After days of rumors, Xpeng Motors' move to scale back the free charging benefits it offers customers has become a reality.
The electric car maker announced Monday that it will reduce the 3,000 kilowatt-hours per year of free charging it offers to customers to 1,000 kilowatt hours per year, effective Aug. 1.
Owners who pay a deposit on or before July 31 will still receive the 3,000 kilowatt-hours per year of free charging.
The Xpeng P5, a new model that has not yet been delivered, has a special policy associated with it.
Those who have already made a reservation for the P5 will still receive 3,000 kWh of free charging per year. Until Xpeng officially announces the service adjustment, customers who ordered the model can also continue to enjoy the service, the company said.
Xpeng began its "free charging for life" policy for customers on Sept. 1 of last year, which is available only to first-time owners and the cars cannot be used for commercial operations.
The company has also used it as one of the biggest selling points for its models over the past year and has advertised the expansion of its charging network to cover more cities with its "free charging for life" service.
While Xpeng claims to offer "free charging for life," there is actually a cap on the benefits owners can enjoy - 3,000 kilowatt-hours per year.
A report from ifeng.com on Saturday said that Xpeng's free charging allowance for owners will be reduced from 3,000 kilowatt-hours per year to 1,000 kilowatt hours, with the change expected to take effect on July 12.
Judging from Xpeng's official policy announcement, it set aside a longer period of time for customers to purchase a car before scaling back that benefit.
Xpeng sold 6,665 units in June, up 617 percent year-over-year. Its cumulative sales for the first half of the year were 30,738 units, up 459 percent year-over-year, and it has already surpassed deliveries for all of 2020.
Xpeng's second-quarter deliveries reached 17,398 units, the highest delivery level the company has ever achieved.
Notably, the new Xpeng G3 facelift G3i was launched on July 9, and Xpeng P5 deliveries will start in the fourth quarter.
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