A Bordrin factory is under construction in Nanjing, China, with financial support from the local government, and is scheduled to start production in 2020 with initial annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles.
But the EV startup is moving ahead before then. The company's first EV will be built at a plant owned by state-owned automaker China FAW Group Corp. in China's northeast Jilin province. That plant also will build Bordrin's second model, a smaller A-class electric hatchback from the same platform, and will have a battery range of nearly 500 kilmeters (310 miles), according to the company.
Bordrin's third product will come from a platform for C-class compact EVs with ranges topping 600 km (372 miles) and be produced at the Nanjing plant.
Key suppliers include Bosch for ADAS components, safety systems from Autoliv, and electric motors and control systems from Continental, Huang said.
China is the world's largest EV market, and thanks to government subsidies the number of EV startups in the country continues to increase. The players are mainly domestic companies, but global automakers such as Nissan Motor Co. also have started introducing EVs. Tesla just signed an agreement with the Shanghai municipal government to produce its vehicles locally.
With global players expanding their presence in the Chinese EV market, it wouldn't be surprising if "90 percent" of EV startups in China succumb to competition, Huang predicted. In the long term, he believes, only three to five will survive.
Said Huang: "Bordrin will be one of them."