Leapmotor T03 now has 3 LFP battery suppliers
The Leapmotor T03 is probably the best affordable small electric car currently being sold in China. Not only it has a decent 403 km NEDC range (around 300 km in WLTP), fast charging via CCS, OTA (over-the-air) updates, it’s also full of safety features that are extremely rare in its segment
Safety features that can prevent accidents, such as AEB (Automatic Braking System), LKA (Lane Keeping Assist), ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) and a ADS (Automated Driving System) called Leap Pilot 2.0.
While initially this electric car was only available with a 38 kWh NCM battery and a modest 27 kW (55 kW peak) motor, later on it became available also with a cheaper cobalt-free 41 kWh LFP (LiFePO4) battery and a more powerful 50 kW (80 kW peak) motor.
Unfortunately, nowadays production still can’t meet all demand there is for this great small electric car. Not only due to the global shortage of microprocessors, but also batteries – that temporarily tend to go almost exclusively into more expensive and lucrative models…
However, the good news is that according to the MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China) the Leapmotor T03 now has at least 3 LFP battery suppliers, they are:
- CATL
- SVOLT
- Guoxuan
This smart strategy of not relying on a sole battery supplier, means that Leapmotor is aiming to increase production to levels where it can actually meet the current high domestic demand. Only then, foreign markets will be an option.
Soon, when battery cell formats become completely standardized, having different battery suppliers for the same model will be a no-brainer to most automakers.
Anyway, the Leapmotor T03 is currently available in 5 variants, where the cheapest starts at 59.800 yuan (8.021 euros) and the most expensive starts at 76.800 yuan (10.301 euros). I think that this kind of electric car would be a success in Europe and maybe Australia.
More info:
Day in, day out, the Chinese keep proving they are ahead of the crowd. Honestly, I don´t see how my country (Brazil) can ever compete with them. My best guess is that in the future we will no longer have car plants, or best case scenario, we will just have the final assembly made here.
Clearly the Chinese are leading now and some legacy automakers will soon go bankrupt in the transition to electric. However, I think that there will be much more solid automakers in 10 years than there are now.
Electric cars are much simpler to produce than their gas counterparts. Therefore, I won’t be surprised if some good electric car startups being to appear in regions that we normally don’t associate to the auto industry, like Oceania, South America or even Africa.
A big reason why legacy automakers don’t want electric cars, is that it means more competition… Electric cars are basically batteries on wheels.
Hi Pedro. I was searching for Desten fast charging battery for a while and it seems is kind of LFP chemistry. You are more experienced in this field. Do you have any clue or have not heard of?
Hi.
Given the charging voltage of 4,2 V I guess they are LFMP, but I’m not sure.
Embraer has shown that Brazil can be very successful in aerospace, so I can very well imagine a successful brazilian manufacturer of electric cars. It is just a question whether brazilian billionaires are willing to invest. There is certainly enough engineering talent and assembly workforce. I guess there is also a reasonable local market.
Great news. Let’s hope they can make millions of them.
Honestly, if Fiat suddenly badged this as the new 500e for 10,000 euros, would anyone object?
Lineup changed and prices increased i think. 68,900 to 84.900 yuan price appears in China site. Motor is now 80kw and battery is LFP.
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