Xiaomi sets up business unit for ‘smart electric vehicles’

Xiaomi has founded Xiaomi EV, a business unit that will develop ‘smart electric vehicles’. The company is investing 1.3 billion euros in the company and wants to invest a total of 8.5 billion euros in Xiaomi EV over the next ten years.

Xiaomi’s CEO and co-founder Lei Jun will also head up Xiaomi EV. The business unit now has ‘about’ three hundred employees. Xiaomi does say that this company is expanding quickly and is therefore looking for more staff. Last March, Xiaomi announced that it wanted to make electric vehicles and set up a department for this.

In the March message, Xiaomi itself said it wants to “offer” electric vehicles, although the company does not say so when announcing Xiaomi EV. It is therefore not clear whether Xiaomi EV will market Xiaomi electric vehicles itself or whether the department will only supply parts and technology to other parties. According to an earlier rumor, Xiaomi would be selling an electric car together with the car manufacturer Great Wall.

In any case, Xiaomi EV is going to work on electric cars. For example, Xiaomi EV has the Autonomous Department. This department is engaged in developing technology for self-driving cars. In addition, last week Xiaomi acquired Deepmotion Tech, a company that focuses on autonomous driving. It is not known whether Xiaomi EV will also be working on other electric vehicles.