brand Leapmotor believes the addition of a range-extender (REx) powertrain to its C10 SUV will be an important factor in both its growth and the adoption of EVs in Europe.

Leapmotor International is a joint venture set up to sell Leapmotor cars in Europe, owned 51% by Stellantis and 49% by Leapmotor itself.

In the coming months, it will launch a trio of EVs in the UK: the T03 city car, B10 crossover and C10 SUV – to which a petrol-engined REx option is soon to be added.

Speaking to Autocar at the Brussels motor show, Leapmotor International CEO Tianshu Xin acknowledged that Leapmotor is launching in Europe amid wavering uptake of EVs in the region but forecasted a “tipping point” for EV adoption in three years’ time, following in the footsteps of China, the world’s biggest EV market.

“It’s not about demand,” Xin said in regard to variations in EV sales figures. “The market is up and down, but it’s not about the demand, it’s about the supply. So taking the T03 – the A-segment EV – as an example, the demand is always there. 

“If you look at the bigger picture over the past several years, inflation is very high, the disposable income of the people actually reduced, but the mobility needs of the customer is still there. But the problem is the supply: a lot of traditional manufacturers stopped producing A-segment cars, because of the profitability challenges. 

“If you look at China as a mirroring, why has China’s EV market share since August last year overtaken ICE cars? There are several reasons, of course: number one, it’s got a well-developed charging infrastructure. Number two is customer acceptance of EVs. They are starting to appreciate EVs and the technologies. Number three – the most important one – is the price parity of NEVs [electrified vehicles] and ICE cars was reached in China last year.”

Xin said that when these three factors combined in China, it created a “tipping point” and EV growth is suddenly “taking off” as a result. 

“So the question in Europe is not if but when this will happen. In my personal view, it will happen within the next three years,” he said, hailing Leapmotor’s coming REx powertrain as a key step towards wider EV adoption. 

The C10 REEV (range-extender electric vehicle) is driven by a 213bhp electric motor on the front axle, powered by a 28.4kWh battery, which in turn is charged by a petrol engine.

The powertrain offers up to 590 miles of combined range while emitting just 10g/km of CO2, Leapmotor claims.

Unlike in a plug-in hybrid, the combustion engine never directly drives the wheels. “As a result,” said Xin, “the engine is always operating in the most efficient way.”

Due on sale from March at around £32,000, the C10 REEV will become the second REx model on the UK market, joining the Mazda MX-30 R-EV.

Xin said the REEV powertrain is “a good interim solution”, because Europe’s charging infrastructure is “still in the very early stages” compared with China’s.

“So range anxiety, from a consumer perspective, is still a big challenge. But the range of the REEV technology will solve this issue.”

Xin said the engine used in the REEV set-up – a 1.5-litre petrol four supplied by a Chinese partner firm – will be replaced with a Stellantis powerplant in the future but didn’t identify any particular engine that could take its place.

The C10 is currently built in China, which means that examples sold in the EU are subject to a 31% import tariff – but Xin said that Leapmotors could soon be built in other Stellantis factories in Europe, besides the Tychy plant in Poland that already produces the T03.

“We’re looking at options to produce and localise the Leapmotor brand in one of Stellantis’s plants in Europe,” he said. “That will allow us closer to the market using available capacity, eliminating logistic costs and coming faster to the market – and closer to the customers.

“All the options are open. Regarding the criteria to select which plant we are going to use, of course at number one it has to have the available capacity, and then number two is that the holistic business case needs to be sound.”

Aside from Tychy, Stellantis has car factories in France, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey, but it’s unclear which could feasibly open up extra capacity for Leapmotor.