Xiaomi is currently in the trial production stage that started less than a month ago. The factory in Beijing currently manufactures around 50 prototypes per week, there are not many workers in the night, said the unnamed inside source for the Chinese media.

The approval by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is expected in the next month or two, by the end of the year at latest. When it receives the approval, it will be able to start mass production, the source said on development with regulators licenses. Xiaomi needs to get production licenses by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and MIIT in order to be able to start mass production. Latest reports said phone maker received NDRC license, though this was not officially confirmed.

Xiaomi already started recruiting factory stuff last month. The phone maker is looking for around 100 people and the recruitment process is very fast and strict. Some people who worked in Mercedes and Tesla did not get recruited, the HR contractor said and added that this round of recruitment is just a preparation for the production. The large scale recruitments will start end of the year or beginning of the next year when the mass production is expected. However, the mass production includes ramp-up phase.

Based on Sino-foreign joint-ventures in China, such as Volkswagen or Toyota, the production ramp-up to 10,000 units per month requires around four months, while to reach full capacity requires half a year to a whole year, said an automotive expert adding that the process depends on sales and production line set up. The factory’s capacity in the first phase is set at 150,000 units per year.

Last month, the news media published the spy shots of the Xiaomi’s first model that will be produced in the Beijing factory, a sedan code named MS11. The electric sedan will offer a long-range version with a 101-kWh ternary (NMC) battery that can run for 800 km. It will support 800V DC charging. The battery weighs 642 kg. Its voltage reaches 726.7 V, and its rated capacity is 139.0 Ah. The energy density is 157 Wh/kg.

The MS11 sedan is expected to start at 200,000 yuan (27,400 USD) and compete with the Tesla Model 3, BYD Seal, Deepal SL03, and dozens of other 200k yuan range Chinese EV sedans.

Source: Jiemian